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The Ringer (website)

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The Ringer
Type of site
Sports, popular culture
ParentSpotify
URLtheringer.com
CommercialYes
LaunchedMarch 14, 2016; 8 years ago (2016-03-14)

The Ringer is a sports and pop culture website and podcast network, founded by sportswriter Bill Simmons in 2016 and acquired by Spotify in 2020.[1][2][3]

History

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The Ringer was launched in March 2016 by Bill Simmons, who brought along several editors who had previously worked with him on Grantland, an ESPN-owned blog he operated from 2011 to 2015.[2] At launch, the Ringer had a staff of 43 and focused primarily on sports and pop culture as content areas, with a few writers also working on technology and politics.[2] HBO, the network on which Simmons hosted his weekly television program Any Given Wednesday one season in 2016, was an initial investor in the website.[2]

The website was previously published on the Medium platform.[4] In May 2017, The Ringer entered into an advertising and technology partnership with Vox Media (owner of SB Nation), under which Vox would handle advertising sales, and give the site access to its in-house publishing platform.[5]

Former Grantland writers who have since written for or worked for The Ringer include Mark Titus, Shea Serrano, Ben Lindbergh, Robert Mays, Andy Greenwald, Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, Juliet Litman, Craig Gaines, Bryan Curtis, David Shoemaker, Ryan O'Hanlon, Danny Chau, Jason Concepcion, Riley McAtee, Joe Fuentes, and Tate Frazier.[6]

In May 2018, The Ringer published a story by Ben Detrick about Bryan Colangelo,[7] then the GM of the Philadelphia 76ers, and his apparent use of various Twitter accounts to criticize players and defend himself. This led to Colangelo's resignation on June 7, 2018.[8]

In August 2019, The Ringer's editorial staff voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East. The union was voluntarily recognized by the Ringer's management four days later.[9]

On February 5, 2020, subscription music streaming service Spotify announced it was acquiring The Ringer for an estimated $195 million and an additional $50 million in performance-driven incentives.[10] Spotify chief content officer Dawn Ostroff stated that Simmons was "one of the brightest minds in the game and he has successfully innovated as a writer and content creator across mediums and platforms."[3][11]

In April 2021, writers and producers ratified their first collective agreement with Gimlet Media and The Ringer. It would last 3 years, with minimum base salary of $57,000 for The Ringer staff. Absent, was any provision over worker ownership of content created.[12][13]

Content

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Like the content on the website, the Ringer's podcast network covers both sports and pop culture.[14] The flagship podcast, The Bill Simmons Podcast, is an interview show hosted by Simmons, featuring other Ringer writers and podcast hosts as well as athletes, filmmakers, comedians, and pop culture figures.[14][non-primary source needed]

Former podcasts include Keepin' it 1600, a politics podcast featuring former Obama speechwriters Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, and others. After leaving the Ringer, the hosts of Keepin' it 1600 created a new podcast called Pod Save America as part of their own new media company, Crooked Media.[15]

In 2017, The Ringer began the video podcast series Talk the Thrones, an aftershow for Game of Thrones hosted by Ringer staff writers and live-streamed on Twitter.[16] Talk the Thrones is a continuation of After the Thrones, which aired on HBO.[17]

The Ringer premiered Binge Mode in 2017, a podcast that has recapped every episode of Game of Thrones and every book in the Harry Potter series.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "About The Ringer". The Ringer. Archived from the original on 2017-05-18. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
  2. ^ a b c d Edgers, Geoff; Edgers, Geoff (2016-06-01). "Bill Simmons's new site, The Ringer, goes live. And please, don't call it just another Grantland". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2019-01-03. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
  3. ^ a b Robertson, Katie; Scheiber, Noam (2020-02-05). "Spotify Is Buying The Ringer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  4. ^ Lichty, Edward (2016-02-23). "Medium: Home of The Ringer". Medium. Archived from the original on 2016-02-23. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  5. ^ Spangler, Todd (2017-05-30). "Bill Simmons' The Ringer Inks Advertising, Tech Pact With Vox Media". Variety. Archived from the original on 2017-05-30. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
  6. ^ Kalaf, Samer. "Bill Simmons's New Site Has A Name And Some New Hires". Deadspin. Archived from the original on 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
  7. ^ Detrick, Ben (May 29, 2018). "The Curious Case of Bryan Colangelo and the Secret Twitter Account". The Ringer. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  8. ^ "Bryan Colangelo resigns as president of 76ers". ESPN.com. June 7, 2018. Archived from the original on October 13, 2022. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  9. ^ Spangler, Todd. "The Ringer Management Recognizes Union Representation by Writers Guild of America East". Variety. Archived from the original on 2019-09-14. Retrieved 2019-09-03.
  10. ^ "Spotify to Pay as Much as $195M for Bill Simmons' The Ringer". The Hollywood Reporter. 12 February 2020. Archived from the original on 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  11. ^ "Spotify is buying The Ringer to boost its sports podcast content". TechCrunch. 5 February 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  12. ^ Carman, Ashley (2021-04-07). "Gimlet and Ringer unions detail their first historic contracts with Spotify". The Verge. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
  13. ^ Scheiber, Noam (2021-04-07). "Unions at The Ringer and Gimlet Media announce their first contracts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-06-24.
  14. ^ a b "The Ringer Podcast Network – The Ringer". The Ringer. 2016-05-02. Archived from the original on 2017-05-13. Retrieved 2017-07-28.
  15. ^ "'Keeping It 1600' Podcast's Obama Alums Launch New Show and 'Crooked Media' Company". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2018-06-18. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  16. ^ "Facebook, Twitter and Apple get into the television business". The Economist. Archived from the original on 2017-08-25. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  17. ^ "Game of Thrones aftershow 'Talk the Thrones' picked up by Twitter". The Independent. 2017-06-14. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  18. ^ Borelli, Renan (2019-01-30). "The Hit Podcasters Breaking Down Harry Potter, Chapter by Chapter". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2019-04-17.
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