The sports and pop culture blog Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini said that the Barstool Gold subscription product recently crossed 30,000 subscribers.
In a world where media brands are struggling for revenue, Barstool Sports has been witnessing a humongous growth ever since the inception of Barstool Gold; the subscription product was said to have amassed 10,000 subscribers in the first three days of launching itself.
According to a spokesperson of the company, speaking to DigiDay, it was revealed that Barstool anticipated a spike in the subscription sales as the company’s core audience signed up initially, followed by a gradual growth since then.
Out of the aforementioned 30,000 followers, nearly 80% signed up for an annual plan with about 60% of them signing up for a steeply-priced “hardcore” tier.
As of now, Barstool is working on building a recurring model while developing its fan base steadily; after the unprecedented growth came along, the company is further pushed into the dichotomy of developing a sustainable plan soon.
In October 2019 alone, 8.6 million US visitors visited the site which is a growth rate exceeding 400% compared to the previous year.
“We’re very mindful of that tension. We have personalities who want to find more fans and become more recognized, make content that makes people laugh and to reach as many people as possible. A subscription product can be counter to that; at the same time it brings you closer to a really loyal customer, a really loyal fan,” said Nardini.
While Barstool Sports is juggling with its content strategy and subscription business, the company’s future is also yet to be determined.
Originally founded by David Portnoy, Barstool Sports was sold to The Chernin Group in 2016. Word has it that the Chernin Group is now considering selling a majority or minority stake of the Barstool Sports to a sports gambling company.
It is worth noting that the majority of Barstool Sports’ audience are betters, meaning that gambling companies can be the right fit for acquiring the company.
However, coming to the speculations surrounding Barstool Sports’ acquisition by this year’s end, the CEO Nardini said that she doesn’t know anything yet.
Barstool recently announced that it was putting some content on Telegram to avoid Instagram censorship.
