Former Manchester United football star and entrepreneur Gary Neville has revealed plans to bring in “four or five” other podcast platforms into his sports media network The Overlap over the next 12 months.
Speaking at Factory International’s Aviva Studios on 26 February on day two of the Mad//North event, Neville shared the next phase of The Overlap’s growth ambitions after media giant Global acquired a majority stake in the network earlier this year.
“We’ve got a really successful podcast where revenues were doubling every single year,” said Neville in conversation with Sarah Ray, Commercial Podcast Director at Global, and Joe Copeman, Commercial Director at Global.
Although the network’s revenues were “doubling every year”, he revealed how he had been eyeing other channels that would “align perfectly” with what The Overlap does.
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“I see a lot of people who have podcasts and are hosting on their own. I think: ‘right, we need to build out some resilience behind you’. We can definitely help some of those in a number of different ways, from production and creativity.”
The business is now on a “journey” to create the “biggest non-live football platform in the world”.
As for revenue, he said although viewers haven’t paid a “penny” since The Overlap launched in 2019, he hinted that might change in future and there could be “some form of subscription” introduced in the future.
“The reason we haven’t introduced subscriptions so far is because if we’re going to introduce something that people are going to pay for, it has to be really good, and it has to be compelling, and we have to do it for £1 a week, less than a cup of coffee, as an example.
“We have to sell it in such a way which means it’s brilliant, and that people are feeling that they’re getting really good value from it, and our partners can give some form of discount code to our subscribers so they can get some value out of it.
“All of those things are in my head before I think about launching something. From a business perspective, the views are critical to everything. Ultimately, that is what makes things work from a business perspective but most importantly, we want people to love what we do.”
But what else does it take to build a winning sports media network? Neville revealed the ‘key’ to The Overlap’s success so far is thanks to “authenticity” without lots of rehearsals, lived experiences of the network’s hosts, and making sure they have the right guests and brand partnerships.
“The fact that it’s not as prepared as it probably should be is a positive, the fact that it’s authentic, the fact that we don’t know where it’s going to go, or we don’t know where each other are going to go, and what each other’s opinions are, I think, is probably the key to a good TV programme and a good podcast,” he said.
Neville also explained that putting fans at the centre of content strategy has helped drive 38 million monthly views, and how The Overlap now spans multiple sports including football, rugby and cricket, featuring fan debates, exclusive interviews and its flagship series Stick to Football, which has become a breakout success.
During the session, titled “Talent, Fans and Cultural Scale: The Overlap x Global Studios”, Neville also revealed some of The Overlap’s future guests include Robbie Williams in two weeks, and Steven Gerrard.
