The Ringer

Mugsy's Jock

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Simmons and Hayes did some wraparounds on AMC's presentation of "Elf" Monday night that I was super excited for because a.) I love Elf, b.) I love The Rewatchables, and c.) I'm always trying to figure out creative fun new ways to present movies on TV, and actually had pitched the same idea, using The Rewatchables, to my own network.

It was a massive disappointment.

Rule 1 of presenting hosted movies on TV is the wraparounds had goddamned better well be brief (15-20 seconds) because most people come for the movie, not the wraps. And the Elf presentation accomplished that. But it was about the only thing they did right.

It was clear the wraparounds were (sloppily) edited lifts from a longer conversation between Hayes and Simmons about Elf, and not specifically written or produced to fill the 15-second chunks they were asked to fill on TV. Somebody should've put in the time to create properly customized content.

While I like Hayes and Simmons both just fine, they weren't the right two to sit alone for this. Desperately needed a female co-host to balance out Simmons' bro-ness as a presentation of a family movie. Didn't need a third voice -- to do short segments properly two is more than enough -- but one of The Ringer's strong women should've sat in for either Simmons or Hayes.

Finally, product placements took up a substantial part of the segments. I don't object to that on principle -- AMC is a commercial business and, done right, host segments can be a great way to deliver (and receive) an advertiser message. But the IHOP support here was too prevalent and too ham-fisted.

So... thanks for killing my idea AMC!
 

thebtskink

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Jul 15, 2005
332
Fennessy needs someone light to bounce off of, bare minimum of Litman.

His pods with Nayman are unlistemable.
 

Kliq

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Eh that’s just playing off a joke that Sal made in the pod earlier this week about getting screwed betting on the Army v Navy game.
 

johnmd20

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Fennessy needs someone light to bounce off of, bare minimum of Litman.

His pods with Nayman are unlistemable.
Litman would be awesome on the Big Picture. I think Fennessy is solid enough, and his interviews are excellent, but Dobbins is way too extra. She dismisses almost everything, in a glib, cool way, because she's way above it, and it's lousy to listen to. Litman, on the other hand, is excellent at everything she does.

If the Big Picture has a problem, it's not Fennessy.
 

Dan Murfman

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Amanda Dobbins on her podcast talking about Bombshell and Megyn Kelly and other FOX women:

"These women are on Fox News in short skirts and they know what they're doing." She also said Kelly is rich so she’s fine.
 

johnmd20

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Amanda Dobbins on her podcast talking about Bombshell and Megyn Kelly and other FOX women:

"These women are on Fox News in short skirts and they know what they're doing." She also said Kelly is rich so she’s fine.
Considering her stance on sexism in Hollywood and her general and consistent denigration of men just as a matter of course, this is a wildly insane take from her.
 

Rustjive

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Considering her stance on sexism in Hollywood and her general and consistent denigration of men just as a matter of course, this is a wildly insane take from her.
I don't want to sit here and seem like I'm defending her take as reported by Dan Murfman. Removed from all context, as a quote, it's indefensible. It's not something she should have said just because it's so easy to quote without context. With that being said, here is the whole segment:

Fennessey: Have you guys seen Megyn Kelly's response to the movie?
Dobbins: Mhm.
Fennessey: ...Her Instagram photo of her son looking at the poster of the film?
Dobbins: Yeah, really confused.
Fennessey: What must it be like to be Megyn Kelly in the universe? That's gotta be a very odd existence.
Dobbins: I have to be honest, I don't really care. Like, what it means to be Megyn Kelly is you're rich as shit and successful. And she's fine, and she's posting the picture of her son looking at her on a movie poster and gets a lot of sympathetic responses from people. Megyn Kelly's fine. And that's the one thing where I'm kinda with Sean's wife on this, which is, there is a dimension to this movie which is unexamined, I feel, of, these women are participating in a lot of things, not in sexual harassment, and it's a complicated situation. The movie shows that, to a degree. But it's also, these women are on Fox News in short skirts and they know what they're doing.
Fennessey: I think it might actually be a better movie about show business, than media. And in many ways, Fox is in the business of show business, and the leg cameras, and the sort of, auditioning aspect, of the film and how Ailes uses that to harass people - all of those things, they felt much more like a backroom Hollywood story than like a media story ultimately to me.
The qualifier is in there. The charitable explanation is that she's talking about a point adjacent to the sexual harassment, that the movie doesn't put enough of a spotlight on how Fox News chooses to present its female hosts on air.

The 'Kelly is rich' quote has to do with not the sexual harassment but with the release of the movie, and with the surreality of Charlize's look and performance.
 

Mugsy's Jock

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Soooo....anybody hear anything about Robert Mays’ unexplained and unreferenced absence from the NFL podcast? Guessing it’s just a matter of his contract coming due, but just so weird that Kevin Clark hasn’t made any reference at all to the show becoming a solo act.
 

thebtskink

New Member
Jul 15, 2005
332
Soooo....anybody hear anything about Robert Mays’ unexplained and unreferenced absence from the NFL podcast? Guessing it’s just a matter of his contract coming due, but just so weird that Kevin Clark hasn’t made any reference at all to the show becoming a solo act.
He is saying on Twitter he will be on Thursday's pod.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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Aug 12, 2009
10,103
Simmons and Hayes did some wraparounds on AMC's presentation of "Elf" Monday night that I was super excited for because a.) I love Elf, b.) I love The Rewatchables, and c.) I'm always trying to figure out creative fun new ways to present movies on TV, and actually had pitched the same idea, using The Rewatchables, to my own network.

It was a massive disappointment.

Rule 1 of presenting hosted movies on TV is the wraparounds had goddamned better well be brief (15-20 seconds) because most people come for the movie, not the wraps. And the Elf presentation accomplished that. But it was about the only thing they did right.

It was clear the wraparounds were (sloppily) edited lifts from a longer conversation between Hayes and Simmons about Elf, and not specifically written or produced to fill the 15-second chunks they were asked to fill on TV. Somebody should've put in the time to create properly customized content.

While I like Hayes and Simmons both just fine, they weren't the right two to sit alone for this. Desperately needed a female co-host to balance out Simmons' bro-ness as a presentation of a family movie. Didn't need a third voice -- to do short segments properly two is more than enough -- but one of The Ringer's strong women should've sat in for either Simmons or Hayes.

Finally, product placements took up a substantial part of the segments. I don't object to that on principle -- AMC is a commercial business and, done right, host segments can be a great way to deliver (and receive) an advertiser message. But the IHOP support here was too prevalent and too ham-fisted.

So... thanks for killing my idea AMC!
Just watched this, and maybe it was because I was watching a cut down version on demand (rather than on air), but I thought it worked great, with the wraparound segments lasting maybe 20 seconds at most, usually just Simmons introducing the category (e.g., most rewatchable scene), Ryan giving his answer (e.g., meeting Dinklage), Simmons agreeing or disagreeing (e.g., fake Santa scene), and maybe a parting joke. Quick and amusing and then back to the movie.
 

allstonite

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Oct 27, 2010
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It was phenomenal in my opinion. Tarantino really played along and seemed to understand the tone of the podcast and already knew the categories (although not Dion Waiters). I love when really smart people passionately discuss movies they love and what makes them so great. It's why I love Blank Check and even if I don't like something they cover I could listen to them passionately break it down for hours. This was like that.

I'd have to look into it more but I think it's my favorite podcast episode of the year. I can't wait for the next 2
 

luckiestman

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Jul 15, 2005
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First up is Dunkirk. I was a first surprised that Bill didn't insist to be a part of it (this is with Fennessey and Ryan) but seeing how there are 3, I assume he'll be on at least one of the others. Looking forward to this listen.
Does Bill like this movie? I was very bored by it. I shut it off after maybe 20 minutes. I’ve given up on watching things to appreciate them. I understand the film is something of an artistic achievement but I didn’t enjoy it enough to continue.

I enjoyed the podcast about Dunkirk more than Dunkirk.
 

CantKeepmedown

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Jul 15, 2005
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Agreed. Listened to it this morning while shoveling. QT was a great 3rd host who totally understood the layout of the podcast. I loved his answer to favorite scene (QT= "the first 45 minutes") but was able to break it down. The Saul Rubinkek award section was funny. Chris must've been thrilled with QT laughing at his impersonations.

The only cringe/eye rolling parts were Fennessey constantly saying how he has complex feelings with Nolan films.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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Yeah when I saw Dunkirk was up, I figured Chris Ryan's head would explode and he'd do the full podcast in Scottish voice.
 

PedroKsBambino

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Say what you will about Simmons as a interviewer, but he/Ringer has really moved up to tier-one guests and interviewees this year.
 

luckiestman

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Say what you will about Simmons as a interviewer, but he/Ringer has really moved up to tier-one guests and interviewees this year.
It’s a fun vibe. He has really created/facilitated something cool. Imagine telling 1995 BS that QT is going to appear on some podcast he does about rewatching movies. Good for Billy thin skin.
 

Kliq

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Simmons allegedly worked with QT on a sketch for Kimmel in the early 2000s, he mentioned it earlier this year when they were talking about Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

I think Bill has found a nice niche as a guy that celebrities can appear on during their media tours for upcoming projects and not have to answer the same questions over and over again; they can just talk about basketball or random bullshit. Someone mentioned earlier about the KG and Sandler podcast that it was mostly Bill and KG talking about the NBA, and that Sandler's people probably were not happy since they were "supposed" to talk about the movie. I think that kind of dynamic actually helps Bill land guests; celebrities like Sandler would probably be much more inclined to talk about basketball than answer "So you are making a serious movie?" a million different times.
 

Reverend

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QT comparing Dunkirk to various element of It's A Mad Mad Mad World was pretty great. Looking forward to the next two.
They do mashups pretty good. Although I guess some of them kinda pioneered it, yeah?
 

Reverend

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I love the Rewatchatchables too. Strong concept.
 

luckiestman

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The Rewatchables are always good and maybe my favorite podcast

This King of New York One might be the best one yet.
 

johnmd20

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The Rewatchables are always good and maybe my favorite podcast

This King of New York One might be the best one yet.
Yes. Wholehearted yes. QT was into The Rewatchables before he went on. He knew the entire process and that is almost hard to believe. Huge get for The Ringer. But all three were great, King of NY was the best. It was funny as hell, interesting, deep, and engaging.
 

The Filthy One

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Aug 11, 2005
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Does one need to have seen King of NY to enjoy the podcast?
You should watch King of New York anyway because it's awesome, but I listened to every minute of the Unstoppable podcast and I've never seen that movie. My guess is this will be similarly rewarding even if you're unfamiliar with the movie. But again, it's worth the watch.
 

bosockboy

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Jul 15, 2005
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Doing a second Rewatchable of Heat next week. The first was 2-3 years ago when the categories weren’t developed. I have an intense love of Heat like Ryan and Simmons do so I’m stoked.
 

luckiestman

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Yes. Wholehearted yes. QT was into The Rewatchables before he went on. He knew the entire process and that is almost hard to believe. Huge get for The Ringer. But all three were great, King of NY was the best. It was funny as hell, interesting, deep, and engaging.
Per the bolded, this made QT’s Sorkin line so funny.
 

luckiestman

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The Godfather Part II podcast was outstanding, too.
I did like that one too; I am just not a fan of Koppleman. Tarantino’s passion and infectiousness is more in line with what I most enjoy about the Rewatchables. QT should be a celebrity regular on this.

I’m just going to say it here, Bill Simmons for me is approaching what Carson must have been like for fans of that show. Rewatchables + Book of Basketball + his regular podcast are so damn fun.
 

johnmd20

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-in-early-talks-to-buy-sports-and-pop-culture-outlet-the-ringer-11579302564
Spotify in talks to buy the Ringer. I am aware this is behind a paywall and I'm sorry about that. Apparently The Ringer had 15 mill in revenues last year and is profitable. But I wonder how much 15 million in revenues is worth? 1x revenue? 2x?

Still, it's pretty impressive to see The Ringer making strides in the manner they have. 100 million podcast downloads a month. That's the type of content Spotify needs. And, of course, Spotify has plenty of money, they could buy the Ringer for 50 million like it's nothing.

Spotify Technology SA SPOT -2.31% is in talks to buy sports and pop-culture outlet the Ringer, according to people familiar with the matter, a deal that would let the audiostreaming giant break into broader digital media and bring a network of more than 30 podcasts under its roof.

Discussions are early, these people cautioned, and may not result in a deal.

Spotify, the largest music-streaming platform by subscribers, has been investing heavily in podcasting, a bet it hopes will keep users more engaged, bring over more listeners from radio and increase profit margins. Last year the company spent $400 million to snap up three podcast companies and struck more than two dozen deals for exclusive or original content.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

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I only hope that due to Spotify's obvious medium, that it doesn't hurt the print content of the Ringer. With Deadspin gone, I'd hate to see another site where occasional long-form sports journalism is no longer available.
 

johnmd20

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I only hope that due to Spotify's obvious medium, that it doesn't hurt the print content of the Ringer. With Deadspin gone, I'd hate to see another site where occasional long-form sports journalism is no longer available.
This is a legitimate concern. Spotify doesn't have long form anything when it comes to writing. If they buy The Ringer for the podcast network, it's hard to envision the writing continuing.
 

JRedburn

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Gimlet was about $15M in revenue when they were acquired for $200M so that’s more likely the range we’re talking about - certainly not 1-2x revenues.
 

kenneycb

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Old but good summary about what Spotify is trying to do with podcasts. Ben Thompson (Simmons first a couple times) is an awesome read regardless of subject.

https://stratechery.com/2019/spotifys-podcast-aggregation-play/
What I think Spotify senses, though, is that while podcasts, at least in theory, solve many of their business model problems, Spotify is also uniquely positioned to solve the problems of many podcasters/suppliers. To wit:

  • Increasing advertising revenue for the entire industry requires a centralized player that can leverage a large userbase. Spotify is still a distant second to Apple in podcasts, but they are growing fast. Just as importantly, Spotify already has a strongly growing advertising business — again, larger than the entire podcast market — that it can extend to podcasts.
  • The open nature of podcasts means it is very difficult to monetize users directly; Spotify, though, has already built an entire infrastructure around monetizing users directly. Podcasts exclusive to Spotify can likely make meaningful money from Spotify subscribers that still gives Spotify far higher margin than music.
This explains Spotify’s multi-prong approach:

  • Anchor provides a way to capture new podcasters, leading them either to Spotify advertising or, in the case of rising stars, to Spotify exclusives. Critically, because Spotify has access to all of the data, they can likely bring those suppliers on board at a far lower rate than they have to pay for established creators like Gimlet Media.
  • Spotify Advertising, as I just suggested, makes a strong play to be the dominant provider for the entire podcasting industry. Spotify Advertising is already operating at a far larger scale than Midroll, the incumbent player, and Spotify has access to the data of the second largest podcast player in the market.
  • Gimlet Media becomes an umbrella brand for a growing stable of Spotify exclusive podcasts. Critically, as I noted above, the majority of these podcasts come to Spotify not because Spotify pays them millions of dollars but simply because Spotify is better at monetizing than anyone else.
 

the1andonly3003

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Jul 15, 2005
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https://www.wsj.com/articles/spotify-in-early-talks-to-buy-sports-and-pop-culture-outlet-the-ringer-11579302564
Spotify in talks to buy the Ringer. I am aware this is behind a paywall and I'm sorry about that. Apparently The Ringer had 15 mill in revenues last year and is profitable. But I wonder how much 15 million in revenues is worth? 1x revenue? 2x?

Still, it's pretty impressive to see The Ringer making strides in the manner they have. 100 million podcast downloads a month. That's the type of content Spotify needs. And, of course, Spotify has plenty of money, they could buy the Ringer for 50 million like it's nothing.

Will the historic podcast library be taken off other platforms?