As we approach the start of baseball, the beginning of March Madness and the run up toward the NBA Playoffs it is good to catch up with some of the people who are on the front lines of disruption and digital innovation, especially around hoops. One of those is Peter Robert Casey. A serial digital entrepreneur, Pete has been first on a number of opportunities, including work with Nike on the digital space, being the first credentialed media member to use twitter as his voice of choice (for St. John’s University basketball), helping the Knicks build their digital and social strategy and then helping revamp the digital and social footprint for the iconic Five Star brand. Oh and he also created and launched a site called Sports Passport, which gives fans the ability to catalogue and compare almost every stadium, arena and ballpark fans may have visited in their lives, and compare those visits to friends and colleagues. Today Pete is the CEO of JDS Sports (parent company of SLAM and SLAM Magazine), which has a storied history as a disruptive force in basketball and pop culture. We caught up with Pete to catch us up on all he is doing, and what’s next with Slam.
Tell us about where Slam is today and who the audience is now from say, five years ago?
SLAM was founded in 1994 as the “In-your-face basketball magazine.” Today, it’s a digital-first media property that covers all things basketball, from preps to pros, sneakers to culture. Our audience is heavily 18-24, but our fastest growing demographic is 13-18 year olds. We’re doing over 100M video views per month and still print 9x/year. Six issues for subscribers and three special issues.
Where are you finding your stories these days?
Frankly, wherever the ball bounces. High school basketball continues to be a hotbed for highlights and compelling stories. The advent and proliferation of social media, along with today’s one-and-done college culture, have elevated players’ profiles at a much younger age.
SLAM is in dozens of high school gyms around the country every night and our community continues to feed us user-generated clips and leads from all parts of the world.
How important as social become in storytelling for Slam?
Teenagers are digital natives. They spend nearly three hours per day staring at their mobile devices – almost 41 full days per year if you add it up – and most of that time is spent engaged in native social apps. So, creating content that is tailored for each social platform is not only important, but an imperative.
How have the lessons you have learned being really a first adopter in the digital space helped you with Slam now?
The platforms have changed and attention spans are shorter, but certain themes remain the same. Teenagers crave relevancy, authenticity, and transparency. They can sniff out fake and look for meaningful opportunities to engage. So if you’re trying to connect with Gen Z, those values have to be woven into your content and community strategy.
Give us an update on Sports Passport? How is it growing, whats the latest there as we head into March Madness and baseball season?
Sports Passport is now on Patreon. We’ve weened away from advertising, focused on memberships (that unlock perks and functionality), and our base of avid game-goers continues to grow. We now cover five sports, eight leagues, and have over a half-million games in our database. Most fun: We’re cash-flow positive.
Who are you watching now in the social and digital space and why?
I’m not a daily reader of theirs, but I love how Barstool Sports is diversifying its revenue base with merchandise, digital PPVs, and a premium subscription product on the horizon. I’m also keeping an eye on The Athletic and how it’s disrupting the local sports page.
As we head toward the end of the NBA season, what can fans expect to see from Slam? Anything new or different?
We just launched a content studio to create a daily show and episodic series. And our next set of covers will shock people. I’ll leave it at that.
