Colin Cowherd is the latest sports media star to fly solo with a podcast network.
Yesterday, the longtime radio host launched The Volume in partnership with iHeartMedia, which is selling the network’s ads, Bloomberg reported. FanDuel is The Volume’s presenting sponsor.
The idea for the network originated early in the pandemic, when Cowherd was notified his Fox Sports radio show, “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” had sold out of advertisements while others were struggling to fill air time. So he pitched iHeartMedia on a plan to build out 2,000 more hours of programming.
Podcasting is still considered to be an under-monetized medium: ad revenue for traditional U.S. radio totaled $12 billion in 2020 while podcast ad revenue was $1.1 billion.
Cowherd’s new venture comes shortly after another top name, Jemele Hill, announced she is starting her own podcast network with Spotify.
Both should hope to be as successful as fellow former ESPN personality Bill Simmons, who sold The Ringer and its podcast network to Spotify for $250 million about a year ago.
