When Shannon Sharpe first signed with The Volume in 2023, he was fresh off a difficult split with Skip Bayless and FS1. Sharpe brought his growing podcast to Colin Cowherd’s YouTube-focused digital media company and quickly launched a spinoff, Nightcap, with former NFL wideout Chad Johnson. Both shows exploded from that point on, leaving Sharpe headed toward free agency and a reportedly massive payday.
According to Ryan Glasspiegel and Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, Sharpe’s deal with The Volume is set to expire soon and Sharpe is already weighing multiple nine-figure offers.
Starting during Super Bowl week, Nightcap livestreams stopped including The Volume logo in their onscreen graphics. Sharpe’s Feb. 19 interview with Wallo267 is the last episode of Club Shay Shay to feature branding from The Volume. Both shows appear to have been shoehorned independently into The Volume’s deal with DraftKings, though Nightcap recently announced Boost Mobile as a presenting sponsor.
Shay Shay Media also recently added The Bubba Dub Show and a podcast with the Atlanta Hawks to its roster as Sharpe’s media company expands.
Data from the internet analytics site Social Blade indicates that the Club Shay Shay and Nightcap channels collectively generate an estimated 60 million views each month. That is more than Social Blade estimates for The Joe Rogan Experience, which last year signed a non-exclusive contract extension with Spotify reportedly worth $250 million.
Simply put, Sharpe is one of the biggest stars in an industry where the most prominent stars are increasingly getting major paydays. Podcasting is oversaturated, but Rogan, Alex Cooper, the Kelces and others have proven that the market is significant at the top. As the lines between traditional talk television and digital sports media blur, advertisers and distributors are placing more value on talent like Sharpe.
Looking ahead, Sharpe could choose to strike a licensing deal, similar to what Pat McAfee did with ESPN or what Ryan Clark’s The Pivot did briefly with Fanatics. Or, Sharpe could opt for a lucrative sponsorship deal, similar to that of FanDuel and Bussin’ With the Boys.
The ultimate inflection point will come when someone like Sharpe partners with a subscription-driven streaming platform, such as Netflix or Apple TV+. Sharpe will likely receive calls from those companies, and will have to determine whether going behind a paywall is the right move at this point in Shay Shay Media’s growth.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.