The dominant narratives in sports still come from live video. Television hosts, podcast stars, radio personalities, and game announcers shape fans’ opinions more than anyone else, and this is the coverage that teams pay attention to.
Yet as everyone spends more time on their phones and watches user-generated content on TVs as often as, if not more than, traditional television, the way fans engage with sports does not align with that conventional recipe.
For the past two years, Pew Research surveys have shown that more than half of Americans say they regularly get their news from social media. Video content on TikTok and YouTube dominates the field. In response, many prominent creators and influencers have used the platforms to launch careers. These people, often more so than the most famous ESPN hosts or future Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famers, are the primary source of news, information, and analysis for fans.
With our first-ever list of the top sports influencers and content creators, we sought to find the most successful and popular people serving this purpose for fans across America’s top sports.
This list comprises people who are innovating and building a real community around their exhaustive coverage and incisive analysis. That is not to say that these people are not also entertaining. To cut through in the ever-crowded online content marketplace, you have to be all of the above. The talent we are highlighting here certainly is.
Without further ado, the top sports influencers and content creators of 2025:
Katie Feeney – ESPN
A large segment of fans were likely introduced to the idea of a sports social media star when ESPN hired Feeney earlier this year as a “sports and lifestyle content creator.” While she still posts most of her content to her own platforms (which include 7.6 million followers on TikTok, 1.3 million on Instagram, and 1.1 million on Snapchat), Feeney operates as a conduit between ESPN and many digital-first sports fans.
Feeney is on the ground at big sporting events each week, where ESPN empowers her to create content that is very similar to what she did before joining the Worldwide Leader. In this way, Feeney gets to bring fans to even more exclusive spaces and memorable moments — along the way building greater sports fandom into her followers and bringing a more general audience to ESPN content.
Kofie Yeboah
Since he first popped up in the space, Yeboah has had a knack for what internet sports communities want. At SB Nation’s Secret Base, Yeboah worked on chronologies of the best and worst sports teams ever and longform storytelling about stories big and small.
With his independent content, Yeboah has tapped into the same passions. Yeboah specializes in nostalgia content and media commentary, with a keen understanding of what it is like to be a Millennial sports fan. While he most closely covers the NBA, he also weaves into soccer, gaming, and beyond.
Yeboah is one of many popular creators to get involved with Offside, a still-under-wraps collective billed as “the next-gen sports network.” Keep an eye out.
Lucy Rohden – Meadowlark Media
Melding Gen Z cynicism with a Midwestern sports obsession, Rohden rose quickly during the 2020 shutdowns with her irreverent short-form video coverage of college football. Meadowlark quickly snapped her up for an ill-fated stint on The Dan Le Batard Show, but Rohden’s content is as good as ever.
Rohden beams out her “bad teams” series after each week of the college season, where the fascinations of college football diehards go to die in the drone of Rohden’s hilarious deadpan. When Rohden travels to famous campuses each weekend for her Off Rohd-ing series on the Le Batard Show, she makes the frequently replicated man-on-the-street format feel fresh.
Bad teams list pic.twitter.com/SRci543teM
— Lucy Rohden (@lucy_rohden) October 27, 2025
Kevin Clancy – Barstool Sports
One of Barstool’s longest-tenured talents is now likely best known for his commentary on TikTok, where his 73,000-subscriber-strong channel has become like a Page Six for sports. A sampling of Clancy’s recent videos includes an analysis of Donald Trump lobbying to bring back Rush Hour, a breakdown of Bill Belichick’s appearance at the Jordon Hudson cheer competition, and commentary on the arrest of two Cleveland Guardians pitchers on fraud charges.
Occasionally, this gets Clancy into trouble, as we saw when he stepped in it while talking about a faux-scandal at Ole Miss earlier this year. But like everything Barstool puts out, Clancy’s social media feeds are probably a lot closer to the front page of the internet for sports and pop culture fans than whatever the ESPN Bottom Line might be showing.
Kenny Beecham – Enjoy Basketball
The OG NBA YouTuber is already at risk of graduating from this list with a fresh deal at NBC Sports. Beecham may be more podcaster than content creator at this point, but he is here as a salute to the grind it takes to go from NBA 2K videos to network commentator.
Beecham still frequently posts to YouTube, where he keeps fans in the know about news across basketball and offers far more considered analysis than you might find on “NBA Twitter” or r/NBA. Plus, Beecham built the Enjoy Basketball brand from the ground up, giving opportunities to other creators and delivering smart, positive, celebratory content across platforms.
Coach Jackie J
What is “sporty spice?” Watch Coach Jackie J’s TikTok videos, and you will understand: The idea is to cover sports with an eye for juicy narratives, but the result sees the women’s sports analyst smartly tackling the many-layered stories of the WNBA, NWSL, and women’s college basketball.
Far from a drama account, Coach Jackie J is equally likely to walk her audience through an uplifting underdog story as a sociopolitical issue. Women sports fans want the complete picture of athletes as people, and women’s sports leagues offer no shortage of big stories. But it takes a careful follower to develop an audience around these topics and earn their trust.
@jcubedhax Replying to @sravss like you literally couldn’t write this #womenscricketworldcup #cricket #india #womenssports ♬ Outro – M83
Ariel Epstein – The Ringer
Sports betting creators are a dime a dozen, but Epstein quickly went from independent streamer and video host to Ringer personality. Nicknamed “The Prop Queen,” Epstein stands out by working to build a real community around her betting content beyond her picks and her record.
Epstein is still early in her career, but a weekly spot on The Ringer Gambling Show shows she is on the way up. If her more personality and opinion-driven commentary on this past MLB postseason is any indication, Epstein is also more versatile than a typical betting analyst.
Brett Kollmann
There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned YouTuber. Kollmann is brilliant at constructing YouTube video essays about the NFL, whether he is covering the evolution of NFL kickoff rules or declaring his love for Indianapolis Colts legend Bob Sanders.
Every young NFL fan knows the “All-32” brand, and Kollmann is also a must-follow on X each Sunday. In recent years, Kollmann has started doing media commentary on his channel as well, flashing a sophisticated understanding of this strange space that sets him apart from the typical film nerd.
Jack Settleman – Snapback Sports
Where many digital sports brands chase the popular platforms and try to beat other creators at their own game, Snapback has always seemed a step ahead. They dominate on Snapchat, with newsletters, and through a growing trivia game. Snapback content focuses on the thrill of competition and the passion of fans, not on narratives or trends.
With nearly 1 million followers on Snapchat and almost 100,000 subscribers on YouTube who thirst for MrBeast-inspired sports experience vlogs, Settleman’s company is attracting a different sort of fan than the major networks or even the first generation of internet sports companies.
@jacksettleman23 Yes … I know Metlife is in New Jersey 🙄 #snapbackmondays #stadiumfood #newyork #philadelphia #seattle ♬ Ooh Ahh (My Life Be Like) [feat. Tobymac] – Grits
Quita Loves Sports – All City Network
Women’s basketball is growing faster than perhaps any other sport, and Quita Loves Sports has been there for 2 years, taking fans along for that explosion. Quita’s morning live streams draw thousands of viewers to cover a wide breadth of topics, from the evolving business of the WNBA to the nitty-gritty of each NCAA contender.
A deal earlier this year with All City put an even brighter spotlight on Quita, but day one viewers already trust Quita to deliver the news they need, chewing through the occasionally spicy gristle of culture wars and conspiracies that have overtaken the sport in the Caitlin Clark era.
Annie Agar
There may be no more reliably entertaining piece of content than Agar’s “NFL Meeting” series on TikTok, in which — for 1.5 million followers — she imagines the league’s 32 teams as employees in a conference room with the shield as the boss at the head of the table.
Each team gives an update based upon its performance in that Sunday’s game, while the other teams and the shield react to the increasingly unhinged monologues.
Beyond this go-to, Agar has also worked in more traditional reporting and hosting roles. But at her core, she is a content creator who understands the fun of fandom.
NFL meeting week 1 pic.twitter.com/AneevoOLXZ
— Annie Agar (@AnnieAgar) September 9, 2025
Ethan Strauss
The former Golden State Warriors beat reporter turned NBA analyst left The Athletic in 2020 to launch his own newsletter on Substack, where he weighs in on sports media and business stories and sometimes breaks news. Strauss’ audience includes many of the most prominent hosts in the space, including Bill Simmons, Dan Le Batard, and Colin Cowherd.
More recently, Strauss partnered with Two Way, a political content company, to launch a sports version of the debate show called Random Offense. In an age defined by skepticism of mainstream media and constant change, Strauss is a trusted voice with a loyal following who lived through an ESPN job, witnessed the rise of a hoops dynasty, and now wants to tell people all about it.
@IsoMaddy
IsoMaddy is the face and voice of WAGTalk, a women-first sports content brand under the Enjoy Basketball umbrella. But Maddy gets the shoutout here for her revealing videos with some of the biggest women’s sports stars.
WAGTalk is famous for its interview content with the wives and girlfriends (“WAGs”) of star athletes. Maddy quizzes these women about the athletes they are with to see how well they really know their partners’ careers. The results are often impressive and occasionally shocking.
@TylerSports
They say the NFL has become a year-long business, and TylerSports has content to match. Tyler provides tireless coverage of all things football on YouTube and social media. A Dolphins fan first and foremost, Tyler posts everything from local Miami vlogs to game recaps to news catch-up videos.
The intense, silly tone of Tyler’s videos will be familiar to anyone who uses TikTok frequently, and likely catch the attention of younger fans better than a studio show segment or stodgy news hit. But more than anything, Tyler has cut through because he is exhaustive and completist in his approach; follow him, and you will catch every sliver of NFL news that comes out.
Mariah Rose
After years of leagues and sports networks failing to reach women sports fans, the floodgates are open. As with many of the creators on this list, Mariah Rose has found a foothold distilling sports content for her 720,000-follower audience on TikTok, whom she lovingly describes as “girls, gays, and theys.”
If that doesn’t serve as enough of a mission statement, take her content, which focuses on beefs, fashion, and other curios around sports fandom beyond the games. However, Mariah has a knack for smart topics and a clear point of view, recently railing against gambling and covering the arrest of Barstool’s Patrick Beverley with a deft, legally clean touch.
@mariahcrose Replying to @_chika92 I might need to do a longer pt. 2 lmao #jeaniebuss #lalakers #nba #scandal #storytime ♬ original sound – mariah rose
Ashtyn Butuso – OffBall
Before she began writing and hosting at OffBall, Butuso founded the innovative women-focused basketball publication Flagrant Mag, which had a fun podcast and the best merch in the business.
Now, Butuso is crafting the snappy and curious tone of OffBall’s newsletter and editorial content. Butuso is clearly a sports fanatic, but has equal time for the fun and the ridiculous across the sports world.
Liam Holland & Eric Shellhouse – Bat Boys Baseball
If you’ve ever seen a video of kids with short shorts, baggy t-shirts, and long hair interviewing MLB superstars on the diamond, you likely knew about Bat Boys without realizing it. The social-first brand is celebratory, energetic, and fast-paced, like all Gen Z content, powered by a clearly genuine passion for baseball at a time when that is harder to find among young sports lovers.
The Bat Boys cycle from competition content to fun viral interviews to live event vlogs easily, and they’ve amassed a massive audience in short order, with nearly 500,000 followers on TikTok, more than 300,000 on Instagram, and almost 200,000 YouTube subscribers.
Drew Allen
Football is probably the only sport big enough in the U.S. to sustain an entire subgenre of online content in which creators make jokes about it. But that’s precisely what Drew Allen does for his nearly 2 million TikTok followers, telling the tale of each NFL game score by score through the imagined inner monologues of the teams’ players, coaches, and fans.
In between, Allen previews each week’s games and gives occasional news updates. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
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.