Twitter Spaces

Twitter’s audio conversation feature Spaces has already seen some interesting formal partnerships with leagues, including the NFL. But on the college football side, the conversation seems to be going a little differently. Some prominent CFB media outlets have long been embracing Spaces, including the Shutdown Fullcast (which teamed up with John Skipper and Dan Le Batard’s Meadowlark Media for the Fullcast After Dark Spaces/podcasts this season), but the notable use of Spaces has really expanded in the coaching carousel/recruiting frenzy following the CFB regular season. And, interestingly enough, that’s not all coming from media outlets; some of the most-listened-to Spaces have been launched by regular fans without media roles, with even some prominent school officials taking part in those, and teams have also used Spaces themselves.

As per data sent by Twitter, both ESPN and Fox‘s college football accounts created Spaces with upwards of 10,000 listeners over the past month. That’s more notable for those outlets embracing the medium than for the numbers, as both those outlets have big followings and tend to do good numbers with most things they try. But one of the “Fire Mike Norvell” Spaces hosted by Florida State fan (and podcaster) @MooreLife1 after Travis Hunter’s flip from Florida State to Jackson State had more than 80,000 listeners, which is remarkable, and two of those “Fire Mike Norvell” Spaces were amongst the most-listened to Spaces of any kind in the U.S. in the last 30 days. @TheCAJones11 also hosted a big Space on Hunter’s flip.

Multiple teams, including LSU and UCF, have also launched their own Spaces and found numerous numbers of listeners there. And the path that  Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens took was particularly interesting; rather than launching a Space through the Ducks’ account, he popped into a fan-led chat from @1Lunden to address their hire of Dan Lanning, speaking for five minutes to more than 1,000 listeners. It remains to be seen if more ADs will follow suit. But it’s certainly notable to see these Spaces taking off, and not just from media outlets. And that has even ESPN personality (and noted call-in show host) Paul Finebaum interested:

Plenty of technology things come and go, so it remains to be seen if Spaces have staying power, especially in the sports world. But there is maybe a particular appeal to these in the sports world, long known for radio shows featuring both expert commentators and calls from fans. Some of the Spaces uses so far seem to be exploring that area, and there seems to be at least some fan appetite for it, perhaps especially in college football. We’ll see where that goes from here.

[Twitter Spaces illustration at top from iGeeksBlog]

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.