A first-of-its-kind study from USC Annenberg's Next Level Sports initiative, titled "Owning the Narrative," concludes that athletes have moved beyond their traditional roles as analysts and commentators to become creators, owners and distributors of their own media — disrupting a broadcast establishment that long dictated the terms of sports coverage. The research, a partnership between USC Annenberg's Norman Lear Center and the USC Marshall School of Business, maps an industry that now spans more than 370 media properties across 33 athlete-owned production companies. But the study's most striking finding is a gap: only 22% of the top athlete-owned podcasts analyzed featured any women as hosts or guests.
The Rise of Athlete-Owned Media: A New Era in Sports Storytelling
The study's premise is that a structural change has occurred in how sports stories reach audiences. Athletes are no longer merely subjects of coverage or hired voices in a broadcast booth; they are carving out their own pathways, delivering content directly to fans and experimenting with fresh formats and emerging platforms. The USC researchers framed this movement as a realignment in the media landscape of who gets to speak, who gets heard and who gets paid. That framing matters, because it treats athlete-owned media not as a novelty but as a redistribution of power over the sports narrative itself.
An Explanatory Model: Four Key Shifts in Athlete-Owned Media
Read together, the study's findings resolve into four distinct but interconnected dimensions of change. Each shift builds on the others: ownership enables new content, new content enables new revenue, and the distribution of all three raises the equity question. The framework below organizes the study's central findings into a diagnostic model readers can use to understand any athlete media venture they encounter.
The Four Pillars of Athlete-Owned Media Transformation
Use this framework to systematically understand the distinct components of how athlete-owned media is reshaping the sports industry. Each row pairs a dimension of change with the study's key finding and its practical impact.
| Dimension | Shift From | Key Finding | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athlete Role | Player, analyst or commentator | Athletes are becoming owners, creators and distributors of their own media content. | Athletes control their narratives and engage fans directly, without traditional gatekeepers. |
| Content Focus | Game analysis and coverage | Content extends into personal and cultural storytelling — family, identity and mental health. | Perspectives rarely seen in traditional coverage reach audiences directly. |
| Business Model | Endorsements and broadcast contracts | Athletes are building powerful new revenue streams from their own stories and brands. | Economic and cultural power shifts, determining who profits from athlete narratives. |
| Equity Gap | — | Only 22% of top athlete-owned podcasts analyzed featured any women as hosts or guests. | Women athletes remain underrepresented despite the surge in women's sports popularity. |
Shift 1: From Player to Owner and Creator
The first shift is positional. Athletes have historically entered media on the industry's terms — as interview subjects, color commentators or analysts. The study finds they now operate on the ownership side, building ventures that produce and distribute content themselves. As background research on athlete-driven media notes, athletes no longer need to rely on public relations firms, franchise management or sportswriters to shape their public image; they can use the reach of social platforms to define it themselves. The USC team developed a new taxonomy of athlete media ventures precisely because no one had mapped this ownership layer before.
Shift 2: From Game Analysis to Personal Narratives
The second shift is editorial. Athlete-owned media often extends well beyond the game, tackling topics like family, identity and mental health — subjects traditional coverage rarely afforded athletes space to explore. The study's content analysis of athlete-owned video podcasts found storytelling that is more personal and culturally varied than conventional sports programming. This is where the "narrative" in the study's title becomes concrete: the stories being told are not just about performance, but about the lives and perspectives of the people performing.
Shift 3: New Business Models and Revenue Streams
The third shift is economic. By owning the means of distribution, athletes are building revenue streams that exist independently of broadcast contracts and endorsement deals. "Athlete-owned media isn't just driving billions in value with a new business model — it's rebalancing power and reshaping culture," said Willow Bay, dean of USC Annenberg's School for Communication and Journalism and co-principal investigator on the research. The scale supports that claim: athlete-owned podcasts have collectively amassed more than 7 billion views on YouTube, 725 million likes on TikTok and 37 million Instagram followers, according to the study as reported by Sports Business Journal.
Shift 4: The Identified Gender Equity Gap
The fourth shift is the one that has not yet happened. Despite the surge in women's sports popularity, the study found that only 22% of the top athlete-owned podcasts analyzed featured any women as hosts or guests. The report's authors highlight this as significant untapped potential for growth and equity rather than a permanent condition. The finding is a reminder that a new media ecosystem does not automatically correct the exclusions of the old one — the same ownership structures that liberate some athletes can reproduce existing disparities if women are not among the owners and creators.
The Scale of Athlete-Owned Media and Its Future
The numbers quantify what the model describes. More than 370 media properties operated by 33 athlete-owned production companies, billions of YouTube views and hundreds of millions of TikTok likes add up to an industry that behaves less like a trend and more like infrastructure. The study's methodology — in-depth stakeholder interviews combined with content analysis of athlete-owned video podcasts — gives the findings an empirical footing that anecdote-driven coverage of the phenomenon lacks. Adam Rogers, director of research operations at the USC Norman Lear Center, described the effort as mapping "something out that nobody's really mapped out before."
Navigating the Evolving Sports Media Landscape
Stakeholders in sports media, including athletes, traditional media, and brands, should recognize the fundamental shift towards athlete ownership and direct content creation. The four-pillar model offers a way to evaluate any new venture: ask who owns it, what stories it tells, how it earns revenue, and who is present or absent from its roster. The measurable indicators to watch are continued growth in the number of athlete-owned media properties and increasing audience engagement metrics, alongside efforts to address the identified gender gap — beginning with whether the share of top athlete-owned podcasts featuring women as hosts or guests rises above the 22% baseline the study documented.
Sources
- First-of-its-kind study reveals rise of athlete-owned media — Annenberg
- Report shows rise in athlete-owned media - Daily Trojan
- Athlete-Driven Media | Social Sciences and Humanities | Research Starters — EBSCO
- USC Annenberg’s Next Level Sports study analyzes rise of athlete-owned media — Sports Business Journal
