Courtside with The Tennis Podcast and David Law - [Making Media, EP.33]

Our guest today is David Law. David is a broadcaster and co-founder of the biggest podcast in tennis, aptly named - The Tennis Podcast. This is an exceptional conversation on what it takes to be successful as a podcaster. David and his co-presenters have recorded over 1000 episodes. They went 5 years without earning a penny from the podcast. It took over 10 years to become a full-time gig. But David and his team stuck with it. And now they have the biggest podcast in their field, a large and growing subscriber base, and count a host of famous names as listeners, including Billie Jean King and Lin-Manual Miranda. Growth, monetization, persistence, broadcasting – this episode has it all. Please enjoy our conversation with David Law. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Scribe. Scribe is the presenting sponsor of this episode of Making Media and the magic behind the Colossus transcripts. One of the best decisions we made at Colossus was transcribing all of our audio into a searchable transcript library. We had been using another provider up until the summer of 2022 but we were constantly having issues with accuracy if our audio was just the slightest bit impaired. Whether it's training sessions, internal Q&As, or for media purposes, the value of transcripts is huge. And we are not alone. Scribe is the transcription service that powers all of S&P Global - like CapIQ - and the client list includes our friends at Tegus. Go to joincolossus.com/scribe to unlock 150 minutes of free transcription and test their capabilities. ----- Making Media is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Making Media, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @ReustleMatt | @domcooke | @MakingMediaPod | @JoinColossus  Show Notes  (00:03:07) - (First question) - David reflects on 11 years of podcasting (00:06:00) - Starting The Tennis Podcast in 2012, David and his co-founder combined their love for tennis and podcasts (00:08:45) - Focusing on audience growth and personal enjoyment (00:11:26) - How David began as a tennis commentator (00:14:10) - Conveying the feel of the match on the radio (00:19:09) - The evolution of the podcast team (00:25:33) - Deriving content from what's happening in the tennis world (00:27:02) - Podcasting success relies on innate ability, unique voices, chemistry, and honing skills (00:28:50) - How to maintain journalistic integrity (00:32:05) - How The Tennis Podcast began monetizing through Kickstarter in 2017 (00:38:13) - Sponsors hesitation due to unfamiliarity with podcast medium (00:42:04) - Podcasting creates a personal connection with listeners, unlike traditional broadcasting (00:50:28) - David's most vivid memories surrounding tennis (00:53:30) - Debrief