Sports Media Brand Togethxr Eyes Its Olympic Moment

As a company founded by four Olympians, it should come as no surprise that the sports media brand Togethxr has oriented much of its most anticipated new content around the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo. And given the early appetite from advertisers, expectations are high. The publisher, which launched officially in early March, is using the cachet of its founders, athletes Alex Morgan, Sue Bird, Simone Manuel and Chloe Kim, to anchor the nascent media company and attract a wave of advertiser interest. So far, the strategy seems to be working: In just three months, Togethxr has booked double its annual revenue goal, said chief content officer Jessica Robertson. She declined to name a specific figure. “We’re drinking from a fire hose right now,” Robertson said. “It speaks to the swell of investment in and around the world of women’s sports.” Olympic coverage that ‘takes advantage of the moment’ To capitalize on this interest, Togethxr has produced a number of new video and audio projects to coincide with the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Given the size and scope of the 10-person brand, it avoids moment-to-moment coverage in favor of more deeply produced material that pays homage to the contests, like this six-minute YouTube film about softball player Maya Brady, quarterback Tom Brady's niece, and this series on female surfers in Hawaii. These 12 Women Have All Been Named Editor in Chief of a Major Newsroom in 2021 In August, following the closing ceremony, Togethxr will release its first narrative podcast, a six-episode production with Dear Media called Summer of Gold. Narrated by Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan, the podcast will explore the historic 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, which marked the culmination of a monumental year for women. Following Summer of Gold, Togethxr will release a docuseries following one of its founders—Robertson wouldn't say which—chronicling the last two years of her life up to and through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Togethxr will also be working with former NCAA Women’s Basketball player and social media influencer Chloe Pavlech to provide live recaps and interviews from the Tokyo Olympics. The daily show will be 15 episodes at 60 seconds each, starting July 24 on TikTok, where Togethxr has 535,000 followers and has seen 280% growth week-over-week for the last month, according to Robertson. Togethxr also plans to release at least one new docuseries per month on YouTube. The company has three long-form documentary films in production, as well as several other scripted projects and narrative podcasts on the horizon. Building an identity brand Togethxr generates revenue from brand advertising; licensing, development and intellectual property; and merchandise. The first line item has been the most immediately productive for the fledgling company, as advertisers rushed to sponsor its series and create co-branded campaigns. Clients such as Google and Nike, which sponsored Togethxr's “See Her, Be Her” campaign, have given the brand a pop of immediate revenue. While Togethxr has seen early success with direct advertising, its limited reach could dissuade clients more interested in performance-based campaigns, said Ben Sturner, the CEO and founder of Leverage Agency. If the brand hopes to grow, it will need to convince potential partners that it can rival the reach of its competitive set, Sturner said. “If an advertiser wants to show support for female athletes, it makes a lot of sense,” Sturner said. “But until they can deliver the number of impressions a brand would get from ESPN, their size will remain a limitation.” Licensing and development, while a substantial source of future revenue, has yet to pay dividends for the young company, as such deals typically work on an extended timeline. In the meantime, Togethxr is building a promising merchandising arm. The company converts 30% of visitors to the ecommerce section of its website into paying customers, according to the company. The company anticipates merchandise represents around 10% of its total revenue, Robertson said. Robertson points to interactions on Instagram, where it has 71,000 followers and nets an engagement rate of 8% compared to the industry average 1%, as proof of peoples' affinity to the brand. The brand also has a newsletter community, called Inner Circle, that has collected 8,000 email addresses, many from young women. Rather than compare the brand to peers like Sports Illustrated or Bleacher Report, Robertson says she sees Togethxr as more akin to Glossier, a cosmetics company that built its community before monetizing it. “In just a short amount of time, we’ve seen that this is an identity brand,” Robert said. “This is a brand people are going to want to wear on a shirt because they feel like they belong to it.”

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Sports Media Brand Togethxr Eyes Its Olympic Moment

The publisher has a slate of new programming to coincide with the Games

Mark Stenberg

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Mark Stenberg