The Ringer (website)


The Ringer is a sports and pop culture website and podcast network, founded by sportswriter Bill Simmons in 2016 and acquired by Spotify in 2020.

History

The Ringer was launched in March 2016 by Bill Simmons, who brought along several editors who had previously worked with him on Grantland, an ESPN-owned blog he operated from 2011 to 2015. At launch, the Ringer had a staff of 43 and focused primarily on sports and pop culture as content areas, with a few writers also working on technology and politics. HBO, the network on which Simmons hosted his weekly television program Any Given Wednesday one season in 2016, was an initial investor in the website.
The website was previously published on the Medium platform. In May 2017, The Ringer entered into an advertising and technology partnership with Vox Media, under which Vox would handle advertising sales, and give the site access to its in-house Chorus publishing platform.
Former Grantland writers who have since written for or worked for The Ringer include Mark Titus, Shea Serrano, Ben Lindbergh, Robert Mays, Andy Greenwald, Sean Fennessey, Chris Ryan, Mallory Rubin, Juliet Litman, Craig Gaines, Bryan Curtis, David Shoemaker, Ryan O'Hanlon, Danny Chau, Jason Concepcion, Riley McAtee, Joe Fuentes, and Tate Frazier.
In May 2018, The Ringer published a story by Ben Detrick about Bryan Colangelo, then the GM of the Philadelphia 76ers, and his apparent use of various Twitter accounts to criticize players and defend himself. This led to Colangelo's resignation on June 7, 2018.
In August 2019, The Ringers editorial staff voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East. The union was voluntarily recognized by the Ringer's management four days later.
On February 5, 2020, subscription music streaming service Spotify announced it was acquiring The Ringer for an estimated $195 million and an additional $50 million in performance-driven incentives.
In April 2021, writers and producers ratified their first collective agreement with Gimlet Media and The Ringer. It would last 3 years, with a minimum base salary of $57,000 for The Ringer staff. Absent was any provision for worker ownership of content created.

Content

Like the content on the website, The Ringers podcast network covers both sports and pop culture. The flagship podcast, The Bill Simmons Podcast, is an interview show hosted by Simmons, featuring other Ringer writers and podcast hosts as well as athletes, filmmakers, comedians, and pop culture figures.
Former podcasts include Keepin' it 1600, a politics podcast featuring former Obama speechwriters Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer. After leaving The Ringer, the hosts of Keepin' it 1600 created a new podcast called Pod Save America as part of their own new media company, Crooked Media.
In 2017, The Ringer began the video podcast series Talk the Thrones, an aftershow for Game of Thrones hosted by The Ringer staff writers and live streamed on Twitter. Talk the Thrones is a continuation of After the Thrones, which aired on HBO.
The Ringer premiered Binge Mode in 2017, a podcast that recapped Game of Thrones and the Harry Potter series.
2020 marked the debut of the Higher Learning podcast with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay. In the podcast, the two cohosts delve into topics including Black culture, politics, sports, and current events. The podcast has been nominated for the Outstanding Society and Culture Podcast award at the NAACP Image Awards for their 54th, 55th, and 56th editions.

Personalities

Notable current employees include:
Notable former employees include: