Episode 148 of the Sports Illustrated Media podcast features two segments. First, a sports media roundtable with John Ourand, the media reporter for Sports Business Daily, and Chad Finn, the sports media reporter and columnist for the Boston Globe. That’s followed by a conversation with Omar Raja, the founder of House of Highlights, which is now part of Bleacher Report.

 

In this podcast, Finn and Ourand discuss the recent ESPN layoffs, which affected approximately 150 positions across the company including producers, executives and digital and technology staffers; what those layoffs mean for ESPN heading forward; why ESPN layoffs produced a torrent of people celebrating such an announcement on Twitter; whether ESPN will have future layoffs in 2018; the state of UFC negotiations with Fox Sports; the NBA’s soaring ratings on ESPN, TNT and NBA TV; whether this is the best era in the history of the NBA, and much more.

 

Raja discussed how he founded House of Highlights at age 20; what kind of clips appear on the site; what a typical day is like for him surfing the web in search of content as well as culling through user submissions; why the site has generated 600 million video views in November; Bleacher Report acquiring House of Highlights in 2015; what kind of comments his most popular posts generate; Snoop Dogg and other celebrities following his site; why it appeals to young NBA players such as Joel Embiid; what it’s like for Bleacher Report; how often he is on his phone, and much more.

 

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