The Attention Shift

Neil Percival is the COO and co-founder of UK Padel. His organisation runs the largest padel competition ecosystem in the country, plus a growing network of clubs. In June 2026 the LTA announced a strategic partnership around the Padel County Cup. Neil joins Ed on The Attention Shift to break down how UK Padel became the country's largest padel tournament operator, why community engagement beats participation as a growth strategy, why 10,000 people watched a county championships live stream, and why the gap between grassroots and the professional game might be the sport's biggest challenge. To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to ⁠dizplai.com⁠ . Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email ⁠hello@attentionshift.media⁠ . CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro and UK Padel's dual model (clubs plus competitions) 04:44 The LTA partnership around the Padel County Cup 07:20 1 million played, 9 million want to 11:32 Building community through content, not vanity metrics 13:43 PUSH IT and the on-court experience 19:30 The grassroots-to-pro gap and the paywall problem 24:40 Nothing But Padel and what comes next Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yannick Amram is Head of Digital Partnerships at the IOC. His team of three or four people leads the Olympic movement's relationships with every major digital platform, from social to entertainment to search. Milano Cortina 2026 was his first Games as Head, and the numbers just landed: 12.7 billion social engagements, four times what Beijing delivered. Yannick joins Ed on The Attention Shift to break down how the IOC built the digital engine behind Milano, why the Olympic Creator Programme delivered 1.3 billion engagements on its own, how athletes generated 4.9 billion more from their own handles, and what the IOC is building for LA28, the biggest digital Games ever. To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to dizplai.com . Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email hello@attentionshift.media . CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro and Yannick's career at the IOC 03:08 Taking over as Head of Digital Partnerships 11:22 How Olympic digital partnerships evolved from Tokyo 2020 19:37 Milano's 12.7 billion engagements and the Creator Programme 30:12 How athletes became the IOC's real creators 40:55 Search, AI, and the shift in platform partnerships 52:26 Building LA28 as the biggest digital Games ever SHOWNOTES Milano Cortina Results Report Yannick Amram LinkedIn Ed Abis LinkedIn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NBC just handed YouTube the keys to American live sport. Google's $11 billion quarter proves YouTube can win a World Cup without owning a single right. And the PGA Tour just took the commentators out of its broadcast entirely. Ed and Andy unpack what's actually happening to the definition of a sports broadcaster this week. They cover the NBCUniversal and YouTube global partnership, the ESPN and YouTube TV integration, Alphabet's Q2 earnings pinning $11 billion to the World Cup, the Premier League's Coast to Coast US activation fronted by Ed Sheeran, Juventus becoming the first European club to broadcast a match inside a video game via EA Sports FC Mobile, and the PGA Tour's announcer-free stream trialled at the Rocket Classic. To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to dizplai.com . Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email hello@attentionshift.media . CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:35 NBC and Disney hand YouTube the keys to American live sport 06:40 Google's $11 billion quarter and YouTube's World Cup win 14:51 Premier League's Coast to Coast US play with Ed Sheeran 21:29 Juventus becomes the first European club to broadcast in a video game 26:59 PGA Tour cuts commentary at the Rocket Classic 35:16 Wrap Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Pastor is the co-founder of Goalhanger, the podcast network behind The Rest Is Football, The Rest Is History, The Rest Is Politics and the rest of the slate. His deal with Netflix put a daily football show on the largest streamer in the world for the entire World Cup. It became the first podcast in Netflix history to break the daily top 10s. Tony returns to The Attention Shift six months on from his first appearance to break down what the numbers actually showed, why Netflix has extended the deal for the next two Premier League seasons, how Goalhanger's Accelerator programme is backing the next generation of creators, and why talent has quietly become the real platform. To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to dizplai.com . Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email hello@attentionshift.media . CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 03:19 Breaking Netflix's Top 10s 09:00 Live viewing, daytime and mobile 12:00 Short form and 400 million views 22:00 Talent as the new platform 30:00 Netflix's Premier League extension 35:00 Goalhanger's Accelerator programme Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

YouTube just told brands the real fan attention isn't the game itself. It's what happens for hours before and after. This week Ed is joined by Andy Marston to unpack the shift from event to surround sound across sports, media and the creator economy. They cover YouTube's Creator Pulse report and its 66% Gen Z stat, Unrivaled's sold-out Coffee Club in Chicago, Caleb Hammer's move to build a second front door around YouTube's 30% membership cut, TikTok Shop's ban on AI voices in live shopping, and Netflix's course-correction on the Home Run Derby after a rough first MLB broadcast. To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to dizplai.com . Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email hello@attentionshift.media . CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:10 YouTube's Creator Pulse and the surround sound of the game 06:12 Unrivaled's Coffee Club sells out in an hour 11:30 Why Caleb Hammer built a second front door 19:08 TikTok bans AI voices in live shopping 22:20 Netflix fixes its MLB broadcast 30:00 Wrap-up SHOW NOTES The Sports Pundit Newsletter Sports Pundit Social Club Andy Marston LinkedIn Ed Abis LinkedIn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Ed and Andy break down FIFA and YouTube's first-ever Creator Cup at Central Park with iShowSpeed (6.2M live viewers), why Netflix is trying to become Instagram with a new video-licensing deal, how Como 1907 is opening its match data to Google DeepMind for a two-day AI hackathon, why MLB just signed Indian cricket star Suryakumar Yadav to crack India, and Chelsea becoming the first Premier League club to launch an official Strava presence with a run club playbook copied straight from PSG. To listen to every episode, head to dizplai.com . Email hello@attentionshift.media to be a guest. Chapters 00:00 Intro & Dagenham Event Recap 01:11 Como's AI Hackathon With Google DeepMind 06:14 Breaking Down FIFA and YouTube's Creator Cup 13:36 How MLB Can Crack India via Cricket 17:59 Is Netflix Trying to Become Instagram? 22:15 Chelsea Copies PSG's Run Club Playbook 27:00 Wrap-Up Shownotes The Sports Pundit Newsletter Sports Pundit Social Club Andy Marston LinkedIn Ed Abis LinkedIn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Ed sits down with Sam Houlding, MD of B2B at Spotlight Sports Group. They unpack Spotlight Sports Group's "The Horse Racing Audience Opportunity" report, and horse racing's 200 million untapped fan opportunity. They get into why the sport has a product problem that isn't really about the product, the F1 playbook the sport could follow, what Melbourne Cup and Smart View are getting right, why fandom needs to come before betting, and the shared conviction that racing needs to unlock its next era. To listen to every episode, head to dizplai.com . Email hello@attentionshift.media to be a guest. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro & Sam Houlding on the Horse Racing Audience Opportunity 03:00 Inside Racing's 200 Million Fan Pyramid 08:00 The Product Problem That Isn't About the Product 17:00 The F1 Playbook: Where Racing Could Follow 26:00 What Melbourne Cup and France Galop Get Right 34:00 Smart View, Betting, and the Case for Accessibility 40:00 The Shared Conviction Racing Needs Next SHOW NOTES The Horse Racing Audience Opportunity report : Spotlight Sports Group : Racing Post Sam Houlding LinkedIn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Ed sits down with Andy Marston, now the permanent co-host of the show. They unpack Tennis Australia's new partnership with the PGA Tour to deliver the 2028 Presidents Cup, Forbes' 2026 Top Creators list showing the top 50 hit $1 billion for the first time ever, Wimbledon's new BBC deal and the IBM AI features that follow, Meta's parallel plan to build and buy its way into prediction markets, and why YouTube just overtook Reddit as the top source in AI search. To listen to every episode, head to dizplai.com . Email hello@attentionshift.media to be a guest. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro & Welcome Andy Marston as Permanent Co-Host 00:20 Tennis Australia Runs Golf's Presidents Cup 06:15 How the Top 50 Creators Just Made $1 Billion 12:20 Wimbledon Extends BBC Deal + IBM's AI Rollout 18:30 Meta's Prediction Market Play 26:45 How to Get Discovered in AI Search 30:50 Wrap-Up + Sports Pundit x Dagenham Event Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Attention Shift is a weekly news roundup covering sport, media, culture and the creator economy. Each episode Ed Abis is joined by a rotating co-host or industry guest to break down the stories shaping how the industry works now, built for senior sports and media professionals. This week Ed sits down with Andy Marston of Sports Pundit. They unpack the launch of Andy and Jamie Murray's new YouTube channel The Set, the BBC's first-ever creator watch-along sharing World Cup rights with the Sidemen, the Snapchat research showing Gen Z fans check their phones 10 times a match, ESPN's new first-party fan identity platform Fan House, and the PGA Tour's radical restructure introducing promotion and relegation to American golf for the first time. To listen to every episode, head to dizplai.com . Email hello@attentionshift.media to be a guest. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro & Welcome to Andy Marston 00:30 Andy Murray's New YouTube Channel The Set 08:30 The BBC x Sidemen World Cup Watch-Along 15:00 Why Gen Z Fans Check Their Phones 10 Times a Match 20:30 ESPN Just Built Its Own Fan Identity Platform 24:30 The PGA Tour's Radical Restructure 31:50 Wrap-Up Shownotes The Sports Pundit Newsletter Sports Pundit Social Club Andy Marston LinkedIn Ed Abis LinkedIn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Attention Shift is a weekly news roundup covering sport, media, culture and the creator economy. Each episode Ed Abis is joined by a rotating co-host or industry guest to break down the stories shaping how the industry works now, built for senior sports and media professionals. This week Ed sits down with Rich Johnson. They unpack the BBC Sport app's record-breaking World Cup engagement numbers, how CazéTV just made YouTube history with 12.4 million concurrent viewers during Brazil vs Morocco, FIFA's record opening week and the strategy behind it, the Reuters Institute Digital News Report showing social media has overtaken TV as the world's news source for the first time ever, and why Kings League just cut half its staff weeks after drawing 120 million livestream viewers. To listen to every episode, head to dizplai.com . Email hello@attentionshift.media to be a guest. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro & Welcome to Rich Johnson 00:30 The BBC's World Cup Innovations 06:45 FIFA's Record-Breaking Opening Week and Cultural Strategy 15:00 How CazéTV Just Made YouTube History 20:45 Social Media Overtakes TV for News 27:30 Why Kings League Just Cut Half Its Staff 37:30 Wrap-Up Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Ed sits down with Rory Natkiel, founder of Box Count and Chair of the Sponsorship Effectiveness Forum. They unpack the Sponsorship Effect, the largest analysis of sponsorship effectiveness ever done, with 92 case studies coded to IPA standards. The 3 to 1 gap between the top 30% of sponsorships and the rest. Why the industry has been measuring the wrong things for decades. Why live sport is the last mass moment in fragmented media. And the creativity problem holding sponsorship back from advertising's effectiveness curve. To listen to every episode, head to dizplai.com . Email hello@attentionshift.media to be a guest. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Attention Shift is a weekly news roundup covering sport, media, culture and the creator economy. Each episode Ed Abis is joined by a rotating co-host or industry guest to break down the stories shaping how the industry works now, built for senior sports and media professionals. This week Ed sits down with Harry Macey from Dizplai. They unpack Starmer's blanket ban on social media for under-16s, going further than Australia's December 2025 law. Why the Sidemen's manager just told the BBC Charter Review that public service broadcasting has lost Gen Z. The IAB's formal declaration of creator marketing as a $44BN core media channel. Telemundo's most aggressive-ever digital World Cup strategy. And the $300M live commerce category quietly built on sealed sports card packs. To listen to every episode, head to dizplai.com . Email hello@attentionshift.media to be a guest. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro & Starmer's Under-16 Social Media Ban 06:00 The BBC's Gen Z Problem 11:00 Creator Marketing Just Became a $44BN Core Channel 17:25 Telemundo's All-In World Cup Strategy 21:30 Sport Card Breaking and the $300M Live Commerce Economy 26:00 Wrap-Up Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Attention Shift is a weekly news roundup covering sport, media, culture and the creator economy. Each episode Ed Abis is joined by a rotating co-host to break down five stories shaping how the industry works now, built for senior sports and media professionals. This week Ed sits down with Ellie Walter from Dizplai. They unpack Premier Padel and Red Bull's new mobile game Court Legends, designed to fix padel's pro circuit awareness problem. Kings League's revenue model where less than 5% comes from media rights and 85% of fans are under 35. HMA's landmark PrizePicks partnership across 200+ local YouTube shows. TikTok's new Local Feed rolling out in the US. And Unilever's biggest-ever sports activation, moving half its marketing budget to creators for the World Cup. To listen to every episode, head to dizplai.com . Email hello@attentionshift.media to be a guest. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro & Welcome to Ellie Walter from Dizplai 00:30 The Real Reason Red Bull Built a Padel Game 06:38 Kings League's Creator-First Model 12:01 The Biggest Sports Media Deal of 2026 Goes to YouTube 16:51 TikTok Goes Local 22:15 Why Unilever Bet Half Its Budget on Creators 27:54 Wrap-Up Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Seb Losardo is the YouTube strategist behind 10 billion views. His client roster at Grow Media Club includes WillNE, John Nellis, Quadrant, Billy Wingrove, Laura Woods, and The Switch with Kevin Pietersen, collectively pulling 700 million views every month. Featured in Humble&Brag's 13 Best YouTube Strategists in the World as "The Professionaliser", he's the strategist who took YouTube from creator economy to media industry. Ed sits down with Seb to unpack the journey from Sky Sports to founding Grow Media Club. The 40:30:30 rule that flips how most creators think about time. Outlier mining and how to find videos that 10x a channel's baseline. The strategy behind The Switch with Kevin Pietersen, which did 12 million views on its first upload. And what the next generation of athletes, Haaland, Bellingham, KP, are about to do to the World Cup. To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to dizplai.com . Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email hello@attentionshift.media . CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro & Seb's Journey From Sky Sports to Grow Media Club 06:11 Building the Business: Year One to 700 Million Views a Month 17:03 The 40:30:30 System: Why Packaging Beats Content 22:00 Outlier Mining: How to Engineer Viral Ideas 37:33 Inside The Switch With Kevin Pietersen 44:02 The Athlete Landscape: Haaland, Bellingham, Ronaldo and What's Next 56:00 Wrap-Up Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joe Edwards, Marketing Director at Dizplai joins Ed for this week's news episode, stepping in as the first of several rotating Dizplai guest co-hosts. The five stories on the table all circle the same question: who actually owns the fan? From KSI walking away from the Sidemen to FIFA trying to identify every fan in a stadium, this week's news cycle is about identification, value exchange and the limits of free reach. Ed and Joe break down KSI's shock exit from the Sidemen and whether it's real or a lost Arsenal bet. FIFA's new Fan ID, the most ambitious mass-identification play in sport history. MrBeast's Beast Industries entering the upfronts to compete for annual brand budgets. Fanatics' FanGraph advertising network, built on 2BN+ daily fan signals from 100M+ identified fans. And Tubi giving away the 2026 World Cup in 4K, for free, with no login required. To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to dizplai.com . Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email ⁠hello@attentionshift.media⁠ . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Esteban Gonzalez joined FIBA in 2015 on a three-month internship. Eleven years later, he's the Senior Digital Content Manager for FIBA 3x3 — a sport with 10 million followers, 1.1 billion video views and over $220M in media value generated for sponsors in 2025 alone. It's also the fastest sport ever to reach the Olympics — just five years from pro circuit launch to Olympic discipline. In this episode, Ed sits down with Esteban to break down how FIBA 3x3 built one of the most efficient content engines in world sport. Why digital-first was a strategic choice, not a fallback. How brands like Mitsubishi Electric are buying teams rather than sponsoring them. Why Karl Lagerfeld and Elle want in. And the next bet, moving off-platform to own the audience instead of renting it. To listen to every episode of The Attention Shift, head to dizplai.com . Got a question for us, or want to join us as a guest? Email hello@attentionshift.media . CHAPTERS 00:00 — Intro & Esteban's 11-Year Journey at FIBA 3x3 05:30 — What 3x3 Is and How It Reached the Olympics in 5 Years 11:40 — Why Digital-First Was a Strategic Choice 18:20 — The $220M Media Value Engine, Karl Lagerfeld and Mitsubishi 27:50 — AI, Localisation and Content Across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok 35:50 — Trends Reshaping Sports Content and the Rise of Private Communities 39:30 — The Next Chapter for FIBA 3x3 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In May 2026, five of the biggest media companies in America stood on a stage in New York and explained how they plan to make money for the next 12 months. YouTube declared itself TV. Disney pitched fandom. Fox did the opposite of everyone else. The 2026 upfronts didn't reveal one winner; they revealed five completely different bets on the next decade of media. Ed and Jo unpack the five biggest upfronts one at a time. Why YouTube has officially repositioned creator-led shows as premium TV inventory. What it actually means that Disney is now selling fandom instead of exclusivity. Why Fox has divested traditional networks and gone all-in on Tubi while Paramount and Warner Bros. merge. Plus NBC owning Sunday, Warner Bros. Discovery's pre-merger pitch, and the one network whose strategy stood out most to both of them. New episode every Wednesday. Listen wherever you get your podcasts or at dizplai.com/podcasts . Want to feature as a guest or want a question answered on the show? Email us at Hello@attentionshift.media Chapters 00:00 — Intro & Jo's News 01:00 — YouTube Officially Becomes TV 04:50 — Disney Sells Fandom, Not Exclusivity 10:15 — Fox Zigs While Everyone Else Zags 15:35 — How NBC Just Owned Sunday 21:00 — Inside WBD's Pre-Merger Upfront 26:30 — Wrap-Up & Farewell to Jo Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A two-time major champion just told reporters he'd rather grow his YouTube channel than go back to the PGA Tour. Bryson DeChambeau wants to play "tournaments that want him", and treats his 2.6 million-subscriber channel as the long-term career play. The player-as-creator thesis just went mainstream. That's one of five stories Ed and Jo unpack this week. TikTok has hired Issa Rae's Hoorae Media to commission its first scripted Original Series. Duke just signed a first-of-its-kind college rights deal with Amazon Prime Video, and the Big Ten objected within 72 hours. The World Fencing League's blade-tracking tech turned every sword tip into a lightsaber trail and pulled hundreds of millions of views in a week. Plus FIFA walks away from a 50-year Panini relationship for a long-term Fanatics deal. Chapters 00:00 — Intro 00:30 — Why Bryson Picked YouTube Over the PGA 05:50 — TikTok is Launching Its First Original Series 11:30 — Amazon Invests in College Sports 16:05 — Fencing's VIRAL New Tech 21:00 — FIFA Drops Panini After 50 Years 27:00 — Wrap New episode every Wednesday. Subscribe to the Dizplai newsletter to never miss an episode. Want to feature? Email us at Hello@attentionshift.media Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Jo is joined by Robbie Spargo, Co-Managing Director at Little Dot Studios, one of the UK's leading social media and content agencies with nine billion organic views flowing through their network every month. They cover where fandom is being built, why average view duration has overtaken raw views as the metric that matters, and what social commerce means for sports organisations trying to monetise their audiences. Got a guest suggestion or question for Ed & Jo? Email hello@attentionshift.media 00:00 Intro 02:40 Where fandom is built 04:49 YouTube becomes TV 09:31 Creators vs rights holders 16:30 Data and feedback loops 21:46 Super fandom as currency 26:00 The sports media ecosystem 31:11 Social commerce arrives 35:30 Wrap Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The fund that spent $5BN trying to build a global golf league just stopped writing the cheques. PIF is ending direct funding of LIV Golf after 2026. The biggest sovereign wealth fund in sport just proved what every other backer already knew, you can't buy fandom on a tech-style timeline. That's one of five strategic bets Ed and Jo unpack this week. Adidas is selling anime, not boots, six weeks out from the World Cup, chasing the Gen Alpha and female football fans most of the sport is sleeping on. iShowSpeed has been named Expedia's official travel partner, with a globe-style mini-site mapped to the places he's filmed. DAZN spent $100M on ViewLift to own the streaming pipes rather than chase rights. Plus the Circana forecast that $1 in every $10 of US retail spend could move through TikTok Shop by 2028. Show Notes Adidas Originals × streetwear anime World Cup drop. Expedia names iShowSpeed official travel partner. DAZN acquires ViewLift for $100M. Circana — TikTok Shop forecast to hit 10% of US retail by 2028. PIF to end direct funding of LIV Golf after 2026. New episode every Wednesday. Head to Dizplai.com/podcasts for the latest. Want to feature? Email us at Hello@attentionshift.media Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.