UP524 Sleepwalking to Irrelevance: Content and fandom in the age of the For You algorithm

Richard Gillis is joined by Damian Browarnik from WSC Sports, the content and data platform working with over 650 clients including the NBA, NFL and La Liga, and Rich Johnson, sports marketing strategist and cofounder of  End Product, formerly of Man Utd, New Balance and Social Chain. The conversation explores how algorithms now dictate sports content discovery, why millennials remain the commercial core while Gen Z follows athletes over teams, and what winning looks like in an era of content overload. From Ronaldo's YouTube subscriber paradox to Ilona Maher's accidental growth hack for women's rugby, they examine who's thriving and who's drowning in the attention economy.Throughout the episode we refer to WSC Sports 2025-26 Generational Fan Study. You can download the full report here.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.