“I do not swim against the stream for the sake of it, but there is a lot of rubbish out there,” said the 77-cap England flanker who four years ago launched The Good, the Bad & The Rugby podcast with Alex Payne and Mike Tindall. “If someone thinks I am an awful arse and does not want to listen to me, they can switch off.
“If I tried to change what I did, it would be watering it down. People in the mainstream media have to be careful about what they say and do. We do not just give listeners an opinion, but give them a look behind the curtains as well. And there is a lot of self-deprecation.”
The mainstream media is trying to reinvent itself in the social media age but podcasting is becoming big business. Haskell’s podcast this month acquired a new majority shareholder, Platform Media, and is closing in on one million followers.
“It is the biggest rugby podcast in the world,” said Haskell. “And it is one of the biggest revenue generators of any podcast. The Platform deal will allow us to expand and take in other sports, such as football and F1, while being able to turbocharge The Good, The Bad and The Rugby.
“We have theatre tours and a book coming out. The idea is to reach a certain figure of revenue with the podcast and capitalise on our chemistry, but we will not want to still be talking about rugby after a period because your relevance diminishes the longer you are out of a sport.
“It is more about bringing on the next generation so Alex, Mike and I go off and pursue other things that we care about. It is nice to have some money after working very hard to develop something but the exciting part comes now, building the business.”
This story is from the November 24, 2024 edition of The Rugby Paper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 24, 2024 edition of The Rugby Paper.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
England can find a little bit of cheer
SO HERE we are on the final day of England’s autumn international series with all of us hoping and expecting Steve Borthwick’s team to win today after three weeks of bitter disappointment.
Stop messing with Marcus - Campese
DAVID Campese believes England are going backwards under Steve Borthwick, who is ‘messing around’ with talisman Marcus Smith.
Being a Lion was the highlight of my career
I PLAYED 19 games and scored 219 points for the Lions, on the tours to South Africa in 1968 and New Zealand in 1971, but I never played in a Test and that was fair enough.
Cook's crew not fazed as they eye tilt at top half
THERE appear to be few signs of second season syndrome at Westcombe Park as captain Nick Cook reveals the group aren’t even contemplating the threat of relegation and are instead targeting a top-half finish.
Forwards pack a punch for the Reds
OLD Redcliffians produced a proud defensive effort to take a bonus-point win.
Tom 'Ailes' the achievements of inspirational skipper Riley
SEDGLEY Park No. 8 Tom Ailes says his team relish the competitive nature of National One and is confident the Tigers can rectify their rocky start to the season in weeks to come.
Strachan confident Ampthill will be firing again soon
FRASER Strachan is determined to put Ampthill’s leaky defensive showings behind them and gain some much needed confidence in the run up to Christmas.
It's a whole new ball game for Rigg
WILL Rigg’s ambition was to become a professional cricketer but it is the oval ball rather than The Oval that is his driver now.
Scarratt leads the way for Lightning
LOUGHBOROUGH won a wet and windy East Midlands Derby after having the bonus point in the bag by half-time.
Becconsall: We need to release pressure
WILL Becconsall says Exeter are not spooked by the threat of relegation as they look to turn around their Premiership campaign after starting with six straight defeats.
