The Rebooting Show How Essentially Sports navigates shifts
Sep 9, 2025
Suryansh Tibarewal, cofounder of Essentially Sports, dives into the transformative journey of his platform from a college passion project to a significant player in sports media. He shares insights on adapting to traffic changes and shifting business models, particularly moving towards direct ad revenue. The conversation also touches on harnessing Google Discover and the importance of engaging niche sports audiences. Suryansh emphasizes the role of community and innovative marketing strategies in helping them navigate the competitive landscape of sports coverage.
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Humble College Origins And Fan Network
- Suryansh started Essentially Sports in college with two co-founders and a large volunteer network of fans writing for fun.
- They grew organically through WhatsApp, Facebook groups and fan communities before monetizing.
Growth By Doing The Opposite During COVID
- During COVID they doubled down when competitors cut back and grew from 1M to 60M pageviews in months.
- Opposite behavior to peers created a rare market opportunity for incremental scale.
Volume With Layered Editorial Quality
- Essentially Sports runs high-volume editorial but each piece still touches multiple editors to maintain quality.
- Volume plus layered editorial review preserves a distinct fan voice and reliability.