THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

Boardroom

Entered in Sports

Objective

Co-founded by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman, Boardroom is a premier media brand covering the business of sports and entertainment through premium content creation and storytelling, events and experiences, and access to an elite network of athletes, entertainers, and entrepreneurs who are changing the game. In 2024, Boardroom sought out to expand and refine its content offerings, experiential strategy, and partnership marketing efforts to create a cohesive ecosystem that caters to fans, athletes, executives, and brands alike. In a growing media landscape, Boardroom aimed to further position itself as a premium partner while also continuing to elevate its content creation and audience growth. 

By pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a “media brand” in 2024, Boardroom set out to showcase a multi-pronged ecosystem that fosters B2B relationships, creates D2C storytelling and engagement, and drives revenue across all areas of the business. While the business has continued to diversify its offerings in 2024 through an expanded event calendar and strategic advisory, all areas of the business are still bolstered by Boardroom’s unique approach to content and storytelling, with each arm of the business supporting and amplifying the others.

 

Strategy

Content Innovation: On the content side, Boardroom refined and elevated its products, including two video franchises - Cover Story and Boardroom Talks - and four newsletters, all bolstered by a robust social audience and growth strategy and premium editorial content. Today, Boardroom’s media brand boasts an audience of over 64M. Boardroom’s monthly Cover Stories, which boast an average of 3.3M video views, have become an industry designation of “who’s who” in the sports business, from A’ja Wilson to Rich Paul to Jayden Daniels & Travis Scott.  Its suite of award-nominated newsletters includes a daily Headline To Go roundup of everything you need to know in the sports and entertainment business, a weekly deep dive into hot topics in sports (Inside the Boardroom), a weekly look at tech trends and predictions (Tech Talk), and a bi-weekly sneaker business newsletter spanning sports and entertainment. 

Experiential Expansion: Boardroom brings must-attend events to life like no other brand, driving networking/conversation among VIP guests, continued/sustained interest from partners, and curated content for our social/D2C audience. Additionally, Boardroom’s events business has driven approximately 40% of the company’s overall revenue in 2024. As part of Boardroom’s mission to bring its unique lens to sports and entertainment conversations, it held the second annual Game Plan Summit in LA in September in partnership with CNBC. The high powered event at the cross-section of sports, business, and culture featured some of the top athletes and executives who have been shaping the future of the sports business, including Rich Paul, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, Cameron Brink, JuJu Watkins, Jessica Alba, and more. 2024’s event saw an expanded audience and increased revenue from the previous year, over 1.5B media impressions, and 61.5M marketing impressions. 

Strategic Partnerships: From a partnership perspective, Boardroom’s mix of content and experiential has proven instrumental to landing new brand partners and retaining existing ones. Longtime NBA and WNBA All-Star activation partner Coinbase not only renewed their deal for 2025 this year, but they also partnered with Boardroom to celebrate Formula 1 Miami weekend. Current partner FanDuel also came on as a renewal and expansion partner, with a mix of content, experiential, and strategic advisory. Boardroom’s events also featured premium brands like Foot Locker, ESPN Sportscenter, Galaxy Digital, and Lotto. Boardroom’s advisory arm also onboarded new partners like 24 Hour Fitness and Major League Baseball. Across its event roster in 2024, Boardroom generated over 2.4B earned media impressions. Boardroom’s partnerships have also created B2B and D2C value for major sports leagues. Through its partnership with Major League Baseball, Boardroom creates a unique experience for players throughout the season by curating networking dinners with other professional athletes and area executives. Boardroom also works with MLB on player storytelling and content strategy, continuing to ensure the league’s young stars are showcased to our audience. With Boardroom’s partners at Premiere Lacrosse League, they’ve created a series of street lacrosse events that cater to community organizations to make the sport of lacrosse accessible to all, while also driving 14M social impressions at our last event.

 

Results

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Entrant Company / Organization Name

Boardroom

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