The Attention Shift

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.CHAPTERS00:00 Intro & Welcome to Rich Johnson00:30 The BBC's World Cup Innovations06:45 FIFA's Record-Breaking Opening Week and Cultural Strategy15:00 How CazéTV Just Made YouTube History20:45 Social Media Overtakes TV for News27:30 Why Kings League Just Cut Half Its Staff37:30 Wrap-Up

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.

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.CHAPTERS00:00 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

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.CHAPTERS00:00 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

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.CHAPTERS00:00 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

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.

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.CHAPTERS00:00 — 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

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.mediaChapters00:00 — Intro & Jo's News01:00 — YouTube Officially Becomes TV04:50 — Disney Sells Fandom, Not Exclusivity10:15 — Fox Zigs While Everyone Else Zags15:35 — How NBC Just Owned Sunday21:00 — Inside WBD's Pre-Merger Upfront26:30 — Wrap-Up & Farewell to Jo

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.Chapters00:00 — Intro00:30 — Why Bryson Picked YouTube Over the PGA05:50 — TikTok is Launching Its First Original Series11:30 — Amazon Invests in College Sports16:05 — Fencing's VIRAL New Tech21:00 — FIFA Drops Panini After 50 Years27:00 — WrapNew episode every Wednesday. Subscribe to the Dizplai newsletter to never miss an episode. Want to feature? Email us at Hello@attentionshift.media