Nerd Sesh
The 6th Annual Awards
- TikTok Presence
@nerdsesh Logan vs. college sports is eternal #NBA #sports #basketball #CBB #trivia
♬ original sound - Nerd Sesh
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
Two sports super nerds provide passionate and informative analysis on the NBA and NFL while also bringing a deep dive knowledge of their histories and unrivaled trivia chops.
How does this represent “Excellence in Engagement”?
Nerd Sesh excels in connecting with younger, less seasoned audiences than the rest of The Volume’s content. The Volume, founded in 2021 by icon Colin Cowherd, has firmly established itself at the forefront of sports media storytelling, elevating athletes and the industry’s top talkers with shows discussing everything from NFL to combat sports to fantasy and betting. But this show is a departure from The Volume’s other programming.
Rather than relying on a big host’s name like Shannon Sharpe or Draymond Green, Nerd Sesh’s podcast audience has been built from the ground up. All organically sourced, Carson has been growing the show’s fanbase over the years.
This critical distinction will be make or break in the coming years as brands, broadcasters, and media companies try and engage new audiences. Young sports fans are an invaluable resource for the health of sports media, and Nerd Sesh and The Volume have cracked the code in engaging the critical Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha audiences.
It is a landmark win for The Volume to hold the most exciting piece of Gen-Z-hosted and Gen-Z-driven sports media out there, and others will look in close succession to replicate the product that Carson and the team have realized.
Objective
Once an extracurricular project from a talented intern, podcast Nerd Sesh has taken on a life of its own to become a TikTok-powered, Gen-Z-driven hit for its home network, The Volume.
Since 2019, sports trivia wizard Carson Breber has been quietly building his own NBA and NFL sports history and trivia media channel called Nerd Sesh. When he joined The Volume as an intern in 2021, he was tasked with upgrading The Volume’s social media operation and launching their TikTok channel. While maintaining their digital presence, he was simultaneously growing his own project on the sidelines.
When his show was noticed by his higher-ups at The Volume, they launched a bid for the podcast, and the rest is history. The show has since seen exponential growth thanks to a robust digital strategy and its consistently innovative approach to engaging its viewers, leaning heavily on vertical video across TikTok to drive engagement. Nerd Sesh originated as a single podcast with Carson and one of his closest college friends, Logan. He has now expanded into a full-blown media property thanks to Carson’s abilities as a host and his unique aptitude for digital storytelling.
Strategy & Execution
Taking a digital-first approach, Carson has leveraged TikTok’s chaotic, neverending scroll feature to his advantage by injecting gamified content that pushes viewers to his podcast.
While other Volume shows can rely on scheduled X posts or tactical YouTube drops, TikTok requires much more abstract content planning. When viewers have endless amounts of content to consume in a bottomless feed, it can be hard to ensure your content makes it to someone’s screen. What’s more, TikTok’s mystery algorithm isn’t as easily manipulated or managed as other platforms.
In expanding their TikTok presence, the show’s aim was to engage broader, less-engaged audiences than avid sports fanatics, catch their attention with a trivia game or video, and funnel that interest into Nerd Sesh’s long-form analysis and history content.
A perfect example of this gamified content is their Hoop Grid series. These videos quiz Carson on an impossible grid of niche, detailed NBA trivia modeled after the popular NYT Puzzle Games. Viewers are captivated and stumped by the questions easily answered by Carson, driving up engagement as onlookers struggle, like, comment, follow, and bookmark for more of the fun.
Organizations
- The Volume
Links
Credits
Carson Breber
Host
The Volume
Logan Camden
Host
The Volume
Alisa Harrison
Head of Production
The Volume
Matthew Kline
Head of Digital
The Volume
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 6th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 6, 2024 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
