The Weird Reason Naomi Osaka was Trending in Kenya 😳
Plus why did Sadio Mané just open a fuel station? and Ronaldinho is back!
Welcome to Athletic Interest.
This week we are going to explore Naomi Osaka’s decision to start a media company and why the rise of generation z has encouraged athletes to spend billions on creating original content. Also, stick around to learn why Sadio Mané just opened a petrol station.
But first, we need to talk about Naomi Osaka.
The U.S.-based Japanese tennis star has just launched a media production company in partnership with her agent Stuart Duguid and The SpringHill Company (as run by Lebron James and Maverick Carter.)
Moments after the company launched it started trending on social media, but not for the reason you are probably expecting. Osaka chose to name her new venture Hana Kuma - Japanese for Flower Bear - a decision that caused great confusion in Kenya.
Instead of invoking the beautiful imagery of a bear with flowers, Hana Kuma has a different meaning in the Swahili language of East Africa. You can imagine the surprise of many Kenyans when they heard that that Osaka had decided to name her company ‘She has no vagina.’
Awkward translations aside, Osaka has big plans for Hana Kuma.
With Lebron’s SpringHill Company providing support in production and development, Osaka will create a wealth of original content including:
Scripted and unscripted television series
Documentaries
Anime
Branded Content
The first project under the Hana Kuma banner will be MINK!, a New York Times documentary about Patsy Mink, the first woman of colour elected to Congress.
Osaka and Lebron aren’t the only major athletes to enter the content production market, we also have:
Stephen Curry with Unanimous Media
Kevin Durant with Thirty-Five Ventures.
Sue Bird, Alex Morgan, Chloe Kim, and Simone Manuel with TOGETHXR.
But this isn’t the same as an athlete launching a clothing brand or wellness supplement, production companies cost hundreds of millions to set up and have to compete with huge established names like Universal, Warner Bros, and even ESPN.
Surely Naomi Osaka has no hope of beating ESPN at their own game…right?
Well, as we will now discover, athletes are uniquely positioned to engage the next generation of fans in a way that traditional media companies could only dream of.
The average person spends 7.5 hours each day consuming content. Live sport is a huge part of that statistic, with around 20% of Americans watching about 1 hour of live sport each day.
TV companies have profited from this demand. The global value of sports media rights hit $52 billion in 2021 and is expected to rise further as leagues negotiate new deals.
But there is one threat rumbling on the horizon, getting bigger with each passing year…YOU!
Well to be more specific, any of you reading this that were born between the years 1997 and 2012.
Apparently, you are all far less interested in live sport than your millennial counterparts (who are also hopefully reading this email.)
The problem for media companies is that you now make up 30% of the world’s population and are considered the largest consumer group on the planet. Many of you will have recently entered the workforce and started earning disposable income, which you are less likely to spend on live sports than the older readers of this newsletter.
So, what sort of content appeals to the Generation Z among us?
Perhaps you have noticed this shift either in yourself or the people around you. Those in Generation Z spend more time on social media than any other age group and prefer to consume bite-sized content on phones over traditional TV or radio.
Social Media is where athletes have a huge advantage. Importantly, athletes are by far the most popular aspect of sport for gen z social media users.
Even more impressively, athletes on Instagram enjoy far higher engagement rates on branded content than any other category, including media companies and even influencers.
Simply put, athletes are the hottest properties on social media and represent the easiest and most cost-effective way for brands to sell products to Gen Z fans.
This has triggered a huge upsurge in the amount of money that athletes earn from brand deals.
Naomi Osaka earned $57 million in 2021. Less than 5% of that came from actual tennis, with the rest coming from endorsement deals and private business ventures.
But Osaka and her fellow athletes have realised that sponsored posts are just a drop in the ocean compared to the money they could be making from original content.
This is where the true advantage of athletes comes into play.
Not only are they more popular with generation z, but they are also much better placed to create content - of any style - that younger audiences can identify with.
According to a study by McKinsey and Company, those of you in Generation Z are on a search for truth. You value individual expression above all else and avoid restrictive labels.
It’s much harder for faceless corporations like ESPN or Universal to create content that exudes the individuality that many of you now crave. Younger fans find content produced by their favourite personalities to be far more entertaining. Additionally, many of you will seek out individuals with personal points of view over commentators paid by big corporations to give opinions on other people.
This is why Osaka and Lebron have decided to enthuse their personal views and personalities into the content created by their production companies.
“What excites me is being able to inspire people and tell new stories, particularly ones that I would have wanted to see when I was a kid,” explained Osaka.
According to the New York Times, Osaka’s personal views will guide a lot of the offerings created by Hana Kuma. This includes her support for ‘Black Lives Matter’ and her advocacy for greater mental health in sports, stances that have earned her millions of new younger fans across the globe.
Hana Kuma will also explore Osaka’s other interests, with a cooking show said to be in early development.
With demand shifting towards content with individual personality, athletes are uniquely positioned to extract the most from the market. It is, therefore, no surprise that traditional companies like Netflix, Universal, and CNN have started throwing hundreds of millions at Lebron James and his SpringHill Company to make movies, TV shows, and documentaries.
Sports Business Bites 🍎
🇸🇳 Sadio Mané has recently been pictured opening a fuel station in his childhood village of Banbali in Senegal. This is just one of the infrastructure projects Mané has personally funded to help transform his old home. The recent Bayern Munich recruit has spent over €800k on new buildings, including over €500k on a new hospital that will serve 34 local villages.
Mané’s improvements, which include a new school and post office, have seen his village transform into a town of over 2,000 people. Beyond infrastructure, Mané also provides a monthly gift of €70 to each family and €400 to the best-performing students in the local school.
No wonder everyone calls him the nicest guy in football.
⚽ Football (it’s not called soccer) will become the biggest sport in North America by 2026. That is according to FIFA President Gianni Infantino. While that is a bold statement to make for a region that has often struggled to embrace the beautiful game, there is hope on the horizon:
Apple has just announced a $2.5 billion deal to stream MLS games for the next decade.
Hype is building in the run-up to the 2026 World Cup that will be hosted across North and Central America.
Football is now liked by 49% of U.S. fans, putting the sport hot on the heals of American football (70%), basketball (61%), and baseball (57%).
🕺🏾 Ronaldinho has still got it. The Brazilian legend appeared in an exhibition match leading a team of current stars and legends against a team led by Roberto Carlos.
This clip showing one of Ronaldinho’s two goals went viral on social media, with fans excited to see their hero destroying defenders again.
Ronaldinho was joined in Miami by Paul Pogba, Paulo Dybala, Blaise Matuidi, and even Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior.
Ex Man United star Radamel Falcao and Nani appeared for team Roberto Carlos alongside Rivaldo and Cafu.
The game finished 12-10 to the team led by Roberto Carlos.