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PHLY Reports 40% Year-Over-Year Audience Growth, 50,000 YouTube Subscribers
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PHLY is entering its third year in the local sports media scene and sent out a release the other day with some generic figures. Here’s a portion of the writeup:
Philadelphia, PA — PHLY Sports, Philadelphia’s fast-rising digital sports media company, closed out 2025 with a banner year defined by rapid audience growth, high-profile podcast launches, exclusive access to top athletes and executives, and national recognition.
Celebrating its two-year anniversary in Fall 2025, PHLY Sports has quickly emerged as a must-follow destination for passionate Philadelphia fans—blending original, player-driven content with live experiences and insider coverage that resonates both locally and nationally.
“Everything we built in 2025 came back to one thing—serving Philadelphia sports fans in a way that feels authentic, connected, and community-driven,” said Todd Berman, General Manager of PHLY Sports. “From launching player-led podcasts to taking our shows on the road and delivering more exclusive access for our Diehard fanbase, we proved there’s a real appetite for smart, passionate, locally rooted sports coverage.”
….
Audience and Business Growth
PHLY Sports’ momentum translated into measurable business success in 2025:
-More than 40% year-over-year audience growth
-Surpassed 50,000 YouTube subscribers, while expanding FAST channel distribution across Roku, Samsung TV, and Xfinity
-Grew its Direct-to-Consumer Diehard membership program by over 40%
-Appointed Todd Berman, former Vice President of Digital at NBC Sports Philadelphia, as General Manager
The product continues to be a blend of paywall and non-paywall written content and then the daily podcasts for the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers, and Sixers. They have Anthony Gargano’s show Monday to Friday at 9 a.m. and host the Eagles player podcasts Brandon Graham Unblocked and Exciting Mics (Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship). Those shows do really well on YouTube, an average of about 50,000 views per episode for B.G and then 100k to 200k for the Exciting Mics episodes. I personally find the PHLY Eagles podcast to be one of the better Birds programs out there because they hit football from three different angles. They’ve got Bo Wulf and E.J. Smith with a beat writer perspective, Fran Duffy for scheme and video breakdown, and then they bring in Deniz Selman for stats and data analysis. It’s deeper than most Eagles talk while somehow not being overly dense at the same time.
PHLY is running a mixed business model with a combination paywall, traditional ad reads, programmatic for non-subscribers, and then presumably the rev share from YouTube and social media. It’s good to diversify. There had been some trimming across the entire ALLCITY portfolio at the end of 2024, which resulted in Renee Washington and JP Zapata being let go in Philly, but these reductions are sadly the norm and not the exception in the current sports media environment.
RE: YouTube subs, PHLY is at 53k right now. The original cities of Denver and Chicago have more than 100k while Phoenix is in the 40s. The still-relatively-new Dallas site has about 38,000 YouTube subs.
In terms of written content, it seems like there’s less behind the paywall these days. I have no stats in front of me, but a casual glance at the homepage reveals some free-to-read Eagles power rankings, a mock draft, and five playoff questions. Rich Hofmann has an instant observations post from the Washington game that is unlocked. Jim Salisbury’s recent Phillies stuff is paywalled while most of the Sixers writing is not.
From a value perspective, the PHLY yearly sub is $79.99. They’re running a $36 special at this current moment, which gives access to all written content and a discord channel, a t-shirt, merch discounts, and a welcome kit. Comparatively, the Inquirer increased our sub price to $40 a month for the entire product, not just sports, though you can still get a reasonably-low introductory offer over there. The Athletic is still relatively cheap, gives you national reporting, and can be bundled with a New York Times sub, so different strokes for different folks, depending on what you’re looking for and how much you want to spend.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com