"We're not a network": TBPN's plan on cusp of selling out 2026 ad inventory
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TBPN co-hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays. Photo: Sam Popp on behalf of Axios
TBPN has almost sold out of its ad inventory for next year, co-host Jordi Hays said at Axios Communicators Live.
Why it matters: The media startup's strategy underscores a shift toward creator-led companies that focus on loyal and engaged audiences.
What they're saying: "I wanted revenue predictability, and so every deal that we did this year and for next year, we did on an annualized basis, and so I pitched every advertiser that we were basically building like a kind of Formula One team," Hays told Axios' Eleanor Hawkins.
- "Every sponsor is in every episode, all the clips," co-host John Coogan added. "You come along the ride across all of these different versions of the show."
Zoom in: TBPN's partnership model is built on yearlong, category-exclusive deals. That means once a brand buys in, its competitor cannot.
- "We work with a lot of enterprise software companies. You don't just decide to spend a million dollars on software from seeing one ad," Hays said. "We wanted to make sure that every advertiser was effectively in every piece of content we put out."
Follow the money: TBPN, which is profitable and has no outside investors, expects to generate $5 million in ad revenue in 2025, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
- Former Postmates and HQ Trivia executive Dylan Abruscato recently joined to help triple that ad revenue to $15 million in 2026.
Catch up quick: Coogan and Hays launched TBPN ("Technology Business Programming Network") in 2024 after previously working as investors and entrepreneurs.
- The daily, three-hour live show streams on X and YouTube and covers tech and finance in the style of an ESPN "SportsCenter" broadcast. High-profile guests have included Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
- Coogan said they see the show as the "Pat McAfee Show of tech" due to the similar long-form livestream format with commentators joining in.
The big picture: TBPN is part of a new generation of creator-led media businesses. But despite the company's early success, the co-hosts said they don't see themselves building a larger network.
- "We're not a network," Hays said, later referencing Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy who was a solo blogger who then hired and built up talent, like Alex Cooper, who then left.
- "Networks had a lot of leverage when it was super expensive to create content and distribute it," Hays said. "You needed huge teams, and now you can just like open up a laptop and start creating content, and so it's going to be really, really hard for businesses of all types to retain talent."
- "You don't have a monopoly on the guests that come to show, right? They go on other podcasts. They go on TV. The only thing we have a monopoly on is like ourselves," Hays said.
What's next: TBPN plans to cover more publicly traded companies after signing a partnership with the New York Stock Exchange, which gives them access to the exchange floor like CNBC.
- "We very much want the show to be everywhere. That's the road," Coogan said. "There's still work that we've been doing on the short-form side ... I feel like there's a lot of opportunity on LinkedIn."
Go deeper: CEOs enter their out-of-pocket era
