💸 This YouTuber Just Spent $250K on Content, Was it Worth It?

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Happy Wednesday,

Last August, Jack Settleman came on Sportonmics and said he was willing to spend $250,000 on college football content in 2025.

This week, we checked the receipt.

The hard costs for Snapback Saturdays came in around $120K–$140K:

• Flights

• Hotels

• Tickets

• On-the-ground production

However, once you factor in editors, producers, and team costs for that stretch of the year, Jack admitted they were “easily over $250K all in.”

But what did that investment return?

This week, Jake and I broke down the real math behind Snapback Saturdays: what the spend unlocked, how brands evaluate creator-led tours, and why the jersey patch conversation just got a lot more interesting.

🎧 [Listen to our full episode with Jack Settleman]

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5 Takeaways From Our Conversation With Jack Settleman

1. Views stayed flat. Watch time exploded.

Season 1 of Snapback Saturdays produced viral spikes. Season 2 produced depth.

Last year, videos ranged from 15–22 minutes and regularly popped for 100K–250K views. This season, most videos ran 38+ minutes, with some stretching past an hour. The result:

• 3x YouTube watch time year-over-year

• 131 million total social impressions

• A 50K+ view floor on most YouTube uploads

As Jack put it, “Viewership probably looks the same, but watch time is significantly up.”

The takeaway: fewer viral spikes, more sustained audience investment.

2. The real metric is impact on campus.

Jack was clear that impressions don’t tell the full story.

Last year, Snapback’s content flow was scattered. This year, it was coordinated — pre-promo before arriving on campus, heavy posting during game days, and consistent distribution across platforms.

The result? They couldn’t walk through South Dakota State without being stopped for photos.

Jack described it as “measurably stronger performance” from an impact standpoint, not just a numbers standpoint.

For brands, that matters more than raw reach.

3. YouTube is the smallest platform (and the most valuable).

Only a small percentage of total impressions came from YouTube. The majority came from Reels, TikTok, Shorts, and Twitter (Snapback’s full social report).

But Jack was blunt: YouTube is “by far the most valuable.”

Why?

Because a YouTube impression means 8–10 minutes of attention, whereas a TikTok impression might mean 12 seconds.

Brands don’t just buy reach; they buy time and context.

And Snapback’s ability to package long-form storytelling with short-form distribution is what makes the sponsorship math work.

4. Brand deals aren’t just CPM calculations.

When Jake asked how Snapback prices sponsorships, Jack admitted it starts with standard CPM logic, but it doesn’t end there.

Brands aren’t just buying impressions. With Snapback, they’re buying:

• Ideation

• Scripting

• Editing

• On-ground presence

• Cultural alignment

As Jack put it, working with a media company means you “get the ideation… you get really good content instead of just that reach.”

That’s the differentiator versus static ad inventory.

5. The jersey patch market just changed, but it’s complicated.

Last year, Jack publicly offered $100K to put Snapback on a college football jersey. However, it didn’t happen because the NCAA hadn’t cleared patches yet.

Now they have.

But here’s the nuance most people miss: many schools don’t actually control their own sponsorship rights. Third-party agencies like Learfield and Playfly manage that inventory.

Which means pricing isn’t purely market-driven. It’s coordinated.

However, Jack’s new pitch isn’t just a $100K check; it’s positioning the deal as $500K+ in value when you factor in:

• Media impressions

• Digital storytelling

• PR attention

• Snapback’s audience activating around that school

His argument is simple: you’re not just selling a patch, you’re buying a distribution partner.

Why It Matters

Snapback Saturdays is a case study in what modern sports media actually looks like. It’s not ESPN or some random blog; it’s a hybrid:

• Travel-based storytelling

• Multi-platform distribution

• Long-form depth + short-form reach

• Direct brand sales layered on top

And the financial transparency matters, because while most creators just talk about views, Jack talks about spend, watch time, and leverage.

Still, the bigger shift is this: schools, leagues, and brands are slowly realizing that creators aren’t just amplifiers. They’re distribution engines with built-in audience trust.

The real question isn’t whether legacy media and new-age media can coexist (they can), it’s who understands attention better over the next decade.

Snapback is betting it’s them.

🎧 [Listen to our full episode with Jack Settleman]

📩 And don’t forget: Bottom of the Ninth is back this Friday with the top three stories in sports and business from the week.

See you then,
Tyler & Jake