Today, we have the world’s largest list of branded podcasts and video shows, a fresh drop for Webflow users, and more sports entering the subscription space.

Your top subscription news

The World's Biggest List of Branded Podcasts and Video Shows

Amid my Twitter scroll this a.m., I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon the World’s Biggest List of Branded Podcasts and Video Shows, shared by Jay Acunzo of Marketing Showrunners. Because November is Make the Case Month at MSR, every week they’re loading up on big-picture ideas and tactical tips to help you sell branded show concepts to the “powers that be” within your organization. And they kicked it off with this doozy.

According to Jay, they define a "brand" as companies that sell products as their primary revenue source. To be considered on the list, the show also needs to be active—meaning the show has to have run an episode in 2019.

In it, they break it down into categories of “podcasts” and “video series.”

Humble brag: Recur Now does make it onto the list in the B2B podcast section, and Recur Network under the “show network” list (which we have a trailer of in today's episode… in case you’ve missed it prior).

The list is truly hefty, but a few in particular that caught my eye: Appcues’ podcast, Voice of the Product, an ongoing interview series with strategic leaders at top product-led companies, featuring discussions on team structure, business strategy, and the opportunities and pitfalls of becoming product-led. Another is Pluralsight’s pod called All Hands on Tech, on developing tech skills and, essentially, embracing innovation.

And in the video series realm, ThriveHive’s Locals goes behind the scenes of local businesses—the tasks, challenges, victories, and hustle that local business life requires. Not to mention Wistia Studios listed under show networks (who we fangirl over often) as our Recur Network neighbor.

And there are a ton more on this list worth checking out. As always, full list linked here.

If we missed any particular favorites you're digging, send me a note at abby@recurnow.com and I’ll be sure to check them out to keep our audience in the know.

A Webflow x PayPal update

In update news, PayPal Checkout for Ecommerce has officially launched on Webflow. For those unfamiliar, Webflow is a web-based drag and drop tool for building responsive websites, a team that stands behind the “no-code” movement.

"Today, the world runs on code. Every text you send, every website you visit, every screen you swipe. It's all driven by code. Code that only a fraction of the world can even understand. And that's a problem."

Adding PayPal Checkout makes things a lot more global, with Webflow Ecommerce now open for business in 85 additional countries. You can now open a store in any of PayPal’s merchant-supported countries and accept payments from anywhere PayPal operates globally, dramatically expanding the reach of Webflow Ecommerce around the world.

Until today, Webflow customers in 34 different countries were able to accept payments using Stripe as a checkout option on their stores. The addition of PayPal Checkout bumps that count of merchant-supported countries to 119, an ideal spot for customer conversion rate, (up to 82%, Webflow says), by allowing customers to move through checkout even faster.

And since we know over 75% of potential customers will leave a site without purchasing, this is pretty huge news.

More subscription sports, here to play

And we're welcoming another sports member into the subscription space, with the National Basketball Association officially entering the streaming family.

For $6.99 per month, or $59.99 annually for a slight discount, a direct-to-consumer version of NBA TV allows basketball viewers access to 100+ live NBA games, past programming, pregame and nightly shows, weekly roundups, and the like.

Last month, we touched on the industry entering the subscription space, with the Cleveland Cavaliers introducing the model as a way to amp up revenue for in-person games.

And ProfitWell Pricing Strategist John Mangini weighed in on the subscription sports madness with a fresh take:

"If we think of where this model could be more successful: Recently the MLB (I think they're on a 16-year decline in ticket sales), they're losing the younger generation [and] they need to get that generation in there. So what they should start doing is not just subscription but pure freemium."

But is the recurring revenue model a smart move in business? Here’s intel from CNN Business, interviewing Steven Zeitchik, Business of Entertainment Reporter at the Washington Post:

"I think that right now, a lot of consumers don't want to deal with as many middle men as they used to. Now, that's a very different question from 'Is this smart to be spending this much money on? And to be going all in on in the way that some of these firms are?' But I think right now it's important, at least for those of us who cover it, to ask those questions, while still keeping in mind that overall streaming and direct-to-consumer digital content is a smart thing to be doing."

But subscription sports: Is this the future of fandom?

Recur Boston 2019

The final countdown has begun. 

Talks from the trenches, concrete advice, networking with the best in the business. It's all in Boston this December. 

That is a wrap for your November 12 subscription news. Send your teammates to profitwell.com/recur/recurnow to sign up for episodes on the daily.

If you have news to share, hit me up at abby@recurnow.com and let's collaborate. We want to feature you—our neighbors in the space.