Major League Baseball has struck a partnership deal with Jomboy Media, the sports content company that rose to prominence through viral lip-reading videos and now boasts 2 million YouTube subscribers.
The partnership comes as MLB seeks to reach younger audiences through authentic digital content creators. Jomboy Media recorded 93 million social media engagements last year and has grown since its humble beginnings as a hobby podcast in 2017.
Co-founder Jake Storiale said the company never envisioned reaching this scale when he and Jimmy O'Brien started their weekly Yankees podcast.
"The original dream was maybe like the kooky spring training guys or something like that," Storiale said during an appearance on "CBS Mornings Plus" Monday. "And now it's turned into a 60-person business."
The deal represents years of parallel work between the organizations, according to Courtney Hirsch, the CEO of Jomboy Media and O'Brien's sister, who helped broker the partnership.
"We both have the same mission to grow the game and to serve baseball fans," Hirsch said. "It took years in the making."
What finally pushed the partnership over the finish line after years of discussions was the growing influence of digital content creators in sports, Hirsch said.
"I think the power of content creators is really undeniable, and the impact that they're having on sports," she said. "Major League Baseball recognizes that it's important to have authentic voices speaking to fans, and then also creating content on digital platforms like we do to reach people where they're at and create new fans because that's really our superpower."
Jomboy Media has expanded beyond baseball commentary to include multiple podcasts, TV shows and warehouse games featuring backyard-style sports competitions. The company's breakdown videos, which often include lip-reading analysis of on-field conversations and confrontations, have become particularly popular for bringing viewers closer to the action.
"Sports is the best reality television still," Storiale said. "The breakdown videos that Jimmy does, I mean it brings you on the field and that's kind of what fans want."
The company name originated from an iPhone autocorrect error that changed "Jimmy" to "Jomboy," which O'Brien adopted as his social media handle on his mother's advice to use a nickname online, Hirsch said.
Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
Analisa Novak