Deron Guidrey is a vastly accomplished mogul within the sports marketing and media industry. He has spearheaded several successful ventures and initiatives over the years. Of all his incredible achievements, one of them truly stands head and shoulders above the rest and that is PlayersTV. The inception alone of PlayersTV is a historic feat as the platform became the very first ever athlete-owned media network. This groundbreaking achievement garnered the attention of several prominent media forums such as Forbes Magazine, Essence Magazine, and Yahoo Finance to name a few. The athletes who are part of PlayersTV include Dwayne Wade, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Travis Kelce, Chris Paul, and Allen Iverson among many others. The Motimagz Life & Style correspondent, Charles Myambo (CM) had an interview with Deron Guidrey (DG). Below are some excerpts from the interview.
CM: Deron, the reputation you’ve carved out for yourself within the ‘Sports Media’ sphere is nothing short of extraordinary. What exactly contributed to your vast acumen in the sports media world?
DG: Number 1, I think it’s all about having a clear vision and then deliberately working towards it! I always say we are not “sports media”, we are “athlete media”. Traditional sports media is primarily intended to bring fans closer to the game/sport and the teams involved. We on the other hand are more synonymous with athlete media that focuses more on building the bridge between the fans and athletes. Nowadays, it’s becoming more and more common for fans to have more affinity for their favorite players than the teams they support. As such, this creates a huge demand for athlete-related content among fans. Our role is to have a platform that facilitates a more personable bridge between the fans and the players. Aside from having a clear vision, I’d also say trust is vital when it comes to this industry. When people have seen your work ethic, dedication, and success with other ventures, it becomes easier for them to believe in anything else you do, in this case: PlayersTV.
CM: Your indelible imprint is visible on almost any project you touch but none more apparent than your exemplary work with PlayersTV. Deron, walk me through the thought process that preceded the inception of the groundbreaking forum: ‘PlayersTV’
DG: Over the past decade or so, there has been a notable shift within traditional sports media. We see more and more players eager to shape the narrative of their stories/legacies. There is a substantial increase in player-owned and produced podcasts, documentaries, and reality shows. Where we come in is on the distribution side of things. We facilitate the dissemination of the content that the athletes will be creating for their fans to consume. As such, the relationship between PlayersTV and the athletes is quite symbiotic. That said, credit must also be apportioned to athletes like Lebron James and JJ Reddick who founded production companies such as Uninterrupted and TwoFourThree, respectively. Athletes like them helped pave the way for the type of work that PlayersTV does.
CM: There are numerous highly distinguished stars on board such as Dwayne Wade, Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul, Allen Iverson, and Travis Kelce to name a few. Just how pivotal has it been to have athletes on board who cosign the ethos and vision of PlayersTV?
DG: It’s a blessing to have these athletes on board. In addition, It’s good to have them believe in me and the rest of our team. One thing about us as PlayersTV is that “we move as one!” The athletes have their specialty and we have ours but we move as a cohesive unit. This is truly an exciting era in athlete and sports-centered media. The athletes’ voices are louder and bigger than ever before. As PlayersTV, we will continue to emerge as the largest provider of athlete content, worldwide. When you think of Food, you think of Food Network, when you think of Cartoons, you think of Cartoon Network and when you think of Players, you will think of PlayersTV!
CM: Deron, I can only imagine that you’ve encountered your fair share of obstacles in life while working towards achieving feats that others haven’t. Could you give us some insight into some of the challenges you had to overcome over the years?
DG: Well Charles, I had to overcome fear, failure, and a plethora of other challenges. Adversity is an ever-present factor in any journey towards success. I had to have faith to overcome both fear and challenges. The fear of failure is very real, and all of us have experienced some level of this at one point or another. The answer for me each time I have doubt or fear is to choose to have faith. That said, It hurts at times to have faith because you’re essentially trying to believe in things that you can’t see yet or haven’t achieved yet. A piece of advice I’d offer to everyone is to embrace failure. If you don’t embrace the failure, you become defined by that failure. Welcome it and learn from it! It’s all part of life’s journey.
CM: I’m sure I’m not the only one excited about PlayersTV. Kindly tell us some of the coverage and initiatives we can look forward to from PlayersTV in the upcoming months and years.
DG: Without getting into too much detail, we have new content and exciting initiatives on the way. We will also be expanding further beyond the US in the coming months and years. Regions such as Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and Oceania/Australia. In addition, we will be bringing content from different athletes from a variety of sports. There are so many exciting things to come both in the short term and the long term. Keep your eyes on PlayersTV! Thanks for the chat, Charles.
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