Defector Media
Defector Media is an American subscription-based sports and culture blog and media company founded in September 2020 and based in Manhattan. The Defector blog is primarily written by former employees of the Deadspin sports blog.
| The last good website. | |
 | |
| Type | Sports, social commentary |
|---|---|
| Format | Digital |
| Editor-in-chief | Tom Ley |
| Deputy editor | Barry Petchesky |
| Managing editor | Samer Kalaf |
| Staff writers | 12 |
| Founded | September 2020 |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Circulation | 40,000 (as of 2024) |
| Website | defector.com |
Defector Media is an American subscription-based sports and culture blog and media company founded in September 2020 and based in Manhattan. The Defector blog is primarily written by former employees of the Deadspin sports blog.
History
[edit]In October and November 2019, all writers at Deadspin quit en masse following an edict from the blog's owner, G/O Media, to "stick to sports" and the firing of editor-in-chief Barry Petchesky.[1] On January 31, 2020, Tom Ley and several other former writers established an interim site that which operated over Super Bowl LIV weekend.[2] The site reopened for the week of April 20, sponsored by a cannabis oil company.[3]
In July 2020, they announced their new subscription-based sports website, Defector Media.[4] Ley is the editor-in-chief. The company had 19 employees, each of whom owned approximately 5% of the company.[5]
Business model
[edit]Defector relies on a subscription model for revenue. In an interview with Slate, co-founder Maitreyi Anantharaman, while discussing how the writers worked out the logistics of starting the site, said "[e]veryone had the same priorities, which were editorial independence and worker stake, and we did come to a consensus that this model was the best way to do this thing." Anantharaman also mentioned that the site was "interested in sustainable growth" and did not "need a million subscribers or anything to be successful".[6]
Subscriptions are mostly two tiered, at $79 and $119 a year, with the higher cost subscription enabling commenting on articles, access to staff Q&As, and subscription to the blog's newsletter. A third tongue-in-cheek subscription tier at $1,000 per year offers the chance to guest host a Defector podcast, MS Paint artwork by a blog writer, and an "annual video from a writer wishing you a happy birthday, the day after your birthday".[7] Alex Shephard writing for The New Republic said "Defector has slipped between two subscription-based trends, neither the atomized Substack model nor the scale model being deployed by traditional newsrooms like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic." Shephard also praised the site for being "refreshingly, both very much like the old Deadspin and very much not like the rest of the internet."[8]
As a way of enticing readers to subscribe, the site offers multiple incentives from the ability to comment on articles to personalized birthday videos by staff. In July 2020, it was reported that Defector had reached over 10k subscriptions on launch day[9] and by September had almost reached 30k subscriptions.[8] By the end of 2020, that number had reached over 34,000.[10] As of October 2024[update], Defector has around 40,000 paid subscribers.[11]
The business side of the site is run by former Deadspin reader Jasper Wang, who worked for Bain & Company. Both Wang and editor-in-chief Tom Ley can be removed from their positions with a two-thirds vote of Defector staff.[5]
Defector has been compared to other worker-owned journalism companies like Hell Gate NYC and 404 Media.[12][13][14]
Podcasts
[edit]Drew Magary and David Roth debuted a podcast, The Distraction, on August 13, 2020.[15][16][17] In January 2023, Multitude Productions became the podcast's producer, replacing Stitcher.[18][19][20]
In December 2021, Defector launched the Namedropping podcast, hosted by Giri Nathan and Samer Kalaf. The show uses names as an entry point to discuss cultural topics such as religion, family, gender, and other forms of identity.[21]
In January 2022, Defector premiered the Normal Gossip podcast, hosted by staff writer Kelsey McKinney and produced by Alex Sujong Laughlin. Each episode features McKinney telling an anonymized gossip story to a guest.[22] In 2023, the show became a member of the Radiotopia podcast network.[23] According to Defector's 2023 annual report, approximately a tenth of subscriptions to the site come from Normal Gossip listeners.[24] In December 2024, McKinney and Sujong Laughlin left the podcast, replaced by Defector staff writer Rachelle Hampton as host and Se'era Spragley-Ricks as lead producer.[25]
In July 2025, Defector acquired Nothing But Respect, a basketball podcast hosted by Patrick Redford and Harry Krinsky.[26][27]
References
[edit]- ^ Booker, Brakkton (November 1, 2019). "Staffers Quit Deadspin After Order To 'Stick To Sports'". NPR. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
- ^ Kirell, Andrew; Tani, Maxwell (January 30, 2020). "Ex-Deadspin Writers Reunite for Super Bowl Blog Sponsored by a Tech Company". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on November 11, 2025. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
- ^ Tani, Maxwell (April 19, 2020). "Ex-Deadspin Writers Reunite Once Again, This Time for 4/20". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2025.
- ^ Tracy, Marc (July 28, 2020). "After Quitting Deadspin in Protest, They're Starting a New Site". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
- ^ a b Scott, Nate (July 28, 2020). "Defector sports blog launches: All we know about the 'new Deadspin'". USA Today. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ Olmstead, Molly (July 28, 2020). "An Ex–Deadspin Writer on Starting a New Publication With Her Old Colleagues". Slate Magazine. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ "Defector Products". Defector Media. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
- ^ a b Shephard, Alex; Bacharach, Jacob; Bartlett, Bruce (September 23, 2020). "Is Defector the Future of Media?". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- ^ Ellefson, Lindsey (July 29, 2020). "Former Deadspin Staffers Report Over 10,000 Subscriptions for Defector". TheWrap. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
- ^ Drew Magary [@drewmagary] (December 17, 2020). "And then, finally... we started Defector.com. Over 34,000 people have subscribed thus far. We all have health insurance and we're getting Christmas bonuses. We just instituted paid six-month maternity/paternity leave. We made good jobs for each other. Pure fucking joy" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Defector Annual Report, September 2023 – August 2024". Defector Media. October 16, 2024. Retrieved October 16, 2024.
- ^ Loewinger, Micah (July 21, 2023). "The Rise of Worker-Owned Journalism | On the Media". WNYC Studios. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
- ^ Pejcha, Camille Sojit (October 16, 2023). "The next wave of indie publishing". Document Journal. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
- ^ Silverman, Justin R. (April 18, 2024). "404 Media and the hopes of worker-owned journalism". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on April 28, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2025.
- ^ Shultz, Alex (July 24, 2020). "The Staff of Deadspin Is Taking Their Talents to Defector. Here's What Happens Next". GQ. Archived from the original on July 29, 2020. Retrieved November 23, 2025.
- ^ Finn, Chad (July 28, 2020). "Former Deadspin staffers are launching their own website, Defector Media". The Boston Globe. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ Downing, Andy (September 11, 2020). "Daily Distraction: Spend some time getting to know Defector". Archived from the original on September 12, 2020.
- ^ Roth, David (January 19, 2023). "We're Back, We're Back". Defector Media. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
- ^ "New Production Partner: Defector Media!". Multitude. January 19, 2023. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
- ^ Roth, David (December 12, 2024). "One Hundred Distractions Deep, With Eric Silver". Defector Media. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
- ^ Nathan, Giri; Kalaf, Samer (December 8, 2021). "Introducing 'Namedropping,' A Podcast About Names". Defector. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
- ^ Quah, Nicholas (September 7, 2022). "The Best Gossip You've Never Heard". Vulture. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
- ^ ""Normal Gossip" from Kelsey McKinney, Alex Sujong Laughlin, and Defector Media Joins Radiotopia from PRX". Podnews. February 27, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
- ^ "Defector Annual Report, September 2022 – August 2023 | Defector". Defector. November 14, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
- ^ McKinney, Kelsey; Hampton, Rachelle (December 10, 2024). "Welcome To The New Era Of Normal Gossip". Defector Media. Retrieved December 24, 2024.
- ^ "In Paradigm-Shifting Business Maneuver, Defector Acquires Basketball Podcast | Defector". Defector. July 16, 2025. Retrieved August 25, 2025.
- ^ Redford, Patrick; Krinsky, Harry (July 16, 2025). "Nothing But Respect is now a Defector Podcast". Nothing But Respect. Retrieved August 25, 2025.