THE 14TH ANNUAL SHORTY AWARDS

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media and digital. View this season's finalists!

The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny

Finalist in Sports Podcast

Objective

The Mina Kimes Show is a podcast for football fans by a football fan. 

Mina seeks to highlight the joys of football, bringing much-needed humor and light to a serious sport. The show’s greatest strength is Mina’s ability to go deep into meaningful analysis of the NFL’s biggest moments while appreciating some of the silliness of the game. Expertly balancing the technical aspects of a game with approachable pop culture sensibility, it’s no wonder Mina has risen to the top of the sports media world. 

Pioneers in re-envisioning sports media, the show’s home network, Omaha Productions, has curated a diversified profile of content for its audience to enjoy across verticals, delivering a signature depth of coverage to its varied fanbases. Seeking to bring one of the smartest voices in sports to a new medium, The Mina Kimes Show is a prime example of how athletic insight need not be confined to traditional media channels. In a crowded, fast-moving digital landscape, in partnership with ESPN, The Mina Kimes Show is central to Omaha Productions’ push to build content that unites fans and lovers of sports.

Strategy

Known as one of the top talkers in the country and for her unique POV on all things football, Mina uses her platform to deliver commentary in the way only she can— even if it means tapping her dog in for the occasional assist. 

In bringing Mina to the Omaha Audio Network, the team needed to find a unique style and approach that would resonate with Mina’s longtime fans but give the host new energy and space to create something separate from her tenure at ESPN. This meant approaching the show’s programming with a content strategy that puts Mina front and center, while the show has become a revolving door for some of the biggest names in sports media. 

Mina is joined regularly by her friends and fellow commentators, including names like Domonique Foxworth, Field Yates, Mike Golic Jr., and Gregg Rosenthal— each adding a fresh face and new chemistry to the show every week. It’s not just standard commentators and athletes who get to weigh in on the show. This season, Mina was joined by NFL TikToker Theo Ash to break down the preseason, snagging one of the most popular content creators in sports for a guest spot on the show. Theo’s videos have over 30M likes on TikTok, and is recognized as a leading voice among Gen-Z football fans. 

Results

Since its debut as an audio-only podcast in 2018, The Mina Kimes Show has grown tremendously and has reached several milestones. In 2022, the show expanded to include a digital video component released on ESPN YouTube channels. The following year, Mina Kimes was given her own channel on ESPN YouTube. All show video content is now released on her channel which has resulted in a 135% boost in views. The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny averages 350K audio downloads per month.

Media

Video for The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny

Entrant Company / Organization Name

Omaha Productions

Link

Entry Credits