Katt Williams might have set the internet on fire with his interview on “Club Shay Shay” in early January, but podcast host Shannon Sharpe is having the last laugh as he is also reaping a ton of benefits as a result of the episode.
Sharpe, who has a reported net worth of $14 million, is a retired NFL player. The Hall of Fame tight end played 14 seasons in the league, 12 for the Denver Broncos and two for the Baltimore Ravens, and won three Super Bowls. Following his retirement, Sharpe became a CBS sports analyst and co-hosted Fox Sports 1’s “Skip and Shannon: Undisputed” for six years before leaving the Fox show last year to join Stephen A. Smith at ESPN’s “First Take.”
Podcast Boost
Sharpe’s podcast interviews celebrities and athletes, allowing them to tell stories of their career longevity. The YouTube podcast currently has 2.58 million subscribers and has published 1800 videos.
For Williams, the podcast episode placed him back in the public eye and was much needed publicity for his upcoming tour. But for Sharpe, who has hosted the podcast and YouTube channel since 2020, the full interview has reached an estimated 56 million views at press time.
According to an analysis at The Root, Sharpe will earn an estimated $1 million from YouTube from the Katt episode. The second-most watched interview was Steve Harvey’s in early 2023 — he gained 10 million views. Other popular interviews include with former NFL player Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson, Deion Sanders and Kountry Wayne. Sharpe also partners with Johnson on another podcast, “Nightcap.”
Financial Benefits of Operating A YouTube Channel and Podcast
While the notoriety of hosting a successful channel has proven to be an achievement for Sharpe, there are also financial benefits to running his podcast through YouTube.
YouTube creators earn revenue from the advertisements that the digital platform generates. For longer video formats such as those of “Club Shay Shay,” advertisements run every five to eight minutes. YouTube is able to calculate payments by RPM, also known as revenue per thousand views. The company keeps 55 percent of its generated advertising revenue and cuts a check of the remaining 45 percent balance to the content creator.
Using this model, according to The Root, Sharpe will net more than $660,000 for the interview. And that’s not all: Sharpe’s team split the interview into several clips. These are also widely circulated and monetized. Williams’ interview was split into 37 clips. The clip of the first 35 minutes of Williams’ interview has an estimated 8 million views. The views on this clip will help Sharpe earn upwards of $100,000 and counting, according to The Root.
And while Sharpe will need to pay his team of producers and other overhead costs, his interview with Williams is allowing him to earn more than the most popular YouTubers generate in their videos.
