How Dan Does Footy is shaping the future of Australian sports media
Dan Gorringe’s collaboration with the AFL for a live watchalong stream on YouTube marked one of Dan Does Footy’s (DDF) highest-profile ventures to date
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Happy Hour Sports Industry Networking event, presented by Groblox (Melbourne)
After the success of our debut “Happy Hour” sports industry networking in Melbourne earlier this year, and our most recent event in Sydney, we’re teaming up again with MEE Agency to launch our next event in Melbourne.
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Guest Writer: Oliver Trenchard
Today we’re welcoming Ollie Trenchard, Growth Director at Engage Digital Partners, as this week’s guest writer!
Ollie is passionate about engaging new and local audiences, having spent a decade working across different continents in the sports industry with rights-holders, sponsors and broadcasters on fan engagement strategies. He currently is Growth Director at Engage Digital Partners, where he leads clients’ growth and fan engagement strategies across the APAC region.
In today’s article, Ollie provides an overview of the rapid rise of Dan Gorringe’s “Dan Does Footy” sport media brand, and how this rise is shaping the future of Sports Media in Australia and across the globe.
Enjoy the read!
How Dan Does Footy is shaping the future of Australian Sports Media
Over 195,000 fans made history at the weekend by flocking to the MCG for the largest ever combined Preliminary Finals crowd in AFL history.
However, it was activity off the field - taking place a stone’s throw from the ‘G - that arguably caused the biggest stir from the weekend’s Final Footy action.
Dan Gorringe’s collaboration with the AFL for a live watchalong stream on YouTube marked one of Dan Does Footy’s (DDF) highest-profile ventures to date, attracting cameos from the likes of AFL stars and coaches including Bailey Smith, Tom De Koning and Ross Lyon.
The stream received close to 90,000 total views, marking it - outside of 2 x Grand Final performances from Katy Perry and KISS - the most views any non-highlights video has received in its first 24 hours on the AFL YouTube channel, while clips on other social channels promoting the stream have accumulated over 6m views.
How did we get here?
In just two years, Dan Does Footy has surged to become the fastest-growing sports media brand in Australian history.
Long before the whirlwind of the past few months pushed Daniel Gorringe and the DDF juggernaut to even greater heights, the foundations for success were already in place. Now one of the most popular sports podcasts in the country, DDF’s explosive growth - managed by leading modern talent & creator marketing agency, The Gifted Group - has made it one of the most in-demand brands for partnerships and alignment in entertainment, sports and beyond.
A defining moment came during the AFL Legends Game, when traditional mainstream media outlets, what Dan cheekily dubs “Old Man Media” were put on notice.
DDF emerged as the event’s main attraction, driving thousands of ticket sales, selling out three dedicated DDF bays (3 more than any other), and playing a key role in drawing the 35,000-strong crowd.
With 2.3 million viewers tuning in, it became the most-watched AFL game of the year, and by the final siren, commentators were openly acknowledging the platform they had once overlooked.
From viral PR stunts like changing his name to Richmond Gorringe, to dying (and later shaving) his hair in line with Carlton’s fortunes, to receiving widespread media coverage after and over 16m video views after locking himself inside a glass box at the MCG for 48 hours, Dan Gorringe has lead the way in how DDF represents the new wave of fan-first, creator-led sports media.
This isn’t just content it’s a cultural shift in how Australians engage with the game
That cultural shift is even more evident when analysing DDF’s social media engagement compared to other teams.
If DDF was a team, he would be head and shoulders above the rest - producing more than 3 x as many engagements via his Instagram reels content than any other AFL team throughout the 2025 season to date.
With digital channels playing an increasingly important role for club sponsors as part of their sponsorship assets in looking to leverage the teams’ social audiences, could we soon see a shift in those sponsorship budgets towards the likes of DDF?
He is well and truly mixing it with the big boys - both clubs with avid fanbases and broadcast giants.
There is a clear shift in digital power in the sports ecosystem, with creator-led content booming - apparent even more so when analysing his engagement against broadcasters across the past three seasons.
From launch In 2023, DDF had just a fraction of the engagement that those with digital rights produced in broadcasters 7AFL and FoxFooty - and even AFL themselves (22x more engagements than DDF).
Fast-forward to 2025 and DDF is producing off-the-charts level of engagement
In the current calendar year alone, the DDF Instagram channel has seen close to 25m engagements across their short-form content - at least 7 x any other broadcaster and even surpassing the main AFL account for reel engagements.
The human connection that Dan can establish with a fan through his undeniable - and a large reason behind his success to date. The floating head videos where he provides a relatable take on the vision or news item behind him play into platform algorithms - and a content strand is now synonymous with DDF in Australia that it’s approaching trademark territory.
He’s producing more engagement than ever before. He’s also doing it at incredible scale, clocking up close to 1000 uploads a year on Instagram reels already for 2025 (936 to be exact), already surpassing his total tally for the 2024 calendar year (784).
Despite the name, Dan Does Footy not does not do just footy either
Three of the top five most-engaged videos on his TikTok channel in 2025 have been content focussing on sport outside of AFL - such as tennis around Nick Kygrios or Josh Giddey rocking up to a grassroots basketball game - while a reel from darts showcasing Stephen Bunting’s walk-out is his most engaged Instagram video of 2025 to date.
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This suggests DDF is evolving from a creator to a publisher, covering a broad range of sports - and approaching a juncture where DDF covering a moment in your sport can be perceived as social currency.
Could DDF’s next venture be outside of sport? Or even outside of Australia?
And while short-form video views & engagement validate DDF stocks on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, the weekend’s live stream on the AFL YouTube is testament to his ability to draw crowds across long-form content too.
The level of fan engagement that can be generated from a live video compared to short-form content is far greater - through longer watch-time and features such as live chat - increasing the affinity a fan has for the brand. That deeper fan engagement will be something that rights-holders and brands will want to put their name to.
Fans in 2025 are seeking second- and third-screens to enjoy their sports consumption via alternate view-points and live stats. A watchalong feeds into that thirst.
Watchalong formats have been something Australian broadcasters & publishers have flirted with in recent months - however, the collaboration with the rights-holder in AFL coupled with the sheer audience size of DDF has put the industry on notice this weekend.
What does this mean for the future?
Recent months have seen content creators from other markets acquire broadcast rights of competitions on their digital channels.
Mark Goldbridge, who has close to 400,000 YouTube subscribers and famed for his rage-fuelled reactions to Manchester United, coupled with football podcast The Overlap, both acquired YouTube streaming rights to the Bundesliga last month
Content sensation IShowSpeed (44m+ subscribers) - in addition to three other creators - partnered with the NFL for their recent Brazil match for 4 x alternate ‘Watch With’ casts on YouTube
CazéTV (22m+ subscribers), digital platform co-founded by streamer Casimiro Miguel,streamed all 104 games of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup for free on YouTube
A British rugby content creator (Eggchasers Rugby) acquired rights to stream the French Pro D2 (second-division rugby) in the UK & Ireland on YouTube
This has ignited fierce debate around the future direction of sports broadcasts rights worldwide. It would be naive to think that Australia is any different.
We could witness a scenario in the near future where a creator like DDF acquires broadcast rights.
Rights-holders and competitions are increasingly looking to future-proof their brand by engaging younger audiences. DDF’s 1 million+ social audience, consisting primarily of a 16-34 demographic, is one that major sporting codes will be eager to grab a slice of - with the weekend stream with the AFL proof of this.
DDF is becoming hard to ignore.
If those competitions do not partner directly, there is still a lucrative opportunity for sponsors to gain a slice of the action via commercial partnerships with the growing DDF empire.co.
The likes of SportsBet, Jameson and Gatorade have already strategically aligned themselves to the surging creator through a series of activations, while DDF’s cameo in an AAMI TVC during Saturday’s footy did not go unnoticed, signifying a further progression into the mainstream AFL media & commercial circuit.
Globally, the lines between creators, broadcasters and rights-holders have become increasingly blurred of late. If DDF continues on the same trajectory, expect him to further penetrate mainstream media in the months to come.
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Not a subscriber yet? Discover specialised sports marketing insights, tailored for sports industry professionals within Australia and across the globe. If you work in sports for an agency, brand or rights-holder then this is for you.