​13.04.2023

Olympia Publishing takes over audio platform FOOTBALL WAS MY FIRST LOVE

by Eyes & Ears of Europe

The Olympia publishing house is expanding its audio offering: The platform "Football was my first Love", or "FWMFL" for short, is getting a new sporting owner as part of an asset deal. The home of numerous football content creators and fans is to grow and at the same time expand the audio offering of the media house with diverse community formats around fan and football culture. With a new logo and a lot of enthusiasm, the brand is now launching under the umbrella of Olympia Verlag. FWMFL founder Jan Philipp Platenius and Olympia Verlag have been working together for many years and the mutual trust is great.

FWMFL has long since established itself among football and sports lovers. For podcasts, fan chants and anecdotes, the platform has become home to many sports enthusiasts. The community also offers young talents a place to launch self-produced audio formats. For this purpose, FWMFL relies on its own app and a subscription model: audio-savvy football fans thus have the opportunity to play out their own podcasts on the platform and monetise their reach. Users get unlimited access to all content as part of a paid subscription.

So far, the founders Philipp Steffek and Jan Philipp Platenius - better known as "Pini" - have managed the platform: "We are proud of what we have achieved and we are completely convinced that the path shown under the umbrella of Olympia Publishing is the right step to expand the platform in the sense of our talented content creators and to bring the community together even more," says Platenius about the handover of the baton.

Those responsible at Olympia Publishing have been in contact with "Pini" for some time, because it was not only since the takeover that they regularly exchanged information about current developments and trends. "Pini" had already appeared as a host on the podcast "kicker History". The asset deal is the result of a long-standing, trusting cooperation.

"The aim is to further expand the platform, to attract new podcasters with good content and, of course, new users. The authenticity of the brand and the focus on the community, which were significantly built up by the two founders, will continue to form the DNA of FWMFL in the future. For our audio strategy, the platform is a key to reaching even more people with our brands - and above all to inspire them", says Werner Wittmann, Head of Digital Media at Olympia-Verlag.

The different podcast offerings are intended to create synergies. Thus, the kicker formats concentrate on developments and topics in football and sport in general, while FWMFL continues to focus on fan and football culture. Product Manager Social TV & Audio at Olympia Publishing Benjamin Schmid sees the deal as optimal for all parties involved: "With FWMFL, we will focus on scaling the platform even better, making it more visible and improving monetisation opportunities for content creators in the process. With our manpower and expertise, we want to take the next steps together with the community." With a refreshed logo design, FWMFL is now launching under the umbrella of Olympia Publishing, and further planning and measures on the development potential around the platform are already underway.

The takeover was handled by Oliver Kühn, Head of Finance & Organisation, and Werner Wittmann together with KPMG. "It was important for us to go the way of an asset deal and not to found another GmbH. This means we have much less commercial effort and can better integrate the platform into our structures," says Kühn.