Thank You ✌️
Reflections on the first year of CITIUS MAG full-time.
Happy holidays, friends! I know it’s been a while since I’ve hit your inbox but I’m back to thank you for following along with CITIUS MAG’s coverage of all things track and field this year. 2022 was my first year doing this as my full-time job and I’m floored by the overwhelming support that has helped us expand our reach and efforts across all of our storytelling platforms and social channels.
It’s tough to say what the best part of 2022 was for me, but one of the biggest highlights has to be our strong viewership and listenership during the World Athletics Championships, where we provided fans with a daily newsletter, a daily podcast, a daily YouTube talk show featuring star athletes, and many live updates, interviews and photos throughout our two weeks in Eugene, Oregon. Looking back I’m extremely proud of the creative storytelling and discipline-inclusive content that we put out while there.
The CITIUS MAG Podcast published 113 episodes in 2022 and had its most-ever downloads and plays. The most listened-to guests of the year were Keira D’Amato, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Michael Johnson, Emily Sisson, Joe Klecker, Cory McGee, Wadeline Jonathas and Gary Martin.
The Lap Count’s subscribers grew by 32% in 2022 – nearly 19,000 people read it weekly for Kyle’s opinions and commentary on the latest news.
As of this newsletter, we have published 222 podcast episodes across the network, including D3 Glory Days, the Run Your Mouth Podcast, More Than Running with Dana, and Out of the Blocks. Jasmine Todd and Katelyn Hutchison joined our team to help us cover the sprints and jumps and their energy has been unrivaled on their podcast and our live streams.
Mac Fleet led our video initiatives in 2022 by more than doubling our YouTube channel’s subscriber count and allowing us to go live for pre and post-race shows at the Millrose Games, New Balance Nationals, Prefontaine Classic, the U.S. Championships, Falmouth Road Race and the World Championships. YouTube sent us a snapshot of our channel which boasted more than 3.6 million views and 10.7 million watch time minutes. (I just recently saw that ESPN’s YouTube channel generated 20 billion views, but we’ll take a couple million for now!) We’re hoping to be back at many of those events in 2023, and Mac is already working on fresh graphics and innovative ideas he has for our shows.
On social, we continue to be one of the running/track accounts with the most engagement on Instagram and Twitter, and I’m thankful for the moments when David Melly or Dana Giordano take the reins to cover major events and make sure we’re putting minute-by-minute coverage and expert analysis at the top of your feeds. The many photos that we shared throughout the year would not have been possible without the vision and originality of Justin Britton and Johnny Zhang, who are always committed to getting the best shot. I’m incredibly proud of our whole team and I know we’re only going to get better as we grow.
We do this because we love the sport, but the positivity, energy, and passion you share with us make it all the more rewarding. Whether you’re a day-one fan or you just found CITIUS MAG this week, your support helps keep us going and makes this journey fun.
If you want to consider supporting CITIUS MAG in 2023, you can contribute or pledge anything you feel comfortable with on Patreon or Venmo. It will all ensure we continue to up our game and be present at all the major events in 2023. A major thank you to all the brands we worked with in 2022 for their sponsorship behind much of our content.
Across podcasts, newsletters, videos, articles and social media posts, we hope to continue to bring you the most comprehensive coverage in track and field in 2023.
With love,
Chris Chavez
PS: Buy our calendar for 2023 to keep track of the dates around key events and big meets ft. some awesome photos by JZSnapz! There’s only a few left!