Kieran Smith, Assistant Managing Director for GRV Media shares insights on how to set written sports content apart from the ever-growing churn of competition.
GRV Media is one of Europe’s largest independent online sports publishers with over 40 niche sports titles targeting sports fans across the world, covering everything from tennis to football. Its Assistant MD, Kieran Smith, is Leeds Trinity University alumni and returned to campus during Journalism & Media Week 2025 to share advice he’s gained from his time in the sports media industry.
“Most people can write,” he said to the mixed cohort of students. “The question you need to ask yourselves, is what sets your work apart from the rest?”
According to the latest YouGov report on media consumption in Britain, the average person consumes three hours of media a day, and the digital landscape is more dynamic and fragmented than ever before, with content flowing across countless platforms in various formats – not to mention the added complexity of AI.
So to the next generation of hopeful sports journalists, the question Kieran asks is an important one.
“When I first started out, what I thought genuinely mattered was writing brilliant content. That’s an important skill to have but it doesn’t matter how good your content is if you can’t get it in front of the right people.
“As modern day journalists we need to ask, how many page views will it get, what will the click-through rate be, how long will people stay on the page. It’s about balancing brilliant content, with measurable digital performance. Learn to optimise through Search Engine Optimisation, it’s really not as complicated as it seems.”
Kieran Smith, Assistant Director, GRV Media ©Leeds Trinity University
Kieran’s career has been short so far but impressive, he graduated from Leeds Trinity University in 2022 after a job offer from his work placement at Give Me Sport and in three short years has not only become Assistant Managing Director of GRV Media, he is also Head of The Writer Lab, where he trains young journalists to understand how they can better enhance their content online.
“Although I was lucky enough to find a job through my university placement, part of the reason I was made redundant from that role was because I didn’t know what my audience wanted, I didn’t understand the analytics.
“That is what will set you apart from the rest, understand the technical aspect of digital publishing. Choose quality views over click bait and understand SEO so your content can find its audience. People don’t go looking for content anymore… it finds them.
“What actually matters is writing brilliant content that performs.”
You can follow Kieran on X at @KieranSmith08 and learn more about GRV Media at grv.media
Kieran’s top tips:
- Do what you can during your time at university
- Try different things, it’s a diverse industry
- Learn the technical elements of your craft
- Practice makes perfect, practice whenever, wherever
- Learn to improvise and adapt