Athlete prep as content

Anthony Edwards used a YouTube release this week to make playoff preparation the story, not the trailer for a game. His video centers on recovery, nutrition, training and shooting drills ahead of Minnesota’s postseason run. (youtube.com) The video, “How I prepared for the NBA Playoffs,” was crawled this week and is presented as an “exclusive look behind the scenes” at Edwards’ routine before the postseason. It sits on a channel that YouTube lists at about 173,000 subscribers and 73 videos. (youtube.com 1) (youtube.com 2) This is not a one-off upload. Edwards’ channel already carried a seven-video “Year Five” package, including a trailer, five episodes and an epilogue, with episode runtimes mostly between about 10 and 13 minutes and one episode topping 1.1 million views. (youtube.com 1) (youtube.com 2) The format has shifted from the old highlight clip to a player-made process video. In Edwards’ latest upload, the camera stays on meals, workouts and repetition, the parts of a playoff run that usually lived in team footage, sponsor ads or postgame quotes. (youtube.com) Edwards and his partners have been building that model for more than a year. Variety reported on February 7, 2025 that “Year Five” was a collaboration among Edwards’ Three Fifths Media, Wheelhouse and Portal A, with five episodes planned around the stretch from All-Star Weekend to the playoffs. (variety.com) Portal A now says the project generated more than 3 million YouTube views, more than 80 million social views and subscriber growth of 86%. That gives a rough measure of the audience for athlete-run programming built around access and routine rather than just game action. (portal-a.com) The broader backdrop is a crowded market for behind-the-scenes basketball storytelling. Netflix’s “Starting 5,” which followed the 2023-24 season through five players including Edwards, sold viewers on the same promise of training, family life and the grind between games. (about.netflix.com) (netflix.com) What changes here is control. “Year Five” was announced as a series premiering on Edwards’ own YouTube channel, and the new playoff-prep video keeps that direct-to-fan setup: the athlete is the subject, distributor and, through his production company, part of the producer class too. (variety.com) (youtube.com) That does not replace highlights; it packages the work that comes before them. Edwards opened playoff week by uploading the routine itself, turning preparation into the content fans are now expected to watch. (youtube.com)