Nick Wright Says He Has Stopped Working For Clicks
It is no secret that many people in the media do things for clicks. People randomly go viral all the time, and some people study algorithms and trends to boost their views. Nick Wright said that he works for ratings, however, not clicks.
Wright spoke with Ethan Sherwood Strauss on a recent episode of the “House of Strauss” podcast and during the interview, he talked about how he has built his show “First Things First,” rather than making clips for social media.
“I think a mistake that I know I made for a long time,” Wright said. “And I see a lot of people make is I watch and I’m like, ‘You’re not doing the show for the TV show, you are doing it for the 90-second clip that will crush on the internet.’ But it’s not part of an ecosystem within the show.”
“I am really happy that I am now doing a show that is for the best show,” Wright continued. “And it was a failure of mine … that once upon a time … I wasn’t every day necessarily trying to do the best TV show possible. I was every day like, ‘How can I have at least one moment that will cut through?’ And that was a mistake.”
Wright started to talk about what it was like filming shows remotely while the pandemic was going on, but live sports had made their comeback. He began focusing on takes that would gain him as much attention as possible on social media during this time.
“That was, I believe, flatly a mistake,” he said. “And I think I wasn’t doing right by everyone that works on the TV show. I became a selfish endeavor. And sometimes I see things on Twitter, or I’m watching a show, and I see things and I’m like, ‘This was done for the clip, this wasn’t done for any other purpose than this will do well on the internet.’ And I’m not saying there’s not a place for that, but I feel like that for some people has become the entirety of what they create.”
It is nice to see people like Nick Wright being self-aware and trying to move on from those habits. A lot of shows have begun losing ratings because the takes are so outrageous that it is clear they are going for clicks.
One problem that I have is that Nick Wright certainly did something earlier in the year for clicks. About a month-and-a-half ago, I wrote an article about the tattoo he got that backed his prediction of the Chiefs having a perfect season and winning the Super Bowl. As many of us know, that tattoo backfired quickly, as the Chiefs lost their Week 1 matchup against the Lions.
Getting a bold sports prediction tattooed on your body is an easy way to go viral and everyone knows it. Nick Wright knew that it would go viral even if he were to claim that it wasn’t for clicks. Despite that tattoo though, it is nice to see him evolve and stand against the clickbait takes that we see far too often.
