Everything Athletes Should Know About Ontheside

Ontheside is a sports-only content platform where athletes of all ages and experience levels turn their expertise, access, and hard-earned insights into income. You decide how you’d like to share your content.

There are three different options when sharing content Ontheside:

1. Free (Public) Content
   Free content, including content shared in Public Tracks, appears in the main feed and can be discovered by anyone. This content is eligible for brand sponsorship.
2. Paid (Exclusive) Content
   Content assigned to Paid Tracks is available only to paid platform pass-holders.
3. Private Content
   Content assigned to Private Tracks is shared only with individuals or groups you approve.

Ontheside helps you focus on your athletic career and fund your goals. Fans and fellow athletes can support you by watching your free content and unlock access to your premium content as paid platform pass-holders. Brands gain the opportunity to sponsor your free, public content to reach your audience.

At Ontheside we've built a destination where athletes, fans, and brands can achieve shared goals. Here, your credibility comes from your skills, story, and authentic point of view, not followers or clicks. Unlike conventional social media, your content doesn't compete with non-sports posts and non-stop ads. Supporters and sponsors truly value and are inspired by your perspective and the unique experiences you share.

We put athletes first. Your hard-earned knowledge shouldn't be given away for free. That's why you keep 80% of all proceeds from brand sponsorship and pass-holder payments based on consumption of your content. Plus, we package and promote relevant, free content to brands for sponsorship, so you don't have to. You own your content, don't have to endorse a sponsor you don't believe in, and always have the right to veto a brand sponsor.

Beyond the platform, our team partners with you to help you unlock your content potential. We'll flex our creative muscles with you and support your journey for free throughout your entire athletic career on Ontheside.

Yes. Ontheside is built for all athletes at any stage of their career, from dedicated amateurs to competitive pros, and coaches who want to mentor. Unlike conventional social media platforms, Ontheside levels the playing field — especially for athletes often overlooked by traditional sponsors or those in underfunded sports. Ontheside, fans discover athletes based on relevancy and recency of their content. There are no algorithms that favor popularity trends, or minimum follower count thresholds.

Start with free content, then decide if and when you’d like to offer exclusive content to users with paid all-access platform passes. Make sure to invite your friends, family, and existing supporters to create a free account and follow along on your journey.

Brand sponsorship on Ontheside gives athletes a way to earn from their free, public content without requiring traditional brand endorsements. When a brand sponsors content posts, their message appears as a pre-roll ad before each post.

The two ways to share free content eligible for brand sponsorship include:

1. Individual Public Content Posts
   Content that is shared publicly and not assigned to a Track
2. Public Track
   Content that is shared within a free, Public Track

In both cases, the content remains free for users to access.

Here’s how it works:
Ontheside packages and promotes eligible athlete content to relevant brand sponsors by matching audience and messaging goals with the right sports and creators. When viewers watch a brand’s pre-roll ad in front of athlete content, 80% of all brand sponsorship proceeds are distributed among the athletes whose content the ad played in front of.

Views of free sponsored content help athletes earn. Every ad opens with a short message letting viewers know the brand is contributing sponsorship investment to athlete-creators through Ontheside. So viewers know that every time they watch a brand ad, they are supporting athletes through brand sponsorship.

Tip: The more free, longer-form content you publish, the more opportunities you have for Ontheside to include your free content in brand sponsorships.

All-access passes allow you to earn directly from pass-holders who want deeper access to your exclusive content as well as all other athletes’ exclusive content Ontheside. When you offer content within a Paid Track, that content automatically becomes accessible to all all-access pass-holders. Pass-holders gain insider access to your training, routines, and knowledge—and you earn each time your paid content is viewed. Pass-holder proceed payouts are tied to viewer consumption, so the more times viewers watch your paid content, the more you earn.

For example, if a fan buys a one-month pass and spends half their time watching Paid Track content from one athlete and half from another, each athlete receives 50% of the 80% of that fan’s pass purchase.

Our Bigger Picture article is a great overview to help you get started.

Anyone can view your free content and preview your Tracks from a shared link without creating an account. Simply share your Profile link or any individual content links on social media, in emails, or anywhere else you want to promote your Ontheside story and content.

Built-in platform features offer multiple ways for new fans to find you. Once you publish your Profile Card, fans can discover your Profile through the search bar in the main Discover feed or when they select the Profile filter while in the Discover feed. And because your Profile URL is shareable, you can link to it from anywhere and easily drive existing followers and new viewers to your Ontheside profile.

Ontheside currently supports six types of content. Each can be shared in any of the following ways depending on how you want to engage your audience and earn:

1. As free stand-alone public posts or within Public Tracks
2. Included in an exclusive Paid Track that all-access pass-holders can view
3. Published within a Private Track with access granted and controlled by you as the athlete-creator

Spotlight: Images or short video clips. A single Spotlight post can include up to 20 media assets (1GB per uploaded image/video).

Episode: A single video or audio file (up to 1GB). Episodes can include tutorials, in-depth training sessions, behind-the-scenes content, or podcasts. Audio episodes may also include an optional thumbnail image.

Guide: A step-by-step content format. Guides use flexible drag-and-drop two-column blocks that pair written instructions with images or video. Athlete-creators can use Guides to break down concepts, routines, or processes in an easy-to-follow format.

SplitSync: A dual-video content format that synchronizes side-by-side videos for direct comparison or provides dual-view perspectives of the action. SplitSync requires exactly two videos, each up to 1GB in size.

Event: A simple way to share and promote in-person or online experiences. Events include date and location details with Google Maps integration, one-click calendar add, and space for links to ticket or registration resources. Attach images or video to help audiences see what’s coming.

Article: A long-form “written” content type for sharing ideas, stories, and perspectives in depth. Articles feature an automated magazine-style layout that blends written paragraphs with images, videos, callout quotes, and links for an immersive narrative.

Ontheside offers two ways for athletes to earn from their content: brand sponsorships and pass-holder access to all premium, paid content across the platform.

All free, public content formats on the platform are eligible for brand sponsorship except for Events. Spotlights, Episodes, Guides, SplitSyncs, and Articles have the potential to generate brand sponsorship income if your sport, topic, and audience segments align with brand sponsor goals.

Separately, when you offer content within a Paid Track, that content automatically becomes accessible to all all-access pass-holders. Pass-holders gain insider access to your training, routines, and knowledge—and you earn each time your exclusive, paid content is viewed. Pass-holders not only get access to your paid content, but also to all paid content on Ontheside. Pass-holder proceed payouts are tied to viewer consumption, so the more times viewers watch your paid content, the more you earn.

We offer several ways to kickstart your athlete-creator journey and fit your routine.

1. Create an Engaging Athlete Profile
2. Habits and Tools for Content Creation
3. Video Capture Guide and Equipment Recommendations
4. Free Athlete-creator Fast Track program

Want to meet with a team member for personalized help? Email us at team@support.onthesideworld.com

Ontheside gives you flexible control over how you communicate and interact with your community. In the Conversations Global Settings, you can view and manage all your communications in one place including:

1. sending and receiving private messages.
2. following group chats.
3. viewing post comments where you’re tagged.

Your communication preferences let you decide to:

1. allow or disable direct messages and comments when creating posts.
2. enable or disable group chats when creating Tracks.
3. choose whether direct messages are allowed on Tracks.

These settings can be adjusted at any time and are always controlled by you.

You also have moderation tools built in. From the Conversations Center, you can remove comments or block users if needed. This ensures your space stays respectful and aligned with how you want to engage. Engagement preferences can also be updated in your Library while creating or managing content.

No. Ontheside is 100% free for anyone to join, explore, and use built-in features. You don’t pay for storage or access to our services. Our revenue model pays out 80% of all brand sponsorship and pass-holder proceeds to athletes. Payouts are distributed based on views.

For instance, if a fan pays for a one-month pass and watches videos from two different athletes, each athlete will receive 50% of the 80% pass-holder proceeds.

Or if 25% of a brand’s ad views come in front of one athlete’s content, that athlete will receive 25% of the 80% brand sponsorship proceeds. The remaining 20% is reinvested into helping more athletes earn. Ontheside doesn't succeed unless athletes succeed.

Pass-holders who want access to paid content on the platform have three purchase options.

1. Day Pass: Pay what you want (minimum $5) for 24-hour access to all paid content.
2. Month Pass: Pay $20 for full access to all paid content for 30 days.
3. All-Access Pass: Unlimited monthly access to all paid content athletes share for $15/month.

Yes! While Ontheside’s desktop version is optimized for mobile, we recommend downloading the Ontheside app from the Apple App Store, Google Play, or with a direct download for the best mobile experience.

Our support team is here to help you. Simply reach out to us or contact us here.