By Brian Kiaserman
Sports Editor
After two years and more than 300 posts, freshman Zane Thormodsgaard has amassed a large following on his sports-mixes instagram account (@dailymixes) known as “Daily Mixes.”
When he first started his account of sports mixes, videos or highlight reels of an athlete’s best in game moments, Thormodsgaard struggled to find an audience. He posted multiple videos every day in order to build his following, Thormodsgaard said. Eventually, the account’s popularity skyrocketed, and Thormodsgaard began to spend more time working on videos and improving the quality of his brand.
“When I first started out I posted a lot of videos just trying to bring in views,” Thormodsgaard said. “Now I post a lot less, but my videos are much better as I’m more focused on quality than views.”
Last month, Thormodsgaard experienced the biggest breakthrough of his highlight-making career thus far: He won a highlight reel creation contest held by Houston Texans wide receiver Deandre Hopkins, receiving a signed jersey and coming to an agreement with Hopkins to make more videos for him next season.
“Winning the contest was very unexpected and an awesome experience,” Thormodsgaard said. “It has definitely opened a lot of doors for me and I’m excited to continue working with Deandre next season.”
Since the inception of “Daily Mixes,” numerous college and professional athletes have contacted Thormodsgaard requesting highlight tapes. The first athlete to contact him about a video was Texas Christian University point guard Jaylen Fisher. Since then, Thormodsgaard has made videos for numerous athletes including University of Oklahoma starting quarterback Baker Mayfield and Pittsburgh Steelers’ running back Le’Veon Bell and wide receiver Juju-Smith Schuster.
“My favorite athlete to work with was probably Bell because he had me make a video for most of the songs in his rap album which was a lot of fun,” Thormodsgaard said.
Recently, Thormodsgaard has decided to expand into YouTube, creating a secondary highlights account known as “Thor Productions” in which he plans to post longer and higher-quality videos.Although his YouTube channel has yet to reach the success achieved by “Daily Mixes,” his three videos have already earned him a signed jersey from Hopkins and exposure to various other athletes and their agents.
“It’s been really amazing working with players whom I look up to and admire,” Thormodsgaard said. “It is truly a unique experience.”
In addition to working with athletes, Thormodsgaard says he was also offered a job working to produce videos for Schuster, whose YouTube channel of his top moments is jujutv. However, he is unsure yet whether or not he will accept the position, as it would conflict with school.
“It’s been a long journey, but I’m so glad I put in the effort to get “Daily Mixes” to where it is today,” Thormodsgaard said. “It,has created a ton of opportunities for me and I can’t wait for the next one.”
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