The Pickleball Effect: How a Quirky Pastime Turns to Profits VIEW IN BROWSER BY ANDY SWAN, FOUNDER, LIKEFOLIO In 1999, a freshman at Northeastern University launched a peer-to-peer file-sharing platform called Napster that would spark a mobile economy worth $6.5 trillion. Two decades later, another quirky pastime that seemed inconsequential at the time became the accelerant for multibillion-dollar boom. For the investors who caught these sparks early, the reward was a shot at potentially life-changing wealth. Today, I want to show you how spotting major cultural shifts can get you years ahead of the market – and how LikeFolio can help… With Napster, all it took was a 19-year-old with computer programming experience and a university of college kids to catch fire. Within months, 20 million people were using the platform to share music. By 2001, it was a full-blown cultural phenomenon used by 80 million people. 
Source: Wikipedia Napster emerged in 1999 at the peak of U.S. music sales, when CDs drove nearly 90% of the industry’s $14.6 billion haul. Post-Napster, CD sales dried up – plummeting to just $6.7 billion by 2009 as popular culture shifted from physical records to digital streaming. It was this behavior shift that set the stage for a new era of music-streaming giants: - Spotify (SPOT) launched in 2008 as a legal alternative to Napster – a place where users could listen and share music with a simple paid subscription. It’s now a $143 billion company with nearly 700 million active users.
- Apple (AAPL) introduced iTunes in 2001, rolled out its iTunes store two years later with 200,000 songs available to purchase, then leveled up with its App Store in 2008, which launched with 500 apps. The App Store surpassed 1 billion downloads in less than a year as independent developers put their software directly into the hands of millions of iPhone owners.
From there, the flood gates opened. Ride-hailing companies like Uber Technologies (UBER), social platforms like Instagram (META), and food delivery services like DoorDash (DASH) scaled because the App Store gave them instant reach. What began as a feature inside one device became the foundation of a global mobile economy measured in trillions. Napster sparked a butterfly effect – triggering a chain reaction far larger than anyone expected. In business, these sparks often look trivial at first, but they end up reshaping entire industries. 
Of course, identifying the winners of these major cultural shifts – picking the right stocks at the right time – is where most investors fall short. But that’s exactly where LikeFolio’s consumer insights give you a powerful edge. Our Data Engine processes millions of individual data points every single day to spot major trends forming on Main Street before they become news on Wall Street – and find the stocks best positioned to benefit. With that in mind, it’s time we talk about that “quirky” pastime I mentioned earlier. It caught most of the market by surprise… but not LikeFolio followers. And while it’s unlikely to reach the same $6.5 trillion heights as the mobile app economy – it still created a triple-digit profit opportunity for our readers. I’ll show you how you can play along today… | Recommended Link | | | | Tesla is failing. But Elon Musk would prefer you didn’t know that. So he’s done talking cars. It’s now all about the robots! Musk just claimed that 80% of Tesla’s value will “eventually” come from its humanoid, Optimus. However, the real story we’ve uncovered reveals the lies behind Elon’s delusion. Get the details here, including a much better pure-play robotics stock to buy now. |  | | Spotting the Pickleball Effect Before the COVID pandemic, pickleball was an offbeat backyard hobby played by around 3.5 million Americans. Not on any investors’ radars. Hardly on consumers’ radars, either. But COVID changed things. Lockdowns kept many Americans out of the gyms. But the urge to exercise remained. And pickleball, well, you just needed a paddle, a ball, a net, and a partner. A perfect setup for social distancing. No complicated rules to learn. Relatively inexpensive gear. Nothing complicated about it. Over the next few years, pickleball spread like wildfire. Participation made a 2.5x leap between 2019 and 2022 – and from there, pickleball went on to become the fastest-growing sport in the country. 
Source: Pickleheads.com Cities rushed to add facilities: The number of outdoor pickleball courts across major metro areas grew 650% over seven years. Austin, Texas, became a showcase, supporting nearly 10,000 active players and seeing 92% court utilization by 2024. As consumers picked up pickleball, a related sport regained steam. Between 2019 and 2020, tennis participation in the United States suddenly made a 22% leap as millions of Americans graduated to the more established sport: 
Source: Statista Rather than cannibalizing tennis, pickleball acted as a funnel. By 2024, the U.S. Tennis Association reported 25.7 million Americans playing tennis, up 8% from the year before and its fifth straight year of growth. A quirky pastime that seemed inconsequential in 2019 became the accelerant for a tennis boom that sent several stocks to new all-time highs. And the opportunity is alive and well today. Identifying the Winners of a Racket Sports Renaissance Wimbledon 2025 wrapped up in July – and was the most-watched edition in six years. ESPN’s coverage of the finals averaged 2.9 million viewers and peaked at 4 million. Streaming engagement on ESPN+ soared 163% year over year. BBC logged a record 69 million digital content requests tied to the tournament in the U.K. The US Open, playing out right now, is following suit. 
Fan Week, which ran August 19 to August 23, drew 239,307 fans before the main draw – capped by a record 54,020 attendees at Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day. Tennis has moved from sport to cultural festival, pulling in fans with music, fashion, and lifestyle alongside the matches. At the center of the racket sport resurgence is On Holding (ONON), the Swiss athletic company backed by tennis legend Roger Federer. LikeFolio’s VP of Research, Megan Brantley, put ONON on our radar while it was still a relative unknown for most investors in early 2023. She sports On kicks herself. But more important, she saw On lighting up our consumer insights database with triple-digit demand growth and an influx of positive sentiment around its lightweight running shoes. We turned those insights into actionable opportunity – issuing a buy alert to our LikeFolio members here at TradeSmith well before Wall Street had a chance to catch on. They walked away with a +135% profit in just two years. On’s greatest strength then is its greatest strength now: Premium positioning aimed at affluent consumers who see sport as aspirational. Federer’s ownership stake gave the brand immediate credibility – a living legend with 20 grand slam victories under his belt. But it was the signings of up-and-comers Iga Świątek and Ben Shelton in March 2023 that cemented On’s arrival in professional tennis. Świątek left Asics, a brand she had worn throughout her rise to world No. 1, to become On’s first female athlete. Shelton walked away from Nike (NKE) to sign the brand’s first active men’s deal. Both moves put On front and center at globally watched events – from Wimbledon and the US Open, all the way to the Olympics. Reaping the Profits Since we first started tracking this rising star, On has expanded from footwear into a true toe-to-head sportswear brand – and its stock has gone on to reach all-time highs, notching $63.92 in January 2025, a 3x gain from where we identified it two years prior. In On’s most recent quarter, revenue surged 32% year over year, driven by 75% year-over-year sales growth in its apparel line and a growing direct-to-consumer (DTC) sales channel. Again, we got our subscribers ahead of the crowd – issuing a bullish trade ahead of its Aug. 12 earnings report that netted Earnings Season Pass subscribers a +100% profit in less than five days. As other companies pull back their guidance amid tariff costs, On is doing just the opposite, and raising its 2025 outlook. While Nike’s margins sit in the mid-40s, On’s gross margins above 60% as the gap between mass-market athletic wear and On’s luxury profile widens. LikeFolio’s consumer-facing data confirms ONON still has gas in the tank. Digital demand remains strong, with web visits trending 7% higher from last year’s levels: 
ONON isn’t the only company benefitting from tennis’s renewed cultural momentum. Ralph Lauren (RL) has seen a similar lift as the official outfitter of Wimbledon and the US Open, tying its brand directly to the aspirational image of the sport. 
Disney (DIS), through ESPN, monetizes the record-breaking viewership and streaming engagement. LVMH leverages its luxury presence across tournaments, from Moët & Chandon champagne in player boxes to Louis Vuitton athlete collaborations that resonate with affluent audiences. And we’re just scratching the surface. The Bottom Line Major consumer trends can lead to major profit opportunities, and they often start in unexpected places. Napster as a company was short lived, but it reshaped how we listen to music and set the stage for some of today’s most profitable tech stocks. Pickleball may have looked like a novelty in 2019, but it sparked a renaissance in tennis, drew millions of new participants, filled stadiums, and reignited global attention. The brands aligned with that energy are already capitalizing – and the opportunity is still open. With LikeFolio’s predictive consumer insights now available to everyday investors through TradeSmith, you, too, can stay years ahead of Wall Street. Stick with us, and we’ll keep you in front of the next big trends forming on Main Street as they develop. Join MegaTrends, and we’ll deliver the winners straight to your inbox. Until next time, 
Andy Swan
Founder, LikeFolio | 
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