About
Media, research and retail — one company, inside the hobby.
Most media companies write about a market. Collector Nation operates in this one: we publish the daily coverage, run the flagship podcast, build the app — and own a working card shop. Each piece makes the others better. The store tells the newsroom what collectors are actually buying; the newsroom gives the research program its reach; the research gives partners numbers this industry has never had.
What we operate
Media
A flagship podcast with a library of 100 episodes and counting, a newsroom covering sports cards, Pokémon and TCG daily, original video, and an app that carries all of it.
Research
Formal studies and the Hobby Pulse poll, launching now, on an economy that is largely unmeasured in public. Published with methodology attached, independent of the people who fund it.
Commerce
Collector Station — our retail arm — is a flagship store, trade-in and fulfillment operation in Downtown Easley, SC, plus the retail module inside the Collector Nation app.
Events
A live-event floor and content studio at the flagship, plus coverage of the industry’s biggest shows.
How we work with partners
Editorial independence
Commercial relationships never change coverage, ranking or conclusions. Sponsored work is labeled as such, everywhere it appears.
Research independence
Underwriters are named and do not review wording, results, or the decision to publish. Method travels with every finding.
Stated limits
Our customers and our audience are not the whole hobby, and we never present them as if they were — unless a sample design earns it.
Leadership
Ryan Alford
Founder · Collector Nation · RAD Collective
Collector Nation is built on three capabilities that rarely sit in one company: media production at scale, marketing and research practice, and hands-on retail execution. Ryan founded the marketing agency RAD Collective and built it to eight-figure annual revenue. His show Right About Now has been the number-one marketing podcast on Apple Podcasts for three years running — #1 on the US Marketing chart for 623 days since September 2023, more days at the top than any other show in the category (Podstatus chart tracking). And he operates Collector Station — which is why this company can cover the category, study it, and serve partners from inside it, as an operator rather than an observer. He also spends his days in the hobby itself: buying, selling, grading and breaking.
Read his work