WEBVTT - How Studio71 Helps Creators ‘Become Their Own Media Company’ 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:12.600 Welcome to Strictly Business, Variety's weekly podcast featuring conversations with 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:16.480 industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.079 Cynthia Lyttleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.840 guests are Adam Borston and Matt Crowley, co CEOs of 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:27.760 Studio seventy one. Studio seventy one is a company that 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:32.240 is part talent agency, part production company, part marketing firm, 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.960 and a distribution specialist. They work with social media creators 0:00:37.200 --> 0:00:40.800 to boost their reach, diversify their platforms, and expand into 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:45.440 ancillary businesses. Studio seventy one is owned by German media 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:49.479 heavyweight pro sebon Borston and Crowley are based in Los Angeles. 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:53.880 Regular listeners to Strictly Business will note that Studio seventy 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:58.880 one works in similar channels as Jellysmack, a company who's president, 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:02.760 Sean Atkins was last week's guest. As I have mentioned 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.119 here more than once, I'm really trying to understand how 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:11.400 the creator economy is evolving into a sustainable content business 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:16.240 unto itself. Companies like Studio seventy one and Jellysmack are 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.600 the evidence of a true talent marketplace. Emerging from what 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:25.160 had been a wild West of DIY. Creators Borston and 0:01:25.200 --> 0:01:27.640 Crawley were good enough to walk me through their basic 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.840 business models and answer my questions about where they see 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:35.679 the growth opportunities for this emerging medium. Unfortunately, I failed 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:38.440 my first job as host, which is to get interview 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:41.960 subjects to identify themselves when there are two of them. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.360 So after this quick break, the first voice you will 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.360 hear will be Adam Borston. So don't go anywhere. 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:59.320 City National Bank doesn't generalize. They specialize from entertainment and 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:05.240 food and bade rich to real estate and tech. Their 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:08.680 dedicated team of bankers has strategic solutions for all of 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:12.040 your unique industry needs. Work with a team who knows 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:15.240 your industry while getting the scale of their parent company, 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.960 RBC City National Bank. See what personal can do for 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:23.960 you at CNB dot com. 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:27.280 And we're back with insights on the creator economy from 0:02:27.400 --> 0:02:31.600 Studio seventy one co CEOs Adam Borston and Matt Crowley. 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:37.720 Matt Crawley and Adam Borston, co CEOs of Studio seventy one, 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:39.919 Thank you so much for joining me today. 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:42.160 Thank you, thanks for having us, Yes, thanks. 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:42.440 For having us. 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:46.520 Let's start by telling us, telling us the Studio seventy 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.840 one story. What is it that is your primary business 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:52.800 focus and how do you make money? 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:58.160 Sure? Absolutely so. Studio seventy one is a creator services company, 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:02.119 which basically means we partner with digital talent and brands 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:04.880 and help them build their business in a variety of ways. 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:08.400 The three key ways that we help creators grow are 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.760 via ad sales, so we have a sales team and 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:15.880 we help them sell ads across their different footprint and 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.760 know their digital platforms. Production, we have a production space, 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.799 we help the creators make more content and support their 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:27.560 existing content pipeline. And then distribution, which basically means, you know, 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.120 we have talent that are putting videos up on YouTube, 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:31.960 and we have a whole team of editors that is 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.520 essentially taking that content, optimizing it and putting on a 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:39.480 variety of different platforms. So we, yeah, are built that way. 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.240 Tell me how did how did the company come to be? 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:46.520 How did you put all those sort of component parts together? 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:50.400 Yeah, I think you know from the genesis, it started 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:55.200 as a very traditional talent management company that was really 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.160 focused on one platform and since Adam and I have 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:02.160 since taken over in the past years, we've truly diversified 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.280 across a multitude of different platforms and a multitude of 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:06.279 different audiences. 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:08.880 Yeah, I think when you look at the creator economy, 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:10.880 a lot of you know, sort of a lot of 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:15.520 professionals approach it from a talent management standpoint. Again, sort 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:18.360 of an older model of creator networks like ours was 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.719 very much to treat it like a talent management company. 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.679 The challenge was there would be a lot of different 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.400 clients and there was sort of a limited amount of services, 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:28.080 so there'd be you know, some of these companies said 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.200 tens of thousands of clients, and as Matt mentioned, we're 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.200 really focused on one platform, let's say YouTube, and a 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.520 sort of a set of services for those platforms. We, 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:40.240 on the other hand, approach it more like media business. 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.200 We view all of these creators as media businesses. And 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.799 you know my background, I came from the publisher space. 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:48.880 I was at BuzzFeed before this, you know, Matt was 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.760 at a variety of different studios, and so we partner 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:55.280 with creators and really help them, you know, have that 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:59.960 infrastructure that a media business should have, whether it's sales, production, distribution. 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.919 We act as sort of the backbone of their ability 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.680 to grow and essentially make more revenue on their platforms. 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:10.000 And essentially just to kind of add on to that is, 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:12.839 you know, my background was more on the television space 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:15.040 and then digital video through Hulu and then coming over 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.720 with Studio seventy one. It was chasing eyeballs and time 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:22.920 and attention and in the you know, that's a media vinear. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.799 I mean, that's that's the definition of a media business. 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.200 In the traditional linear business, it was more television focused, 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.039 and then it kind of focused a little bit more 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.120 to digital video, and then this new creator economy kind 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:37.719 of emerged and all the eyeballs started going to different 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:41.480 niche creators and they were capturing more time and attention 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.279 from these audiences, and we build upon that across a 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:45.400 variety of platforms. 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:49.760 How would you say that the core of the talent 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:54.960 representation core has been It sounds like it's been crucial 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:58.880 for your for the company to survive and grow because 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:00.839 there were, you know, a few just a few years ago, 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.640 there were a lot of different creator networks they called 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.240 they were called MSNs, remember just a few years ago, 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.200 and they've all, you know, in various stages kind of 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:14.040 either either unraveled or kind of disbanded. What has allowed 0:06:14.080 --> 0:06:16.880 Studio seventy one to kind of go in the opposite direction, 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:20.680 which is really aggregating we were just talking about I 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.839 noticed on comScore, you know, in aggregate, have you rank 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:29.640 Studio seventy one ranks quite high in just overall impressions 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:33.680 and general Internet activity. And yet I think that with 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:35.680 all due respect, I don't think people would say, oh, 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.080 that's a Studio seventy one show. So I'm kind of 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:41.200 curious about talking about at this moment in your growth, 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:46.400 are you looking to really like enhance the enhance the 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:50.000 reputation of Studio seventy one or is it still more 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.840 like a classic talent agency, Your your clients are your brands. 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:56.719 Right, So I think, first of all, to address your 0:06:56.720 --> 0:07:01.000 first question about the MCN space, am sense. 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:01.679 Yeah. 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:05.280 So we have structured ourselves really to be, you know, 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.760 a creator services company that works across many different platforms. 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.160 I think the old model was again very focused on YouTube, 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:16.560 with a limited set of services around uploading content to YouTube, 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:19.800 maybe some brand deals and activations here and there. You know, 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.240 what really has allowed us to thrive is expanding that 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:27.480 reach and expanding our support across every medium possible. So 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.160 we are supporting creators through our podcast division. 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:30.800 We have over one. 0:07:30.720 --> 0:07:34.040 Hundred podcasts in our division. We you know, help them 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:37.200 produce shows, distribute sell ads against those shows. We are 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:40.400 taking creator content and putting it on connected TVs and 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.840 distributing content that way. So our distribution business has been 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:46.480 huge for us. And then our ad sales business again 0:07:46.680 --> 0:07:49.560 is something that is pretty expansive. So we are packaging 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:54.240 up inventory and selling ads across everything from YouTube, to 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:58.360 connected TVs to audio to you know, a lot of different. 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.320 Platforms, napchat, a variety of different platforms, and I think, 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:06.720 you know, from a more traditional sense, we are again 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:10.480 seeking these different audiences and these niche audiences across all 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:14.040 of these different platforms. And back to your question around 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.800 are we forward facing as a studio seventy one brand know, 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.640 the creators are their own brands, and we're selling audiences 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:24.360 across all of these creators regardless of what platform they 0:08:24.640 --> 0:08:27.360 they're on. So that might be YouTube, that might be Snap, 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:29.840 that might be a podcast, but we're we have the 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:35.000 ability to target those audiences across all these different creator outlets. 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:38.320 So the key for us has been diversification and I 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.440 think that is something that was lacking in the past, 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:43.840 and we really sort of built on that, focused on it, 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:47.120 and have really helped talent grow across different platforms. So 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:50.920 diversification has been incredibly important for us as we support 0:08:50.960 --> 0:08:53.520 creators across so many different platforms, and we think that 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:56.319 that was a component that was lacking in the older 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:59.560 model that was very focused on YouTube. That and we are, 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.520 as Matt mentioned, a B to B company. We want 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:04.640 our talent to be very forward facing that we work 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.160 with and we want to be behind the scenes supporting 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.240 them as that infrastructure that helps them grow. 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:13.120 How what would you do you have like a core 0:09:13.600 --> 0:09:17.200 base of people that you work closely with or is 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:20.320 it kind of a more project by project basis in 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:22.559 terms of in terms of the talent that you actually 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:23.000 work with. 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.640 Yes, so we have a core set of talent. I 0:09:25.640 --> 0:09:28.040 would say we try to keep the list intentionally as 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:31.480 small as possible, but it's around a thousand creators. And 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:34.280 for that group of talent, really we work with them 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:36.280 in a variety of different ways. For some of them, 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.400 we help them just distribute, so take their content from YouTube, 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:41.960 you know, edit it and put it on Facebook and 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:47.000 Snapchat and you know connected TVs. For other talent, we 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:49.640 sell ads and that's our big focus for that, you know, 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:53.520 selling media sales against their you know, content on YouTube, 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:56.319 as well as brand integrations, which is like when talent 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.880 you know, shouts out different brands and gives different in 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.719 video promotions. And then for others we help them on 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.080 production support. You know, we have a big space in Burbank, 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:07.840 that's our studio space. A lot of cut talent come through. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:09.559 There, beautiful downtown Burbank. 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:13.480 Yes, of course, we're a lot of digital videos get 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.400 produced and we work with a lot of great creators there. 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:19.000 So again it's a wide variety of services that we 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.840 work on with different talent, but we do have that 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.440 core group that we work with and again our goal 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.720 is to really help them grow across every different platform. 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:29.920 Do you have Is it set up somewhat like a 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:33.480 traditional studio and that you have content people and ad 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:35.160 sales people. I mean, do you have a lot of 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.200 this under the studio seventy one roof in terms of 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.520 like distribution help and advertising sales. 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.920 Yeah, absolutely, and in fact obviously it's all under one 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.720 roof and it depends on really what the creator needs, right, 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.640 So as Adam mentioned, we work with creators that already 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.080 have an existing audience on one platform and bringing those 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.920 audiences to different platforms, and then we insert those teams. 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:58.960 So if we're looking to use distribution as an outlet 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.160 to grow an audience, we'll use the We'll go to 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:05.079 the distribution team. If we're looking to gain more revenue 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.200 and media sales, we'll go to the media sales team 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:10.360 and look for additional opportunities around their existing channels and 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.520 other ways to bring revenue streams in from non traditional means. 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.240 So that's a way that all of our teams kind 0:11:17.240 --> 0:11:21.440 of cross collaborate to expand upon the creators, you know, 0:11:21.559 --> 0:11:22.960 core businesses. 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.600 Yeah, and to also touch on something you know, when 0:11:26.640 --> 0:11:28.959 I came over to Studio seventy one, I had come 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.080 from the publisher space, so I was one of the 0:11:31.240 --> 0:11:34.000 early employees at BuzzFeed. I was one of their first 0:11:34.080 --> 0:11:36.880 LA employees who helped launch their video division and ran 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:40.160 business development and operations for their video division. And when 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:42.120 I was at BuzzFeed, I know, you know, Matt saw 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.440 this on the studio side. It was this elaborate operation 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:50.280 with a team of analytics professionals, a team of editors, producers, 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.400 you know, people just focus on optimizing the thumbnails and 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:56.600 the art that you click on when you watch videos, 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.160 and I remember thinking, wow, that's it's such an incredible 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.839 sort of apparatus that's been built. Imagine if that were 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.440 applied to the creator space, where essentially a lot of 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:10.200 talent are building audiences that are just as big as 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:12.680 any publisher, but they're making videos just in their basement. 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:15.479 So we want us to sort of provide that infrastructure 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:18.800 and a full sort of studio set of you know, 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:23.959 resources across advertising and production and distribution to really help 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.280 creators grow and become their own media company. 0:12:26.720 --> 0:12:29.000 Yeah, and that's exactly a lot of these creators are 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.040 media companies in their own, but they come to Studio 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:35.520 seventy one to expand upon their offerings, whether that's through 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.400 direct media sales, whether that's through distribution. We have the ability, 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:44.160 the tools, the people, and the resources to actually get 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.440 them to the place where they need to be. Whereas 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:48.839 they're already a well known brand on their own right. 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.240 And so if a creator comes in and they have, 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:55.360 you know, they're established someone, they have a YouTube presence, 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:58.119 and they're looking to you to bring them into other platforms. 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:01.360 Would you have a traditional like a creative meeting where 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.119 you would sit down with an editor or a producer 0:13:04.200 --> 0:13:08.120 type I'm just trying to envision in totally because old school, 0:13:08.120 --> 0:13:10.679 you know, total old school Hollywood terms sort of how 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:13.079 that's being applied in your company. 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:16.480 Absolutely, yes. So we have a Creator Partnerships team. So 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.400 when a talent wants to work with us and sort 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.520 of signs up for our services, they meet with a 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.880 Creator Partnerships manager who essentially assesses their business and figures out, 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:28.040 you know, where can we help you grow? Because you're 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.920 absolutely right, a lot of times they already are doing 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.040 one thing extremely well. They're already let's say, putting videos 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.520 up on Snapchat or Facebook and optimizing videos and know 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.079 those platforms really well. So you know, the Creator Partnership 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:43.680 manager will try to figure out what can we provide 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:45.400 that's a real value for you, and a lot of 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:47.560 cases it's just ad sales. You know. We have a 0:13:47.640 --> 0:13:49.960 team of sellers based out of the World Trade Center 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:54.520 building in New York City who essentially have direct connections 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:57.360 with the big media buyers and we can help funnel 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.640 a lot of advertising in a very targeted way to videos. 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:03.720 So that's a big you know, a service that we 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:04.840 provide some. 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:08.920 Way beyond the programmatic you know, the bingo card of 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:10.880 what you know what you get on any given day. 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.720 Absolutely, and then other times it might be production. So 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.760 let's say they're making X number of videos a week 0:14:17.840 --> 0:14:20.000 or a month, we can say, hey, we can partner 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.520 with you, invest in your business from a production standpoint 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:25.960 and help you make more content. So, yes, there is 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:28.880 always an initial meeting where we assess where can we 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:31.760 really provide a lot of additional value and essentially be 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.280 a set of resources for you that you wouldn't already 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:35.040 be doing yourself. 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.720 And do you do? How do How does Studio seventy 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.640 one make money? Is it a revenue share it is? 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:44.200 Is it a standard client fee? How does it? How 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:44.760 does it work? 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:45.320 Yeah? 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.160 I think it's you know, more of a case by 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:50.800 case scenario based on what the creator is looking for, right, 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:52.680 So I think it is a little bit of a 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.280 wall crawl run. We don't try to do everything with 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.880 everybody all at once. But it back to Adam's point. 0:14:58.880 --> 0:15:01.400 If it is something or they're looking for media sales, 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:04.760 they'll come to us from a media sales standpoint. There 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:09.280 will be some traditional like repe share agreement with the 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:14.160 particular creator, or there's a production services where there's you know, 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:18.040 a certain fee that's discussed beforehand before we're we actually 0:15:18.080 --> 0:15:20.400 go down that route. So it really is a case 0:15:20.400 --> 0:15:23.400 by case scenario based on the services that we provide 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.880 to the various creators that we work with. 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:29.160 I'd love for you to talk about sort of some 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:33.480 of the levels that people work at and how just 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.600 you know, what the paths to people really you know, 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.240 monetizing their own di y content or or you know, 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:42.960 their own self produced content. 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:47.240 Yeah, and it's obviously the most important question for creators. 0:15:47.280 --> 0:15:49.120 You know, this is a business, this is something where 0:15:49.280 --> 0:15:51.360 they have a dedicated fan base, but they obviously want 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:53.120 to make money and figure out a way to grow 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:56.160 their revenue streams. So for us, I think two things 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.200 that we're seeing a lot that are very important for 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.840 talent and this is something we always stress is interactivity. 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.640 How are you interacting with your audience and helping to 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:09.440 gain more sort of devoted and engaged fan bases through 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:11.320 sort of the way that you're reaching out to them 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:16.480 that you're producing content. And then recency constantly being involved 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:20.600 with the zeitgeist producing more content. I think gone are 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.280 the days where creators would just make one piece of 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:26.560 content and upload it to YouTube a week. Now in 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:29.880 these days, a lot of creators are creating videos daily 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.920 or sometimes several times a day, So we are really 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:37.160 seeing that cadence of uploading is very important. So again, 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.400 these are these sort of like areas where we try 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.760 to partner with talent and help them grow how they're 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:42.880 monetizing their content. 0:16:43.160 --> 0:16:45.600 Yeah, and I think in terms of the interactivity, it's 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.640 them interacting with their fan base and then the fan 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:53.520 base also interacting with their creators and also their friends. 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:56.840 For so long that the real end game, the payday 0:16:57.160 --> 0:17:00.960 was a TV show, a movie, option, a book. Are 0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:04.040 you finding though, that there are people sort of a 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.159 variation of my last question, but are there people that 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.439 are really like they are devoted to the social media world. 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:14.520 There their focus is not going into you know, getting 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:18.800 into mainstream media through like through through generating buzz on 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:20.720 social but then I really want to be a TV 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:22.760 star or movie star. Are you finding that there are 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:27.120 people that like this is becoming its own true medium. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:29.960 Yeah, It's it's a very good question. There's in the past, 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.840 there's sort of this concept that social media or the 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.760 you know, digitally released content was a sort of base 0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.200 level to build a fan base and then you would 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:43.400 sort of graduate from that onto television or film or 0:17:43.400 --> 0:17:46.159 some other form of entertainment. You know, the creators that 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:48.800 we work with, this is their passion, this is the 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.200 way that they communicate with their fans, and so it's 0:17:52.240 --> 0:17:55.520 not so much as moving on to a different medium entirely. 0:17:55.800 --> 0:18:00.399 It's more diversifying onto more platforms. So diversification is what 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:03.600 we've seen is essentially the fastest way for creators to 0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:06.640 make more money. So if you are creating videos for YouTube, 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:09.199 you know, we would recommend that you figure out a 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:12.359 way to build a business on Instagram and on Facebook 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.560 and potentially on connected TVs, and we partner with talent 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:17.959 and help them sort of do that. So again, it 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:20.120 is not so much as changing the medium so much 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:23.440 as building out your digital business and to be a 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:26.320 little bit more robust and hopefully a little more resilient 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:27.720 to ups and downs in the market. 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:30.439 When you say connected TV's, are you're talking about like 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:32.360 creating your own fast channel kind of thing. 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.960 That's exactly right. So we've created creator apps that live 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.600 on Roku that live on Amazon Fire for I don't 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.960 know seventy plus creators, and a lot of them are 0:18:43.000 --> 0:18:46.120 seeing great traction where essentially their audience used to watch 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:48.280 them just on YouTube or on mobile, and now they're 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:50.880 really watching it as though we're a TV program, sort 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:52.720 of in that lean back experience, and we have a 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:56.159 whole team just focused on this area and essentially crafting 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.199 the way that the content looks and feels, so it 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:01.480 really resembles a television show with ad. 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:02.040 Breaks and all of that. 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:08.639 Don't even think about scrolling up. We'll be right back 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:09.960 after this short break. 0:19:13.680 --> 0:19:20.600 City National Bank doesn't generalize. They specialize from entertainment and 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:27.000 food and beverage to real estate and tech. Their dedicated 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.200 team of bankers has strategic solutions for all of your 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.479 unique industry needs. Work with a team who knows your 0:19:33.520 --> 0:19:37.000 industry while getting the scale of their parent company, RBC 0:19:37.520 --> 0:19:40.480 City National Bank. See what personal can do for you 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:45.320 at CNB dot com. 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.440 And we're back with more from Studio seventy one co 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:53.439 CEOs Adam Borston and Matt Crowley. Can you give me 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.000 some examples of creators that are successful in their niches 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.199 but not at all the stereotype of what people well 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.880 think think a social media creator is Yeah. 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:06.679 Absolutely. I think entrepreneurialism is something that's a word that 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:09.480 sort of gets thrown around a lot. You know, these 0:20:09.520 --> 0:20:13.040 creators really started a business as a startup, but you know, 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:15.119 there is a side to them that is very creative 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:16.480 and a lot of them have a side to them 0:20:16.560 --> 0:20:20.240 this is extremely entrepreneurial. We've seen a lot of great 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:23.320 transitions where you know, a talent has started just making 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:27.639 very simple, you know, beauty videos that go just on YouTube, uh, 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.400 and then they are able to expand into starting a podcast, 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.160 to starting you know, to get involved in their own 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:36.720 line of beauty products, starting to figure out, you know, 0:20:36.760 --> 0:20:38.560 which are the brands that they work well with, which 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.040 you know, what are their audience really looking to see, 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:43.960 and how can they communicate better with their audience. So 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:47.120 they are very much optimizing their business and it's an 0:20:47.119 --> 0:20:51.480 extremely like sophisticated way that I think is surprising to some. 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:54.240 But as far as some great examples, you know, we 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:56.919 have gamers. We have a we have a gaming channel 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.080 that we work very closely with called f g t V. 0:20:59.480 --> 0:21:02.320 It's a fan gaming channel and it really was a 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.600 man making videos with his son and playing games. It's 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.920 extremely entertaining and f GTV has been able to sort 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:13.560 of transition the business to become something that's much bigger 0:21:13.600 --> 0:21:16.560 and really just a just an empire. It started to 0:21:16.600 --> 0:21:21.879 launch their own fast channels, their own apps on connected TVs, 0:21:21.880 --> 0:21:24.840 which is something that we help them with. They've definitely 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:29.160 expanded into the sort of graphic novel space. I think 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.960 they're doing their own uh, you know stories there. We 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:36.320 made an announcement recently that we're developing an animated series 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:38.400 that we take out and that's going to be something 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:41.639 very exciting. So definitely that you know, f GTV is 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:44.240