WEBVTT - Summer Rewind 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:14.960 M what's up. I'm Laura Currency and I'm Alexa Kristin. 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:18.240 Welcome back to episode fifteen, Dog Days of Summer. Happy 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.919 Labor Day, everybody. We're calling you from home. I'm in 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.160 Connecticut where my husband mowing the lawn. And if you 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:26.239 hear that in the background, I apologize. A man is 0:00:26.280 --> 0:00:28.400 in love with his lawn. And Laura, where are you. 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:31.400 I'm getting ready to mix the spicy Margaret my tiki 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:35.920 bar at the Jersey Shorey. So in celebration of the 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:38.680 end of summer, we've been doing a lot of thinking, 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:41.199 a lot of reflection. We've had so much fun with 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.839 the last seven eight months of bad Land. Yeah, amazing 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:48.240 conversations with people who are listening, Amazing conversations with people 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.920 in the industry. And Laura and I wanted to bring 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:53.159 back some of our lost stiles because we think some 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:56.360 of these conversations that you haven't heard yet are actually 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:59.160 really still relevant. So we're gonna take a look back 0:00:59.400 --> 0:01:01.279 to really look ahead and the like that. We were 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:03.800 talking on the phone earlier this morning about all the 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:07.320 really interesting things that are happening in the streaming environment, 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:11.320 but really around um some original production that we're hearing 0:01:11.400 --> 0:01:15.120 over at Facebook with their new watch platform. So, I 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.280 mean everybody's been talking about it. We've been talking about 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.200 this for years, but it just seems like, you know, 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:24.880 everything's heating up in terms of original content, whether it's 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:29.880 in gaming, original content on platforms like Facebook, and original 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:34.080 content media companies that are really building their revenue model 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:38.680 around audiences and really focusing in on audiences and building 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.000 content to really super serve those audiences. So one of 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:45.119 the things that's getting interesting Alectual're talking about things heating 0:01:45.200 --> 0:01:48.160 up in the original space is this idea that it 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:52.720 seems that the democratization of networks and platforms is really 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:56.480 enabling some interesting programming that you don't necessarily have to 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:58.840 go to Hollywood define even though Apple just dropped what 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:02.280 was it, like a billion book, UM basically seeking out creators, 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.040 and I think Facebook has an interesting approach. I know, 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.840 we were just talking about how we're excited to see 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.120 Humans of New York become an actual series that we're 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.880 gonna be able to watch. Yeah, I actually tried this 0:02:13.919 --> 0:02:16.880 week and I emailed UM, the founder of Humans of 0:02:16.960 --> 0:02:18.799 New York, and asked them if I could contribute to 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:21.639 one of the families that was in UM their inaugural 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.519 first episode, UH, because it was just really powerful. What 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.200 I think is really interesting and I've been If anyone 0:02:28.280 --> 0:02:31.800 out there has been having conversations with me off of Adlandia, 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.960 they know I've been obsessed with the A six ten 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.720 V podcast. It came out I think in July. I 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:44.240 was talking about addiction versus UM popularity and the age 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:47.120 of morality. If you haven't listened to that episode, it's amazing. 0:02:47.639 --> 0:02:50.040 One of the things that they talk about is because 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:52.200 of everything that's happening in the streaming space, in the 0:02:52.240 --> 0:02:55.800 programming space, in the original content space, should we be 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.079 thinking that it's the end of endings? And I think 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:00.760 that that is the main thing. So if you think 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:04.080 about Humans of New York as a platform, UM, like 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:08.120 a creative platform, you know, it was generally these amazing 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:11.399 you know, images and texts, but it was still static 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:13.800 and now they're moving into video and it's really the 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:16.720 end of those endings, if you will. So you're gonna 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:21.160 see more extensions UM, more ways for people to tell stories, 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:25.079 but still on the same type of kind of creative platform. 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:29.760 And just by extending the creative platform into new formats 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.919 really is building the franchise out on a totally different level. 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:35.680 And I think, Laura, that's what you're talking about is 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:38.400 like there's a there's a real excitement right in this 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:43.800 investment in original content but also taking creative platforms that 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:48.600 really work and putting them into new and different places. UM. 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:52.840 Whether that's Facebook Watch, UM, whether that's gonna be Apple 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.160 and some of their originals, or whether it's even people 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:59.120 who have kind of legacy programming but are now going 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:03.360 to transis and that into new media forms. That's exciting 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:05.400 to us, sotally exciting, and I think it's cool to 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.400 see some of the new players in the content space 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:10.760 are getting a crack at the opportunity to stream in 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:12.920 the same ways you would basically turn on your television 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.720 and put on NBC, ABC, etcetera. And so I'm really 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.920 excited to see what from the original programming um is 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.359 that comes out of places like Group nine with you know, 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.559 Ben Lear's Thrillis and the other sub brands under his portfolio. UM. 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:27.400 And more exciting than that, we're going to get a 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.000 chance to go back into the archives from an earlier 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:32.960 discussion we had this year with one of the partners 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:37.920 at Attention A t t N dot Com. Brad Hougan, Yeah, 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:40.599 I think you know, we wanted to as you said, 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.279 Laura kind of moved back to move forward to the 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.040 conversation we had with Brad a few months ago. It's 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.159 kind of one of our lost files that we're gonna 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.320 te up in this episode. It's really interesting just talking 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.719 about how they built audience, where they kind of came 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:58.440 from actually their founders for nonprofit people UM and realized 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:02.479 that there was more or in the space of entertainment 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.560 and news media that needed to center around UM, not 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:11.200 cause marketing, but really kind of putting cause issues in 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:14.640 front of the public and making sure that they're talking 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.640 to things that people have said are important to them. 0:05:17.680 --> 0:05:20.599 And I think that looking forward, you know, to me, 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:22.960 there are a ton of questions I have in terms 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.560 of where does this put the agency? How do agencies 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:28.880 get involved in this? If we've got all of these 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:34.480 media companies and tech companies that are actually producing original 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:38.000 content more and more, and we know the advertising is 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.200 fundamentally changing, where the agencies sit in this mix? And 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.159 I think that's going to be a future episode that 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:46.240 we hit on and you know, talk to some folks 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:49.080 about Its interesting you bring up the idea of where 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:52.320 this sits in the role of agency, and I think 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.560 one of the more interesting angles that some of these 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:58.000 publishers who have gotten out in front or producing content 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.200 for brands, whether that's Attention and whether that's Mike, whether 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:04.200 that's t Brand, whether that's Vox. You know, it's interesting 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:08.280 to see that not only are these media companies out 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:13.680 there producing and reporting and you know, providing analysis on 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:17.200 the issues that matter, they're also starting to pick up 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:20.520 production work. And it's interesting that they're able to demonstrate 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.640 proof of concept through their actual reporting and journalism and 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:26.400 being able to put that on the head and say, 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:28.440 you know what, you know, for brands, we can actually 0:06:28.480 --> 0:06:31.480 get into market quickly and produce content around things that 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.360 are contextually relevant in the moment. So I think agencies 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:36.760 are going to have to compete with this and figure 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.800 out how and what role they play when you have 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:42.719 you know, people who have the resources and the production 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:46.120 capabilities um and also the you know, insight and the 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.400 know how on what's happening to insert a brands of 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.120 culture and do it quickly. I totally agree, and I 0:06:51.120 --> 0:06:53.080 would love to talk. We're going to have Andrew estex 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:54.800 on stand and I would love to talk to him 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.320 about what does it look like when agencies stop getting 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.080 briefs and start writing them the themselves, like preemptively, just 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.880 about things that they think matter for their brands, and 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.560 start creating relationships that are super strong with these platforms 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:12.920 so that they have a pipeline for content and quick 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:17.960 content production that is really innovative. And I think something 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.400 that brands don't know to ask for, but the agency 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:23.920 can start delivering on. I think there's an opportunity there. 0:07:24.000 --> 0:07:28.280 So enjoy episode fifteen and the last days of summer. 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.320 We'll be enjoying it with a spicy margarita on the 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:49.800 beach and in the burbs. Thanks bad Landia. We're here 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:53.120 with Brad Howgan, partner at Attention dot Com and Issues 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:57.560 based media company. Welcome Brad, Hey, Brad, Hey, guys, glad 0:07:57.600 --> 0:07:58.840 to be here. So Brad, do you have a super 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:01.520 fascinating story. I'm at ut, but you've gone on to 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:05.840 done some insane things since then started at BBH in 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.200 New York and then got a call I should say, 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:10.880 call up to the majors. Maybe I don't know. I 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:12.720 saw you a chopped I'll never forget I'm Wall Street 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:14.600 with your wife, and I'm like, what's up. You're like, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:16.600 I'm moving to l A. And I'm like why. And 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.040 You're like, I'm going to work with this guy, Scooter 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:19.280 brou And I was like, who the fund is that 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.760 you grew up with him? Right? Yeah, I've actually been 0:08:21.760 --> 0:08:23.400 working with him for a couple of years at that point, 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.200 but we actually decided we were gonna plant some roots 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.840 and up in office. So we still don't have a tan. 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:31.840 But you left. Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty pale, I'm 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:34.559 like the white I'm like, I'm super white. I've got 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:40.800 blond eyebrows. So you were the cmot SP projects and 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.560 then at some point over the course of your time there, 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:47.720 you decided to move on to Attention. Yeah. I was like, man, 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.680 we've made it. Life is good, money's coming in. Why 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:55.400 don't I leave and go work at a startup? Get 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:58.720 something else off the ground, which I figured, like I 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:01.600 had I've got two young kids and I'm, you know, 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:03.560 in my mid thirties. I figured I'm gonna give it 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:05.920 one more go in the startup world because I don't 0:09:05.920 --> 0:09:07.679 think that you know, in ten years, I don't know 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.000 that I'll have it in me again. So it was exciting. 0:09:10.040 --> 0:09:13.959 And I met Matthew and Jarrett in like, Matthew and 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.480 Jared are my partners and the co founders of the company, 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.600 and UM. I helped them get this business off the ground, 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:21.240 but they're the ones who had the vision for it, 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.720 and it was a really um they're really spectacular guys. 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:28.320 I met them in two thousand, I guess mid two 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.200 thousand twelve, like leading into the election, they had started 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.880 our time dot org and we were introduced UM when 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.120 I was working a scooter to help get talent to 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.640 be in videos and tweet about voter registration. And I 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:41.679 was just always really impressed by how that two of 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:45.640 them specifically were able to on a nonprofit budget not 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.439 only get talent to do things for them, but they 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.319 were actually really good at breaking down the issues and like, 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:53.520 you know, it wasn't just a video with Usher or 0:09:53.640 --> 0:09:56.079 Jessica Alba saying vote. It was like, here's why you 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:57.920 should vote. And you know, I don't want to put 0:09:57.960 --> 0:09:59.000 words in their mouth, but I feel like they were 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.199 a little bit frustrated with nonprofit space because there's a 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:03.559 lot of restrictions, but they were really excited about the 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.360 content side of that business, and they wanted to start 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:10.440 a media company, and um, I knew some people who 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.720 were really excited to invest in that space, and um, 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.800 they all met and they loved each other, and um 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:18.400 they got the business off the ground, and then I 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.000 came on board about eight months later. Um, but it 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:22.800 was it's been like a cool ride. You make it 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:26.880 sound so easy, and it's it's just that easy and 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.880 it's just that yeah, and now we have attention and 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:31.400 here we are. But they really put in the work 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:33.320 and there's a great core team of people who've been 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.560 there at the company for a little over two years. 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:40.120 And UM, you know, it's been it's a grind every day, 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:42.360 but like when you get to make content that matters 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.760 and work on things that you're passionate about, it's really 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:47.360 it makes the job a lot easier. Doesn't mean that 0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.080 every day isn't a grind. It just means, like, you know, 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:53.320 you can be proud of the output on a daily basis, 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:55.040 and that's exciting. It's exciting to be part of. And 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:56.679 that's how I was when I was a scooter. That's 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:58.120 how I was when I was a BBH. Like I 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:00.319 love the creative work that we made. Then I was 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.920 going to ask you, I mean, what's the difference between 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:07.880 going from entertainment music based work where you're like driving 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.440 rising stars, you're talking to millennials, which are still talking 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:14.920 to millennials, right, um, but more on the entertainment side, 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:19.439 to now something where you're really trying to drive issue education, 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:22.199 right Yeah. I mean I think that there are a 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.920 lot of things that are parallels and like similar so 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.640 building a foundation, building an audience, building fandom, right. Like 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.160 I always tell people what's been really impressive about the 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.560 growth of Attention is it's actually not that different from Bieber. 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:36.640 Like a lot of people say that we came out 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:38.360 of nowhere, but we've been around doing this for two 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:43.680 years and we've been Facebook has been a huge integral 0:11:43.720 --> 0:11:46.240 part of it, yea a massive a piece of it, 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.440 and we've really were focused on just making great quality 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.880 content that people wanted to share. Um. We've never promoted 0:11:52.880 --> 0:11:55.000 a post, we've never boosted a Facebook post, we've never 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:57.360 paid for any growth at all. And it's because we're 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:01.120 just focused on making really good, premium shareable content. And 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:02.960 like when I was working with Scooters, the same thing 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.240 it was. You know, people said, oh, my god, Justin 0:12:05.240 --> 0:12:07.840 Bieber came out of nowhere. But um, we had been 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:09.720 at it for a long time, and Scooter in particular 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.480 had been at it for a very long time years before, 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.000 you know, just making videos that people thought Justin was 0:12:15.040 --> 0:12:18.199 making himself like you know, Scooter was masterminding that, and 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.360 you know the stories out there now you know, made 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.800 a couple of movies about it. But it's not that dissimilar. Um, 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:28.200 I think the differences are you know, we're entertainment and 0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:32.360 music in particular is um and talent manage in particular 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:34.720 is much more. You don't really it's not like a 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:38.840 huge scalable business with regards to like you don't need 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:41.000 a lot of staff, you know, it's like you need 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.439 managers to manage projects and maybe a couple of people 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:46.920 to support um projects. But um, you know, the difference 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.520 for me has been going back to I have to 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:52.080 draw a lot back from my advertising agency days, where 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:57.480 it's like building structure and holding staff accountable, holding myself accountable. Um, 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:01.520 and um, it's relearning old skills of you know, you 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:03.640 still have to hustle, but you have to hustle with 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.360 a lot more structure in your day, which is which 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.839 is you know, when you're working in entertainment. When when 0:13:08.840 --> 0:13:11.600 I was working entertainment, we we had a lot of hustle, 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:13.480 but it was just kind of like let's do this, 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:14.920 let's do this, let's do this, let's do this. And 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:16.600 now it's like, okay, well we need to think about 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:18.440 the plan, like what are we doing next year? What 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:19.760 are we doing in two years? And how do we 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:22.200 grow our business? And it's it's just different, you know 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.160 because a lot most of the fake news bubble, like 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:26.720 what wrench has that thrown in your plan? Considering a 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.040 lot of or has it? Yeah, I don't think it's 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:31.240 thrown any wrenches in our plan. I mean we're really 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:34.560 focus and you know, I don't run our editorial operation. 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.439 Matthew Siegel does, and he does a sensational job. He 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.560 is amazing instincts for what people want to want to Um. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:43.720 I mean Our Time was his first thing. Like they 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.680 started Our Time right after college. Um. But they both 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.560 were in d C. And Matthew testified before Congress about 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.360 voting lines that he had waited, like I don't remember 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:55.440 the exact numbers, but I think it's like a nineteen 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.200 hour voting line or something crazy. He voted after they 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:01.720 called the election in two thousand eight, um, and he 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:04.720 was pissed, and then he testified before Congress and he 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:06.800 was like super involved in politics ever since. So it's 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.920 got a very strong play. That's actually a killer story 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:14.080 and the motivating story for why attention exists. Yeah, well 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.319 it's that's why our time started. It was like civic engagement, 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:19.840 like let's let's get young people involved, and then that 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.960 rolled into attention. Same thing. It's like, you know, we 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:26.560 want to start conversations that matter around issues that deserve attention, 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:28.640 and we want young people to feel like they can 0:14:28.720 --> 0:14:31.680 understand these issues. All people really that they can feel 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:34.360 like they can understand issues, um, in ways that they 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:37.320 want to consume them. Because people aren't going and watching 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.760 our long documentaries on a regular basis anymore. Um. People 0:14:40.760 --> 0:14:43.920 are on their phone all day and people are not, um, 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.280 you know, reading as much for better or words. I 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:48.600 think reading actually went up a little bit around the 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:53.520 election cost election, which is great, UM, but video is huge, 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.840 and UM, if you can distill you know, the Syrian 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.520 refugee screening process into two minutes, which we did with 0:15:00.560 --> 0:15:02.920 the White House, then in people watch it and you 0:15:02.960 --> 0:15:05.000 get millions of people to watch something like that. That's cool. 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:06.560 You worked with the White House on that, Yeah, we 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.520 work with the White House on that and on quite 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:10.480 a lot of other projects as well. We've done some 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:13.760 Zeca Explainer videos with the White House. We've UM done 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.960 some coverage and videos around UM, the commutation of some 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:21.160 people who are incarcerated with UM when the President the 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:23.000 last two times we've broken a couple of stories with 0:15:23.040 --> 0:15:25.800 the President that as well. Alex and I has spent 0:15:25.840 --> 0:15:27.560 a lot of time talking about kind of the the 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:32.080 emergence of issues based media companies out of the distermediation 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:35.440 of traditional news companies based on social and what have you. 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:37.040 Why do you think the time has been right for 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:40.160 attention now? Like, why do you think you've been able 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:42.040 to scale? How many uniques are you up to now? 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:47.760 We reach over half a billion people monthly globally. Yeah, 0:15:47.880 --> 0:15:49.640 I mean why now? I mean we we debate this 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.800 all the time, like, you know, given social and given 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.640 the place, like, what role will attention play in the 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:59.400 next ten fift twenty years for our generation? Yeah? I 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:01.080 mean I think it's I think it's a couple of things. 0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.240 I think part of its luck as as it always is. Right, 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:07.120 We launched our company at the same time that Facebook 0:16:07.200 --> 0:16:10.920 Video launched, and we made a conscious decision to ignore 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.920 all other properties. We were way behind everybody else on YouTube, 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.400 so platform decision was, let's just be really good at 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:18.360 Facebook and hope that Facebook video is going to be 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:20.920 as big as we think it is. And so we 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.800 took that risk, which paid off. And I want to 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:26.000 interrupt the flow, but like, how do you make that? 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.120 How did you make that? Bet? So when you when 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.800 you look at both platforms, Facebook was kind of in 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:37.040 this interesting place, but totally the reasoning was twofold. When 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.440 you look at both platforms. One, everyone was way ahead 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:40.800 of us on YouTube, but everyone is in the same 0:16:40.800 --> 0:16:43.680 playing field on Facebook video, Like nobody had any views 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:46.840 a month, right, it was just like just starting. So 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.960 we were whether your vice or your buzz feed or 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:53.760 your attention, you're all at zero right there, just launching second. 0:16:54.880 --> 0:16:59.560 YouTube had become and still is a massive search platform. 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.120 But if you're a company that nobody's ever heard of, 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.640 no one's going to search for you on YouTube because 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:07.600 like they've never heard of you, so why would they 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.439 go on there? And you know, that's my My use 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.360 case for for YouTube is probably the same as you guys, 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.480 which is like, oh I want to watch this video. 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.159 Oh I want to listen to this song, and you 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:20.359 just everyone does. Right, that's your YouTube engine. It's the 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:24.080 number two search engine after Google. Yeah and right, I 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:29.960 mean I'm just railing off facts. Yea yeah. But as 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:32.360 a platform, I'm pretty sure. So so you have that 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.560 versus Facebook, which was already a discovery platform, right. The 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.760 feed allows you to discover things easier. So we're like, okay, 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.119 well if that's the case, and you know, and again 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.879 this this decision was made largely by Jared Matthew, Michael, 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.320 Mike Finissi and our team at the time, um, and 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.800 they did a great job just you know, making that call. 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:53.440 And it was the right call and it paid off. 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:56.560 So where are you doubling down? Like what technology are 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:59.560 you bullish on in and kind of what's driving that? 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:04.920 Is it marketers, is it the news cycle? Is it culture? 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:08.080 Where are you really focusing? So I'll answer that in 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:12.000 a couple of parts. One, it's definitely not the news cycle, um, 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:13.760 which is the gift that keeps I probably have a 0:18:13.800 --> 0:18:17.119 more aggressive everyone saying that, Well, I have a. I 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.880 have probably more aggressive stance than most people at our company, 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:21.199 but we all feel the same way, which is we 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:22.720 are not a news company. We don't want to be 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.080 a news company. Our goal is to be impervious to 0:18:25.119 --> 0:18:26.880 the news cycle. I don't want to be the next 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.040 generation news company. I'm not trying to take down CNN. 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.119 There's a really good, fascinating how this dynamic has changed 0:18:34.119 --> 0:18:36.000 over the last twelve months. Well, so, like the new 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.960 cycle is an up and down business, right, so you're 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:42.119 when the news is good, your business is good. When 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:43.840 the news is bad, your business is bad. It's just 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.080 not a good business. And we feel like it was 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.560 for generations. Yeah, but that was when they were not 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:52.080 That was when they were like five, like three stations 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.440 to get news leading to a bigger point. Yeah, of course. 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.919 So now with like like everyone's covering the same thing 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:01.080 over and over again. Right, So our whole point is, like, 0:19:01.600 --> 0:19:03.800 you know, what do millennials care about? What do people 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:06.280 care about? They care about issues more importantly. People are 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:08.919 again this is like me my point of view, but 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.639 like people are selfish and they care about not just 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:14.240 the issue, but how that issue affects them. And so 0:19:14.280 --> 0:19:17.119 our goal is to show people here's what the issue, 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:18.600 here's what it means, and here's how it's going to 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:23.720 affect you in your life. And is that playing to 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.560 the echo chamber though? Is it playing to the echo 0:19:26.680 --> 0:19:29.200 chamber of like, here's what's trending, here's what we want 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:31.640 to think. So, because I mean, there are a lot 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:33.600 of things that are just like you know we we do. 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:36.280 We have a series called America Versus right, um, and 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:38.880 we do this on a very regular the videos where 0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:43.760 you demonstrate like food in schools in this country compared 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:48.119 to Japan. The first thing we did in the series 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.440 was America Versus Japan school lunches. We've done four hundred 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:54.960 million views on America Versus videos this year, just this year, 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.760 and um, we really struck a churt. So Nick, now, 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:01.520 for instance, we're taking that series and we're gonna ladder 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:03.280 it up. So we get we're looking for a host. 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:05.400 We're gonna take that host around the world and we're 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.040 going to compare America to other countries you know, hosted 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:11.000 series and that's like we know that that works, right, 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:12.920 So that's where the talent you're investing in to do 0:20:13.000 --> 0:20:16.040 stuff like that. Who are the talent. We're taling, so 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:18.520 I mean we're talking to some talent, but like we 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:20.000