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Speaker 1: Thanks for checking out another episode of the Variety podcast

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Speaker 1: Strictly Business, in which we talk with some of the

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Speaker 1: brightest minds working in media today. I'm Variety co editor

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Speaker 1: in chief Andrew Wallenstein. As the holiday season draws near

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Speaker 1: in the nation's children compose their annual letters to Santa Claus.

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Speaker 1: Here's one toy that will probably top a lot of lists,

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Speaker 1: Ryan's World, Giant Mystery Egg. Ryan is a seven year

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Speaker 1: old YouTube sensation, one of a handful and a portfolio

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Speaker 1: of kid favorites operated by Pocketwatch, a new media company

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Speaker 1: run by my next guest, Chris Williams. And it's hard

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Speaker 1: enough to get billions of video views. But Chris is

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Speaker 1: trying to do is take young stars like Ryan and

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Speaker 1: turn them into billion dollar franchises, akin to SpongeBob Square Fats.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for coming in, Chris. But before we start, let's

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Speaker 1: give the listeners a flavor of what pocket Watches. Here's

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Speaker 1: a clip from Ryan's World. Well, we're so excited to

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Speaker 1: see a right world. Ye we're the first time. Are

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Speaker 1: you ready? Let's go. Let's talk to the section. Where

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Speaker 1: is the toy section? Right there? Right? Okay? Chris? That

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Speaker 1: to the untrained I this is a kid playing with

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Speaker 1: toys on YouTube, and yet somehow we're going to turn

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Speaker 1: him into SpongeBob. In terms of the business there walk

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Speaker 1: us through the opportunity here. Sure, you know, I've really

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Speaker 1: obviously gotten to witness firsthand a very rapidly changing landscape

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Speaker 1: of how kids consume content. As you know, I was

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Speaker 1: formerly a Maker Studios where over sort of saw a

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Speaker 1: very large network of YouTube creators. I had experience at

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Speaker 1: Disney through acquisitions Maker and others where I got to

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Speaker 1: see linear television for kids really falling off of a

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Speaker 1: cliff uh, And I got to see it in my

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Speaker 1: own home and really, um my kids, you know, sitting

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Speaker 1: in front of my beautiful big screen TV, you know,

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Speaker 1: firing up their iPhones and laying on the Florida watch them.

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Speaker 1: And so, you know, having seen this really pan out

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Speaker 1: in the data, it was very clear that the kids

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Speaker 1: audience was moving from television to YouTube. There was a

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Speaker 1: direct correlation in that decline on TV to the explosion

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Speaker 1: of audience on YouTube. And we really felt that these

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Speaker 1: new stars and formats that were becoming incredibly popular on

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Speaker 1: YouTube had a huge opportunity to be more widely distributed.

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Speaker 1: Both from a business perspective and a content perspective than

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Speaker 1: just on YouTube. So they're amassing these huge audiences and

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Speaker 1: when you think about Ryan, we've talked we're talking about

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Speaker 1: Ryan's worlds in particular our biggest partner, uh you know,

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Speaker 1: they were They're amassing six million kids a day, twenty

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Speaker 1: million a week, and fifty million a month globally watching

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Speaker 1: Ryan of those I believe every day and talk a

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Speaker 1: bit about what the content is. Sure, he's just playing

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Speaker 1: with toys. It's not just toys, I mean, I would

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Speaker 1: give it a more. It may have started off specifically

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Speaker 1: around imaginative toy play, but it's really evolved to a

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Speaker 1: broader sweet and this is one of the things we

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Speaker 1: love about Ryan's and his parents ambition. And it's not

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Speaker 1: just his parents, he is also very ambitious. But they've

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Speaker 1: actually got quite an operation that that has spun up

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Speaker 1: other channels with other types of characters that inhabit this

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Speaker 1: Ryan's world. So Ryan obviously being the central figure, but

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Speaker 1: there's an animated character named Combo Panda and a puppet

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Speaker 1: named gust the Gummy Gator. And when you think about

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Speaker 1: what a franchise is and being able to take that

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Speaker 1: and broadly, uh more broadly distributed and generate business opportunity

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Speaker 1: from it. This one was perfect. So we obviously, you know,

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Speaker 1: really looked at these partnerships very closely and wanted to

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Speaker 1: be able to bring uh Ryan's World initially into retail.

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Speaker 1: I think that was a very fertile opportunity. We knew

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Speaker 1: he had math, this very large audience, had a very

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Speaker 1: strong brand, He had had shown a lot of resilience

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Speaker 1: in terms of algorithm changes and other things on YouTube.

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Speaker 1: That gave us a tremendous amount of confidence that we

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Speaker 1: could do this successfully and we're able to get license

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Speaker 1: ease across different categories of products, so toys obviously being

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Speaker 1: a big one, but also apparel, games, activities, other things

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Speaker 1: that were really organic to him and things that he loved.

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Speaker 1: That's very important. It really has to remain organic to him,

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Speaker 1: and people in the retail space get it. They can

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Speaker 1: see even someone didn't come from TV, which is really

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Speaker 1: the traditional breeding ground for these franchises, they were like,

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Speaker 1: now we get it that it's from YouTube, it could

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Speaker 1: still work. Yeah, I think we had something to prove

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Speaker 1: and it was that. And I think that normally, when

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Speaker 1: you think about the center of gravity for a kid's franchise.

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Speaker 1: You think of television and film, and we were basically

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Speaker 1: out there pounding the table saying, no, that's the old way.

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Speaker 1: The new way is on YouTube, where there is this

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Speaker 1: massive audience of kids consuming content around stars like Ryan,

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Speaker 1: that that can be the center of gravity for that

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Speaker 1: multiple revenue stream business that is typically associated with the

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Speaker 1: kids franchise, and um, we've had the opportunity to prove that.

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Speaker 1: So the retailers were primed a little bit to the

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Speaker 1: extent that there were other companies who were doing experiments

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Speaker 1: around influencers if you will, that we're seeing some level

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Speaker 1: of success, but this was certainly the biggest for it.

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Speaker 1: We you know, launched with something like eighteen products at

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Speaker 1: Walmarts with four feet of aisle space. You know, this

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Speaker 1: was sort of an unprecedented launch, and you know, it

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Speaker 1: had definitely been something on Walmart's radar, and I think

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Speaker 1: they also liked that pocket Watch brought a brand and

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Speaker 1: a business that's sort of becomes that filter and that

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Speaker 1: layer of professionalism that surrounded Ryan and our other partners

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Speaker 1: that enable them to have the same type of experience

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Speaker 1: they would have with a Disney or Nickelodeon that was

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Speaker 1: also pretty critical. So we launched UM a couple of

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Speaker 1: months ago and have seen tremendous success. So you mentioned

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Speaker 1: the Ryan Mystery Egg. That is certainly the number one

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Speaker 1: product within the collection, but it is a broader collection.

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Speaker 1: In fact, we were told by Walmart recently that the

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Speaker 1: Just the T Shirts Boys T Shirts are now the

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Speaker 1: number one licensed boys T shirts at Walmart, eclipsing Minecraft. Wow.

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Speaker 1: And we've seen tremendous success with the Egg for example,

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Speaker 1: where it is sold out everywhere. It's also now available

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Speaker 1: at Target, or should be, but it's sold out and

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Speaker 1: I was actually in Target this weekend and I did

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Speaker 1: see it. Well, there you go. You should have bought

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Speaker 1: it because you can resell it on eBay. Now, I

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Speaker 1: mean literally that there's an ecosystem of secondary sales on

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Speaker 1: eBay and Amazon resellers that has already popped up around it.

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Speaker 1: That product has also become UM now on all these

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Speaker 1: lists right whether it's Parents magazine or the Today Show

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Speaker 1: on sort of that hot toy list. And I think

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Speaker 1: we really wanted to prove that this could be a

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Speaker 1: massive business, and we're looking at you know, high eight figures,

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Speaker 1: potentially even low nine figures in retail sales just in

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Speaker 1: this first five months through the end of the year,

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Speaker 1: and it is a pretty unprecedented launch that enables us

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Speaker 1: to have credibility now with both our retail partners or

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Speaker 1: licensese and other types of partners for how these brands

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Speaker 1: can extend from YouTube into all these other areas traditionally

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Speaker 1: associated with kids franchises, and that is essential not just

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Speaker 1: for Ryan, but for everything pocket Watch does, because correct

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Speaker 1: me if I'm wrong, you can't make a business entirely

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Speaker 1: on YouTube, which for most of Ryan's existence, that's what

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Speaker 1: he's been. That is absolutely accurate. Again, we were really

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Speaker 1: careful about the bringing on of these partners. We have

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Speaker 1: a very small portfolio of partners right now. We have

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Speaker 1: some of them. We have four. We have Evan Tube

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Speaker 1: and his sister Jillian Tube. We'll call that one, Hobby

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Speaker 1: Kids Ryan and the suite of channels and characters that

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Speaker 1: inhabit that world, and Captain Sparkles, and we we're vetting

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Speaker 1: these for a lot of different things, but most importantly

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Speaker 1: was our confidence, either through data or anecdotally really a

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Speaker 1: combination of the two, that they would be able to extend.

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Speaker 1: One have longevity on the YouTube as a platform because

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Speaker 1: we need to aggregate the audience there, but that we'd

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Speaker 1: also be able to bring them to all these other places,

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Speaker 1: not just consumer products, but other expressions of the content,

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Speaker 1: right either re contextualizing the short form into half hours

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Speaker 1: that can live on platforms like Hulu or even movies

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Speaker 1: and TV, which, while they're not the center of the

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Speaker 1: universe to us, they're certainly part of the business model.

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Speaker 1: And so talk a bit about pocket Watch itself. When

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Speaker 1: you started this business just a few years ago, Uh

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Speaker 1: was was it always about kids content from YouTube spreading

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Speaker 1: it out elsewhere? U was at the plan? Yes, we

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Speaker 1: believe that because of this massive evolution in the way

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Speaker 1: or even revolution and the way kids were consuming content,

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Speaker 1: that that was the opportunity, and it was the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to brand that in a way that really differentiated us

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Speaker 1: from other brands. But it had always been not only

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Speaker 1: a place where we could find existing stars and formats

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Speaker 1: that we could you know, really build into these franchises,

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Speaker 1: but also launch new i p and that's why we

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Speaker 1: brought on folks like Albi Heck to our chief content officer.

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Speaker 1: Albi was the president of Entertainment at Nickelodeon during the heyday,

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Speaker 1: where he developed Dora and SpongeBob and Blues Clues and

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Speaker 1: rug Rats and created the Kid's Choice Awards and really

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Speaker 1: is a living legend in kids entertainment and the idea

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Speaker 1: that our creator brands certainly opened the door for us

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Speaker 1: and allow us to build our business and our brand

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Speaker 1: and our reach on these platforms and other places. But

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Speaker 1: we can come in behind it with original I P

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Speaker 1: as well that kind of celebrates the same thing, shares

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Speaker 1: the same d n A kind of feels, you know, like, uh,

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Speaker 1: it could be born. There surrounds things that that are

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Speaker 1: sort of born digitally, and so I get what you

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Speaker 1: and I'll be bring to the table. But you also

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Speaker 1: have some pretty impressive partners U T A. U talk

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Speaker 1: about sort of the group of partners that are helping

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Speaker 1: bringing you out there sure well and raising financing, which

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Speaker 1: obviously is necessary for for most startups, and certainly ours

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Speaker 1: was the case. You know, we really wanted to have

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Speaker 1: a great collection of investors that added value beyond just capital,

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Speaker 1: and that started with, obviously, as you mentioned, folks like U. T.

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Speaker 1: A who's an investor and someone that we work with closely.

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Speaker 1: UM Robert Downey Jr. Who had been an investor and maker,

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Speaker 1: John Landau, the producer of Titanic and Avatar, you know,

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Speaker 1: um people even in the digital space. John Skagmo, who

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Speaker 1: we love, who you know, found a joke in which

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Speaker 1: on spail Army and people are awesome too, huge digital brands,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of it was about bringing the traditional

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Speaker 1: and the digital expertise together, because that's something that you know,

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Speaker 1: we felt not just on the business side and you know,

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Speaker 1: but also on the content side. It was really important

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Speaker 1: to understand all of those different businesses. They really are

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Speaker 1: converged now and in order to start these businesses you

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Speaker 1: need those types of partners And obviously eventually we raised

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Speaker 1: our Series b uh this summer and that was from

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Speaker 1: come and clearly Viacom brings a tremendous amount to the

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Speaker 1: table beyond just capital in terms of strategic partnership. Well,

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Speaker 1: what's interesting about Viacom is they also own Nickelodeon. And

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Speaker 1: if you didn't, if Viacom was not an investor, I

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Speaker 1: would be sitting here saying like, oh, so when are

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Speaker 1: you going to take down Nickelodeon. You're going to be

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Speaker 1: the next one, Like what it just seems like an

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Speaker 1: interesting dynamic. Why is Viacom putting money into you that

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Speaker 1: you might argue is better off being put into Nickelodeon. Well,

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Speaker 1: I feel like it's not a zero sum game, and

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Speaker 1: we all kind of believe that. And the pocket Watch

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Speaker 1: has kind of taken on a brand identity that's very

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Speaker 1: different from Nickelodeon, or from Disney or Cartoon or the

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Speaker 1: sort of incumbent large kids media brands in that we

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Speaker 1: truly do uniquely and solely focus on these digital stars

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Speaker 1: and formats and launching on YouTube and have a very

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Speaker 1: distinct type of content and a very distinct type of

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Speaker 1: brand personality. We're very focused on play as an example,

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Speaker 1: and he started this conversation with talking about Ryan playing

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Speaker 1: with toys and and and really broadly speaking, we're all

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Speaker 1: about play. We're all about this what we would refer

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Speaker 1: to as sort of a perpetual cycle of play, which

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Speaker 1: is which really means kids watch other kids play, whether

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Speaker 1: that's play with a toy, didn't imagine a toy, play situation,

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Speaker 1: activities in the kitchen, stuff outside, challenges play and then

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Speaker 1: inspiring kids to play themselves and do the same things

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Speaker 1: and go outside and do play with toys and do

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Speaker 1: activities and do challenges and then encourage them to record

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Speaker 1: and share their own play, right, and then that becomes

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Speaker 1: a perpetual cycle of play. And so they're I think

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Speaker 1: that this identity as a brand was something that UM

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Speaker 1: certainly Viacom gravitated to, is something that could exist alongside

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Speaker 1: Nickelodeon and other brands uh in that it really were

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Speaker 1: really focused on something unique and different. And we can

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Speaker 1: even have our brand be very portable to the extent

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Speaker 1: that we truly believe in this day and age that

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Speaker 1: you have to have a brand that travels and it

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Speaker 1: has to be able to live on other people's channels,

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Speaker 1: on other people's platforms, in addition to in certain cases

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Speaker 1: bringing them, you know, to someplace you want them to go.

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Speaker 1: So is there an advantage for a kid's brand like

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Speaker 1: pocket Watch to be in the fact that it is

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Speaker 1: digital native as opposed to TV brands like nick and

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Speaker 1: Cartoon trying to dabble on digital platforms. I don't want

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Speaker 1: to characterize what they're doing Vicount specifically is dabbling. I

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Speaker 1: think they've made some pretty big bets and there they

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Speaker 1: are certainly moving aggressively on the digital space. But certainly

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Speaker 1: we benefit from a much lower cost structure. We benefit

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Speaker 1: from really having great understandings of those platforms, in particularly YouTube,

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Speaker 1: whether that's how the algorithms work, or how to optimize

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Speaker 1: marketing there, and other things that we've brought on, you know. Frankly,

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Speaker 1: I brought on a lot of former Maker employees who

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Speaker 1: are experts at the digital side, right to sit alongside

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Speaker 1: folks like Albie who understand sort of the creative development

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Speaker 1: of traditional so UM. I do think we have some advantages,

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Speaker 1: you know, frankly, just from starting in this day and age, right,

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Speaker 1: we don't have any legacy brand identity, we don't have

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Speaker 1: any legacy cost structures that might be in models that

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Speaker 1: are that are struggling a bit, you know, and I

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Speaker 1: think that puts us in a great position to capitalize

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Speaker 1: on the state of the world today. And with Viacom,

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Speaker 1: is it at this point is it more than just

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Speaker 1: the money that they put in or their specific partnerships

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Speaker 1: that you're working on with them. Yes, there are certain

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Speaker 1: areas that we are very aligned in creating mutual value

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Speaker 1: for each other. I think that one area, for example,

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Speaker 1: as ad sales um, I think you're gonna you know,

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Speaker 1: see some changes in terms of the way YouTube potentially works.

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Speaker 1: Viacom has basically entered a commercial partnership with us where

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Speaker 1: they're able to sell our ad inventory. Uh. They can

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Speaker 1: also sell Brandon integrations and other things. And it's nice

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Speaker 1: to have the world's largest kids sales sporce, you know,

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Speaker 1: bringing value to us, and those are things that they

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Speaker 1: don't inherently have on their own, and that's made certainly

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Speaker 1: a great type of partnership. We're also you know, content

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Speaker 1: to the extent that we're expanding into television and film. Certainly,

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Speaker 1: they have a lot of assets. For example, as you

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Speaker 1: as you know, we were we had just signed a

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Speaker 1: deal with Paramount TV to distribute internationally are thirty minute

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Speaker 1: programs that were launching on domestic band platforms. Likely, we're

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Speaker 1: super excited about that type of partnership in that it

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Speaker 1: gives them something new and unique and interesting to bring

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Speaker 1: out to the international markets. Uh. And it creates a

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Speaker 1: lot of value for us because we're not building an

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Speaker 1: international content sales team. And then lastly, i'd say on

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Speaker 1: the content side, it was actually pretty easy because we

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Speaker 1: already had developed a couple of things with Viacom. To

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Speaker 1: these we had a film that we that is still

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Speaker 1: in development with formerly Brian's group, Paramount Players Brian Robins,

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Speaker 1: and now um we also have a show being developed

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Speaker 1: with Keen Thompson and Nickelodeon. UH. And again, we believe

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Speaker 1: our branch should be portable and it should be able

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Speaker 1: to live on these other platforms and other channels, and

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Speaker 1: we're aggressively doing that with Vicom. You know, Nickelodeon is

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Speaker 1: at an interesting moment now with Brian Robbins taking over.

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Speaker 1: I think there's an opportunity for that business to be rethought. Uh.

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Speaker 1: Is that an opportunity or a concern for you? I mean,

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Speaker 1: I guess they are kind of both competitor and collaborator.

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Speaker 1: I would start by saying that all of us have

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Speaker 1: an incredible admiration for Brian and think this is a

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Speaker 1: absolutely huge move and huge coup for the team of

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Speaker 1: Viacom to have gotten Brian to take on this position.

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Speaker 1: You know, Brian is one of those unique executives who

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Speaker 1: literally has had an incredible amount of creative success in

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Speaker 1: television and film, entrepreneurial success with awesomeness, and I see

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Speaker 1: no reason why he's not going to bring all of

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Speaker 1: that experience to Nickelodeon, and I think ultimately that'll be

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Speaker 1: really good for us. I think Brian will really understands

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Speaker 1: what we're doing, what we're aiming for. In many ways,

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Speaker 1: it's not that dissimilar to awesomeness different age demographic. Certainly

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Speaker 1: UTA backed them as well. A certainly back to them

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Speaker 1: as well, and the relationship is also still key in

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Speaker 1: this business. And Albe certainly goes way back with Brian

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Speaker 1: to the early days of Nickelodeon, where you know, Brian

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Speaker 1: essentially got his start, and you know, we hope that

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Speaker 1: that rhythm of working together can continue now that he's

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Speaker 1: in that new role. What I also wonder about when

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Speaker 1: you're in business with Viacom is could we see a

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Speaker 1: pocket Watch TV channel or a pocket Watch brand on

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Speaker 1: a V O D platform? Is that where your head

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Speaker 1: is at as well? Yes, to the extent that there

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Speaker 1: are in these new digital platforms, I don't think you

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Speaker 1: would see us launch on a traditional cable system, but

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Speaker 1: potentially on these new virtual m v P D s

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Speaker 1: that are becoming more ubiquitous and seeing more success with

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Speaker 1: that smaller bundle and great user experience. We've certainly identified

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Speaker 1: that as an opportunity to bring a different type of

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Speaker 1: content and our brand promise to those screens, and that

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Speaker 1: has become, uh, you know, something we're developing will lightly

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Speaker 1: tap into some experimental other platforms first to kind of

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Speaker 1: get our get feel good about the programming. I mean

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Speaker 1: number one is delighting kids and and bringing joy to

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Speaker 1: two parents because they see their kids delighted. So we

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Speaker 1: want to make sure that we get programming right. We

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Speaker 1: want to have confidence that certain programs translate frankly, from

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Speaker 1: YouTube to other platforms like a virtual m v P

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Speaker 1: D channel or vm D. We are currently on platform

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Speaker 1: on Hulu and on Amazon Time with something we're pretty

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Speaker 1: proud of we created. One of the things we did

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Speaker 1: was looked at these partnerships we have with the creators

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Speaker 1: and one of the aspects of those is the ability

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Speaker 1: to distribute the content that they already have on YouTube

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Speaker 1: and this is the most popular content that exists for

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Speaker 1: kids in the world today, and how do we extend

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Speaker 1: that same content onto new platforms. So we created something

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Speaker 1: called a mishmash, and a mishmash a pocket watching mishmash

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Speaker 1: essentially takes the existing library today. We focused on individual

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Speaker 1: creator partners, so Ryan Mishmash have been Mishmash Jillian Mishmash,

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Speaker 1: and we've added elements like a host, some kinds of

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Speaker 1: an animated host, could be a puppet host, and upped

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Speaker 1: the auntie in terms of audio and graphics so that

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Speaker 1: it really feels like a TV half hour and can

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Speaker 1: sit next to other successful kids TV programming. And we

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Speaker 1: did that pretty much at scale. We launched ninety episodes

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Speaker 1: on Hulu across six different shows uh in this fashion,

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Speaker 1: and we're seeing tremendous set success with very little promotion.

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Speaker 1: We've heard that one of our shows has already in

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Speaker 1: the top thirty kids programs on Hulu. Very anecdotal from Hulu.

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Speaker 1: We don't have access to that data, but you know,

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Speaker 1: certainly very encouraging that with zero promotion and not even

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Speaker 1: having announced it um too long ago, that it's seeing

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Speaker 1: that type of success. So, I mean, bottom line, do

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Speaker 1: you feel that the brands you're building, like Ryan's World

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Speaker 1: here in Een are at a place now where in

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Speaker 1: the mind share of children like your own in mind

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Speaker 1: that they're sitting side by side with the Spongebobs of

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Speaker 1: the world, or are you still on the way to that.

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Speaker 1: I'm just curious. I think they they are, and I

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Speaker 1: think in particular a brand like Ryan, that there is

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Speaker 1: something different about a franchise and a star being berthed

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Speaker 1: on YouTube. And I think, you know, we have a

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Speaker 1: lot of experience with that now, but that there is

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Speaker 1: something different about the relationship of that star and their

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Speaker 1: audience than a traditional TV or film star or traditional

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Speaker 1: film and TV I p and that it's a little

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Speaker 1: more intimate. You know, kids watch Ryan and his his

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Speaker 1: universe of of friends and they believe that, you know,

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Speaker 1: that they're just like him, and there is something about that,

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Speaker 1: not putting him on a pedestal, that it's a very

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Speaker 1: close relationship. These kids, you know, in his audience, they

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Speaker 1: want to have play dates with him. They feel like,

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Speaker 1: you know, he could you know, they'd see themselves in him.

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Speaker 1: And I think we weren't sure we felt good about

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Speaker 1: whether that would translate into a business um and certainly

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Speaker 1: all the signals so far are that it that it

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Speaker 1: has well. You know, there is that Hollywood truism about

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Speaker 1: kids and animals and the difficulty to work with them,

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Speaker 1: and here you have a seven year old boy, obviously

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Speaker 1: with parents who are probably well meaning, and all that

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Speaker 1: he's making I think my last estimated eleven million dollars

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Speaker 1: a year. What you know, is there any nervousness about

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Speaker 1: in the same way, and maybe a Disney channel could

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Speaker 1: be nervous about, you know, dealing with a young individual

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Speaker 1: and so much writing on them. How do you to

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Speaker 1: me that would keep me up at night if I

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Speaker 1: were you. The truth is there's a couple of reasons

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Speaker 1: that I feel good about it. One is that, again,

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Speaker 1: it's his life is not a Hollywood life. This is

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Speaker 1: very important to understand that. You know, he lives in

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Speaker 1: a modest town, in a modest state, with a um uh,

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Speaker 1: not a lot of interaction with his his faith that

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Speaker 1: he doesn't it's not thrust upon him all the time.

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Speaker 1: He goes to public school, he has swim lessons, he

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Speaker 1: plays soccer. He's basically just a normal kid who sometimes

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Speaker 1: after school and on the weekends makes makes videos that

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Speaker 1: he's passionate about. And it is incumbent upon us and

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Speaker 1: working with his his parents, who run a pretty business.

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Speaker 1: At this point, they have a production company and have

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Speaker 1: a lot of people working for them. You know, it's

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Speaker 1: incumbent upon us to make sure that we adapt with

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Speaker 1: his changes of interest and I think that's critical. We

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Speaker 1: see it with people like Evan Tube, who has been

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Speaker 1: on YouTube for quite a long time. I call him

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Speaker 1: the elder Statesman. He's literally, you know, was six when

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Speaker 1: he got started. Similar to the hobby kids who were

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Speaker 1: also very young and have been doing this for like

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Speaker 1: six seven years. Now, they've got of these elder statesmen

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Speaker 1: of YouTube. It's important that the programming evolved to really

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Speaker 1: bring their passions to the forefront at whatever age they're at,

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Speaker 1: and you know, whether that's gaming or other aspects and

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Speaker 1: things that they might be doing. It's really important for

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Speaker 1: all of us collectively to embrace that and enhance that

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Speaker 1: and embody that in these other areas where we're sort

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Speaker 1: of bringing those brands out. But one of the things

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Speaker 1: that I think is fascinating that I've really started thinking

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Speaker 1: about lately is that YouTube as you unique in that

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Speaker 1: Evan lives as a six year old on YouTube. He

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Speaker 1: lives as a seven year old on YouTube. Isn't a

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Speaker 1: year old, now, year old, dead year old. So his

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Speaker 1: his state during that age brings in fans that might

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Speaker 1: be getting exposed to him at six even though he's twelve,

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Speaker 1: in a way that I think is very different from

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Speaker 1: other platforms, and that he gets to live forever as

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Speaker 1: a six year old on YouTube and and bring on

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Speaker 1: these new fans. They get to kind of live, you know,

432
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 1: through his his aging as well, and are you is

433
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 1: the plan to have the fans age with him or

434
00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,360
Speaker 1: he's got a little brother, because that's the thing. There's

435
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:44,359
Speaker 1: sort of a limited shelf life with a lot of

436
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,960
Speaker 1: these kid talents. Well, I think both, and I think

437
00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,280
Speaker 1: one of the reasons we have confidence in their longevity

438
00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:51,719
Speaker 1: is the fact that they live on in these different ages.

439
00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,520
Speaker 1: Um but you know, we are doing things like creating

440
00:25:55,560 --> 00:26:00,040
Speaker 1: animated series. The Hobby Kids will be the first it

441
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,440
Speaker 1: will launch, but the idea is to sort of capture

442
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,720
Speaker 1: their franchise also as animation. I think that's something that

443
00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:11,840
Speaker 1: animated characters get to live forever, and that's something that

444
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,560
Speaker 1: we've identified. So we've for example, brought in Butch Hartman.

445
00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:18,800
Speaker 1: Butch was the creator of Fairly Odd Parents and Danny

446
00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 1: Phantom and now he's creating Hobby Kids Adventures, which will

447
00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:26,359
Speaker 1: launch as an animated series on YouTube to kind of

448
00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:32,639
Speaker 1: capture their their franchise. Dum if you will in animation,

449
00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: and we're thinking about that broadly across our partners and

450
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: with original IPE. I'm struck by the fact that you're

451
00:26:39,359 --> 00:26:43,680
Speaker 1: talking about working with a very exclusive, small group, which

452
00:26:43,720 --> 00:26:46,760
Speaker 1: is quite a contrast to your day's vacant maker, where

453
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,520
Speaker 1: the model seemed to be the exact opposite thing. I mean,

454
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:52,000
Speaker 1: was that kind of the learning that you came out

455
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 1: of from that part of your career, uh, to basically

456
00:26:55,640 --> 00:27:00,200
Speaker 1: do the opposite? Yeah? Sure was not that I at

457
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 1: any anything, and that the idea that we all learned

458
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:07,440
Speaker 1: so much at that early stage about what makes these

459
00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 1: platforms and creators kind of tick and how it should work.

460
00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,879
Speaker 1: But I think the big lesson that I came away

461
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 1: from that I'm embodying now is that it's very important

462
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:24,920
Speaker 1: to focus on brands that can transcend just YouTube and

463
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:28,160
Speaker 1: that is a small handful that is not every YouTube creator,

464
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 1: that's not every influencer out there, and that that if

465
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:35,760
Speaker 1: you focus on that smaller portfolio, you can give it

466
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 1: the same type of resources, effort and energy from my

467
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 1: world class management team to the capital we've raised and

468
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 1: really grow something special. We'll add some more, will add

469
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:49,320
Speaker 1: maybe four more over the next six to twelve months,

470
00:27:49,400 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 1: but we are incredibly careful about how we add these

471
00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,359
Speaker 1: partners because to us, they really do have to embody

472
00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,719
Speaker 1: these attributes that give us all that confidence that they

473
00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,040
Speaker 1: can also be these franchises that go way beyond just YouTube.

474
00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:06,320
Speaker 1: And that was a huge lesson certainly at Maker. When

475
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 1: you're also talking about going beyond YouTube, I'm struck by

476
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:12,560
Speaker 1: the fact that we're not talking about YouTube sitting alongside

477
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:17,640
Speaker 1: Facebook and Snap and Twitter. You're really sticking to one platform.

478
00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:21,240
Speaker 1: Why is that? I think for now, the age group

479
00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:24,280
Speaker 1: that we have really leaned into is kind of this

480
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:29,760
Speaker 1: three day eight and YouTube's the platform. They consumption by

481
00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:35,280
Speaker 1: that demographic on YouTube is just very high. Uh It's

482
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:39,520
Speaker 1: it's family oriented stuff and um, we're focused on that

483
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:43,200
Speaker 1: audience and you don't see it as much on uh Facebook,

484
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 1: even Instagram or Snap that that that would be the

485
00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:49,400
Speaker 1: very youngest side of those those platforms. We will lean

486
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,640
Speaker 1: into platforms like Facebook and Instagram as we develop strategies

487
00:28:53,680 --> 00:28:56,360
Speaker 1: to bring our branch of parents, and I think you'll

488
00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 1: see that coming next year early next year. We have

489
00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 1: some really ambitious plans there. But the focus is way different,

490
00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:06,960
Speaker 1: the content type is way different. It's it's really oriented

491
00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 1: towards the parents. Got it. But at the end of

492
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 1: the day, though, it seems like the real money is

493
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 1: outside of YouTube, outside of digital merchandise. I assume you

494
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 1: know you're obviously using my Walmart, but you've also got

495
00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,160
Speaker 1: books is something that is a big part of this. Yeah,

496
00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 1: kids still read books. They actually never sort of moved

497
00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 1: over to these digital platforms like Kindle and the book platforms.

498
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:34,920
Speaker 1: They love the Tactile book and so you know, we've

499
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 1: engaged Simon and Schuster in a partnership to create a

500
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:41,600
Speaker 1: pocket watch book imprint of which we expect six d

501
00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,080
Speaker 1: eight books a year. We're just getting started. The first

502
00:29:44,120 --> 00:29:50,320
Speaker 1: book launches and I had launched on October twenty three. Uh, huge,

503
00:29:50,400 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: run two copies. It will be in every retail store

504
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,200
Speaker 1: that you could imagine that sells books. It will be

505
00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 1: an airport book stores, which I was. I loved that one. Uh,

506
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,400
Speaker 1: I always see them when I'm traveling. And you know,

507
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,440
Speaker 1: we wanted to bring that first book to market with

508
00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 1: uh all our creators and so it's called Watch This Book,

509
00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,640
Speaker 1: and it is you know, look, if you ask a

510
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:13,680
Speaker 1: lot of kids today what they'd like to be when

511
00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:17,400
Speaker 1: they grow up, YouTube stars inevitably a top answer and

512
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,200
Speaker 1: here's the stories of you know, four of the biggest

513
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 1: kid YouTube stars in the world. Here's how they got

514
00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:24,920
Speaker 1: that way. Here are some tips and tricks and some

515
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 1: anecdotes and pretty pictures and exclusive stuff that you may

516
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,440
Speaker 1: not have known about them, and bringing it to kids

517
00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:33,760
Speaker 1: in book form. And then the next book launch this

518
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:35,640
Speaker 1: year as well. It's called Meet Ryan and it's just

519
00:30:35,720 --> 00:30:38,480
Speaker 1: an early reader that embodies that I p not unlike

520
00:30:38,520 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 1: the way you would do with Mickey Mouse or SpongeBob

521
00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:43,320
Speaker 1: and um. You know, we see a lot of potential

522
00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 1: in books in terms of extending franchise, you know, especially

523
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:50,240
Speaker 1: with kids. Books is a great, great path to do that.

524
00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 1: Just another way that I think Ryan is going to

525
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,000
Speaker 1: be a household name by the time twenty nine team

526
00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:58,800
Speaker 1: comes around. Wish you luck with that heading into the

527
00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:01,400
Speaker 1: new year. Thanks for coming in quest Hey, it's my pleasure.

528
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:06,240
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me manager. This has been another episode

529
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,240
Speaker 1: of Strictly Business. Tune in next week for another helping

530
00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:13,200
Speaker 1: of scintillating conversation with media movers and shakers, and please

531
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe to the podcast to hear future episodes.

532
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,160
Speaker 1: Also leave a review in Apple Podcast let us know

533
00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 1: how we're doing,