WEBVTT - How Complex Became a $100 Million Media Empire 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:00.440 Turners. 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:01.040 What's going on? 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:05.800 Listen, Eylu is relaunching, revamping Retoom. That's why we're creating 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:09.640 a new educational experience that's more expensive, shy telling. 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.559 We gods twenty twenty three. We got a lot. 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:14.800 It's still a lot planning for you guys. So you 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:18.919 know that Eylu already includes monthly financial planning calls with me, 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.160 book club calls with Troy, real estate calls with MG 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:26.000 to mortgage Guy, access to the home Buying Blueprint Volume 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.280 one and Volume two. Part of the revamp will include 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:33.240 twenty seven local chapters from across the United States, live 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.680 interactive teaching, hands on not just pre recorded videos, plus 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.440 fifteen brand new curriculums. 0:00:40.760 --> 0:00:42.360 The biggest just got viger. 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:47.560 Head over to eyl university dot com. That's EYL. You 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:53.240 n I V E R s I t y dot com. 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:54.040 See it there. 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.960 An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.160 in Massachusetts and MS thir two gang member from Al 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:06.080 Salvador accused of murdering a Texas man of Venezuelan charged 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:10.000 with filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.560 just some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:17.319 President Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Christy Noman, the United 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:22.080 States Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:25.760 border crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.160 over one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.839 you are here illegally, your next you will be fine 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.000 nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned and deported, you 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.600 will never return. But if you register using our CBP 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.520 home app and leave now, you could be allowed to 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:48.400 return legally. Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:52.120 America's laws, border and families will be protected. 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:54.400 Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security. 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:58.559 All right, guys, welcome back, Eyl. We have special guest. 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:00.800 This is always good comm stations when we get to 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:04.600 talk to people in the media space and cultural space 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:08.240 in the business world, because that's kind of our niche 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:13.000 as far as you know, looking at the business behind 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:17.400 what people actually see. So everybody's familiar with Complex. You've 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.960 built a tremendous brand in the world of culture, sports, entertainment, 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:26.120 anything that really does with media, New age media. They 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.440 definitely have led the charge for a long time. So 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:32.200 Marksha Fitzgibbons. 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:39.960 That's me, Yes, for like you build it a you know, 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.840 Indian name, and I learned maybe a year ago that 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:46.400 in India it's a woman's name. So like I've been 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:49.520 running around, you know, my whole life. You know, at 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:51.320 least I'm the only one, right, I've never met in 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:54.960 business another Marsha. So this is the first, the thankful 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:55.360 part of it. 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:56.960 But I always think, what does it mean? 0:02:58.160 --> 0:03:02.000 It would be smilar to like Elijah, like you know, 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:03.040 sort of. 0:03:04.120 --> 0:03:06.359 A freedom the woman version of Elijah. 0:03:06.440 --> 0:03:09.120 Yeah, or Emmanuel or something like that. 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.000 Yeah, very none of these people that your name are women. 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:13.760 Emanuel Elijah. 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:14.200 Correct. 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:19.800 Yeah, I wouldn't say. I'm you know, huge on Indian culture, 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:23.000 no expert, but uh, you know that that's what I've 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.600 been told that it's you know, not traditionally used as 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:28.799 a man's name. So anyway, what kind of makes it interesting? 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.840 Yeah, the first Mosca we've had on the show. 0:03:32.360 --> 0:03:38.680 Probably the last, depending on how this goes. No press 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.560 me too incendiary. 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:48.080 So President of Complex, Yeah, so you're I'm sure you 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:50.000 have a lot on your plate now you guys are 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:54.040 gearing up for a Complex car. Yeah that that's always 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:55.920 a good time. I think we've been to at least 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:56.560 one we've been. 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:59.720 Yeah, we went to Long Each Long Beast two years ago. 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.160 Yeah, Yeah, that was cool. Who was there at that time? 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.600 I feel like Asap might have been there. He's always there, 0:04:07.640 --> 0:04:10.040 He's always no you know what it was kit Cutty. 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.360 Kit Cutty, He's also done in a couple of Yeah. 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:19.479 Kit Cutty was was one a headliners, the headliner. Yeah, yeah, 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:22.840 I just remember the sneaker of the year because that's 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:23.440 important to me. 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.240 I was actually I actually had it on as they announced. 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.480 It and Gary Vee was Yeah, but I think I 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:30.599 should came through to it was big. 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:31.080 It was big. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:33.240 I mean every time, it's going to be a lot, 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.760 a lot bigger this year. We As you guys know, 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:42.479 Complex was sold to BuzzFeed a few years ago. I 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:46.320 think it didn't sort of fit within their ecosystem and 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.400 as a result, you know, I would say the business 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.599 side of Complex eroded a bit or wasn't nurtured to 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.640 its best degree. Fortunately, they they did a good job 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:58.880 keeping up the audience and growing that side of things. 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:00.880 But one thing that I think like kind of suffered 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.920 was Complex con They just didn't put the investment into it, 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.320 and we are putting a huge investment into it this 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.080 year really with sort of the thought that like we 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.480 need to really like kind of establish to the community, 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:14.920 to the fans, to the creators, to the brands that 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.560 like Complex is back, It's back to its core. And 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:20.720 you know that's where you see like this investment, Like 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:25.240 Travis is creative directing it. He and playwhere doing sort 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:27.520 of headlining nights. He's doing this whole sort of like 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.520 micro con within it called Cactus Con, and you know 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:35.480 it's just like you know, obviously a lot of complications 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:37.920 and sort of pulling that all together, but we really 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.400 think it's like the biggest marketing moment for the brand 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:44.840 and sort of sets the halo effect for the brand overall. 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:49.919 It's pretty unique when a media company can get sixty 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:54.760 sixty five thousand young people to buy tickets, fly out, 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:59.119 commute to this physical destination. You know, there's there's really 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:01.360 very in my mind, very few media brands that can 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:03.440 do it. So it's a it's a special relationship we 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.599 have with the audience. And you know, just based on 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:08.800 the sort of the historicals with BuzzFeed, it's you guys 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.760 should come out it's going to be much more impactful 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:13.119 and meaningful than years before. 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.920 And the yeah we went it was in a long beach, 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.440 but this year it's actually moving to Vegas. 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:21.200 Yeah, what was the idea thought process behind all? 0:06:21.279 --> 0:06:21.400 Right? 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.880 We one of the things we see in events is 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:26.240 you have something that's established in one place and it's 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.240 working there, keep it there, but you're moving it. 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:28.560 Yeah. 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:31.920 So it was, you know, it was based on the 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:34.240 investment the BuzzFeed was making in it. It was you know, 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.800 it was shrinking, right, it was it needed an invigoration, 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:42.839 and Vegas being like the entertainment capital of America, we 0:06:42.960 --> 0:06:46.560 felt like, you know, all the clubs, Live, Zook, et cetera. 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:49.279 Everyone the city will program around it as well, like 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.920 they'll really embrace it. I think there's like eighty or 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.040 ninety thousand young people that travel to Vegas every day. 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.279 You know, it's very close proximity to southern California, and 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:02.240 we just felt like we needed to make a big, 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:05.200 bold statement. It's in the new Convention Center, which is 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:09.200 attached to the Fountain Blue. You know, you've got Live 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:11.800 in there and whatever, Poppy Steak and all these things 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:14.480 that are creating energy, and we felt like, you know, 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.080 just we could also excite the artist community, and I 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.520 think that was like part of like, you know, sort 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.520 of getting Travis involved. Was like, hey, it's new, it's fresh, 0:07:22.560 --> 0:07:25.000 it's never been done before. That generally excites people, but 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.400 it's definitely a risk. I was, you know, I won't lie. 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:30.000 I was concerned about it. I was like like our 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:32.960 you know, brands don't usually say that Vegas is a 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:37.440 priority market, but like to you know, my sort of 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.320 I guess delight. Everyone's been really supportive of it, embracing it, 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:42.560 and if you look at you know, we put the 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:45.360 flyer out the other day. It's a mix of amazing 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:49.160 artists and great brands, and we're we're super excited about it. 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:51.680 I think it's going to be very impactful. 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:56.920 So okay, so let's talk about complex What you did 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:57.520 at the beginning. 0:07:58.000 --> 0:08:02.200 Yeah, I was there from my first job out of college. 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.600 I worked at this magazine called The Source, which you 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:10.000 guys obviously now of course, So you know, I started out, like, 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.960 you know, getting coffee and all like the administrative stuff 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:18.880 that you would do back then. And you know, I like, 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:21.040 you know, I grew up like single mom. She never 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.680 made very much money. So, like, I was very hungry 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:27.040 to like make money. And I would see all like 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.040 the sales guys, the ad sales guys, like you know, 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:32.240 they all had like benzes and roll exes, and you know, 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.360 Dave gave them like source chains that Jacob the jeweler 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.720 made if they hit their number. And I was like, man, 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:39.679 you know, like twenty three, twenty two years old, I'm like, 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:42.320 you know, I want that. So I begged them every day, 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.800 give me accounts, give me accounts, give me accounts. So 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:46.959 like maybe a year after working there, they started giving 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:50.560 me like streetwear accounts. And that's how I met Mark 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:55.000 and Seth who owned Echo and Limited. Yeah, and you know, 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.480 selling them ads essentially, and they're like, hey, we're going 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.440 to like create this magazine, you know, but it's gonna 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:03.719 be a digital magazine and we're going to distribute it 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.120 on Sony mini discs if you remember those on the 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:12.559 hangtags of the apparel, like super bad idea in hindsight. 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:16.640 That failed quickly and then it pivoted to physical magazine, 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:20.040 which you know published for quite a long time. So 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.600 I was, yeah, I was one of the very first employees. 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:28.000 I was the first salesperson, and I was there from 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.960 two thousand and two through twenty seventeen. We sold it 0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.680 in twenty sixteen and then I stayed through a sort 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:37.480 of a transition period. But yeah, it was a great 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.280 ride and a lot of you know, sort of like 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.440 figuring out print magazine businesses and making that work. And 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:45.840 then we had was two thousand and eight, two thousand 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.240 and nine, you had the recession which literally like killed 0:09:48.280 --> 0:09:51.520 our print business, like went from twenty something million in 0:09:51.640 --> 0:09:56.160 revenue down to like six in like eighteen months. But 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.440 fortunately we had really started to work on digital, and 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:01.640 digital went from like six one hundred thousand to twelve million, 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:04.720 and we were like, oh, we need to you know. 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:06.800 And also the friction with the audience, which we didn't 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.000 really because we have been sort of like print magazine people. 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.360 We didn't really realize that we're like, make a beautiful thing, 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.360 put it out every month, put it on newsstands, send 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:17.280 it to subscribers. Like that was like the model where 0:10:17.360 --> 0:10:21.120 digital the internet is so much more democratic. There's no friction. 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:25.280 You can reach consumers like almost instantly. Maybe more challenging 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:28.560 to make that sort of like physical like long term 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:30.360 impact with them, but there's so much more of an 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.440 ease to scale audience. So that was super exciting for us. 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:35.600 We were like, oh wait a minute, Like there's such 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.360 a bigger audience on the Internet versus a print magazine 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:43.360 which has all these distribution limitations. And so that was 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:47.040 a super trying time. Like, you know, Echo's core business 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.480 also had a lot of financial issues at that time, 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.640 so we had to go independent and raise some capital 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.440 and then you know, sort of the blog era happened 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.120 and we were monetizing that way, and then sort of 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.600 that is a consumer behavior changed and we pivoted into 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:09.040 digital video and social and now the pivot into e 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:12.800 comm experiences and you know, sort of premium content, having 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.400 them all come together to make a more durable, long 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:21.360 term business because being solely ad dependent, if there's a 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.000 big recession moment, you know, it's so. 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.960 Those talking about that thing. So Okay, you guys have 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.200 a media company, right, You produce content, You have shows. 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.280 You had Joe Biden was every day struggle, every day 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:40.480 struggle and academics, right, and. 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:40.920 Yeah, she's amazing. 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.280 So you guys produced content, you do shows, you have 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.000 the Instagram thing. You got a sneaker situation but all right, 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.080 so the business, how does the business make money? You 0:11:49.120 --> 0:11:51.400 make money through advertisers. Yeah, what you're saying that you 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:52.920 don't want to be solely with depending on it. So 0:11:53.120 --> 0:11:54.400 you're talking about the verticals. 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:56.680 Yeah, so there's how that actually makes money. So there's 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.679 three verticals currently that we're focused on. So you think 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:03.920 about premium content, and largely there the monetization is ads 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:05.640 or sponsorship or integration. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:07.920 What's there? What is the premium content with you guys? 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:13.760 It shows like three sixty with Speedy, Mormon idea Generation 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.679 sneaker shopping, and a whole host of other shows. Like 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:20.600 I would say we probably launch pilot somewhere around twenty 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:24.200 shows a year with the hopes that you know, ten 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:27.240 to twenty percent will become successful and become like another 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:29.360 three sixty with Speedy, Like I don't know if you 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.320 saw the episode last week he had Go Go you know, 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:34.840 two days did fifty million views, crazy. 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.880 Fifty million two days wow, across. 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:43.440 TikTok reels and YouTube, you know, mainly in the shorter firm. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:44.880 That's why I was asking you, guys, abook sort of 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.839 your strategy there before. But you know, there's a couple 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.839 of days there you went on reels or TikTok and 0:12:50.920 --> 0:12:55.240 like fan pages are picking it up, commentary pages. I 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:59.520 just saw her on I think Angel Reese's podcast or 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.280 somebody else podcast. She asked her about that, like, Oh, 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.199 what's your type of guy? Like, Oh, it's not speedy, 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:06.120 and like it's like it was like a whole thing, 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:10.400 you know, So that kind of content that you know, 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:15.520 it's high production value. It's episodic, like it's programmed like 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:20.040 Sneapker Shopping comes out every Monday at noon, so fans 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:22.680 can expect it. It's also good for the advertising community 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.080 because they can like sort of similar to like linear 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.200 cable TV, they know it's coming. That's one part of 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.320 the business. The other part of the business is e commerce, 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:35.360 so Complex through all of its channels, has just over 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:37.079 one hundred million followers. 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.040 And just get back to the first part of the business. 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:41.000 That's part of the business. How do you monetize that. 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.080 You monetize that through ads. 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:47.920 Yeah, there's traditional ads and then the probably forty percent 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:50.400 of traditional ads, and then sixty percent is what I 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:54.760 would call bespoke advertising. So integrations like you have this 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.440 you know, water bottle on the table now it could 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:00.240 be Sprite, and then Sprite would present this episode and 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.800 there might be a Sprite I don't know, hot take 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.000 moment or whatever that kind of moment is. It's like 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:09.000 an integration yep. And then a smaller subset of that 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:18.880 is more in depth creative development, where let's just say 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.200 another Coke brands, say just Coke zero. We might work 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:25.240 with them on creating content that's totally new to the 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:28.200 world that has our hosts in it, but like they 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:32.960 sort of like co create the IP with us. 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.840 So you're getting the sponsors before you greenlight the show, 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.760 as opposed to green lighting the show and trying to 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:40.200 pitch the show to sponsors. 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:45.800 We go both routes. So we are constantly launching shows 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.600 with the intention of getting another you know, sneaker shopping 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:52.280 and other speedy and other hot ones, like shows that 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:56.320 do tens of millions of views with every episode. But 0:14:56.440 --> 0:15:00.280 sometimes we're getting you know, requests or briefs from you 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:03.240 know whatever, Apple, Samsung, et cetera. They're like, Hey, we 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.120 have something so specific we want to achieve that it 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.040 can't fit creatively within one of our shows, So we 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:12.000 will work with our development team to build something totally 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.080 new to world that fits their business goals. Those shows 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.920 are obviously much harder to go viral and be organic, 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:23.320 but they satiate, you know, the brand's needs to be 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.720 like you know, uber specific around I don't know what 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.520 financial literacy or whatever they would want to be talking about. 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.400 So when you're creating a strategy to approach to brands, 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.120 obviously you have mega brands now, but go back to 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.520 the beginning stages, even from the source up until this point, 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.760 what was your strategy when approaching a brand from a 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.440 I guess from an ad standpoint, from I guess, integration 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:46.359 and until you just spoke about. 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.160 So like the first part, I think what we were 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:54.040 trying to communicate to advertisers around Complex and still do 0:15:54.360 --> 0:16:00.280 is this notion of convergence consumers. You know, youngish people 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.640 that are just as interested in sort of traditional sports 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.280 as they are action sports. You know, they're just as 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:09.040 interested as in hip hop as they are reggaetone. They 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:12.920 like streetwear as much as they admire coutore, where most 0:16:12.960 --> 0:16:16.080 of the media before Complex was like you like hip hop, 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:20.840 it's the source. You like men's wear, it's GQ, You 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:23.560 like action sports, it's thrasher and skateboarder. There wasn't like 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:28.000 a cross pollination. And you know, obviously Mark, you know, 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:30.280 sort of growing up the way he was like, you know, 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:32.600 he loved everything. You know, he's making shirts for a 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.440 tribe called Quest, and he was skateboarding, he was you know, 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:37.920 doing graffiti, and he was into gaming all these things. 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.640 So it's like, let's pull all these things together. And really, 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.239 you know what now is sort of very typical millennial 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.120 cultural and culture and gen Z culture, Like they're consuming 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.200 things from all different passion points. That wasn't so much 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:53.200 the case then, So we're really educating, Hey, there's this 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.760 new consumer who's interested in all of these things. And 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.920 then we also had you know, complex was always about 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.920 you remember the magazines was like half entertainment and then 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.480 half purchasing as a buyer's guide. So our argument was like, hey, 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.240 we are reaching a consumer who is literally wallet in 0:17:09.240 --> 0:17:11.439 hand or credit card in hand, like there's a direct 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.040 connection to the lifestyle and to the products they purchased, 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:19.399 thus making the roi on marketing to them stronger. For 0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:20.040 the brands. 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:22.240 Well, I mean the advantage point you speak of is 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.879 it's pretty interesting, right you start out the source you 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.160 watch double XL even vibe, those aren't here anymore. 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.400 Yeah, complex is still here. How does that? 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.800 I mean looking at back now, how did you learn 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:36.440 from the lessons from I guess not the failures of them, 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.440 But everything has its time span. How do you guys 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.119 create the longevity after watching what happened to done? 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.240 Yeah, I think the one thing we're pretty obsessed about 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:50.399 is winning the youth. Like we're constantly challenging ourselves to 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.440 like not rest on the fact that, like we've won 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:56.639 the twenty five to thirty five year year old audience, 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.879 because pretty quick they're going to be forty five. So 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.920 if you're not winning fourteen to sixteen right now, who 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.080 admire the twenty one and twenty two year old, You're 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:07.160 going to have a really hard time as a media brand. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:08.760 And I think you see that in other sectors too, 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.080 Like I think you have to be obsessed with youth 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:16.040 culture and what's next in reaching younger folks, otherwise you're 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:19.040 going to age out. And I think that perhaps is 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:21.000 what happened to those or maybe they're you know, like 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:23.760 also the print work, you know, they didn't adapt from 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:27.879 print where we pretty you know, not perfectly but we 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:34.040 pretty aggressively adopted digital than video, than social, you know, 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:36.479 now AI trying to figure out formats that we can 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:39.159 deliver you know in an AI universe. What does that 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.920 look like in the future. And if you're not aggressive 0:18:42.920 --> 0:18:44.800 about that stuff, it's you're gonna get left behind. 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:46.840 So you didn't get a chance to finish what was 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:50.240 the second and third leg of monetization for you guys. 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:54.879 So the second leg is e commerce. So we are like, 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:56.399 if you go to Complex right now, there is a 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:01.240 shop Complex tab right now, it's a drop specific. So 0:19:01.320 --> 0:19:06.880 we'll launch like a you know, a New Balance collaboration 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:11.480 or you know, Takashi Marakami artwork, whatever those kinds of 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.359 things are. It's all like a limited time only launch. 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.480 But next month it will become more of an omnipresent 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:22.760 e commerce marketplace where they will be not just these 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:25.439 limited time only drops, So that the ideas that we 0:19:25.800 --> 0:19:29.760 basically leverage the scale those one hundred million plus consumers 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.199 we're reaching every month to not only super serve them 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:35.840 on the content side, but serve them up the products 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:38.560 and leverage our channels to serve up the products that 0:19:38.560 --> 0:19:42.440 they want to buy, so that you know, adds is 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:44.840 one piece. E Commerce is the other piece, and then 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:49.160 the third piece is experiences. Complex Cone is now twice 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.879 a year Vegas and Hong Kong. We're doing other experiences, 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:58.120 so that within that becomes ticketing revenue and other merch revenue, 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:00.560 Like you know, the merch store around comp con is 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:04.200 A is a standalone pretty successful business. And then we've 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:07.679 got the store in La where you know, every weekend 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.760 we're doing pop up shops with different musicians and different athletes. 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:14.800 It's not a huge business, but it's successful and it's 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.400 something that we can roll out to other markets as 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:17.760 we grow. 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:30.399 Okay, so how vitally important is sponsorships to Complex car. 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.320 In terms of like the profitability or. 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:35.119 How profitability ability to actually throw the event? Yeah, because 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:37.160 you said, like you know, you didn't want to rely 0:20:37.359 --> 0:20:41.520 too too much on that from the content perspective, because 0:20:41.600 --> 0:20:42.800 you know you're thinking of yeah. 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:45.840 If yeah, it's super important. So if you didn't have 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:51.320 the mix of sponsorship revenues, merch like commerce revenues on 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:55.719 site and ticketing, it would be impossible to make it profitable, 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:59.720 like doing it on ticketing alone or merch. You know, 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:02.399 just the cost of production on this thing is in 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:05.520 the tens of millions. You couldn't. It's not like you know, 0:21:06.080 --> 0:21:08.760 rolling out great business. But it's like a couple of stages. 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:10.440 They're not you know, it's not all these like super 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:13.479 hyper developed experiences that cost you know, millions of dollars 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:18.159 to build. And you know, without without the sponsors, it 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:21.080 would be you know, impossible to make it a profitable business. 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.119 And the same without the ticketing revenue or without the 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:25.159 merch revenue. So it has to all come together. And 0:21:25.160 --> 0:21:27.879 that's sort of my point is like before Complex was 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.640