I don't understand why channel super fun is having problems getting sponsorship?

[X-Mass]

If this is inappropriate please move it elsewhere or delete this - I know I am talking about the behind the scenes stuff that isn't usually discussed with your customer base, Camera and production can be exciting/interesting because its still hardware geeking;  Market penetration powerpoints - not so much! Unless of course your startup geek like me, where watching LTT and PCper are interleaved with Bloomberg and TechCrunch

 

What I don't understand is why Channel supper fund oops sorry Super Fun isn't a huge cash cow for LMG? Tech TV by its very nature is targeting hardware geeks, but CSF should have broad market appeal? Especially as it should appeal to teenage men who would aspire to be like their older bros. i.e. the LMG group of blokes. Or to 20 something men where the LNG group hopefully reflects the antics 20 something men are likely to get up to.

I assume youtube give you statistics about age, culture, gender information, or is that data not broken out? Its just that if my understanding is correct CSF should appeal to a broad range of advertisers targeting those age groups from movie companies, through alcohol companies through to people like Red Bull. Also since Youtube is net based is there a prohibition on tobacco marketing or is that too beyond the pail?

Please understand Nick I am not questioning your skills, I am sure you have worked long and hard to generate sales. I am just interested as because i have faced similar issues before with other business. When I was looking at this years ago we didn't have the direct access that is possible now and equally we didn't have the reach that larger companies sought. But that's not an issue for you, you have the right eyeballs in depth? Is it just conservative advertisers or a surfeit of options? The later would seen odd as LMG seems definitely in unicorn territory as far as youtube success goes

 

as i said if this inappropriate please delete and i'll try to take this to other forums such as email

[DarkBlade2117]

I know twitch you can see how many people are viewing from each country, someone had "somehow" a guy from ?North Korea, "Kim Jun Un has a idol" viewing lol. Maybe age

[Guest Kloaked]

They'll find the groove soon enough to get more viewers. It's already growing rapidly so sponsors are sure to come I'm guessing.

[blackadder]

i found it strange when they said they lost money too. i love the channel, i do hope they keep it around even if it losing money as long as it doesn't curtail growth. have you seen his older video about  the train, that has a crazy amount of views.

[Misanthrope]

It will get there no doubt but it is ironically enough because this type of channel is better suited for a starting youtuber: If we turned back the clock 4 years and it was linux and slick shooting on a parking lot with whatever camera they could find, that kind of 0 budget and 0 expenses would work great with cheap toys that produce entertaining videos nonetheless.

 

But since now we're talking 7 full time employees and high end video recording and such then those costs just aren't as easy to cover. This is akin to someone who has been working for years on an office job trying to start a new business: Most likely he will go into red quickly cause he is used to a certain lifestyle and expenses that he just won't be able to cover, and the little guy who was not used to that, didn't have a wife a family car and house payments to cover etc. will be more equipped to handle the struggle of starting a business in the red or with razor thin margins.

[Jaybird]

well, who is going to sponser a channel with a few tech dude who are mediocerly funny at best. the comedy is more inside humor than anything. personnally, i dont watch and if i do it is not very long or i let it run in the back ground. i am kind of excited for the upcoming one. 

[Guest]

It's probably because they aren't reviewing things, so companies don't sponsor and say 'do an unboxing of this!' like they do with the main LTT channel.

 

Give it time

[X-Mass]

first off - Channel Super Fun is NOT a tech site, it not a geeky lifestyle site, I'm sure LMG could create any number of subchannels that appealed to hardware manufactures, CSF seems a distinct play to broaden their appeal to a new audience.

 

Actually, I am hoping for a rather more detailed discussion, around for example advertising sales. Some of LMG's advertisers clearly come through their PR contacts - a good example of this is JJ and especially FractalJosh all of whom do wonderful jobs of community building and I love the adverts FractalJosh was using and long may Fractal continue. A second source of Advertising seems to be where companies have targeted this community and everybody seems to go to the same group of advertisers. Is this because everyone is using the same sales agents? Jayz2cents has spoken about being given a long list of people who would like to advertise with him but choosing to only work with a few of them.

 

Obviously there is also some affiliate marketing cross-over, but all the companies seem smaller and I am wondering why that is. is it because larger corporations such as Monster or Red Bull or Unilever don't know that they can advertise direct with particular companies. Is it because a fear of youtube shutting people out because sector advertising and small advertising such as dollar shave club are fine but say Unilever advertising Axe/Lynx isn't. This seems more likely as whilst Intel does hardware product advertising, we don't see more corporate advertising from the likes of Microsoft, Lenovo, or IBM 

 

I just don't know enough about the relationship youtube has with it IP producers, other than seemingly recreating the same dynamic that movie/music distribution has had with their IP, that of exploitation! It seems like platforms such as youtube, facebook etc seemed doomed to repeat the same bullshit public face: about how our employees/content producers/suppliers are at the heart of our company, when behind the scenes its about maximising profits, treating them mean and forcing down costs where ever is possible.

 

There does seem to be this big disconnect between companies and IP companies. When one reads resources like marketing week, they are all about CRM and Marketing Research, but they repeatedly go back to the same large scale sale spaces such as google or facebook or AOL (who own Huffington Post btw), red bull has in the past seemed to  be willing to target smaller groups but again the focus is on sports marketing as a vector for sale.

 

Like i said based on what advertisers say what their seeking - men in their twenties and teenagers, CSF falls neatly into that target area - it should be a cash cow but isn't and I would be interested in any analysis, beyond platitudes. Perhaps this isn't the forum for these sort of discussions but if not; do the geek sites have a space where the issues that effect them all are discussed? I remember Linus mentioning how when he started LMG he thought that it was like highlander rather than recognising that a rising tide not only raises everyone's boats but that community building between sites increased the market share for everyone. Just as the more retailers specialising in a certain area such as gentlemen outfitters, or medical practice or electronics the more it becomes a loci that attracts customers in from further afield

[Yoinkerman]

In pretty sure the sponsors that would bring big money into channel super fun are too big and not nimble enough to buy a spot on Channel super fun.

[beach_boy98]

I thought that Hasbro was sponsoring them with nerf guns?

[ObeseWalrus]

Hasbro is sponsoring them with NERF guns.

[Kyuubixchidori]

The issue is the number of viewers. Not enough for any company to put money towards them

[X-Mass]

The issue is the number of viewers. Not enough for any company to put money towards them

there getting a steady 150-200K per episode that is a LOT of eyeballs - if each episode is costing them say 20 hours of work per episode plus costs then that's about $750 inc costs that ,means it costing them half a cent a view to produce. 

US prime time is about 9 million views and each spot costs about $110K, so 9,000,000/60 = 150K i.e. same view rate at CSF,  a thirty second spot is 110K/60=18K ok but say advertisers don't get 30 secs, say the advertiser only get 10 secs, that's still 6k for 10 secs of 150K views.  So if LMG were charging $1.2K for a 10 second spot it would still be 1/5th of what national TV charges.

 

Like I said it doesn't make sense - I'm not blaming anyone at LMG for this, I suspect its lack of communication and insight by the intermediaries between IP producers and advertisers but the question is how to deliver. Btw getting sponsorship for nerf guns from hasbro would come through PR not advertising, which quite often seem to have entirely different reporting structures in larger companies.

 

ref:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/list-of-top-20-prime-time-shows-in-nielsen-ratings/

http://www.adweek.com/news/television/their-prime-broadcast-spot-costs-soar-132805

[Kyuubixchidori]

there getting a steady 150-200K per episode that is a LOT of eyeballs - if each episode is costing them say 20 hours of work per episode plus costs then that's about $750 inc costs that ,means it costing them half a cent a view to produce.

US prime time is about 9 million views and each spot costs about $110K, so 9,000,000/60 = 150K i.e. same view rate at CSF, a thirty second spot is 110K/60=18K ok but say advertisers don't get 30 secs, say the advertiser only get 10 secs, that's still 6k for 10 secs of 150K views. So if LMG were charging $1.2K for a 10 second spot it would still be 1/5th of what national TV charges.

Like I said it doesn't make sense - I'm not blaming anyone at LMG for this, I suspect its lack of communication and insight by the intermediaries between IP producers and advertisers but the question is how to deliver. Btw getting sponsorship for nerf guns from hasbro would come through PR not advertising, which quite often seem to have entirely different reporting structures in larger companies.

ref:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/list-of-top-20-prime-time-shows-in-nielsen-ratings/

http://www.adweek.com/news/television/their-prime-broadcast-spot-costs-soar-132805

I think one of the nicks at ltt just does sponsorships and such, should send him a email/pm/tweet as you seem very knowledgable and I'm sure he can answer that for you