Building in the Billion Dollar Creator Business | Phil Ranta | Podcast series / Marketing
Jun 19, 2023
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Phil Ranta, a pioneer of the digital media revolution, discusses navigating the creator economy, augmented reality's potential, privacy in the digital age, a funny encounter with Dwayne Johnson, the creative genius, YouTube TV trajectory, and improving YouTube by unhackable metrics and removing bots.
Maintaining relevance in the digital landscape is crucial for actors, especially for older ones like The Rock.
Comprehensive training and resources like creator academies are essential for aspiring creators to navigate the digital landscape.
Creators should focus on depth of fandom and direct monetization from their audience rather than relying solely on ad revenue.
Deep dives
Challenges in Working with The Rock
The speaker discusses the challenges of working with The Rock, including his limited time availability, the need to showcase his larger-than-life image, and the difficulty of getting him to adapt to the internet culture.
The Importance of Being Gen Z Relevant
The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining Gen Z relevance as a movie star, especially for an older actor like The Rock, and discusses strategies to keep oneself relevant in the rapidly changing digital landscape.
The Need for Comprehensive Creator Training
The speaker highlights the need for comprehensive training and resources for aspiring creators, such as the idea of establishing creator academies, to help them navigate the digital landscape and achieve success in the creative economy.
Ryan Reynolds' Success in Branding and Comedy
The speaker praises Ryan Reynolds' ability to blend self-deprecating comedy with full commitment and staying on brand. They discuss his success in comedy and entrepreneurship and highlight the importance of being genuine and leveraging creative instincts in the entertainment industry.
Monetization Challenges for Creators
The podcast episode discusses the challenges faced by creators in monetizing their content on platforms like YouTube. It highlights the drop in YouTube revenues for creators, which can be attributed to factors such as inflation and increased competition due to the growing amount of content being created. The episode emphasizes the need for creators to focus on depth of fandom and direct monetization from their audience, rather than relying solely on ad revenue. It suggests various avenues for monetization, including paid subscriptions, selling digital products, and leveraging platforms like Patreon or OnlyFans.
Issues and Potential Improvements on YouTube
The podcast episode addresses the current issues and potential improvements on YouTube. It criticizes the algorithm for allowing content of lower quality to rise to the top, and suggests the need for better metrics and measures to ensure an improved user experience. The episode highlights the importance of YouTube implementing tools and features such as better editing capabilities for mobile devices, A/B testing for titles and thumbnails, and the ability to update outdated content. It also discusses the need for YouTube to focus on fostering creativity and education by providing better support and resources for creators, especially at the university level.
Phil is a pioneer of the digital media revolution, working as a pre-YouTube professional web video producer in 2005, video content app creator before the smartphone revolution in 2007, an early exec in the MCN boom with two successful exits, and as the Head Gaming Creators at Facebook and Mobcrush, driving the live streaming and the creator-driven media paradigm shift. Currently, as COO of We Are Verified, Phil is helping to build scalable businesses around top content creators.
Previously, Phil was the Head of Gaming Creators, North America at Facebook and the Head of Creators at Mobcrush. In both roles, the departments saw significant growth working with top game streaming talent including Ronda Rousey, Disguised Toast, Corinna Kopf, Shroud, and Nate Hill, to name a few.
Phil was the COO of Studio71, one of the world's largest MCNs, growing the network from 1 billion to over 8 billion monthly views in 3 years with over 1,000 creators.
Before S71, Phil joined Fullscreen as the Head of Channel Partnerships as the 9th employee, completing his tenure as the VP of Networks. He grew the network to the largest MCN in the world (on comScore) in less than 1 year. He was the recipient of Fullscreen's first "Founders Award" for his role in building the industry-leading company.
Phil was also a popular comedian, performing at such prestigious LA venues as the Second City Los Angeles (and acting in their touring company aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines), the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater (improv program graduate), and comedy festivals across America. As a content creator, his videos have received over 100 million views on digital platforms bolstered by his work as a talent/producer on the YouTube channel "PronunciationManual" and co-hosts the "Two and a Half Sportsmen" podcast.
