How do you solve a problem like micro-boredom?
The Mammoth Media team works around the clock to make sure you’re never micro-bored (photo: Sasha Renee Photography)
She was blow drying her hair and the live viewer count was going up.
If I wasn’t sitting next to our Social Video Producer watching it live, I would have had trouble believing it. But there it was- the host of one of our social video shows for Beauty Bible (who specialized in content for girls with curly hair) was demonstrating a new style live. And the beginning of that style required her to first blow dry her wet hair, and her audience was riveted. She was “broadcasting” from her iPhone in her home, with first thousands, then hundreds of thousands, watching. After a few months of joining Mammoth Media, this is when it hit me- we’re in a whole new world of what “content” means.
I joined Mammoth because I was fascinated by the monetization of quality content in today’s fragmented mobile world. In other words- how can you make enough money to pay for what today’s mobile obsessed society is watching?
FEAR BASED DECISIONS REACTING TO TECHNOLOGY
I had watched as magazines & newspapers raced to put their content on the internet out of fear they would miss out on a new audience. But then when they couldn’t monetize that new audience, well, I don’t need to say much more about what has happened to magazines & newspapers.
The first time I ever used a DVR I felt like I was cheating. It didn’t seem right that I could watch the show I wanted while skipping the commercials. But I haven’t watched a live TV show, other than sports, in probably 3 years.
I spent nearly 6 years at Shazam trying to add more banner ads in more places. It was hard — this new mobile first audience is awfully good at ignoring ads, and has even been known to just put their phone down when a pre-roll video starts and come back a minute later.
MOBILE FIRST > FITTED TO MOBILE
So as I near the end of my first full year at Mammoth Media, I’m a bit reflective about what we’ve done to entertain people and monetize content in this new landscape.
Those social media channels I mentioned? Already came & went for us. We had a fantastic team who could get viewers, but monetizing it was tricky. So we moved on.
Wishbone (left) continues to be a beloved app for teen girls, and millions of them continue to use it every month. A simple polling app that asks your friends what they would rather do stands the test of time.
Yarn is our newest creation, and man has it exploded out of the gate. It started off in a category called “chat fiction”- which means stories that unfold over what looks like txt messages, but are actually pre-written stories.
THE BIRTH OF MICRO-STORYTELLING
8 months into Yarn’s existence, it’s been near the top of the app store the whole time, and the average person comes in 4 times a day for 2 minutes at a time. There have been 35 million stories read and people read for 82,000 hours / week.
You get one story for free, then you have to subscribe. After a one week free trial, you are asked to pay. Either $3 / week, $8 / month or $35 / year. 90% of the people who subscribe pay $3 / week.
As anyone who can do arithmetic quickly points out- that is more than Netflix. Yes, but not all at once. There is a fascinating psychology of pricing we have tapped into where millennials & gen z don’t think about long term. It’s $3. Then next week, it’s just another $3. Not unlike the low risk meet up of Tinder, there is no long term commitment anywhere in sight with a $3 / week quick cost.
And what they get for that $3 is a fair exchange — easily consumable episodes of stories they enjoy. Waiting in line for coffee? Read a Yarn story. Your husband just went to the bathroom at dinner? Read a Yarn story. Bored on a conference call? Read a Yarn story.
We started off calling Yarn “short form storytelling”, but given that all of our episodes are designed to be consumed in 90 seconds — 2 minutes, we have since updated it to “micro storytelling”. Which works really well because it does a great job filling those moments of micro-boredom during your day.
So yes, Yarn is now a micro-storytelling format that fills your micro-boredom which you pay for in micro-payments.
And not only have readers found it in droves, but Brands and content producers have taken notice too. We have had our first outside IP come into Yarn with new stories from our friends at CryptTV with “Sunny Family Cult”, M2Action with “Deadtown”, Vertical Networks with “Bro Talk” and Celebrity Page TV.
We even had our first Branded story with Dunkin Donuts. Our amazing Creative team came up with a story about 5 costumed characters on Halloween night who came under a witch’s spell and had to find a special donut to break the curse before midnight.
Ten years ago, I might have thought that story wasn’t something that would capture people’s attention. But the world of content has evolved, especially on mobile phones. And the same way a girl blow drying her hair can get viewers, a captivating story told via txt messages about friends out on Halloween that happens to include Dunkin Donuts can be consumed by hundreds of thousands of people.
NO COMMITMENT READING
Now I’m excited to see what else we can do with Yarn. Imagine keeping up with characters from your favorite TV show between seasons. Or reading new episodes about the characters from your favorite movie 15 years ago?
Yarn can also be used to gain insights into what content, characters or themes are reacting with readers. Hollywood has been based on the gut of a lot of creative people for a long time. The era of data driven storytelling is quickly emerging, and we have an opportunity to play a big role in that.
We live in a fast moving, always connected, rapidly evolving world where boredom isn’t an option. We’re just getting started in our quest to define what a mobile first media company is!
If any of this sounds intriguing, to you, reach out. We’d love to chat. We’re always looking for innovative partners to work with- on the studio, TV, production or Brand side.
And if you’ll be at CES, Vegas is always a good place to meet up to get the year off on the right foot.
CRO, Head of Partnerships at Mammoth Media
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on December 13, 2017.
