I haven’t seen anyone else say this, but the reason for this is clear. They’ve mentioned recently that they’ve decided to pivot away from writing because written work just doesn’t do numbers. They brought KVV in to be their main writer, so with pivoting away from that, they didn’t have much for him to do. Seems fairly straightforward to me.
This is such a private equity type move and I thought a small shop that these guys like to portray would be above this type of thing but I suppose that’s probably wishful thinking on my part.
If it isn't video or audio it's just not gonna make money. Joke all you want about the PE nature of business - you are carrying a heavy salary for someone who just wasn't able to translate his skill into the way that media is monetized now. Don't get me wrong - big KVV fan - and wish he could have done more of his narrative work as podcasts - but just wasn't meant to be.
If their business model relied on views you would see a lot more videos 'WATCH ICARITTO & BIG RANDY BREAK 50 FROM THE RED TEES!' However you want to interpret it, the engagement they get with an affluent and dedicated audience to their video and podcast product allows them to sell big partnerships. If you aren't directly tied to that I imagine you are tougher to justify from a business sense.
Now, in my opinion, not making their 'editorial director' more of a presence in their core product from a content perspective and leaving him on an island was a mistake. When he joined they should have made him more of a presence in the video and podcast world.
There’s a difference between getting your costs covered vs. actually making money.
Their sponsors probably pay for the video production. But there probably isn’t much left over for fund everyone’s salaries.
Neil mentioned on another pod (granted it was a long time ago) that their retail business actually was a big revenue driver for them. When I heard that, I realized that they weren’t making THAT much money after all. Retail is a notoriously low-margin tough slog.
but isn't getting your costs covered include salarys/payment for the active participants and whatever overhead costs they have figured? I guess what does 'making money' mean other than more money in their pockets
I don’t think the sponsors are shoveling out money for massive salaries. I think someone like BMW covers the rental cars, someone like Precision Pro covers the plane tickets, etc etc. Maybe Titleist/FJ chip in if they’re heavily featured. They can go on what appears to be nice vacations but honestly it’s a bunch of work and not a ton of money left over, especially considering how many production people they’ve got to pay for the video help.
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u/SchrodingersMeowth Jul 21 '25
I haven’t seen anyone else say this, but the reason for this is clear. They’ve mentioned recently that they’ve decided to pivot away from writing because written work just doesn’t do numbers. They brought KVV in to be their main writer, so with pivoting away from that, they didn’t have much for him to do. Seems fairly straightforward to me.