Technology continues to transform every corner of the media world, including how content is created, distributed, consumed, shared, and monetized.
Amidst this upheaval, many legacy media companies have struggled to adapt and innovate.
But this is hog heaven for broke entrepreneurs!
Every day fresh holes are opening up for new entrants to establish a foothold. In addition, it keeps getting cheaper and easier both to start a business and to reach a global audience.
That’s one of many reasons we’re so excited to be building Laughable.
In this post we break down the comedy landscape and elucidate the principles shepherding Laughable into the bright unknown. We think abiding by these principles will help us achieve our goal of becoming world’s most impactful, profitable company at the intersection of comedy and technology.
Today, there are approximately 300-400 standup comedians established enough to headline one of the approximately 300 American comedy clubs currently in operation, or perform in a theatre or arena. These shows collectively generate over $1bn in annual revenue.
Statistics on the number of people who attend these shows each year are harder to come by, but our best guess is that it’s somewhere between 4% and 6% (10m – 14m) of American adults.
(Note: As you’ll see below, there’s far more to comedy than just standup; as such, the above market sizing is meant to provide some useful – if limited – context, not a comprehensive accounting of the entire comedy space.)
Comedians reach fans with various forms of “comedic output” (“CO” for short).
We define CO as anything a comedian creates with the hope it will be consumed by fans — and, ideally, make them laugh.
In exchange for receiving CO, consumers part ways with two things: their time/attention (always) and their money (sometimes).
CO can generate two main types of value for comedians:
Below are the major strains of CO comedians are creating these days. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list, and the commentary makes generalizations, i.e. what is true for a majority of today’s working comedians. There are, of course, plenty of outliers and exceptions. But hopefully this matrix helps identify the biggest areas of opportunity for comedians to have an impact and make a living — and for technology companies to help them do it.
Laughable has a dual mandate:
To be more succinct: Laughable helps consumers of comedy find funny, and we help creators of comedy find fans and money.
Our Unified Theory of Laughable shows how this all fits together:
Amazon started by selling books. Netflix, by renting out DVDs. Facebook, by reinventing the student directory.
We decided to start off by building an iPhone app (available here), followed by an Android app (available here), that show you all the podcasts any comedian (and myriad other public figures) have been on as a host or guest.
Our podcast focus has allowed us to cost-effectively build a rock-solid foundation comprised of:
Now we’ll tie together Parts 1 and 2 of this post by laying out the principles we’ll rely upon to “ladder up” beyond podcasts. Some describe how we’re already operating today; others are aspirational.
1. Execute on a product strategy that minimizes friction by:
2. Execute on a content strategy that:
3. Obsessively build competitive moats by leveraging:
4. Act ethically and transparently, and be known for treating:
These principles will surely evolve over time, alongside our offerings and the broader technology/media landscape. But we think what’s in this post is a pretty decent start.
I’d welcome your feedback on it all. My email is n@laughable.com if you’d like to drop me a line. Thanks for reading!