For Hot (Yet Still “Under the Radar”) Video Company Jukin’ Media, Failure Is the ONLY Option

Jukin’ Media.  If you’ve never heard of it, read on.  You should.

I met with this next-gen YouTube economy-based video company the other day at its offices in Culver City, California (the home of leading now Disney-owned Maker Studios and others).  Sat down with President & COO Lee Essner and Mike Skogmo.  Learned a lot.

Jukin’ Media’s mission is to be “THE Home of Viral Video.”  All viral video on all platforms -- initially digital, but certainly its vision can extend upstream to more traditional TV platforms, etc. (in fact, many “clip-based” shows on TV depend upon Jukin’ Media for their content, as well as well-known brands that include MTV, CNN and ESPN and Today).  The company’s roots -- and still its bread and butter -- are in “stunts gone wrong” (in other words, so-called “fail” videos) that go viral due to their inherent humor.  Think of them as “America’s Funniest Home Videos” -- with a heavy dose of “Jackass” -- for YouTube.  And, they tell me that their “special sauce” is their ability to find viral videos before they go viral.  Jukin’ Media to date has over 1 billion total views and 12-13 million uniques per month with a demographic that skews, not surprisingly, heavily young male.  They also have a deep international following, because the concept of “ouch” travels and has no language barrier.

In some ways, Jukin' functions like an MCN.  But, I don’t consider them an MCN (nor do they), because they feature only a small number of channels and feature ONLY content that they exclusively license, produce and own (unlike MCNs that generally primarily feature hundreds to thousands of individual personality-driven UGC content).  And, this fundamental difference enables a very different kind of multi-pronged business model.  Think of Jukin’ Media as having 4 separate areas of focus:

(1) Content Acquisition/Video Library

Jukin’ Media’s essence -- from which all else flows -- is its prowess in content acquisition and its resulting deep library of viral video that can be mined in myriad ways and over and over again.  That means that margins are high.  Content development for Jukin’ is primarily a function of editing rather than video production (with its associated costs).  And, they know what they are doing when they acquire that content.  One example -- they strip out potentially infringing music and substitute their own.

(2) Content Licensing 

As a result of its deep library of content, you can think of Jukin’ Media as being, in part, a Getty Images for viral video.  The company licenses its vast library of content to others (including those mentioned above).  But, the company tells me that, unlike Getty and its stock images and videos, it focuses on a smaller volume of non-stock videos that its licensees can feature more exclusively.  And, that means higher price-tags.

(3) Turnkey Services

The company also outsources its overall video “platform” for the benefit of others who retain Jukin’ to find precisely those viral videos they need (again, including major networks).   Jukin’ automates and optimizes the finding, clearing and acquisition of rights from owners of relevant viral videos.

(4) Original Content Development

Increasingly, the company is in the world of original content development -- albeit “original content” in a different way -- i.e., organizing multiple viral videos under one relevant theme (such as those “fail” videos under the name of its “FailArmy” channel).  The beauty here is that Jukin’s type of content development -- unlike Hollywood or story-focused content development -- can be almost wholly data-driven.  Genetically engineered, if you will.  Jukin’ precisely knows which videos are performing (i.e., going viral), why they perform, and -- therefore -- that those videos will succeed within the umbrella of a larger show.  Just think of the possibilities ...  Out-flixing Netflix?

Jukin’ Media.  What some call the hottest “under the radar” digital video/digital-first media company around today.  I like them.  A lot.

Am a believer ....