0:01 spk_0
You know, that may just be a source of income. You start a YouTube channel, you’re putting your video out there, you’re getting income directly from the platform.But now you have IP and you can talk to a company like Three Black Dot and off script and say, OK, I have this IP I have some traction. How do I diversify my surfaces?
0:21 spk_1
What’s up guys? Welcome to Financial Freestyle here on Yahoo Finance, and I’m your host, Ross Mack. And look guys, no matter where you are in your financial journey, you can never stop learning and you can never stop earning. That’s why each and every week I’m talking to some of the goats in their respective fields to help you make more money, and today is no different as I’m talking to the Reggie Cash, founder and CEO of Three Black Dot. Reggie, how you doing, bro?
0:45 spk_0
Ross, I’m doing well. Thanks for having me, man. Thanks for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here,
0:49 spk_1
man, it’s an honor, man. My, my fellow Midwesterner, much love and respect to that,
0:53 spk_0
yeah. Yeah, Cleveland, Chicago. A
0:56 spk_1
lot of love for the Midwest,
0:58 spk_0
yeah.
0:59 spk_1
So we got the CEO of Threeblack. Reggie Cash. So now, let’s walk the viewers through it, right? How can a guy like me, Ross Mack, figure out how to make money in the gaming world, right? I teach finance literacy. If I came to Threeblack dot, effectively you guys are an agency for me. How could I monetize my brand leveraging gaming?
1:20 spk_0
You know, a guy like Ross, like you, uh, you know, connect with people, great energy, magnetic. You have a, you’ve been putting videos on, on YouTube. We start with YouTube because it’s, it’s the closest, it is, it is the biggest platform out there. Uh, it garners more uh watch hours than any other platform, including, you know, Netflix and all, all the behemoths. So you start with YouTube.YouTube has a uh a very transparent rev share opportunity where they will pay you 55% of all the money that they earn from placing ads on your channel. So you, you’ve put the content out there, uh, you’ve optimized the content, people love it, they start to watch, you get subscribers, and now every video, every video you put out is, is, is getting a couple 100,000 views.It’s great. You’ve done all the, you’ve done all the right things in terms of, you have an IP, you have a repeatable format, you’ve locked down some rights, um.And, and, and now you’re ready to, now you’re ready to scale.So you have, uh, you’ve created one income source, which is your AdSense, which is the money that YouTube is paying you. Uh, and YouTube will, uh, you know, they’ll deposit a check every single month, uh, for, for your, uh, advertising revenue.Now you’re ready for sponsorship revenue because you’ve developed your show in such a way where you understand your audience and you know uh the types of products that you could, uh, that you could, you know, kind of insert from, uh, from a sponsorship standpoint. You know that everyone, you know, they, they’ve come to you for your gaming commentary, but every time you’re on, you’re on screen, you’re eating your, you know, your favorite snack and you come to a company like Three Black Dot.And you say, hey, you know, my audience loves the fact that I’m eating, you know, this brand, not giving anybody any free plugs. Uh, can you go out and can you go out and secure a sponsorship deal for me, uh, to, to actually talk about this brand and my content. Uh, relat off script.We have relationships with deep relationships with the top 100, 150 advertisers in the US. Uh, that is just a phone call away for us to say, hey, so and so, we have this creator, we have this audience. Uh, can we enter into some sort of sponsorship deal? So now we’ve added, we have AdSense, we have sponsorship revenue.My, my channel keeps growing. People love this content. Can I add a secondary window? Yes, it’s it’s 3 black dot. We can take you into CTVAS, uh, other, other environments through licensing agreements. So now you’re on, you’re on YouTube.Uh, we want to get you plugged into Pluto. We want to get you plugged into Tubbi. We want to distribute your content into 55 million homes where, uh, where, where all script is distributed. Um, yes, we can do that. We can help scale you to those multiple services. So now, that’s your, that’s your third income.Uh, revenue opportunity from the same piece of content.And then, and then fourthly, you may say, hey, my fans really, really love me. Where’s an opportunity that I can go out and interact with this community that I built in real life? Is there a way for us to set up a tour? Is there a way for me to, uh, go and show up and have a segment at a festival that, that, uh, off script is sponsoring and we say, yes, that’s another surface that we can scale you into. And now you’re, you’re, you’re, uh, interacting with your fans and you, you set up.Yet another, a 4th revenue stream.
5:20 spk_1
Wow. Well, one, that’s fascinating, right? And clearly you guys have figured out how to do it, right? If I’m not mistaken, your company Frebla Dot gets over a billion views a month, right, throughout your entire ecosystem, right? So now to the creators that’s watching it, what’s some secrets that other people don’t know about when it comes to keeping that watch time.Right, my understanding when it comes to YouTube, they’re looking at it on watch hours. How are we keeping people sticky, how we keeping uh viewers stuck on your channel? Like what are some of the things, what are the things that need to be done in the 1st 30 seconds, minutes, etc. right when we’re talking about building out that brand.
5:59 spk_0
So this is, this is a service that we work with our creators a lot on because peopleIt sometimes from the outside in, it feels like it happens like magic, and there’s a lot of tactics to keeping, uh, keeping content sticky. So in the, uh, you know, the first thing before you even get into the content, it starts with SEO and it starts with thumbnails.Um, and so, uh, the SEO aspect of it of it is that you need to, uh, you need to be creating videos and titling videos that are swimming with the current of what people are searching for on platform. Um, and so there’s a whole art to titling videos to make sure that they’re easily searchable on platform.And that you’re showing up uh in, in the, uh, in the top searches. Um, and so there’s a lot of different techniques and ways to do that, but I’ll leave it there and just say like you need to be mindful of it. uh, and you know, there’s resources and tools that we have that can, you know, kind of.Go in and tell you, you know, these, this is what’s trending on platform. These are the games that are trending, this is the content that’s trending. These are the themes that are trending. Uh, and if you make videos with any of those things, you’re giving yourself a tailwind for that video to be successful. The second thing is thumbnails. So what you put next to the video in the thumbnail makes a difference.Uh, there’s lots of ways that you can AB test, uh, videos to see how the same content performs differently depending on the thumbnail that’s attached to it. So understanding the science of that art, uh, of the, of the key art, um, that sit next to your video is super important. Um, that’s another thing that’s easily overlooked, um, but all of the, all of the channels and the businesses that we work with, uh, the creators that we work with that, um, that have reached that scale.Um, they understand that.And now, you know, jumping into jumping into the content, it really is just an understanding that, you know, you have, uh, you know, you have 30 seconds, 60 seconds to lay out the entire arc of of that piece of content.So if you, if you have some key moment or you have something suspenseful or you have something that you’re building the audience up to, let them know very early on, uh, what to expect so they can stick with you on that journey as you take them to that point.
8:30 spk_1
I love it, man. Look guys, we got to take a quick break, but when we come back, we’re gonna have more with Reggie Cash.All right guys, welcome back to Financial Freestyle here on Yahoo Finance. And we’re talking about the gaming industry, right? A over $350 billion industry. But let’s let’s break it down. Let’s go ahead and get right into this. What is relat?
9:00 spk_0
Threeblack dot is a creator ledUh, company where we’re really focused on uh partnering with creators to help them turn, uh, their intention, uh, that they have and the connection that they have with community, audience, uh, to scalable businesses and sustainable businesses. Um, we are, uh, I would say in, in, in my job, my role or we’re, we’re the systems, we’re the infrastructure.So you’re a creator, you have audience, you have voice, you’re inventive, uh, how do you now take that and transform it into uh a business? How do you, how do you transform, you know, kind of income into, into, into wealth? Uh, we’re a company that provides capital, distribution, partnership, sales, uh, and, and really just kind of on roads, uh, into the, the creator economy so that uh people with those ideas and with the camera and a mic and, and personally.can really transform those into scalable, durable businesses.
10:03 spk_1
I lovethat, man. Let’s break that down because when you look at traditional media, it’s not what it once was, to your point, Gen Z, AlphaGen.Everybody’s on their cell phones. And so back in the day, if a person said they’re a creator, it’s like, what is that? But now, traditional media is now shifting to creator led. And so like, can we actually talk about, you know, the overall revolution of traditional media to the new way that people actually consume content?
10:34 spk_0
Yeah, absolutely. And like that that convergence is happening in real time. We see it every day and andYou know, fortunately, if you’re just seeing this and you, you are a creator or you have ambition to be a creator, uh, it’s still, it’s still early days. And so the, the journey of, of Three black dot really tracks, um, I think the journey of the, the, the, the creator economy. Um, and so when we first started, and this was back in 2014, 2015, uh, and creators were just now kind of getting on platforms and learning how to like monetize content.Uh, we came in and our, and our offering was, you know, we want to, we wanted to bring transparency to like some of those contracts and so a lot of the contracts that creators were in, uh, were very onerous. Uh, companies were stepping in and taking large percentages of, of money, uh, from platforms that they didn’t really have any value at. They weren’t really doing anything to enhance the, the, the creative business. Uh, and so we came in with a very kind of transparent contract in the very beginning that said, hey, what you earn, you keep.And our role is to sort of add value, and when we add value, we sort of we we’re able to participate in that.And then from there, uh, we migrated into, into a creator studio and this is like to your question, like this is where it starts to get interesting, um, where it’s, it’s, you know, operating as a studio, it’s like, how can we bring ideas, development, uh, capital, uh, to creators to actually create IP.Um, and when you get from creating like entertaining videos to actually, uh, developing formats and developing IP, um, that’s where you can, uh, really sort of, that’s where the intersection really starts to converge with traditional media, because now you have that same audience and that the same attention.Um, but you have a format where, um, where, where brands and sponsorships can find, you know, attachment points. You have the sort of consistency that they need. You have sort of the measurable outcomes that they need, um, and you have the ability to sort of take that and scale it across everywhere where audiences. And so now something that was maybe just on the phone can show up in the living room.It can show up, uh, at, at an event. It can show up at live and like that’s really the power of IP and that’s and and I and I really think the step from, you know, just entertaining uh video to formats, serial serialized formats in IP is really where we’re seeing the conversions of the creator economy and traditional and traditional media.
13:14 spk_1
So kind of looking at your overall creator ecosystem, what genres would you say the the majority of the creators are in that you work with?
13:26 spk_0
Yeah. So 33 black data is heavy in in gaming. Uh, we’ve always been interested in how do we how do we play at the edge of where where culture is really being created.Uh, and for, and for Gen Z, Gen Alpha, like that is really gain, it’s, it’s ubiquitous. And so our lane is a little bit, it’s a little bit different in that we play in, in sort of gaming culture.Uh, so we’re really interested in how does, uh, you know, this passion point of gaming, how does it influence and intersect with other passion points? How does gaming show up in, in the way that someone watches sports and loves sports? How does gaming show up in, in the way that someone, you know, enjoys music or fashion, uh, and that’s what we, what we really focus on is kind of gaming from a, from a cultural kind of entertainment standpoint. You know, it’s very similar to the path that, uh, that, that hip hop took, right?You know, if you’re, if you’re in the, you know, early on, you know, say early, you know, in the, in the 90s, it was very identifiable. It was kind of insider, you know, people, if you knew, you knew, uh, you know, you started, you, you know, you may have wore a t-shirt or you may dress a certain way or you may, you know, started toYou pick up the lingo, um, but it wasn’t really like mainstream. And then as hip hop evolved, it’s it it it it started to influence everything. So it went from being just about the music to being about fashion to being about umTo being about, you know, just, just lifestyle, entertainment, film, everything, um, and that’s the same trajectory that gaming is on. Gaming started as, you know, very insiderry, this is something you do just for, you know, kind of just for fun. It was kind of nerdish a little bit and now it’s like informs, and now it informs everything and it’s just a part of culture. And so if you.Uh, you know, if you don’t know the language of gaming or you don’t know the role that gaming is playing for like Gen Z or Gen Alpha, you know, to me it’s, it’s similar to, you know, not understanding the impact that, that, that hip hop has on on culture why.
15:34 spk_1
Right, I, I think, you know, to the outside looking in, right, if you’re ever in doubt, sometimes you just follow the money, right? And just last month we saw the largest LBO leveraged buyout by Saudi Arabia buying, you know, EA for over $55 billion right? And so,As you know, maybe some people that are, you know, trying to figure out other streams of income, like, where’s the money flowing when it comes to gaming? Like how do gamers actually monetize their audience and their IP and their brand?
16:08 spk_0
You know, first and foremost, for gaming and for a gaming creator, it is about, it always starts with IP. So it always starts with what is your take?And how do you, you know, how do you create a format? How do you serialize it? How do you make it consistent, uh, so that everyone knows what it is, so that you can, first and foremost, you can, you can own the rights to it. You can really lock down, you can, you can have copyrights, you can say that this is yours and it’s identifiable.Um, and it, it, it sort of, it always starts there. And so gaming, you know, to us is just a, it’s just a backdrop. Um, and so it allows you to go anywhere. Like when you get together and you’re just in, in, in your gaming, you know, with your friends or your crew, like that conversation isn’t just about like what’s happening in the game. And so that conversation, that’s just the meeting point that allows you to talk about what’s going on in your life and the focus is on the game.And so you can take that and say, well, if I’m doing that, then there’s probably a lot of people that are using this connection point to talk about other things that’s going on in life. So you can start with gaming and the passion point and the interest of gaming, adopt the language of gaming, and then from there, tailor it.To, to, to finding a niche within that, that, that, you know, suits you and suits what you, you know, kind of what, what you bring to the table that’s unique. So not just about playing the game, but you know, how does, how does playing the game give you the opportunity to, to talk about music, uh, and then maybe that becomes your lane. It starts with, um, discovering that, that sort of format that works for you.So that you can really kind of lock down, lock down the rights because really, you know, in this, in this new ecosystem where uh you have the ability to go everywhere and anywhere, uh, in terms of uh where that IP can scale, uh, owning those rights are paramount. Owing equity and those rights is paramount, and that’s how you take something thatUh, you know, that may just be a source of income. You start a YouTube channel, you’re putting your video out there, you’re getting income directly from the platform.But now you have IP and you can talk to a company like Three Black Dot and off script and say, OK, I have this IP, I have some traction. How do I diversify my surfaces? How can I take this IP into uh FAST and CTV? How can I take this IP into live event?How do I take my YouTube and my YouTube show and take it into, uh, and take it into shorts and reels and create short form versions of it. And those are the things that we, that we really help you do is just, um, diversifying across all of those surfaces, uh, as an infrastructure company. And then thirdly, I would say that the, you know, then, you know, from there you have the IP.Now you’re everywhere the audience is and you’ve actually, you know, you’ve had the opportunity to, what I, what I like to say is just like increase the yield on that, on that same, you know, asset. You took the same video, you’ve put it into all of these different platforms that have different monetization streams, so you increase, you sort of stack revenue that way. Uh, and then the last thing is just, you know, just, um, you know, kind of know the market, so I understand what you’re selling. If the, if the main.Uh, currency is, uh, CPMs, which is, you know, how everyone, how, how an advertiser, how a sponsor, you know, views and values your content. Understand that language, understand the CPM, understand your baselines, uh, and you know, don’t, don’t, you know, price yourself out of the market, don’t underprice yourself, but understand how to, how to, uh, you know, kind of transact in that currency, uh, so that you can actually build a business.Um, and that’s, you know, that that works for gaming, that works for, you know, any other genre. It just so happens that that gaming from a time, attention, awareness standpoint is a $350 billion industry year in, year out. It’s the number one genre, or #2 genre on YouTube in terms of what people come to the platform to to view and watch. Um, and so riding that tailwind of gaming, if that’s a passion point of yours, is a great place to start.
20:26 spk_1
So great, great point, right? So now my question when we talk about that algorithm.And I understand this is uh this is moving. This is all constantly evolving, but is there ever a point where you’re seeing like, oh, actually guys, let’s push towards going live as opposed to trying to make a video, um, like what, what would you say that breakdown is for creators?
20:50 spk_0
I think live becomes more important because this culture, especially the especially the gaming culture, is so rich and live and vibrant.And I think live kind of captures the energy of the gaming culture, uh, in its raw essence, uh, more so than you can in in VOD. And I think when, when people now are coming to YouTube and actually looking for connection, looking for connection through, through the phone, uh, the live experience, uh, emulates and simulates.Uh, connection with community better than any VOD can. Um, and I think the consumer preference is going to increasingly shift in that direction. So I would expect to see more live programming, uh, from, from creators kind of being the next sort of hallmark of where, you know, kind of great audience and, and great traction is really being the.
21:41 spk_1
I love it, brother. I want to thank you for coming on the show, ladies and gentlemen, Reggie Cash, CEO of Three Black Dot. And that’s it for this episode. Make sure you guys like, subscribe, tell your auntie and your cousins, your uncles, your next door neighbor to make sure they watch this episode. And as always, you can go on Amazon and say, hey Alexa, let me go here, listen to the next episode of Financial Freestyle till next week.
22:07 spk_2
This content was not intended to be financial advice and should not be used as a substitute for professional financial services.