One of entrepreneur Marcus Pittman's biggest inspirations these days is Trump.
To be exact, it's Barron Trump.
“What if we combined fundraising and distribution on the same platform and targeted younger audiences?”
In his streaming startup, Loor.TVPittman is betting on an audience that conservative media typically ignores: young men. And as Pittman watched Barron help President Trump retake the White House, he became even more confident that his intuition was right.
bet on baron
“If you look back at MTV, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, basically all the major cable TV brands, they all [catered] for a young male audience,” Pittman told Aline. Conservatives seem to dismiss this audience as a lost cause.
“We conservatives… [said]“They don’t provide us with services and we don’t have money,” Pittman says. “But they're actually very enthusiastic. And I think Baron knew that.”
Bloomberg/Getty Images
That's why the 18-year-old heir persuaded his 78-year-old father to appear on a podcast in the final months of the election, where he sat down for long hours with Gen Z favorites like Joe Rogan, Theo Fung, and Theo Fung. , but he sat them down as if they were having a casual conversation. Logan Paul.
If you're over a certain age, Logan is probably the only one on that list you'll recognize. Even though they all have huge cultural and commercial influence. Take 23-year-old online streamer Adin Ross, for example. Live interview with President Trump In August.
“He signed a deal rumored to be $100 million to stream on Kick,” Pittman said. “These are Joe Rogan numbers, and most people have never heard of them.” [him]”
Mr. Ross arrived at the interview with what turned out to be a gift to the candidate. The customized Tesla Cybertruck featured the now-iconic image of Trump defiantly raising his fist immediately after the assassination attempt.
In Pittman's eyes, the stream's success was a “phenomenal moment” for the young male demographic and a proof of concept of sorts for Lore.
“I don't think it's that they don't vote. I don't think they've ever provided content tailored to them,” he says. “I explained it like this: We've built all these stores, but Depen's is the only one they sell. I wonder why young people aren't buying them.”
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Pittman, who had managed to break into the conservative media world as an outsider, came to an honest conclusion.
Almost exactly 12 years ago, the then-unknown actor photographed an anti-abortion protester outside a family planning clinic holding a sign that read “Babies are killed here.” The clip inspired Pittman's 2014 documentary of the same name.
The response from the pro-life movement was surprisingly muted, Pittman recalls. “The gatekeepers hated it,” he recently posted on LinkedIn. “no [prominent evangelicals] I was going to share and promote the movie…but the freedom of the internet has derailed that. ”
Pittman didn't realize it, but apparently calling abortion “murder” was beyond common sense. “Abby Johnson even threatened to report me to the FBI.”
Still, “Babies Will Be Killed Here” found an audience and helped reshape the abortion debate. Pittman says, “The fundamental freedom of the internet, for all its dangers and filth, ultimately brings cultural narratives closer to the truth.”
Early Loor.TV Marketing (Courtesy of Loor.TV)
There is no country for young people
The success of “Babies Are Murdered Here” led to the opportunity to co-found Apologia Studios, an evangelical podcast network based in Arizona. After five successful years as studio director at Apologia, Pittman accepted a position as head of video advertising at Scottsdale-based Social Ally.
One of the agency's clients was Christian streaming service Pure Flix (now known as Great American Pure Flix). By immersing herself in the Christian film industry, Pittman realized how much younger audiences were being ignored in favor of primarily older women.
“So I quit and made another movie,” Pittman says.
That movie is 2019's “Babies Are Still Murdered Here.” Pittman made the sequel available on Amazon Prime, but it was abruptly canceled after seven months despite overwhelmingly positive reviews.
The experience was eye-opening, Pittman says. “[I thought] There's a real problem here because there's a lack of funding and support for distributing content outside of a very narrow box. ”
To remedy that, Pittman founded Loor in late 2020. The proposal was simple. “What if we combined funding and distribution on the same platform to target younger audiences?”
make the loot
Like many streaming sites, Loor offers subscribers access to content for a monthly fee. Where Loor departs from the usual model is that every show or movie on the site is in some stage of financing.
The subscribers themselves provide this funding. Each month, they receive a certain amount of Loor currency, called loot, for free, which they can use to support their favorite projects. If you want to provide even more support to your project, you can purchase additional loot from the site.
For a younger audience accustomed to such microtransactions in the world of video games, this kind of participation is a huge perk.
“I heard reports that some of the children were very excited. [Loor animated children’s show] “Bearly Biblical” is when he asked his father to mow the lawn to raise money for the next episode of the comic. And they did,” Pittman said.
defeat goliath
“Barely Bible”/Loor.TV
Created by longtime animator Tim Engle, “Bearly Biblical” uses cartoon teddy bears to recreate some of the Old Testament's most violent stories. Pittman called the work educational and a return to “comic comics from the days when Elmer Fudd carried shotguns and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles used real weapons to fight their enemies.” I also think it's interesting.
Other shows on the site include the ambitious post-apocalyptic sci-fi epic “Esotera.” “Gothix” is a documentary about the popular streamer's departure from liberal orthodoxy and subsequent cancellation. and “Felt Board Sunday School,” a “South Park”-style animated show that parodies “church lady” culture.
The first episode of “Bearly Biblical” depicts a brave young Israelite shepherd named David literally knocking the stuffing out of the Philistine giant Goliath. That classic story resonates very well with Roa's mission.
“You don't need the most powerful weapon,” Pittman says. “All you need is to be able to take more shots. And David only needed one, but he brought five stones.”
Pittman continued: [take a chance with] Better to spend $10,000 than $30 million on one thing that's supposed to work. ”
By giving creators a platform to seize such opportunities, Pittman hopes to create an incubator for much-needed new talent.
To innovate, incubate
“When we first started, people said we were going to need $100 million just to get this off the ground,” Pittman says, adding that competing with giants like Netflix and Disney mentioned that there are widespread beliefs about what is needed.
Clockwise from left: Pittman and Loor.TV A&R Director Jason Farley. Pittman lectures on how to reach a Gen Z audience. Loor.TV Ad (All images courtesy of Loor.TV)
“I like to draw the comparison of everyone trying to buy major league sports teams, but no one building universities.” [pipeline] The talent isn’t there yet,” Pittman says. “That's why we use the same thing.” [canceled, conservative] An actor in everything. Because there's no way to say, “Have you seen that movie that kid made for $10,000?” And grow that child by giving him a little more money for each project he does. ”
People in the mainstream media are also starting to take notice. After hearing Pittman talk about Lore on a podcast, veteran industry executive and Fuel TV co-creator Shon Tomlin reached out. “It's been 25 years since I heard someone's voice. [who made me say]”This guy understands entertainment, pop culture, comedy, animation, technology, gaming, monetization, streaming,” he later recalled. Tomlin joined the company in September.
As Loor grows, catering to a young male audience remains central to its plans. When I mention that my 11-year-old son seems to prefer watching short YouTube shorts to television, Pittman says this doesn't mean young viewers lack the attention span for long-form entertainment. refutes.
“That's not true. Podcast [can be] They get millions of views despite being a few hours long,” he says, noting that the algorithms that guide tech companies like YouTube and TikTok tend to encourage short-form content. I added.
No one is trying to create long-form content for this generation. But, “If you look at 'Deadpool vs. Wolverine' or 'Top Gun,' they're all aimed at a young male audience. They're all hits. And that's what wins theaters: young male content. .”
Pittman, who has been taunted as crazy for years for going against conventional wisdom, is looking to Lore to lead the way. “If you think long-form podcasts are great, wait until we announce it. [win] Narrative art and storytelling. We've owned the podcast/talk radio side for a while. But if conservatives had both, we would be unstoppable. ”
