Latest / Best of Business / Alan Morrison and Adam King: Viva la Dirt League founders and owners on the success of their online media business

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Alan Morrison and Adam King: Viva la Dirt League founders and owners on the success of their online media business · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk zed B.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: So let's talk and learn about Vivledert League. Essentially, they
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: make games and comedy sketches. It looks to be a
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  Speaker 2: multi million dollar enterprise. They started small, crowd funded their
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  Speaker 2: way to success. These days, they have their own studio.
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  Speaker 2: They've been viewed over five billion times. Ellen Morrison and
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  Speaker 2: Adam King are a couple of the founders of this
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  Speaker 2: particular enterprise and both the with us. Good morning to you,
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, And I should background this forum for listeners
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  Speaker 2: that we're old mates.
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  Speaker 3: We go way back.
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  Speaker 4: He used to work in this building.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: I used to work in this building. And Mike and
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  Speaker 3: I we are.
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  Speaker 4: We have a history, Yeah we do.
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  Speaker 2: I had to ask you what that history was.
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  Speaker 3: Reminded you and all came flooding back.
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  Speaker 2: And both of you, both of you have worked on
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  Speaker 2: Mike Smithett.
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  Speaker 4: Have worked on Make the Minute. We worked together up
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  Speaker 4: at Tivans. What did we do at TV and Z
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: They worked up in the in the commercials department and
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  Speaker 4: you did the old thing for us?
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  Speaker 2: Did I was a pretentious pratt in those days?
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  Speaker 4: Or was as one day almost run me down in
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  Speaker 4: the car park.
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  Speaker 2: Oh here, So all we've done is really wow? So
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  Speaker 2: what what was I in? Yeah? What was what car?
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  Speaker 1: Was? God?
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  Speaker 4: I don't remember. I still got the bruiser of the logos.
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  Speaker 2: Well, well let me will, let me apologize, let me
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  Speaker 2: apologize for that. But you did work on Mike Smith.
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  Speaker 3: I did work. Yeah, it was me and you was
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: the tally prompt that never works properly.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: It still doesn't.
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  Speaker 3: It still doesn't. It still still still doesn't.
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  Speaker 2: It still doesn't. So what the great story about you? Too?
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  Speaker 2: There is life after dealing with people like.
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  Speaker 3: You can thrive anyone tell you different.
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  Speaker 2: You can get out into the world and do your
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  Speaker 2: own thing. Okay, So the first silly question what what?
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  Speaker 1: Why?
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  Speaker 2: Vivil a dirt? Who drummed that?
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  Speaker 4: Up? O? God? I wish we had a different name.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we didn't expect to succeed.
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  Speaker 4: It's a little gaming in joke is that there in
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  Speaker 4: a lot of video games, you start with Bronze League.
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  Speaker 4: If you're the worst, you go up to kind of silver,
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  Speaker 4: then to gold, then to masters. Some have higher than that.
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  Speaker 4: And the jokers were so bad at video games. We're
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  Speaker 4: not Bronze League were dirt leg and.
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  Speaker 3: It was simply taken on YouTube, and then we had
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  Speaker 3: to add something in front of it, so Viva La
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  Speaker 3: and then the name was born.
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  Speaker 2: And the rest of the say is history. So twenty
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  Speaker 2: eleven was the start, Yeah, exactly. So that's a long
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  Speaker 2: time ago. So you've got some So when did it
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  Speaker 2: actually start working?
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  Speaker 4: Fifteen?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, sixteen, So.
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  Speaker 2: In those years eleven through fifteen, you're you're doing what
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  Speaker 2: you think Mike's minute for.
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  Speaker 3: A big part of it. Yeah, it was genuinely a
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  Speaker 3: part time job. After hours after I worked here, it
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  Speaker 3: ended me. We'd go to off, I'd try and wrangle
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  Speaker 3: whatever energy left and go film something out and we're
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  Speaker 3: literally park somewhere.
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  Speaker 4: We would literally film on either after work or on
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  Speaker 4: the weekends or just whatever time we possibly could get
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  Speaker 4: and then edit to working on the weekend and you
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  Speaker 4: were filming what though.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we did we we we did a bunch of stuff.
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  Speaker 3: We started with parody music videos, which is something we
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  Speaker 3: we don't don't do anymore, it's not profitable. And then
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  Speaker 3: but we pivoted to getting into short form.
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  Speaker 4: I used to do it.
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  Speaker 2: I was creating an artistic until it wasn't profitable, and.
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  Speaker 3: It wasn't probably it never was, But we pivoted pretty
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  Speaker 3: hard into comedy sketches quite early on, like two or
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  Speaker 3: three years into it. We we literally found there was
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  Speaker 3: a techtalk called Playtech that allowed us to film there
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  Speaker 3: after hours while the manager was still there tinkering the back,
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  Speaker 3: and we just filmed in the in the store and
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  Speaker 3: and got like one sketch out every couple of weeks
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  Speaker 3: something like that.
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  Speaker 2: And so what was that what triggered the success? What
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  Speaker 2: actually happened? Was it a sketch? Was it a big.
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  Speaker 4: Rise slow burn across our entire lifespan? Actually, but there
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  Speaker 4: were the odd sketch here and there. We've had a
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  Speaker 4: few what you'd call viral successes. There was one called
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  Speaker 4: girl Gamer, which is Ali who also used to work
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  Speaker 4: here in the building, right, Alie Howard, and she it's
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  Speaker 4: a little stupid sketch about her playing VR and swearing
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  Speaker 4: like an absolute, absolute safe.
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  Speaker 3: You know what it was when we committed to doing
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  Speaker 3: We're really committed to a schedule, were briefly discussing the
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  Speaker 3: algorithm on YouTube before. When we committed to doing three
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  Speaker 3: videos a week, the algorithm was like, okay, these guys
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  Speaker 3: are reliable and started to present.
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  Speaker 2: Something, algorithm will pick that up.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, the algorithm loves consistency.
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  Speaker 2: Because, once again, to explain to to listeners off here,
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  Speaker 2: I was because I'm amazed by the world of tech,
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  Speaker 2: like I'm a louteyede, but but I'm keen to learn
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  Speaker 2: on how it works. So I don't quite get how
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  Speaker 2: it works. I'm not convinced it's a great thing.
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  Speaker 3: Still, I agree, and we we we are constantly battling
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  Speaker 3: with it, and we were We have contacts now at
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  Speaker 3: like Facebook and YouTube that we sink up with from
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  Speaker 3: time to time and we're like, what do you want
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  Speaker 3: and they go, we don't know, Like it's just genuinely
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  Speaker 3: they give us ideas, but it's just a tray, this
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  Speaker 3: tray that rather than this is what we're after.
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  Speaker 4: The algorithms absolutely mystifying, like there's no way to no
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  Speaker 4: way for anyone to try and crack that.
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  Speaker 2: That's and I don't want to bore you with a
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  Speaker 2: Mike's Minute story, but the Mike's Minute thing is you
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  Speaker 2: don't know what hits Like some days, stuff that I
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  Speaker 2: wouldn't think in a million years exactly goes off.
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  Speaker 3: So I stopped imagined like pretending to know what's right?
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  Speaker 2: Dude, where's the money in this? Because you guys did
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  Speaker 2: to fast forward from twenty eleven are wildly successful.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you. Oh my god, that feels nice.
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  Speaker 2: See I'm interested in business as models. Yeah, and so
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  Speaker 2: you are as successful business. You have made it work.
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  Speaker 4: Broadly speaking, it kind of goes into two camps. It's
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  Speaker 4: either fan funding or advertising. So we get the money
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  Speaker 4: from the ads that play in front of the YouTube
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  Speaker 4: videos and Facebook videos and a little bit from Instagram
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  Speaker 4: and TikTok. And then the other side of it is
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  Speaker 4: people who directly donate to us, whether that's through merchandise
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  Speaker 4: or through fun as we do or our website Viva plus.
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  Speaker 3: Right, and you get the occasional sponsor job as well
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  Speaker 3: that comes up to make a sketch exclusively about a
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  Speaker 3: particular video game.
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  Speaker 2: Because what you guys are a listen And once again
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  Speaker 2: I was explaining this off you, not to insult you,
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  Speaker 2: is that I had literally never heard of you. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: so you were wildly successful with millions of people and
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  Speaker 2: billions of streams, and you can exist in a will
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  Speaker 2: where I wouldn't have a clue who you are.
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  Speaker 3: Which I don't mind, Like, I really like living here
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  Speaker 3: and nobody really knowing who we are, and and then
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  Speaker 3: go overseas briefly and be like and feel especially if
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  Speaker 3: we've got to a convention or something like that, and
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  Speaker 3: feel super famous for a few days and then come
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  Speaker 3: back to his only be oh thank god, that's.
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  Speaker 2: Is that a mind if, as they say, wouldn't.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a really unnatural environment that that's difficult to
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  Speaker 3: wrap your head around. When you're there. You've got like
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  Speaker 3: a sid conventions, just people queuing for hours to meet you.
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  Speaker 4: We had We went to Games Common Germany last year
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  Speaker 4: and literally had to have a security team just to
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  Speaker 4: be able to walk through the convention, literally pushing people
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  Speaker 4: out all the way.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes they didn't have to. I think they just enjoyed it.
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  Speaker 2: So the two strands of revenue, you've got one the
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  Speaker 2: people click on and go I want to be a member,
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  Speaker 2: I want to be whatever you want to call it.
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  Speaker 2: Plus your ads. Quick question on the ads. This is
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  Speaker 2: very much like the musicians we talk to. How do
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  Speaker 2: you know that what you get is real? How many streams,
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  Speaker 2: how many times, how many clicks? I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: it's checks in the letterbox.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't that.
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  Speaker 4: You ask a very good question, and now I want
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  Speaker 4: to know, But yeah, we kind of just have to
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  Speaker 4: take YouTube and Facebook at their word that they're paying us.
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  Speaker 2: That's a random thing, isn't it. Absolutely See, I know
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  Speaker 2: what I'm going to get paid because the guy's upstairs. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and with exactly, And you're in a world where it
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  Speaker 2: might be right, it might not be.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah very much, sar. And we wouldn't even know who
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  Speaker 3: necessarily to have you.
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  Speaker 2: And I don't want to be too personal about this.
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  Speaker 2: Have you been amazed at how much money you've been
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  Speaker 2: able to make when that when that goes off, when it.
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  Speaker 4: Goes off, it's one of those as of the algorithm. Again,
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  Speaker 4: I don't want to always constantly bring it back to that,
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  Speaker 4: but you go through ups and downs, and when it's
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  Speaker 4: up it feels really yeah going off, but then when
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  Speaker 4: it's down, you're.
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  Speaker 3: Going, yeah, wait, what's happening right now? There was a
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  Speaker 3: moment years ago now that Facebook just decided to stop
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  Speaker 3: stop giving us money for a period of time or
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  Speaker 3: just like what happened, And it turned out I was
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  Speaker 3: as bizarre that the Facebook thought that we were trying
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  Speaker 3: to sell firearms on Facebook because one of our videos,
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  Speaker 3: which is pubgo logic, which is a video involves firearms,
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  Speaker 3: but they somehow connect to the dots that this companies
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  Speaker 3: trying to sell firearms, and we just eighty percent of
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  Speaker 3: revenue just stopped. And this was a long time ago
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  Speaker 3: when we were much more dependent on Facebook. But it
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  Speaker 3: was like this, a very scary wake up called, like, okay,
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  Speaker 3: we cannot be entirely dependent on YouTube and facebooking.
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  Speaker 2: Have you as the algorithm slash income has grown, have
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  Speaker 2: you found yourself to be less creative then you might
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  Speaker 2: have been once you've worked out what pays the bills?
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  Speaker 3: That's a really good question.
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  Speaker 4: I would say only ninety only a drop of five
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  Speaker 4: percent is now And again we go, oh, we shouldn't
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  Speaker 4: put a gun on a thumbnail, or we we things
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  Speaker 4: are small things like that.
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  Speaker 3: I guess we also feel more obligated to keep giving
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  Speaker 3: the fans more what they want, if that makes sense.
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  Speaker 3: But like so sometimes yeah, it feels like, well, oh god,
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  Speaker 3: we've got we got to keep cranking this out. But
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  Speaker 3: we still make content that we want to make and
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  Speaker 3: have some big plans later down the line. But yeah,
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  Speaker 3: very much beholden too, and.
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  Speaker 4: Also I think part of our success and success of
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  Speaker 4: people online is people don't necessarily want you just to
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  Speaker 4: make the exact same thing over and over. They want
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  Speaker 4: to see your creativity. Often the videos that do best
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  Speaker 4: are the ones that we've thrown our heart and soul into.
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  Speaker 4: It might be a little bit different.
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  Speaker 2: The other side of the revenue stream is the I'm
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  Speaker 2: giving you money to be part of the club, part
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  Speaker 2: of the gang. How many is how many people have
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  Speaker 2: done that?
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  Speaker 4: Roughly around across all the all the things we've done
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  Speaker 4: tens of thousands into the early hundreds of thousands for people.
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  Speaker 2: From all over the world, from all of the world. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and what is that a vibe they're buying into? They're
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  Speaker 2: buying into.
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  Speaker 4: It depends what they're buying into. So we used to
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  Speaker 4: have Patreon, which is just as per the word, just
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  Speaker 4: a bit of an art patron. They're just giving you
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  Speaker 4: money just to just to be nice about it. We
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  Speaker 4: now have our own website, Viva Plus, which is similar,
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  Speaker 4: but they get extra content. We actually do paywalled videos
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  Speaker 4: for them.
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  Speaker 3: It's become a community for as a real community that
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: we we dive into and we'll chat with with them,
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: and we we stream from time to time and talk
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  Speaker 3: to them, and at conventions we get to meet a
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  Speaker 3: whole bunch of them, and yeah, they there, And I
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  Speaker 3: think that the people that want to see us continue
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: to grow and expand and also get more out of
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  Speaker 3: the different worlds that we've kind of created. The big,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: biggest world is epicn be c Man, which is like
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  Speaker 3: this fantasy, medieval kind of world that has more context
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  Speaker 3: and viva.
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  Speaker 2: Plus. Try not to be humble about this, but clearly
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  Speaker 2: you've done extremely well, and good on you for doing it.
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  Speaker 2: Do you have to be a genius to be really
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  Speaker 2: really successful or are you just.
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  Speaker 3: Moderately There's a combination of like creativity but also for me,
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  Speaker 3: at least desperation. There was a long time we shouldn't
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  Speaker 3: have succeeded for and any sane person would have stopped.
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  Speaker 3: But I really wanted it to work out.
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  Speaker 4: But I feel like there's a bit of you have
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  Speaker 4: to have a bit of creativity. You have to have
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  Speaker 4: a bit of luck as well, because just sure, getting
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  Speaker 4: stuff to go viral on the internet it's so freaking difficult.
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  Speaker 4: And then yeah, I think you also do need to
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  Speaker 4: gain the algorithm to a certain extent.
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  Speaker 3: But no, no, we're and we are smart people as well.
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  Speaker 3: We are smart people and when we get into the
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: writers whom we come with ideas that there's a lot
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  Speaker 3: of gold that comes out. I'm constant blown away, not
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: just by us, obviously we've got a writing team now
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: that we said.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, see how many you employed there a full time I.
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  Speaker 4: Think it's about fifteen on a quiet day, properly full time,
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: and then when we get into a shooting block it
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: can be a busy day, could be forty fifty sixty people.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you're the real deal. It's fantastic. No, I'm
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: stoked that because I mean there's a million people who
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: try and die and it's good. So the big plan,
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  Speaker 2: big picture.
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  Speaker 4: Or keep turning into a mega multimillion dollar studio.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, TV show, Finture films are a big one. Where
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: we just released our first video game last year, which
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: is well, we want to do more video games. Two
• 12:23
  Speaker 3: passions coming into this making video game video content with
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: video games and intertionalmaking. And if you thought of a
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: movie of Mike's min I have I've got an idea picture.
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: After this mate hour and thirty minutes is bad.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: Listen, good, luck with it all. Good to see you
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: appreciate it very much, Ellen Morrison, Adam Kick
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: For more from News Talk said B listen live on
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