This week Michelle Phan went from YouTube star to full-blown media mogul with the launch of the Icon Network.
Phan is perhaps the one of the greatest indications of where media consumption is going. For those who aren't familiar, Phan started out posting makeup tutorials on YouTube. Her videos were simple, instructive, and employed voiceover and background music to create a more polished effect -- a slight upgrade from the explain-as-you-go format. Her videos have attracted millions of views, allowing her to start her own makeup line, blog, and video content network called FAWN.
She appeals to a coveted audience of millennials, making her the envy of many American media companies.
Last year she decided to take that content global in a partnership with Endemol Beyond, the digital division of Endemol Shine Group. The partnership with Endemol lets Phan bring in the big guns: cameras, crews, and high-end production, and the partners have now launched a new media network called Icon.
The result is a series of glossy magazine programs targeted at millennials available across a spectrum of channels including YouTube, Roku, Pluto TV, and Icon-branded mobile apps. In a press conference yesterday, Phan also revealed that Icon will develop exclusive content for social media channels like Facebook. Social media will play a huge role in building Icon's audience, according to Phan.
Icon will feature fashion, beauty, and other lifestyle-driven content from a variety of hosts around the world, handpicked by Phan.
The network is taking a somewhat localized approach to content by creating global franchises with their own sets of regionally optimized talent. Already, Phan has created shows for Icon U.K. and Icon U.S., but the launch of Icon Asia and a Western Europe franchise are on the way.
Yahoo has tried a similar approach with its own content, creating apps and magazines with a local flair. But the media outlet has gone too local in certain instances, forcing it to pull back and kill off websites that proved too niche. In contrast, Phan wants to make content with a broad appeal within a specific region, largely demarcated by language.
We sat down with Phan to see where she thinks media is going and why Icon is relevant now.
VentureBeat: Yesterday you rolled out your new media network Icon in the U.S. and the U.K., and I hear you're going to be launching in Western Europe and Asia later this year. How are you picking talent for these regions?
Michelle Phan: It's whatever content works in that region, so I'll give you a great example. In South Korea there's this one girl on, I think it's Naver and she eats food. I mean, she films videos where she's just eating food and she's talking and she gets millions of views. Would that do well here in the States? I don't know, I have no idea, but it does well there.
I think every single place around the world has a very specific marketplace depending on the culture. So when we're selecting talent, we have people who are within that culture that have that spark. You know, they have that voice, that personality that is relatable, because oftentimes when someone is online, they don't just want to watch talent, they want to watch their best friend, they want to watch someone who they can really relate to. So this is what we're looking for when we're looking for talent is that best friend, that big sister, that big bro, that potential boyfriend, or that potential girlfriend. Someone that can really establish a relationship with their viewers.
I see the value in numbers, but I also have seen people who valued numbers and they have just cascaded off. I'm a huge fan of finding people who have that engagement, that two-way dialogue with their followers, because that has longevity instead of someone who's just making viral video after viral video, because that becomes stale after a while. The Internet changes every three months. Trends come and go every week. So we have to make sure that whatever person or whoever we're signing on they have that longevity, because they have that relationship and that authenticity that you can't fake.
VB: Right now the content on Icon seems more geared towards a female audience. Are you considering shows that capture a male audience?
MP: We're already incubating ideas for male content, male lifestyle content to be exact, because a lot of guys now, for example my boyfriend, he goes on Instagram and looks at fashion look-books for guys and cool hairstyles for guys. And he's going on Instagram, he's not looking in magazines for that. He's going on Instagram and finding people that are just like him that he can relate to.
It's a new generation of people who are consuming content. They're wanting to find someone that's relatable to them and authentic to them, so that and that helps inspire and evoke a new fashion inspiration whether that's lifestyle, cooking, or mommy-blogging, whatever world it is within the lifestyle world, there are aspects that we can really shine a light on and it all stems from that person that has that special personality that you can't really fake.
VB: What role does social play for Icon?
MP: It's all strategy at the end of the day. If someone's on YouTube or watching YouTube videos, sometimes they're not even subscribed to YouTube, but they follow that one person on Instagram. So we want them to at least see a notification on Instagram that shows that a new video has been uploaded to YouTube. We're making sure that we're creating native content on all platforms to drive more traffic to wherever that video is living.
VB: You've chosen to keep your brand and your content entirely digital. Do you think that 2015 marks the end of cable television?
MP: I mean, it's evolving; it has to evolve. Look at radio. When radio first came out, no one thought that television would come out. When television first came out, no one ever thought that cable would come out. And now that we're living in the digital age, I'm already thinking 360 content, Oculus Rift and VR, and hopefully in the future conscious content where you can watch it in your head. So I'm already thinking that far ahead, but still we're here today. We're living in an age where it is digital. This is where it is, and I'm coming from a point of view where I'm a millennial, my sister is a millennial too; we know kids who are generation Z, they're not watching TV as much. It's a second screen to them -- and I'm not dogging on TV -- in any case, they'd just rather be online because it's accessible to them, it's on their mobile device. And I still watch TV shows, but not on TV. I have HBO Go, and so I'm watching Game of Thrones on Apple TV or HBO Go. So I'm still watching cable content, but through a digital stream, if that makes sense.
I think it's going to evolve and you need to evolve; that is what makes things exciting. If you keep doing the same things over and over again, the industry becomes boring, so it's time to embrace digital. And this is why I'm here.
VB: Will your network include different kinds of content, or is it entirely video focused?
MP: Stay video for now. Written content might make sense if we were to have a dedicated native app. That would make sense. But to have a dedicated blog? No. The reason being, my website is a blog, it's personal. A big brand couldn't have a blog, it'd be a website. If they had a blog, it doesn't feel like a blog because it's not authentic. No one really knows what the brand is, it's just a brand unless there's a personality behind the brand, then that's a different story. With Icon, because we're such a huge conglomerate of different talents, it wouldn't make sense to have a blog. But yes, to have an app, that is a thing that we are exploring.
VB: Will you create localized mobile apps or one main app?
MP: It depends. I don't see it as localized, because there's a reason why it's called the World Wide Web. It's because it's global. ... People want to explore what's happening on the other side of the world, they want to know that. So what we might have on the app is that you can go to Icon Asia or Icon U.K., but wherever you are on the map, you go to Icon U.S.
We're still developing that, but it is very exciting.