Yeah

... like, say, "Hey, I have an idea.

I wanna reach an audience.

I'm gonna build something." And so, like, just as much as you are creators, like, I think we think of, you know, what Tom has been building in the same way.

Although, when I first think of Tom, I'm like, "Big touring comedian." But, like, the...

Anybody who is building a direct to consumer relationship with an audience and is interested in continuing to tell stories with them is kind of where the Creator Studio, like, likes to show up.

You know, those are kind of...

What, what makes a good idea right now for you?

Billy, let me ask you from your perspective, what made you want to plug into this system? What did Rob tell you in his pitch that made you say yes?

The idea of quote unquote legacy media entering the creator space we've seen happen and not work out several different ways.

A lot of businesses have formed around the creator ecosystem that have done quite well.

And then when there was a merger of legacy media and creator-led media built on kind of different principles with different monetization and different people, I've seen it kind of go sideways, I think.

A couple things happened.

I think it was early, which is to say a lot of things in the creator space when people moved quickly and were supporting creators that were building businesses, the kind of people who were building it first, were able to build businesses that weren't quite at a scale that legacy media wanted it to be at.

And there was a lot of downward pressure on those businesses.

I don't think there's a one size fits all on types of creators we work with, but we have to really think about how we are measuring audience now because it's unlike it's ever been before for me.

What's the through line throughout all this? The i- is it that they've have this format that they think has done really well with their audiences, that they just wanna pour more gasoline on that fire now?

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think the through line is it's all IP that we're excited to get behind.

That's the short thing.

It's like they're making shows that we're super interested in.

They are all shows that are their ideas.

They're all shows that they're, they're really passionate about.

Things that they have, like, tested out, tried, want to do more of, think will, think, think will be a big success.

... what does Fox bring to the table?

And how do you decide when and how? Yeah, I mean, I think...

So entrepreneurs have to be able to, that is kind of one of the telltale signs if they're a founder, that they know how to hire and that they can attract people to hire, which is to say, if you're a creator who like does general comedy and or just general entertainment and you decide, okay, I want to start coffee or I want to start goo in a bottle, I think attracting a operator is going to be very hard because they're going to say, okay, well, is this person really going to put the time into it? Are they really behind it? Is our audience really going to believe it? Like, is our audience really going to move when they say move? And you have to have a real value proposition for an operator to want to come on board and work with you.

So I think if you have sound principles in what you want to build and why, you can find a good operator.

Like, part of that is the test of at least what we invest in.

We invest in a creator concept.

that is a founder that can attract talent to run their businesses.

So where do you go to find them? I mean, first you got to decide what your special sauce is and where you need support.

I don't need to spend eight years of schooling to do this.