Inside Alex Cooper’s Media Empire

The Call Her Daddy host ventures beyond podcasts

Good morning. We’re spending the weekend getting prepped to head to VidCon next week to meet with creators, hear the latest on platform innovations, and (of course) report back here with our team’s on-the-ground highlights.

Are you going to VidCon? Hit reply and let us know, we’d love to see you there.

P.S. Congratulations to the winner of our Creator Starter Kit giveaway, Olivia Y.! We’ll email you with the details to claim your goods.

Alex Cooper Starts a Media Company

Alex Cooper / Spotify

Alex Cooper, host of the Call Her Daddy (CHD) podcast, is teaming up with film producer (and Cooper’s fiancé) Matt Kaplan to launch Trending, a media company that will make movie, TV, podcast, and event programming designed for Gen Z.

Cooper’s creator career has been an interesting one. So how did she get here—from vlogging her life to starting a full-fledged media company?

  • October 2018: Cooper launches CHD with co-host Sofia Franklyn at Barstool Sports, growing the downloads from 12,000 to 2 million within two months.

  • June 2021: Cooper leaves Barstool to sign with Spotify as a solo host in a $60 million deal.

  • July 2021-present: Cooper interviews big-name guests including Gwyneth Paltrow and Chelsea Handler, starts memes, and breaks news. The rebranded CHD is the most-listened to podcast by women on Spotify.

Context: Cooper has focused her creator career on 1) IP ownership and 2) her loyal #DaddyGang community to evolve beyond her initial niche of sex and relationships into a fuller lifestyle brand.

That same ethos translates to Trending. Unlike other media companies targeting Gen Z like Sweety High, MTV, and Freeform, Trending has creator leadership from Cooper who knows how to build community, grow a niche, and expand towards mass appeal.

FYI: Trending will act as the parent company for CHD (which will stay exclusive to Spotify). Ace Entertainment, which Kaplan founded in 2017, will handle the financing, production, and distribution of Trending projects, while Cooper will lead audience engagement and franchising, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

A Comedy Creator’s Behavior With Minors Sparks Backlash

Colleen Ballinger / Nickelodeon

Best known as “Miranda Sings,” the YouTube persona she started posting as in 2008, 36-year-old comedy creator Colleen Ballinger’s past behavior with fans (many of whom are minors) has sparked backlash in recent weeks.

Context: Ballinger has nearly 23 million subscribers across her three channels. She’s also created and starred in several Netflix projects, including a comedy special in 2019.

A brief timeline of the allegations…

  • Former Ballinger fan and fellow YouTube creator Adam McIntyre released a video in 2020 that described his “toxic” friendship with Ballinger. At the time, Ballinger’s fans vocally defended her across social media.

  • Earlier this month, McIntyre released a follow-up video that featured screenshots of inappropriate group conversations Ballinger had over the years with fans (including McIntyre) who were allegedly minors at the time of the interactions.

  • The day after McIntyre posted the follow-up video, a former Ballinger fan named Becky posted a video on Twitter and TikTok claiming her experience being called on stage by Ballinger for a “yoga challenge” at one of Ballinger’s past shows when she was about 16 left her “traumatized” for years.

Ballinger has yet to respond to the allegations. However, TMZ reports that several of her sponsors have severed ties. Many of Ballinger’s former fans have started to criticize her behavior, too.

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We Hosted Our First ‘Coffee With Creators’ Event

Last weekend, we brought together 50 creators to hang out IRL in Venice, CA. This idea has been in the works for a while, and it was finally brought to life with help from our friends at .Store.

The energy in the room was incredible. It felt like every corner of the internet was represented and each creator was in a unique spot along their creator journey—eliciting conversations you only get when you bring this many creative people together.

Check out the full event recap here and stay tuned for more IRL events gathering the Publish community.

Patreon Launches Native Video Hosting

Patreon

Last week, subscription platform Patreon introduced the ability for users to upload videos directly onto their Patreon pages.

A couple caveats:

  • It’s only available to select creators in an early access pilot. Patreon hasn’t announced when it will become available to all users.

  • The feature is currently free, but Patreon plans to offer video at an additional price starting in 2024.

FYI: 25% of Patreon creators use video as their primary medium, making it the largest category of Patreon users.

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The content we’re looking forward to reading, watching, and listening to this weekend.

  • Read: Katie Notopolous writes for GQ about the nature of gatekeeping, and how a joke beef like Rainbolt’s “bagelgate” can spiral into online harassment.

  • Watch: Hulu’s Queenmaker dives into internet influence of the early aughts, when blogs began to integrate into New York’s social scene.

  • Listen: Comedian Eric Andre talks to NPR about what it's like bringing his namesake comedy show back to TV after a three-year hiatus. "You're in competition with everyone on TV—athletes, actors, politicians—so you have to be extreme."

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