What Jovem Nerd can teach us about relevant entertainment » Portal Insights

Or how Jovem Nerd and Azaghal developed a business model based on (free) content

The history of the business Alexandre Otoni It's from Deive Pazos It's long and very interesting, but today we want to focus here on a very interesting detail about the business: the way they created an entertainment platform that is still capable of producing very high quality content while generating profit for the business.

The history of podcasts in Brazil

Podcasts are not new media, they started in the early 2000s, coined through the combination of terms IPod It is Broadcast. Basically, they were sound media (in mp3 or wav files) made in the format of recorded programs.

The idea caught on and offered something that other media and platforms didn't offer, the ability to choose when to listen. Radios, for example, are almost all done live, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Missing a program was a sign that you would be unlikely to hear it again, unless you were willing to record it, and this almost always depended on the relevance of the interviewee and the content.

While audiovisual media has advanced in this direction, recorded programs, reruns, etc., radio programs have maintained their authenticity and secular format to a certain extent. Not that this is bad by any means, but it was limiting in some aspects.

The development of podcasts, and the formulation of the medium as something independent and original, occurred alongside the development of hardware and software that allowed these programs to be easily downloaded and stored on compact devices.

In Brazil, the media emerged slowly in the early 2000s, and found an unexplored – and gigantic – niche in a nerd culture website.

The history of the podcast at Jovem Nerd

The podcast on the Jovem Nerd website is almost a guide to Blue oceanthat business vision that it is necessary to always go where your competitors are not, market segments that are profitable and unexplored.

Already in the first half of the first decade of 2000, the blog market was saturated with content, whether original or simply replicating. In the middle of it all, Alexandre Ottoni It is Deive Pazos created narratives on their website using pop culture elements.

With a tip from a fan and their interest in the format, they ended up adopting the podcast as a parallel medium to the blog.

It was a success, the new format met an unimaginable public demand. So much so that in a short time the Nerdcast ended up becoming the duo's main media outlet.

Today, the podcast has an average number of plays per episode of around 1.5 million. The site's record was the launch of Cyberpunk 1 RPG Special Nerdcast: with 9 million downloads. Just to give you an idea, this was almost half the audience for the last episode of game of Thrones.

The expansion of media in the Jovem Nerd brand

On October 28, 2010, it aired on Youtubeanother new content platform, the first NerdOffice.

The idea was to explore the video network's new tools to create a weekly audiovisual program, complementing the podcasts that already aired every Friday.

The first season had 9 episodes, and had different themes. The public engaged, the Young nerd It was one of the first channels to have structured content and produced in an almost television format: two presenters, weekly agenda, etc. The second season has already had 44 episodes.

9 years have passed and the YouTube channel has an average of 400 thousand views per program.

In addition to the weekly videos, with topics about what is happening in global nerd culture, they have, at the time of producing this article: 1 program on Monday about video games; 1 program on Tuesday from another collaborator, the mr. K; and 1 weekly program on Wednesday (the NerdOffice traditional).

Combined with all channel subscribers, there are more than 4.7 million people.

Counting access data on the website via mobile, desktop and the brand's app, there are more than 40 million page views per month, with an average of 3.6 million unique users/month.

That's a huge volume, and even conservative estimates on ad conversion and in-store sales result in a large number of monthly sales.

The development of relevant entertainment

One of the first decisions that caught our attention in the group Young nerd was the creation of Amazing Pixel, an advertising company that integrated different YouTube channels to distribute ads between them.

This was another way to monetize beyond counting views per thousand, RPM. There is so much credibility in the brand Young nerd that campaigns have already been carried out for the Bradesco, Cup Noodles, Santander, Friboi, Fini Bulletsand many others.

The connection with the public and their loyalty in consuming what is advertised leads to greater interest from advertisers, who are always looking for a greater return on investment in their campaigns.

The various partnerships with film studios, visits to film sets, interviews with famous actors and actresses, conversations with directors, etc. were not considered.

But the main step taken towards what I am calling Relevant Entertainment here was the creation of the parallel channel Nerdology.

How Nerdologia integrates Relevant Entertainment

O Nerdology is a separate channel Young nerdwith content presented by Attila Iamarino It is Felipe Figueiredoabout science and history.

The approach to the themes, far from being academic and complex, seeks a playful approach, using pop culture elements such as movie and comic book characters to explain more abstract scientific concepts.

This distinct view on education was one of the reasons that led Attila to be presented at the Ted Ex a talk about the future of education (that and his research background, as well as his degrees and specializations).

O Nerdologyeven created in 2013 as a separate channel, today has more subscribers than the main channel of Ottoni It is Pazos. The number of views per episode exceeds the average of 420 thousand.

This dynamic approach to content is what makes the channel's entertainment, the content broadcast, relevant to the user.

In addition to Nerdologythematic podcasts are produced about teaching English and with experts in technology and business, adding value to the public through topics related to the nerd theme, with initial interest always starting from Deive It is Alotonias we already told you in Insights about podcasts.

Not only does information spread and they are able to generate revenue, whether through RPM, through advertising, or by converting in their online store, but the content, regardless of the format, generates value for the public through something useful and not -disposable.

Today, in addition to Nerdologythere is still the Nerdbunker, an area focused on the production of news and journalistic content about films, series, books and games. The number of pageviews of the Nerdbunker alone exceeds 20 million per month.

Far from just capitalizing on advertisers, the creation of NerdStore it was a way to feed back into their network.

How NerdStore is the basis of Jovem Nerd's business

I will use as an example the production of a series in NerdCast.

On March 18, 2011, Deive, Alexander and a group of friends decided to get together to record a podcast talking about the main RPG clichés between players, systems, films, books, etc. The idea was to record a small sketch and continue with the agenda.

That's not what happened.

The group had so much fun with the narrative and decided to continue it, which ended up turning the episode into the first NerdCast RPG Special: The Wizard, The Princess and the Dragon.

The episode was a success, and at the end of 2011 the second part was recorded. In December 2012, they ended this trilogy.

Not only did this saga contribute to an increase in audience, brand awareness and advertising revenue (with sponsors at the beginning of some episodes), it also served to generate products within the store. Young nerdsuch as shirts, glasses, etc.

In addition, a trilogy of books was produced based on the world of these episodes, raising even more revenue for the brand.

This self-referencing strategy served the duo well in the early days of the business, when licensed products were expensive or out of their reach. The store sold shirts with phrases and memorable moments from the program, nominated by the public, which made them even more loyal to the brand.

With these podcasts, they brought more audiences, developed more products and created timeless and rich material. Content strategies are always measured in the medium and long term, and when done well they bring greater results than estimates.

Just remember: the Young nerd It has episodes with more than 9 million downloads. Considering the 50 most watched TV series in 2018, they would be ahead of half.

Using Relevant Entertainment to sell more

In this way, by generating content and selling products related to the brand, they were able to generate cash so that the business could continue running and could invest more in other aspects.

Today, as the brand has expanded to different channels and mediums, it is even easier to use this referral strategy, especially given the fact that the store has expanded into different areas and personalized products.

There are countless channels in Youtube with weekly programs, podcasts coming out in partnership with different companies (the English course Wise Upthe business education website Meu Sucesso) in addition to weekly podcasts, partnerships with other content producers, etc.

The volume of audiences reached is enormous, and all of this is only possible with loyalty through quality content, through entertainment that is relevant to those who consume and share.

Over the past 12 years, countless channels have grown and then disappeared, without being able to monetize as broadly as the brand Young nerd.

Relevant Entertainment is, in my view, the ability to use content in different media (news, podcast, videos, interviews, etc.) to build loyalty and engage with your real fans.

Far beyond the 1000 proposed by the article Kevin Kellythe Jovem Nerd brand was able to nurture a base for so long that the public became loyal to the name and the directions taken.

They were elected one of the 5 most influential brands in Youtube and Blogs by Ipsos in 2018, highlighted among the 100 most influential Brazilians by the magazine Era and were among the 25 most influential on the internet for Galileo.

Attracting the public can be easy, there are countless triggers for this, but to make them stay you need to offer more than something for immediate consumption, you need to deliver content so good that they won't want to leave, and will root for you. prosperity of your business.

It's not just about creating good content to attract potential consumers and convert into sales, but thinking about the content itself as a possible long-term product.