"We had gone through the pandemic and had nice, steady growth. We would do our podcasts in our pajamas, drinking coffee. And we were like, "Oh, if we turn the cameras on, I'm gonna have to put on makeup, I'm gonna have to blow dry my hair. This is a nightmare." So we were all a little resistant to it. But Barry, one of our producers, was like, "You guys gotta do YouTube. Gotta turn it on.""
"But that wasn't the plan when the company started in 2018. Back then, it was a nonprofit cofounded by Republicans who couldn't stand their party's embrace of Donald Trump, and wanted a place to organize, debate, and push back. Over the years, the site turned itself into a for-profit and found success selling Substack subscriptions - it's currently on pace to do more than $12 million a year from those alone, says CEO Sarah Longwell."
The Bulwark began in 2018 as a nonprofit cofounded by Republicans opposed to Donald Trump's influence, intended as a place to organize, debate, and push back. The site later converted to a for-profit and scaled revenue through Substack subscriptions, which are on pace to generate more than $12 million annually. Growth accelerated after the company embraced video and YouTube by turning cameras on and repurposing podcast audio, producing much larger audiences. The organization faces tension between its mission-driven origins and commercial ambitions. Leadership also maintains political consulting and focus-group work and notes partisan differences in effectiveness at political media.
Read at Business Insider
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