When Sam Reich bought CollegeHumor from Barry Diller’s IAC for pennies in January 2020, the comedy site was long past its heyday. A few months later, the pandemic hit. It wouldn’t have been a surprise if CollegeHumor had vanished entirely. Instead, Reich pushed the company to lean into Dropout, the subscription streaming part of the business, and create more improvised comedy content that lent itself well to viral clips on TikTok and YouTube. Today, Dropout has a dedicated fanbase of hundreds of thousands of subscribers and is even talking about establishing a revenue-sharing model with its employees. Vox’s Peter Kafka talks with Reich about how he turned it all around, and what it’s like to be on-camera talent and everyone’s boss.
Host: Peter Kafka (@pkafka), Senior Editor at Recode
More to explore: Subscribe for free to Recode Media, Peter Kafka, one of the media industry's most acclaimed reporters, talks to business titans, journalists, comedians, and more to get their take on today's media landscape.
About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The State of Streaming
Judd Apatow on The Bubble, TikTok and The Slap
The Oscars: Hollywood’s smallest biggest night?
Dan Le Batard on life after ESPN; Russia sanctions upend big-time soccer
Big Tech takes a side, finally + Zappos' tragic founder
Covering the war in Ukraine, online and on the ground
Uber, but for TV
Chuck Klosterman relives the 1990s & Sarah Palin loses her NYT libel suit
What's next for CNN? + The Afterparty's Ben Schwartz writes jokes for C-3PO
Is Spotify’s Joe Rogan problem over? Plus how to launch a new media startup.
Game on: Behind the sports betting boom
Gaming out Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard deal
So … what the hell is Web3? With the Chernin Group’s Jarrod Dicker
How the right covers 1/6 + tales from the Theranos trial, with Oliver Darcy and Erin Griffith
The Verge’s Ashley Carman on podcasting’s big year
What the hell happened in 2021? With Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw.
WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar’s almost-exit interview
BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti has gone public
@Jack is leaving Twitter. What now? + Lina Khan’s battle with Big Tech
Director Rhys Thomas on his unlikely journey from SNL to Disney’s Hawkeye
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Pivot
Land of the Giants
Recode Daily
Recode Replay
Re/code Replay