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The Young Turks have just received $4 million in funding from a strange source. The passionate left-leaning Youtube program has just been funded by Robinson, Melville & Co., LLC, a private equity group headed by right-leaning former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer.
To outsiders the deal may look odd, but to Roemer and the Young Turks it was a fair fit. The Young Turks COO, Steve Oh, said of Roemer “at the end of the day he is a business man and for him it’s a sound business decision.”
In a statement Roemer said “We believe TYT will be one of the critical players moving forward in a new media world — edgy, unfiltered news commentary at its best.”
Despite generally disagreeing ideology, Oh said “there’s one thing we agree on: the corrupting influence of money in politics.”
That appeared to be enough to get the deal inked. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.
2014 has been a curious year for resurgence of internet media, including Nate Silver’s re-launch of fivethirtyeight.com, Ezra Klein’s launch of Vox.com and Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher’s launch of Re/Code. These publications are run by journalist and commentators who feel most comfortable on the web and who are staking their business on the Internet.
The Young Turks fit right into this new breed of Internet-native media. Though The Young Turks programming delivers less original news and more commentary, then its contemporaries, the company and its style are distinct to the Internet.
The Internet has allowed The Young Turks network to project an off-the-cuff, less than polished, yet never disingenuous editorial style that would not fly on more traditional cable networks.
In fact, during a couple of brief stints, The Young Turks’ host Cenk Uygur tried taking their style to cable channels MSNBC and Current TV. The Young Turks were cut from Current TV when it was bought by Al Jazeera, and Cenk Uygur’s time guest-hosting and commentating on MSNBC ran aground over what were the network’s problems with his tone.
“MSNBC has to appeal to their bosses, their corporate agenda, they are responsible to the FCC,” said Oh. “That was the problem with Cenk on MSNB. He felt very stifled by management there.”
“We’re outsiders and we maintain a very independent take on the news,” said Oh.
“Our brand is authenticity,” said Oh. And, “what the audience wants is an authentic approach to the news.”
“That plays really well to the internet audience- they are very independent,” said Oh.
That independence is what attracts viewers to the Young Turks, and ultimately what attracted Roemer.
“They are a lot like me, sometimes wrong but never in doubt. We expect their news to continue to push the envelope and their business to grow exponentially,” said Roemer.
The company makes about 50 to 60 percent of revenues from YouTube advertisements, about 25 to 35 percent from subscribers and the rest comes from merchandise.
In addition to maintaining their distinct authentic voice, key to the Young Turks future is a strategy to expand programming and syndicate across as many platforms as possible.
“We’ve captured a huge chunk of audience that come to Youtube,” said Oh. “We are absolutely committed to Youtube We love Youtube.”
“At the same time we want to diversify.”
“There’s a large audience on Hulu that I want to capture,” said Oh. “We are also talking with cable companies about digital content for their websites.”
Xbox, Yahoo, AOL and Amazon are possibilities too, said Oh.
Wherever The Young Turks end up and whatever new programming they have in store, their future success will depend on that unchanging voice.
