Social media supplies an unprecedented method for stars to attach with their followers — however solely the higher echelons of celebrities have been in a position to convert their on-line presence into chilly, arduous money.
Steven Galanis, co-founder and CEO of Cameo, says his firm is a part of a rising wave of direct-to-fan platforms that’s altering that, by letting a wider vary of expertise generate profits on-line. On the most recent episode of Selection‘s Strictly Business podcast, Galanis explains how Cameo constructed a booming enterprise by promoting bespoke video shout-outs recorded by its roster of tens of hundreds of celebs.
“The mission of Cameo is to create essentially the most personalised and genuine fan connections on Earth,” Galanis says.
In 2020, the corporate pulled in gross income of $100 million, 75% of which Cameo paid to expertise. That was up 4.5 instances the 12 months prior, and the corporate despatched out 1.3 million Cameos final 12 months alone. Why the surge? Galanis says one cause is that actors, artists and different expertise discovered themselves with out work throughout COVID-19 — and extra of them turned to Cameo to generate revenue.
At the same time as life has began to return to regular, Galanis says, for well-known expertise, “Cameos and interacting with their followers this manner was has develop into a part of their stack as creators.”
There’s an enormous alternative for Cameo, he argues. Some 50 million individuals world wide take into account themselves creators, and the “solely resolution to fixing this long-term” — which Galanis identifies because the hole between revenue and fame — “is by going direct-to-fan for monetization.”
Essentially the most profitable expertise on Cameo have “a giant, genuine persona” and are typically actually humorous, says Galanis. In 2020, the No. 1 best-seller was Brian Baumgartner (Kevin from “The Workplace”), adopted by former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, Snoop Dogg and Gilbert Gottfried. In fifth place was Chris Harrison, who is stepping aside as host of “The Bachelor” after an argument involving his protection of a racial controversy on the relationship present. The sixth highest-grossing Cameo creator was Carole Baskin, of “Tiger King” fame, whom Galanis factors out was not even a family title earlier than final 12 months.
To Galanis, prerecorded celeb movies are just the start for Cameo. The corporate has been testing different fan-engagement options as nicely: Cameo Direct, the place you possibly can live-chat chat with celebrities, and Cameo Calls, which connects followers and expertise immediately for dwell, one-on-one video calls.
As well as, earlier this month, Cameo partnered with MGM’s American Worldwide Footage for the Feb. 12 premiere of movie “Breaking Information in Yuba County,” underneath which stars Allison Janney and Bridget Everett have been featured on Cameo with particular messages for followers simply in time for Valentine’s Day — bookable for simply $10 every, with proceeds benefiting the Trevor Challenge and COVID-19 reduction.
“We imagine we’re within the prime of the second inning with Cameo,” Galanis mentioned. “The bigger imaginative and prescient of Cameo is to construct {the marketplace} for individuals’s time. For X amount of cash, you as a fan ought to be capable to pay to do Y exercise with Z individual that you simply love.”
That mentioned, surprising points generally crop up when Hollywood celebs join immediately with followers. Lindsay Lohan (who presently sells Cameos for $375), just lately asked a fan to take down a viral Cameo video wherein Lohan supplied phrases of encouragement for the fan to return out to her mother and father. (Cameo customers have full permission to submit unedited movies on social media, per the corporate.) However Galanis says such conditions are uncommon.
As for what else is subsequent for Cameo, the corporate is on an IPO monitor, based on Galanis, though he doesn’t have a timeline for a public providing. Cameo has been in talks to raise another $100 million in funding, at a valuation of $1 billion, per a Bloomberg report; Galanis declined to debate the corporate’s financing actions.
Cameo now has about 200 staff. Galanis, a former gross sales exec at LinkedIn, says the corporate is ramping up hiring within the 12 months forward. In late 2020, he recruited a number of key execs to round out the senior management team: Rob Put up, previously Quibi’s chief know-how officer, as CTO; CFO Deb Schwartz (previously with Bustle Digital Group); Mel Steinbach, chief individuals officer (previously with McDonald’s); and COO Brian Frank (former head of worldwide operations at LinkedIn).
