What can publishers learn from TheSoul Publishing’s journey to one billion social subscribers?
A decade ago, a slew of startup media businesses slammed the door on the publishing industry with a new model built on social media’s viral potential. Rather than posting material entirely on their own websites, social-first publishers generated short, snappy content that was largely distributed on social media to maximize views and ad income. Many social-reliant publications fell victim to a shakeout in the mid-Teens, mostly as a result of a change network algorithms and dramatic ad drops. However, a number of the surviving publishers have grown into important media companies in their very own terms.
In 2021, a firm that many people had never heard of, thesoul publishing has surpassed other digital studios by being the first to reach the coveted 1 billion subscriber mark. TheSoul Publishing’s brands include 5-Minute Crafts, Bright Side, 123 GO!, Avocado Couple, La La Life, Frankenfood, Slick Slime Sam, and Teen-Z, which were founded just five years ago by Pavel Radaev and Marat Mukhametov and focus on light-hearted engage able video content.
TheSoul isn’t just a YouTube channel. It’s also grown a sizable Facebook following, which is amazing given that all of the sites we looked at were created after 2015 and therefore have only had a few years to build an audience. Bright Side, for example, has more than 44 million Facebook followers while claiming to have started in June 2004 (Facebook’s transparency measures place the start date at July 2, 2015). The New York Times’ Facebook page, on the other hand, has only 16 million followers. The Lawfare Facebook page has slightly over 24,000 likes.
Furthermore, TheSoul Publishing’s content— showcasing impressive animation to engaging stop motion, compelling craft projects and more— has attracted 250 billion minutes watched across social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube, equating to nearly 500,000 years of global audience viewing time in the first half of 2021 alone.While figures of this magnitude are always remarkable to commemorate, these anniversaries are about so much more.We have an exceptional staff that is always lifting the bar, and we are looking forward to sharing more exciting advancements as we continue on our path. The strategy for how to expand on the tremendous popularity of the entertainment they provide is crystal clear.
Universally appealing entertainment content supplied to global audiences via the world’s leading platform partners. TheSoul Publishing’s ability to remain on top of trends, adapt its material to current tastes, and create positive, engaging videos helped the company attain a staggering 100 billion social media views. TheSoul Publishing’s status as a go-to online source for uplifting and entertaining entertainment has been bolstered by the 100 billion views milestone.
