Man buys racetrack, ends up launching the Netflix of grassroots motorsports

-



“At the Freedom Factory, we even beam air fiber from a house five miles away to ensure a reliable second Internet. We also have a hidden page on [the Cleetus McFarland website] to launch a backup stream if the primary one fails,” he said.

Today, FRDM+’s biggest challenge isn’t a technical one. Instead, it’s around managing the business’s different parts using a small team. FRDM+ has 35 full-time employees across its Shop, Race Track, Events, and Merch divisions and is “entirely self-funded,” per Mill. The company also relies on contractors for productions, but its core livestream team has six full-time employees.

Mitchell told Ars that FRDM+ is profitable, but he couldn’t get into specifics. He said the service has “strong year-over-year growth and a solid financial foundation that allows us to continue reinvesting in our team and services,” like a “robust technology stack, larger events, venue rentals, and even giving away helicopters and Lamborghinis as the prizes for our races.”

“Having been at Discovery during the launch of MotorTrend OnDemand, I’ve witnessed the power of substantial budgets firsthand,” Mill said. “Yet, [FRDM+ has] achieved greater success organically than [Discovery] did with their eight-figure marketing investment. This autonomy and efficiency are a testament to the strength of our approach.”

Any profitability for a 3-year-old streaming service is commendable. Due to wildly differing audiences, markets, costs, and scales, comparing FRDM+’s financials to the likes of Netflix and other mainstream streaming services is like comparing apples to oranges. But it’s interesting to consider that FRDM+ has achieved profitability faster than some of those services, like Peacock, which also launched in 2020, and Apple TV+, which debuted in 2019.

FRDM+ doesn’t share subscription numbers publicly, but Mitchell told Ars that the subscription service has a 93 percent retention. Mill attributed that number to a loyal, engaged community driven by direct communication with Mitchell.

Mill also suggested to Ars that FRDM+ has successfully converted over 5 percent of Mitchell’s YouTube audience. Five percent of Cleetus McFarland’s current YouTube base would be 212,500 people.



Source link

Latest news

Hugging Face’s new robot is the Seinfeld of AI devices

Hugging Face’s new programmable Reachy Mini bots launched this week. The AI robots are open source, Raspberry Pi-powered,...

Goldman Sachs is testing viral AI agent Devin as a ‘new employee’

Cognition’s AI coding agent Devin has scored a major customer: Goldman Sachs, the bank’s CIO, Marco Argenti, told...

Join Our Livestream: Inside the AI Copyright Battles

What's going on right now with the copyright battles over artificial intelligence? Many lawsuits regarding generative AI’s training...

Here’s What We Know About DOGE 2.0

Leah Feiger: When we come back, we'll share our recommendations for what to check out on WIRED.com this...

Startups Weekly: Still running | Tech Zone Daily

Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups....

Must read

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you