'MrBeast model': Stefanovic's numbers reveal his broader strategy

After more than a quarter of a century on TV, Karl Stefanovic’s goodbye to his free-to-air audience was not broadcast online but published online. (AAP: Regi Varghese) Link copiedShareShare articleAfter more than a quarter of a century on TV, Karl Stefanovic's goodbye to his audience didn't go out on free-to-air television. "I'm free," a stubbled Stefanovic said in a video posted to his podcast's YouTube channel last week. Stefanovic's break-up with Nine followed months of speculation that he was looking to move on. But Stefanovic doesn't appear to have plans to jump to another television network or mainstream media outlet. He's going "truly independent", Stefanovic said, and will instead focus on his own video podcast, The Karl Stefanovic Show. So, why is the former king of Australian breakfast television trading studio lights for ring lights? After all, hosting a commercial breakfast television program has long been one of the most sought-after jobs in Australian media. It's an instant ticket to fame, fortune and influence. In light of his premature departure, Stefanovic's podcast looks less like a negotiating tactic or a life raft and more like a bet that the future of entertainment and media is online, not on television. When Karl Stefanovic started posting to the YouTube channel, the television host brought the lessons he’d learned over a career of broadcast media. (Supplied: The Karl Stefanovic Show) When Stefanovic started posting to the YouTube account in late January, the veteran television host brought the lessons he'd learned over a career in broadcast media. Television is a mass audience medium. Since there's only a handful of broadcast television channels on free-to-air, every minute of air time needs to try to appeal to as large an audience as it can by hiring the biggest names, hitting the broadest topics and having a mix of different formats to keep audiences from changing channels. From the start, Stefanovic's online world tilted more conservative and culture war adjacent than his broadcast persona. He launched the podcast with an interview with Pauline Hanson, and almost exclusively interviewed right wing politicians and influencers. Karl Stefanovic’s podcast looks less like a negotiating tactic or a life raft and more like a bet that the future of entertainment and media is online, not on television. (Joe Castro: AAP) But other early guests included MMA fighter Alexander Volkanovski, celebrity chef Curtis Stone, Broncos coach Madge Maguire and radio host Kyle Sandilands with interviews about politics, their personal stories, travel and more. In other words, much of the early material felt like breakfast television taken online: a variety of guests and topics aimed at a general audience. Stefanovic's early YouTube efforts achieved modest results. The Karl Stefanovic show quickly gained more than 50,000 subscribers in the first five weeks. But many of his early videos were only watched a few thousand times. One video with Stone talking about sleeping on couches barely cracked a thousand views. This suggests that Stefanovic's name recognition, his existing social media accounts promoting his new YouTube channel and early mainstream media attention drew people to his new channel, but they weren't actually sticking around to watch videos, nor was he finding YouTube-native subscribers. Success on YouTube wasn't going to be as simple as doing what he'd always done. After the first initial burst of attention and variable results, Stefanovic kept working away. The Karl Stefanovic Show has published an average of more than 20 videos a month since it began. While the output amount was consistent, the type of content began to change. Stefanovic stopped doing broad celebrity interviews on a range of issues and honed in on a few topics. In the show's first month, January, two videos were about immigration. In June, 14 of the 21 videos on The Karl Stefanovic Show touched on the topic. Politics and government failures became another major focus. The way he spoke about them changed too. In a video posted last week, he called the passage of Labor's budget tax changes with the support of the Greens a "dirty little deal" that will "kill the Australian dream". The titles of the videos became more emotive, more alarmed, more aggrieved. Early videos about Hanson had titles like "Does Pauline Hanson Even Want To Be Prime Minister?". A few months later, the show's One Nation videos had titles like "Australians Don't Trust Politicians Anymore" and "One Nation Senator: 'Australians Are Ready To Swing The Bat'". Today show host Karl Stefanovic will leave Channel Nine after a controversial podcast interview with British far-right figure Tommy Robinson. Stefanovic has called himself "Joe Bogan" — a reference to successful podcaster Joe Rogan — but the show's strategy reminded QUT's Tim Graham of another popular YouTube personality. Graham says that the narrowing of the show's content sugges

'MrBeast model': Stefanovic's numbers reveal his broader strategy

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'MrBeast model': Stefanovic's numbers reveal his broader strategy

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