00:00and it is my pleasure to welcome in the CEO of Newsmax Christopher Roddy it's fantastic to be
00:09with you today Chris Dan thank you for having me I'm really looking forward to this me as well
00:15listen let's start with this for the very few now that aren't familiar can you please give us an
00:20overview of Newsmax well I don't know if there's a quick overview Newsmax is a multimedia company
00:27we started out as a digital media now one of them a major force in cable and OTT news our cable news
00:37channel is number four in the United States for news in Q1 Nielsen says we were number five of
00:44all cable channels which is a pretty big number there's hundreds of cable channels the Reuters
00:50Institute came out with a study last year saying there were 12 top US news media brands we were
00:56one of them uh so uh Forbes had once referred to Newsmax as a news powerhouse I think it's a fair
01:03statement and uh we reach about 40 million people and we just went public this year on the New York
01:09Stock Exchange now it's exciting times and I'm telling you the the the quick growth for you guys
01:15at Newsmax has been something to watch and hey Chris I wanted to talk to you about when it comes
01:20to cable news I mean you know you got us Newsmax is a fairly newcomer on the scene yet as you talked
01:26about it's a massive viewership of about 40 million viewers what is it that is behind that massive appeal
01:32what do you believe you know is bringing all these people to Newsmax and more importantly keeps them
01:37coming back for more well there's a lot to unravel there I think that the the there's a center-right
01:46market for news in the United States that has long been dominated by Fox News and Fox is part of um the
01:52the Fox Corporation and I don't know it's worth 15 to 20 billion dollars it's a huge market they've
01:58really not had a competitor until Newsmax came along uh they did a lot of things in fact to try to stop us
02:05along the way but we prevailed we're now on every major cable system uh and as the eco um ecosystem
02:13of cable is contracting Newsmax has been rising we believe that it's still going to be a very
02:19lucrative uh cash flow business for many years to come and uh that cable will be important for live
02:27news live sports and we're part of that so that's very positive at the same time we have a very strong
02:34streaming service uh OTT channel called Newsmax 2 um according to our data about 22 million Americans
02:42tuned into that channel uh last month which is a huge number and it's growing it was up uh significantly
02:49over last year the same period and then we have a plus service where people can get all of our channels
02:55we actually have three channels now uh and a lot of documentaries films and we're even making that sort
03:00of family entertainment program as well so we're very excited about that and um it's it's I think a very
03:07good start uh it absolutely is and you know you allude to this what is equally impressive Chris
03:13is the inroads Newsmax is made in the OTT market Newsmax 2 fast channel that obviously your company's
03:19streaming channel saw 25 year over year growth in May what do you attribute that double digit growth to
03:25and how is the growth so far in June well our q1 of this year Nielsen rating showed we had a 50
03:33percent increase in total audience for our cable channel I mean you've been around Dan a while
03:39covering media companies you know these numbers don't happen by accident it's a it's a force it's
03:44a movement and I think the the pitch I make to investors is don't invest in Newsmax because we're
03:50reaching 40 million people or that we have a lot of influence invest in Newsmax because we're a
03:57growing company that's in a very important market the center right market which has been widely
04:02overlooked we have a long history of success in growth in that area and we are on all the major
04:12systems now to make it capable as we grow into those ratings so when I talked about Reuters saying
04:17there were 12 top media companies most of them if not all are billion dollar multi-billion dollar
04:24companies Newsmax is a new entrance the Financial Times said right after we went public that Newsmax is
04:31essentially going to grow into its ratings it has a lot of revenue growth potential and we've seen
04:37that in the past several years revenues are up overall over the past several years over 300 percent
04:43which is a remarkable number we're continuing to see revenue growth in this year yeah nothing like
04:50being a disruptor Chris as you well know and it's the numbers are very very impressive and I'm interested
04:55to ask you about you know this are more of the viewers coming to Newsmax from cable TV or streaming
05:01on mobile devices and in your perspective which is is better from a revenue advertising standpoint
05:07how do you see that possibly evolving over time okay well again that's a good question and I like the
05:14end part evolving over time right now the golden noose is cable cable brings us cable license fees are
05:20very significant we can't reveal those fees because of confidentiality agreements but they have been
05:26growing very significantly and we're still selling we're still getting fees at a fraction of what other
05:34competitors for example our ratings are very close to CNN's ratings yet they get a multiple of what we
05:41get from cable operators so we have room to grow into that advertising has been strong and growing
05:47on the cable ecosystem for us but where we see the future is both on the free OTT channel and we also
05:54see it in the streaming service and other things that we're doing so what I see Newsmax is a very
06:00valuable traditional play as an investment and a company and with an upside of the OTT streaming
06:08and fast technologies that are hitting oh that's that's perfectly said that's that's the kind of the
06:14day and age we're living in this is also something that I thought was fascinating in addition to
06:18increasing the number of viewers on Newsmax 2 they're also staying longer and obviously we know
06:23how important that is tell us why that is important and what Newsmax is doing and keeping viewers on Newsmax
06:282 longer well the key demo 35 to 64 we had the longest demo in cable news for daytime viewers I mean
06:37that's pretty amazing uh Nielsen reports some really fascinating things people like our channel we have a real
06:43strong following I give you an example in q1 four plus million people came to Newsmax never once went
06:51to Fox News to watch that's an amazing number of people out of the cable ecosystem so it's showing
06:59that we're building not only a wide and broad audience but we're also building a unique and
07:03exclusive audience and that's going to serve us across all our platforms because remember when people
07:08watch cable they can still download our app they can still become a Newsmax plus member and we have very diverse
07:15what's great is different diverse revenue streams we have advertising we have subscription income which is from the
07:22cable license fees that's essentially subscription income and then streaming we sell advertising but we also sell our
07:29digital products we have digital advertising we have digital newsletters and publications um we even publish books
07:37call under our title subsidiary humanics books we've had six New York Times bestsellers so the overall impact of Newsmax
07:46Dan I like to say that the the business model is all for all we're on all platforms for all people and I think that's what we've been a pathfinder on that we've been an
07:59innovator you you called us a disrupt disruptor we are but we're also an innovator and I think the future is going to be
08:07Newsmax for other media companies yeah Chris I'm also going to say there's nothing Newsmax doesn't do so that's always a good thing as well
08:14you guys are in everything this is going to help Chris with that growth I know you just Newsmax just inked a deal with Comcast to be featured on Comcast
08:23entertainment devices across the United States what does that need for Newsmax's reach and business of course
08:29but how big of a deal is that for the company well we think it's very significant first of all Comcast is
08:35one of the largest cable providers in the United States it's a mega great uh media company great
08:42enterprise we've always had a good relationship with Comcast they carry our channel on Xfinity the cable
08:48channel but they have the ability for people to go through on their Xfinity platform and also
08:54Zoomo to get Newsmax and to download apps so again we believe we can cross sell people into those apps
09:01and we think it's a very positive deal um and we also signed with Hulu Hulu Plus uh was the last major
09:09pay tv cable operator not to have Newsmax and we're going to um we're expected to be on Hulu Plus platforms
09:17this summer that puts us with Fubo that puts us with uh YouTube TV um and a number of other major
09:25players so we are growing and I think you're going to see um a significant growth in revenues ahead and
09:33we expect profits eventually yeah and listen you know the deals as you mentioned are coming in you
09:40know you just talked about the deal with Hulu in May and obviously we just talked about Comcast you know
09:45Newsmax going from this scrappy cable news company to a formidable entertainment company you mentioned
09:50all the other things you guys are doing as well what Chris what do you credit the success of Newsmax to
09:55well one of the things that I think people have to remember when Fox started Rupert Murdoch spent
10:01billions of dollars to create that and it took years to make money and you know there's huge
10:05infrastructure costs Newsmax um was able to develop this company with about 150 million dollars worth of
10:14capital over the past 10 years our cable channel just got into its last final cable agreements and
10:21we see a really huge potential and upside in the years ahead and we did it with a fraction and I think
10:27the success of it is that Newsmax is so widely penetrated not only on our own ecosystem digitally
10:34but social media we have about 20 million cumulative followers across all the social media platforms
10:42so we have a big ability to reach people to promote the Newsmax cable channel the fast channel the plus
10:48service and other products and services that we offer very few companies have this inbuilt marketing
10:55platform that we have incredibly versatile and listen this also will show how much Newsmax has grown
11:04at the end of June Chris I know Newsmax will be joining the US small cap Russell 2000 index I know that has to feel
11:10good what message does that send to your shareholders and the institutional investors and then what what's
11:17in store for news back to the future well this is a really important point Russell 2000 3000 index
11:23the leading small cap mid cap companies in the United States Newsmax is expecting to be part of that we've
11:30been added now for a couple weeks on the list and so that's very exciting what that means is that
11:36there'll be a lot of automatic purchases of our shares through ETFs and other index funds that use
11:43the Russell for its investment guidance and that will give we believe a very significant inflow of
11:49purchases and will benefit not only the company but the shareholders so we think it's a very exciting
11:56opportunity for us but we think it's the beginning of other potential indexes and programs that'll start
12:02taking Newsmax especially when they see that the the the very strong fundamentals the company has
12:08well it was an absolute pleasure talking to you today Chris uh you know great things happening it's a great
12:14times ahead thanks so much for your time well Dan thank you we really appreciate it
12:20thank you
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