What is Locals in the Ownership Economy?
In the digital nomad economy we are all global citizens and travelers on platforms.
Welcome Back!
I’m always on the lookout for interesting Creator platforms. Locals is owned by Rumble, as of October, 2021.
I’m pretty aware of Creators who leave Substack and when they end up doing instead, or when they come back.
So when recently
is migration from here:
To here. I have to wonder. Alternatives in the ownership economy are good, that beehiiv exists makes Substack a better place. That SparkLoop have a pay to win version of recommendations or that ConvertKit is building their own, is salient to all Newsletters.
The Substack subscription network does not live in isolation. What Ghost, or LinkedIn or ConvertKit does, really does matter.
If Creators are digital nomads, a new breed of solo-entrepreneurs, does it matter what platform they call home? And what would convince Bryan to make Locals his exclusive home? I have no special insights on this.
I’d be happy to interview Bryan on what results in his move and in his rapid-fire Newsletters of late, you can sort of tell he has a good direct relationship with the people at Locals.
Bryan has a great YouTube presence as well.
What is Locals?
Bryan on Locals, part 1-5.
Rumble is an online video platform, web hosting and cloud services business headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, with its U.S. headquarters in Longboat Key, Florida. It was founded in October 2013 by Chris Pavlovski, a Canadian technology entrepreneur.
Back in 2021, Rumble said that buying Locals furthered Rumble's mission of giving creators unprecedented autonomy over their work while providing audiences with quality content. They also charge 10% like Substack. Bryan has asserted that they offer more features that don’t exist on Substack. I don’t know what said features are. But I’m going to find out.
The PR insists that Rumble is already one of the most respected independent and privately-owned companies in the online video-sharing platform industry. Acquiring Locals was part of Rumble's broader effort to build a creator economy that fosters creative independence.
Founded in 2019, Florida-based Locals is a platform that empowers independent content creators to publish their content, engage with their supporters and make money from subscriptions. Creators include: Scott Adams, Tulsi Gabbard, ZDoggMD, Max Lugavere, Robert Barnes, Bridget Phetasy, Dr. Drew, Karlyn Borysenko, Greg Gutfeld, and Michael Malice.
When Tucker Carlson was fired from Fox, some expected him to go to Rumble, when he struck a deal with Twitter, Rumble’s market share fell a lot. Locals is thus tied to a more right of center Creator spectrum, I’m gathering.
It’s entirely likely Rumble and thus Locals is more video native than Substack as a community. In politics I do believe Substack also swings right. Though perhaps that’s just my biased viewpoint I am not 100% sure.
In September, 2022 Rumble opened a Locals HQ in Florida. Well specifically a video streaming, recording and production studio in Miami's Wynwood art district. Miami is of course going through a boom period especially relating to Web 3 and new trends in the Creator Economy, like NFT startups.
“Content creators rely on Locals and Rumble because both platforms encourage important public conversations and debates. Locals and Rumble believe that the integrity of the creator economy demands that mission-aligned media-based companies further strengthen their ties to ensure the independence of creators in a time fraught with cancellations, arbitrary terms of service and a withering marketplace for distribution choice.”
If you have a Rumble account, maybe worth watching this video about Locals.
The stock of Rumble is RUM 0.00%↑. I'm not sure how the valuation is at $2.67 Billion. Rumble as a platform received a large influx of viewership beginning during the COVID-19 pandemic, with monthly visitors rising from 1.6 million in 2020 to 31.9 million by 2021. I haven't seen more recent data on the MAUs.
The branding of Locals is not the best, it’s been somewhat hard to find the basic information I am seeking. Here is the YouTube version of that video:
This is not how you do a Creator platform promo guys!
Here’s how you would discover content on Locals.
Dave Rubin, co-founder of Locals and host of the popular online news and commentary show, "The Rubin Report" will be the first to use the Locals studio on September 1st, 2022. So guys this seems to be all fairly new.
Rubin has around 167,000 followers.
I do not recognize anyone on Locals “Trending” front page. But then again I’m not a big reader in politics or issues that the right might care about.
Locals has an app though, android and iOS. Bryan’s migration of paid users from Substack to Locals sounds like a high friction endeavor. If you cannot migrate the list automatically, it’s not a great experience for readers. Bryan does sound enthusiastic that Locals is taking pains to welcome him with features that he is asking for.
He cites being able to talk to someone from the company as a plus. Bryan said:
Two things have changed:
The Lunduke Journal has grown significantly. There are now simply too many subscribers to reasonably administer across multiple sites. Administration is now taking significant time away from writing and recording.
Multiple services — namely Substack and Locals — have added numerous new features which have made it possible to run the entirety of The Lunduke Journal from a single service.
Clearly the time is right. The Lunduke Journal needs to consolidate onto a single platform. It simply must happen.
People are arriving, leaving and coming back to Substack every week. At the end of the day what matters is that the ownership economy is improving for everyone.
Locals is what Social Media Should Be?
Bryan assures us on the podcast that I can find nerds like me on Locals, okay well that does sound vaguely appealing.
I’ll be watching competitors to Substack in the grand scheme of things, some of which are ESPs and others which are more hybrid video centric.
I finally got on BlueSky Social, so there’s that.
Addendum
Locals bills itself as a free speech town square. This new subscription-based community helps content creators have full control over their work and their audiences without the risks of getting their accounts terminated.
Founded by American political commentator and talk show host Dave Rubin and Israeli Assaf Lev, the platform puts free and open speech back at the center of the online town square. Since its official launch in 2019, it has raised $3.8 million in Seed led by Craft Ventures.
So is this a Substack clone in a sense or something else?
And why would anyone be exclusive to one platform? Doesn’t the synergies between different platforms bring Creators the most ROI? Why would you not be on beehiiv and Substack, or Ghost and Locals? I don’t get it.
“Control your Destiny”
Locals is for independent creators.
Publish your content, engage with your supporters and make money from subscriptions.
Move over Ham & Best, your doppelgangers are partying in Miami.
Great post