Ben Silverman, chairman and co-CEO of Propagate Content, discusses the company's investment in the creator economy and the broader trends shaping the media and streaming industry.

Ben Silverman, chairman and co-CEO of Propagate Content, discussed recent trends in the media and streaming industry during an interview on CNBC's 'Money Movers'. Silverman highlighted his company's significant investment in the creator economy, emphasizing a shift towards engaging with audiences on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. He noted that Propagate Content has invested in two companies, Select and Parker, to help scale their reach and develop premium content with digital creators, as well as to facilitate larger deals with advertisers.

Silverman acknowledged that established media companies are also moving to collaborate with creators from digital platforms. He cited examples such as the announcement of a Mr. Beast TV show for Amazon and the success of "Mormon Wives" on Hulu, which Propagate helps represent. He noted the importance of following audience migration to these new media spaces and working with digital talent to build both content and brands.

Discussing the broader landscape, Silverman observed the influence of major companies like Amazon, particularly their retail and audience scale. He pointed to the strong performance of companies such as Netflix, Disney, NBCUniversal, and others, highlighting the substantial volume of impressions and engagement they generate across diverse platforms including television, sports, and theme parks.

When asked about advertising trends, Silverman said that concerns around macroeconomic factors and tariffs are regularly present, but advertisers tend to consistently express caution at this time of year. He explained that the real impact of these concerns on advertising spending often remains unclear, as cost pressures may simply be passed along to consumers.

Silverman also remarked on the rising prominence of live sports and events as a focus for media companies during upfront presentations to advertisers. He noted that while sports have become increasingly central, entertainment content remains significant, both for audiences and within his own family's viewing habits. Silverman observed a renewed influx of quality scripted content following the recent industry strike, expressing enthusiasm for a varied media landscape that includes both sports and entertainment.



Shift to creator economy in evolving media landscape

Welcome back to Money Movers. Take a look at shares in Netflix today, hitting another all-time high, up more than 30% for the year to date. The company said yesterday during its upfront event that its ad-supported tier has grown to 94 million active monthlies. That's up from more than 20 million from November. Netflix is not the only media giant holding its upfront this week. We had Warner, we had Paramount, we had Disney, all making their own pitches to advertisers over the past several days. Joining us here at Post 9, former NBC Entertainment co-chair and Propagate Content co-CEO Ben Silverman is with us. It's great to see you. Welcome to the set. Thank you. It's awesome to be here. Before I get to the landscape, you yourself have gotten a lot more active in just the last couple of months. Can you talk about what's going on? So we've made a big bet on the creator economy and kind of diversifying our entire company as we're seeing so many eyeballs migrate to social media, migrate into YouTube. And so we, as premium content makers, want to be connected to that space. Wherever our eyeballs go, we want to be. Is that a comment on what the legacy guys are doing? Well, they're also starting to activate it a little bit. You saw the Mr. Beast TV show for Amazon being announced. We have the Mormon Wives, who we represent through Select, one of our digital agencies, which is a huge show for Hulu. And I think there's obviously the ability to migrate that talent, but going where the audience is to also work with that talent to kind of up their game on who they're selling to, what advertisers they're talking to, as well as what kind of brands they themselves can build now that they have a direct-to-consumer relationship. So you bought a company that represents all these, what, YouTube influencers mainly? It's YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. So we invested in two companies, one called Select and one called Parker, because we're trying to get scale to really be able to go upstream, both to develop premium content with them, but also to sell to advertisers at a larger level. It's funny. We were just talking to Frank McCourt, who wants to buy TikTok and is also very upset about the sort of power that these companies have over our kids. No, no question. We tend to skew both of the lead owners of the companies that we invested in, our moms, and care a lot about children and the future. And so there's a lot of responsibility that we take in how we look to communicate. I assume you've been taking stock of what the pitches have sounded like this week. Who sounds most impressive? Well, you know, as the producer of the paper coming up on NBC, I think that was incredible, and best medicine for plots. But it's hard to compete with some of the scale that a company like Amazon is able to drive. Retail scale, audience scale, you know, it's really impressive. But then there are stats that come through, and they are still so mind-blowing, like the volume of impressions that NBCUniversal gets every month, the volume of impressions that some of these platforms have between their news, their sports, their cable, their theme parks. You know, it's extraordinary. And I think that's why you're seeing a little bit of an excitement around these, and certainly in Wall Street, you know, around Disney, around what's going on at NBC, around Max. You know, there's a real opportunity. I do get scared when ESPN decides to charge $29 and give you Hulu and Disney basically for free alongside, and where and when does the consumer just bust, you know, if they're going to be assembling $30, $29 subscriptions? What about the, I mean, the feeling around tariffs and the sort of uncertainty around macro? Is that filtering into the ad conversation? It was, but the advertisers always this time of year cry that they have no money. No matter what's happening in the world, I have never been to an upfront where they come in and go, we've got pockets of new cash and we want to spend it with you. There's always going to be some outlying issue that they anticipate with the consumer. And I don't think it's just a negotiating ploy. I think it obviously is a challenge, but these seem to be rectifying in such fast or at least be ameliorated in such quick cycles that I don't know when the rubber hits the road, what the money transfer will actually be. Will there be challenges because they anticipate tariffs that never happen or will the tariffs actually start to impact them? And are they really going to cut advertising or are they just going to be passing these costs along to the consumer? If everyone's passing the cost along, it's kind of a net playing field. If they are the only ones who have the tariff implication, then maybe they need to cut spend to keep their price down on their product. How about the notion that live sports and live events as a concentrated driver of growth? Has that topped out? I am so amazed how much sports has become a centerpiece of this upfront week in New York City. Traditionally, entertainment was really the driver of the upfronts. You were introducing new actors, new actresses, new concepts, new shows, and sports was really at the driving center of all of this. I don't know if it's just because it's the most relatable and easy to convey because everyone knows what those sports are, but I am watching people go into further a field in sports and I'm not sure what the ratings or audiences are going to be for the tutoriary sports as opposed to the main motherships. I do wonder if sports is just the outlier and everything else is down potentially this year when it comes to marketing costs. I think you need a mix. Entertainment is still what we're talking about at our dinner table. We go through the Knicks and the Celtics game six tomorrow night, but we then arrive at talking about the content we're watching. We're talking about the great shows that are coming out. I'm seeing post-strike now, we're kind of through that cycle. We had a big strike in our industry and now I'm seeing a lot of really good content start to come to the marketplace. I'm loving watching television with my family now from an entertainment standpoint, not just sports. Yeah, it's good to have both, the sports and the scripted. You know what never gets old? Office reruns. That's what she said. That's what she said. It's true. Thanks for hustling in, man. No, I'm so glad to be here. Good to see you. Thank you both.

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