Tucker Carlson got kicked off of Fox News’ airwaves and then relaunched his show on Twitter to compete against Fox News, and is now looking to start a new media firm to rival Fox News.
Insiders have told the Wall Street Street Journal that Carlson and Neil Patel, a former White House advisor, are actively looking for investors to fund this potential media company. This new venture will not only compete with Fox News but also use Twitter as its foundation.
Some people claimed that the new company’s revenue would come from subscriptions. Carlson had been regularly posting longer versions of his free videos on Twitter shortly after he left Fox News.
People said that Carlson and Patel were looking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in order to fund their company.
The people stated that users of Twitter and other platforms could still watch shorter versions of his shows, interviews, and documentaries for free. However, they would have to subscribe in order to view them in full. They said that the company would add more shows in the future.
Carlson and Patel shared a room in college, and they founded The Daily Caller in 2010 together. The report states that they have lined up lawyers, media strategists, financiers, and other professionals to work with the new company. They are also coordinating with Twitter. The team is also exploring other outlets for content, in addition to the website and mobile application. The report does not make it clear whether cable news networks would be part of the project.
Reports note that many other stars have built successful digital businesses but with a much smaller influence. Carlson’s videos on Twitter have received tens and millions of views. However, this does not reflect how many people watch them all the way through. Tucker’s YouTube videos have received hundreds of millions of views. However, the views are inconsistent. Some only reach a fraction of the views of a video. This may still be an impressive figure, but I think it shows that Twitter was not his only outlet.
It will be fascinating to see how Tucker retains his influence without a broadcasting network that could potentially be available to anyone with a TV and cable subscription. Subscriber models may be lucrative, but at what cost?
