The Business: Razorfist Is Unauthorized

Yesterday Razorfist made a big announcement.

For those who didn't see my appearance with Owen Benjamin just now: The RazörForce is coming to the one platform that can't be canceled: UNAUTHORIZED TV!
I'll be doing a weekly political podcast exclusively here:https://t.co/xVuRLneZy3

— RazörFist (@RAZ0RFIST) September 25, 2020

"But why is this a good thing? Unauthorized is paywalled outlet."

There's a viable model for paywalled media, and sure enough that's the model Unauthorized homed in on: the cultivation of a specialized niche audience willing and able to directly support what they want to see, which is what the subscription fee is aimed to accomplish. Free from any need for advertising, and not slaved to any algorithm, the channels at a place like Unauthorized are free to post long-form content directly aimed at that core audience. Most will use free platforms like YouTube to post clips intended to drive more of that audience to places like Unauthorized, and the paywall does its job of filtering out those unwilling to pay to access it.

Folks, there are people paying $5 (USD) per month on Twitch and YouTube channel memberships. Places like Unauthorized have low-tier options like this also, so the model is viable; what remains to be seen is what Razorfist will put behind the wall, and in any event I hope that some serious long-form, high-quality, deep-lore sort of stuff goes there while keeping the more casual-friendly livestreams on Twitch and YouTube as well as the rants and commentaries on YouTube.

Speaking of which, here's this week's Geek Gab. I'll be in the chat.