Marketing Happy Hour - What Gen-Z Considers Entertainment (+ The Formula for Engaging, Short-Form Content) | Michael Vito Valentino of NowThis

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

I sat down with co-host Ally Golden and Michael Vito Valentino, Editor in Chief at NowThis for Episode 2 of the POSSIBLE 2025 conference series. Gen Z is redefining what “entertainment” means in the 21st century. We discuss the serialized content approach Michael and his team are taking at NowThis and how it’s paving the way for brand loyalty with Gen-Z females. Additionally, we explore the evolving role of brand integrations in a crowded landscape and how brands can authentically embed themselves into cultural conversations.Key Takeaways:// Niche is the new mainstream. There’s heavy competition in the attention economy and your brand can stand out by identifying niches. Once you have fans, community and trust - you can convert short-term audiences to long-term fans. // Short-form, repeatable formats with full story arcs is what Gen-Z is craving out of their content. Audiences want consistency and to know what to expect.// Gen-Z doesn’t hate advertisements. They hate crappy advertisements. Content needs to be as authentic and real as possible by speaking their language and giving them what they want.// Manufacturing virality is difficult to promise as a part of any campaign. Virality comes from taste, knowing what your audience wants and a consistent approach to authenticity. Learn more about NowThis: Instagram | TikTokConnect with Michael: LinkedIn | InstagramConnect with Ally: LinkedIn | Instagram____Say hi! DM me on Instagram and let us know what content you want to hear on the show - I can't wait to hear from you! Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. ⁠Join our FREE Open Jobs group on LinkedIn: ⁠Join now⁠Get the latest from MHH, straight to your inbox: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our email list!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow MHH on Social: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

What is entertainment to Gen Z? What are they spending their time on? How are we ensuring that we get to be a part of that? Right now, the biggest trend that I'm seeing is that these short form, repeatable formats that have entire arcs, you're starting in the beginning, all the way to the end is really what Gen Z is craving. Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour. I'm Cassie, consultant, podcaster, and your host. Every Thursday, you'll hear episodes packed with insights from brand leaders on an array of topics, from crafting effective marketing strategies and hitting career goals to building leadership skills and launching your own business. Inspired by those unfiltered Happy Hour convos with peers, this show is all about

practical, empowering chats to support your professional journey. So grab your favorite drink and let's get to the episode. Today joining us, we have Michael Vito Valentino of NowThis, super stoked to be chatting alongside him and my co-host for this series, Ali Golden, of course. We're gonna talk all things, what Gen Z considers amazing, entertaining content. This is just an elaboration on a session that we heard Michael speak on at the Possible Conference. Welcome to the show, Michael.

Thank you so much for having me. Very excited to be here. Absolutely. We are so stoked to have you today. We have to kick off, of course, with an important question though. What's been in your glass lately? Oh, that's a hard question. I mean, I literally just got back from Monaco for the Grand Prix over there. So there's a lot of champagne in my glass, but usually it's Coca-Cola, which is by far my favorite favorite. I can't go a day. I can't go a meal without drinking Coke.

We absolutely love Coca-Cola over here as well. I know Allie's a diet Coke. I'm a huge diet Coke gal. Yes. It's my vice for sure. Yeah, but I'm a Coke myself too. So yeah, again, can't go wrong with any of that stuff. Allie, do you have anything fun this morning in your...

Yeah, so continuing from other sessions this week, I'm just drinking a ton of water. I did add some element electrolytes this morning. I think it's elementy actually, and those are my favorite on the market. Yeah, I just have water too, plain and boring, but gotta stay hydrated in the heat. So that's what I got today. I'm on my third refill of water this season. Oh, great. Good for you.

That's impressive. Gotta stay hydrated. Yes. Awesome, so Michael, we'll jump right in. Curious if you can share a little bit of your journey with us and how you landed at NowThis. Yeah, of course. I graduated in 2020 during the pandemic and it was really an interesting time

to, you know, jump start your career. And before that I kind of jumped around. I always knew I wanted to work in entertainment having been at, you know, nine different internships throughout college. So definitely got the bug or some sort of mental illness that made me have to run and really, you know, explore every aspect of the industry. I just, I really, I really fell in love with it. And after graduating, I was like, okay, what am I going to do? So I turned to TikTok and I was like, okay, once this thing gets a little bit better, the pandemic, I will, and the industry reopens, I want to make sure that I have some type of portfolio that will allow me to get hired. And at the pandemic, I will, and the industry reopens, I wanna make sure that I have some type of portfolio that will allow me to get hired.

And at the time, my dream job was to go work in MTV. So I created the very first TikTok talk show, which is ironic because that's what I do nowadays. I created the very first TikTok talk show, interviewing obscure pop culture icons. And it was like, it was very cute. I was so used to working, so to be in the pandemic with nothing to do, I was like, was very cute. I was so used to working so to be in the

pandemic with nothing to do I was like what can I do to better myself and come out of this with something that's actually tangible that I could use to get a job. So I interviewed people like Nikki Blonsky from the hit movie Hairspray, Andre from Victorious, Bertram from Jesse, Martha from High School Musical and I used those interviews that did really well and really popped off to really serve as a proof of concept of what I could bring to the table so when the time came I'd be able to go. So MTV hired me as an assistant and from there

within two and a half years I got promoted four times up to supervising producer. I was the lead of the vertical video team because at the time I was running their snapchat I was supposed to sunset it. The role was supposed to be two months long. Two months turned into two and a half years and the rest is history. After that I decided to make the difficult decision to leave the company to go to the very first, a small short form studio and within a year I made that company profitable and it got the attention of now this. At the time was looking to go through a pretty ambitious rebrand so they brought me on as their editor-in-chief to bring this new vision of what vertical video could be What what is the next step in this space and how do we convert?

You know a legacy brand like now this into the premieres place for hit short form TV shows our contents across Instagram YouTube shorts and of course tech talk snapchat as well And we're targeting Gen Z females. And with that, we're really getting to not only be a part of culture, but help shape it, and we're attracting the likes of major names like Lizzo, Anderson Pak, Ben Platt, Pink Pantherous to come on some of our hit shows and promote their projects while also really creating some iconic, iconic moments that are going viral

across platform being picked up by press, et cetera. So tell us a little more about now this and some of your shows and how do you and your team approach content? You alluded to that a little bit, but we'd love to just hear more there as well. Well, my biggest rule for when like creating show and creating IP is we have to be a fans of the content we're creating otherwise no one's gonna want to watch it. I've been at companies previously that when asking what's your favorite show that we work on etc I

would be approached by very senior level individuals being like what are you talking about? I hate every single thing that we do. I'm like that's crazy. That is a crazy thing to say. You're working at a company devoting your time to building something and you're not a fan of anything? You know, and those companies end up in a very interesting spot because if the people working on these projects, dedicating all this time and energy, aren't actually passionate or fans of the content itself, it's not going to yield the results that you want. So that's our main, main focus here is building like shows that we love to watch and that we're laughing along with. And if we aren't laughing, then there's really no point in us creating this show.

And with those types of projects, if it's not working, we're really quick to fail fast and to sunset the projects. Now, of course, we're always backed by data, but a lot of it is also taste and gut feeling. So what we try to do is really make sure that when working with either different talent or as we're developing these creators into fitting these formats that we create in-house, we really want to make sure that along the way it always feels right. But then the good thing about now this is we have over 90 million followers of distribution. So when we want to try a pilot, we can launch it, see how the audience reacts. And then each episode progressively get better

and better to make sure that we're serving our audience in the most efficient, but also the most effective way during your panel at possible. So going back a few weeks ago, you shared this one statement that I wrote down. You said niche is the new mainstream. Can you share what you meant by that? And how are you seeing Gen Z's content preferences shift away from just traditional entertainment overall? In the early days of the pandemic, we saw a different type of culture with

audiences. They were very follow happy. There was not a lot of competition in the marketplace. So things would go viral. And it was like, if you just knew how to grab someone's attention, you could be the next big thing. That's changed. And nowadays we're really focusing on high quality and consumers are getting smarter

about what they're trying to watch and also how they're using their time. I always tell folks, there's 24 hours in a day, eight hours for sleeping, at least you're supposed to, 8 hours for working, and then 8 hours for living your life. That's everything else there. That's where we fall into it. So if we could grab your attention for 30 seconds, 1 minute, 90 seconds, 2 minutes, if we're being crazy, that's a great place to be because we're, you know, there's only so much time that you're dedicating to your scrolling, to your life,

to doing anything. So we really want to make sure that we're a part of that. So in terms of Niche being the new mainstream, we want to make sure that we fall into these different communities, that we're coming in and we're creating content specifically for a certain type of person. And in that, there's a lot of loyalty. And you're able to really resonate with audiences quicker rather than trying to be everything to everyone, which is a Renee Rath reference.

We really want to be one thing to a certain group, a group that has a lot of ammo in it, that has a lot of buying power, but then from there, as we gain our relevancy, as we solidify our place in that niche, we then can grow. Because I think nowadays with all the chaos, all the clutter, there's so much competition in the attention economy. How do you stand out? You stand out through niches and then in that once you gain your relevancy, you're off to the races and not only will the biggest celebrities want to work with you, the biggest brands want to buy into your content,

but on top of that, you're creating a fandom. And fans are fans are fans are fans. Once you have fans, once you have that community and that trust, you can go and you can convert these short form audiences into long form audiences. You can go into live events, get them to show up, open their purses, open their wallets to get into the main event,

and you could even go into merch. For sure, And that's such an interesting concept of fans are fans are fans. I think the conversation around niche specifically I felt was a big theme at Possible this year. And something that I know Cassie and I both are super interested in exploring more. So appreciate you sharing that. And so on the entertainment side, what does Gen Z consider entertainment? I know I'm curious and curious to know how that entertainment leads to brand conversions for you. A hundred percent. I think nowadays we're busy.

We're busy coming out of the pandemic. Everyone wanted to, and it's, it's fun that we're still referencing it, but it changed everything to this day. We're still seeing people's behavior has shifted in such a way. And I think also with how much noise there is in this space, it's really what is entertainment to Gen Z? What are they spending their time on? How are we ensuring that we get to be a part of that? I think right now the biggest trend that I'm seeing in

2025 is that these short form repeatable formats that have entire arcs where you know where you're starting in the beginning all the way to the end is really what Gen Z is craving. People always say how do you tell a story in 90 seconds? It's the same exact way you tell a story in 60 minutes, you know, and whatever it is and it's really you have your beats that you need to hit and with that you know what sound bites you need to be getting. You how to produce it of course it has to be authentic it has to be organic that's the biggest thing for Gen Z is they have a really great BS meter so if you go you know in another direction or if you're creating content

for the generation and you're kind of phoning it in they'll know that if someone sells out and they you know doing branded partnerships but it feels very rehears rehearsed, they know it's an ad and guess what? The engagement is going to be really bad. So I hope you have money to put paid behind it because otherwise you're not going to get your views. But also I'd be really interested in those projects to see what the total time spent is on the individual video because it's not going to be high. So I think for us, it's really, okay, how do we make these incredible stories, but on top of that incredible IP that withstands

the test of time that could turn into anything that we want it to, but really utilize the short form platforms as a marketing tool to reach those audiences, because it's still the best algorithm ever created to reach individuals. When we have that strong IP, when we have the creators to host our show, when we, a lot of times we actually, because we have this massive distribution, we don't even go with established creators. We go with nobodies

that have talent and we're able to actually, you know, create a space to incubate up-and-coming talent and launch them, utilizing now this as a launching pad for, you know, the next generation of some of the biggest creators, the best IP, et cetera, et cetera. And in that, brands get excited to work with us because they know that we have these repeatable formats every single day. Our audience is coming in knowing what to expect, knowing the quality as well as the comedy that comes with all of our shows. And then when we do attach brands to it, which happens very frequently, it performs. And it performs organically because what we're doing

is we're including the brands into the shows, not as an integration, but as a way to actually elevate the content itself. You know that when it's a brand deal, you're gonna be getting as good or better quality of the show that you get in, day in and day out. And I think that's really the biggest thing. When we're talking about what does Gen Z

consider entertainment, what does Gen Z actually wanna consume when it comes to ads? I always say, Gen Z doesn't hate advertisements, they hate crappy advertisements. So you have to make sure that it's as authentic, as real, as possible. And in that, they will watch a 30, a 60, a 90 second ad for your product.

You just have to make sure you're speaking their language and still giving them what they want. Because nowadays, if advertisers are only trying to integrate into product, they're not gonna see the results that they wanna see. It's now all about elevation. How can you, being a sponsor of my show, make it better so that I win and you win?

And we're going to go back to brand integrations here in a minute, just because I think that's such an important topic to discuss and just how do you make that organic as you're mentioning and really fit in the mold of the content that you're developing. But first I want to touch on this, you said repeatable format. So the serialized content, right? Which was another huge, huge element that many different people spoke about at Possible and I think something that us marketers should get very excited about. So tell us about why serialized content really is a focus for your team and how are you approaching that as well? I think serialized content has always and forever been a big part of the entertainment

industry. Audiences want to know what to expect when they're tuning in because their time is valuable and we recognize that. So I think for everyone, always, it's always been about, okay, how do we create repeatable formats so that you have consistency across the board? So this is no different than what has happened for the past 150 years. What is different though today and what is revolutionary is how we're creating this serialized content, how we're doing this type of storytelling in the 90 seconds and bringing these

incredible formats, tropes that are very recognizable, tropes that have been around, you know, for as long as entertainment has been around, but how are we making that work in short form in these 60 to 90 seconds and on top of that how are we making it relevant to Gen Z? I think for now this in particular, when I came into the company, which was 10 months ago, which is insane to think about that it's been so long, but also so little of time

considering how much has changed here. It was really interesting because I came into a company with no IP. So coming into a company that is this legacy brand that people know and respect, we've been around for over 12 years. People love now this. We have a really loyal audience. How was I going to come in and really change the format, the content, the storytelling that people have known for forever. Now this has always been a place that has been known for their revolutionary storytelling. You know, they did it with the millennials back then then and now we're doing with Gen Z and we've

been successful in doing it. The company was profitable for the first time in I believe five years just a few months ago and it's because we're really making sure that whenever the content we're creating it resonates with the audience and on top of that actually targeting advertisers that we're actually servicing them, that we're creating IP in different verticals that make sense for different brands. Are You Okay? which is an elevated man on the street show where we feature iconic individuals all over the place. Of course we're based in New York but we've taken the show now to Miami to LA. We're gonna be bringing it

to the Midwest pretty soon and in every single time it hits because the format itself is so recognizable from the theme song to the line of questioning to our incredible host, who's one of my producers here at NowThis, Brie Morales. So it's one of those things where advertisers always know how they can fit into the content through either brand ambassadors, iconic guests that we have, thematic questions, called actions, whatever the advertiser wants, and we work very closely with them to make sure we're telling that story in the best way possible,

and they really trust us because they know we know what we're doing, we know what our audience wants, and we know what does well for our shows. So it's always great to work with them, but even on shows like Crosswalk Crush, which is for the dating vertical, when our show Top Dog, which is of course around pets, we have a show called Judgy,

which is like our version of Gen Z version of People's Court. We have all these different shows that are really, really exciting. And also I'm doing a show called Reality Checked, which I'm making my on-camera debut. The first episode performed exceptionally well. I exceeded all of our KPIs. And it's all about figuring out solutions to inherently Gen Z problems. Are your friends hanging out without you? Let's go find out why that is. Are you being cheated on? Let's go confront the alleged cheater. So all these different things

that we could do and it feels very MTV-esque, which is funny because that's really where I got my footing. But when we're talking about what is entertainment to Gen Z, it really is figuring out what is a category that number one has advertising potential. Everything that we do here is brand safe, but also what do audiences actually want? And we try to find a solution for them in those categories. And so share with us too about this element of loyalty as well. There's entertainment as you're discussing, but this repeatable format is

something that your audience can expect. They start to build a relationship with the hosts and with the different people showing up in these shows. And so how is this content, the serial content, I should say, playing a role in building loyalty with the audience. Now this is entering, you know, and is the solution to the next step of the creator economy. Where previously, early days, we were talking about influencers. Now if you call any of my creators influencers, they're going to snap at you.

They're going to say, I'm not an influencer. I do have influence, but I'm a creator. Because I think creators utilize the different niches that they play in, the different categories, whatever they have. They're not just here to do and get ready with me's. Although that is something that a lot of creators do. They're here because they're coming from a particular vertical.

Maybe they're a real estate agent, maybe they're a comedian, maybe they're an on-camera host personality, Ryan Seacrest type, whatever they are, a dating coach, anything. They are using the short-form platforms as a marketing tool to gain audience, to gain cloud. Cloud is a currency, and if anyone disagrees with that, they're crazy.

Cloud is the best currency ever. You have followers, you have power. And with that, it's creators have true influence because they're not seen as folks that are just trying to peddle, whatever the next product is. People are looking at them because they're really interested

and they're really invested in these individuals and they wanna be a part of that. And with our IP, we really are able to create these repeatable formats that promote this loyalty, that promote this ability to be like, whoa, this is so different than anything I've seen before on social but also it feels familiar because we're pulling what

you've seen on TV you know all we're doing is really packaging it differently so that it's palatable for you know the Gen Z audience on short form so in that loyalty comes a lot of power but how do we get that loyalty it's through consistency through ensuring that we always remain authentic, always organic. Are you okay is a perfect example of, every guest that comes on, we book, and we do pre-interviews,

like the late night talk show model. My producers sitting down with talent twice, going through their stories, figuring out how to manufacture that virality, and in doing so, it looks really organic on the street. It is really organic on the street. It is really organic on the street. We want to make sure that we're packaging and making the best content possible for our audiences. Now, does it take more time? And time is money? Yes.

But we're able to see more consistency in that, which, number one, allows our shows to grow rather quickly. And then on top of that, when we're working with advertisers, we're able to make branded content that works organically, that people really enjoy and that they're excited about. It's bizarre seeing the comments that we get constantly. They're like, get your bag, congratulations, you go girl. And they're talking to, you know, different hosts. But on top of that, they're asking questions that I would never even like think of. And they're very invested in everything that our hosts wear. They want to find out, where'd you get that jacket? Oh my god, where'd you get those shoes?

What thrift store are you going to? Oh my god, is that from Abercrombie? They know everything. You can't get anything past that. So with that, we have to make sure that everything that we're doing, that it feels very authentic. And part of that is making sure that all of our shows feel like they're happening in the moment, which they are. Even if we do a little bit of pre-production, everything happening outside is just kind of flowing.

It's an incredible approach. And I think anyone who's listening that has seen Are You Okay? knows that and feels that from the content. I know Cassie and I are both huge fans. I'm curious on the talent side of things, how do you go about hiring talent that should ultimately connect with your audience? You mentioned a few different things there around authenticity and the organic nature, but I think you mentioned as well this notion

of these sort of micro influencers or folks that have micro creators for lack of a better term that have this sort of more niche audience, right? And so how do you go about that hiring process? Well, as I mentioned before, now this is in a very unique position compared to any other short form studio in the space because we have that 90 million followers of distribution, which by the way, we use only as a launching pad because 90% of the followers that R U OK has are net new that have nothing to do with now this core audience.

So not only are we building a following and still increasing followers across our now this main pages, but also on these show pages, we're creating brand new audiences that are largely Gen Z, largely female, and it's incredible. And it's something that I could have never imagined across my wildest dreams. I was just happy to have the distribution. But what we've seen is that what happens is when we post a video and the core audience of now this watches it, and then from there, the algorithm trusts it and then goes and serves it to the actual audience that really wants it. And because of that, we're able to gain new followings across the board.

So it's been really exciting to see that kind of take place. Now with that, we have the unique opportunity to find individuals that have never been on camera before, or if they have, it's been for fun, you know? So people that are just talking on their phone and we're able to give them unique opportunities to come in, emerging creators, emerging comedians, whatever it is, and then we're going through and we're kind of trying to find who is, who are rather, the stars of tomorrow, and then we're able to platform them.

And we're able to do that not only with finding new hosts, but on top of that, guests on our actual shows. Amber, for example, who was the host of our new show, Judgy, she was someone that we discovered, just because she was doing comedy, she was in the Brooklyn comedy scene, and then from there had her on Are You Okay? She went super viral on Are You Okay?

We loved working with her, and we said, hey, we have this judge show, let's bring her on and see how she does. And she, of course, she auditioned with about seven other individuals. We did screen tests for a handful of those folks. And then from there, we saw, okay, which one makes the most sense? Which one can we see building a universe in? And the folks that don't get the opportunity, it's not a goodbye,

it's a see you later. Because half the time we love them so much, we're trying to figure out the next project that would work for them. So I think we're in a really great place where we're able to get people their chance, find individuals that might not have the distribution or the platform themselves, and give them a platform. When we're working with legacy creators, people that already have large followings, we aren't usually putting them in the same niche that they've been in. And if we do do that, we're hoping to expand and give them, you know, the back end. They have an entire studio, an entire company behind them to help make their show successful. So in

doing so, for example, Thea James, who has close to a million followers across platforms, she's the host of our hit show, Crosswalk Crush. Fia is a personality and a musician. She hasn't really been in the dating category. Now we brought her in and we were like, she's so personable, she's so funny, she's so great. Let's put her in this niche and in doing so, she has ownership of this niche now and we're seeing a lot of success there.

Now we've had several episodes get millions of views across Crosswalk Crush, but now we're attracting A-list talent to come and appear on this show. So it's been really exciting seeing that transition happen even with someone who's already been in the space. So I want to go back to, for a second, Michael, to this idea of serialized, repeatable content. I feel like I already know what your answer to this question is going to be, but I want to talk about virality a little bit. Do you feel it can be manufactured?

I feel like we've talked about this a little bit. And virality just overalls this mixed bag topic in marketing. We always talk about, should we want to go viral? How is that approached? Is it intentional for the brand? So we'd love to hear your opinion just overall on that that topic This is controversial Because I think virality is something that's so hard to make it a part of your marketing campaigns

It's incredibly difficult You can work with companies like now this that have a track record of virality and the odds that something will go viral Will be more in your favor But for the most part, not even we can guarantee that happening. At the end of the day, there's only so many puzzle pieces you can put together before you push it out into the world, and then it's the algorithm gods, whoever they may be, that decide will this work or not. With that being said, like I mentioned, there are certain puzzle

pieces, there are certain things that you can do that will help set up the piece of content best for virality. And you know, it's in topics that you're talking about, the people that you're showcasing, the length, you know, there's certain best practices that you can do and there's certain tastes as well that you can apply to make sure that the audience is going to look for it. I think I've been very fortunate to understand what the audience wants, not because I'm, you know, this guru that understands Gen Z, but because I'm making content that I want to watch. Like I mentioned before, as long as you're a fan of it, I think that's the way, and that's

kind of where, you know, there's an audience for everything nowadays, and algorithms have gotten really good at finding those audiences for you So I think as long as you're consistent as long as you make sure that you're following, you know These steps we like I mentioned before We do pre interviews with everyone that comes on the show because we kind of know the little things that have happened and there's patterns And none of this is a secret kind of the the big thing for us is how do we make sure that whatever we're doing we're putting our own spin and we're making sure that you know that the dating space for example is very saturated so how are we showing up how are we being different in the brand identity but on top that in terms of the

topic that we're covering and how we're showing up in that space so I think that's what's super super important always when trying to predict okay what does virality look like? With that being said, it's still incredibly difficult. It's so hard. It's the hardest thing. We're having meetings all day long. How do we make another, are you okay?

That's similar, but different. And it's still something, even though we created it and we are able to copy ourselves, it's still incredibly difficult to get that to happen. And that's why it's so important for us to go into different categories, because we can take learnings from Are You Okay? But being in these different categories, by being in these different niches,

the storytelling feels different, and that's how you're able to blow up different shows. And that's what we're employing, you know, with our new hit show, Crosswalk Crush, and what we're doing on some of our newer shows like Judgy or Top Dog. For sure, for sure. And so back at Possible, you had said brand integration

should elevate content, not take away from it. I'm curious, can you talk about what a successful brand integration looks like at NowThis, or can you share an example of one that you're really proud of? I think for us, it's been really, really excellent because there's a lot of trust. You'll hear anyone that's kind of in this

creator economy space saying when brands trust us to execute the best vision for their show, that's when it will really shine and that's when it'll really do well and our audiences will enjoy it but on top of that be excited for it. So I think the best type of integration always is when we have a good relationship with the clients and they let us do our thing and no matter what we'll still get you your CTA, we'll get you your desired outcome, we'll get you on theme with whatever you're looking for. But I think by telling us, hey, what is your desired outcome, we'll be able to bring you

the solution to that and it'll nine times out of 10 very likely hit at least we know for a fact it's tough to predict virality but if you follow the patterns if you listen to your your instincts because they're backed by the data because you've been doing this you know are you okay has been around now for about five six months we know what works and if you let us do our thing it'll really be able to shine and advertisers will also be really excited. The best type of partner to work with is one that you worked with before. Because you already have that trust, you know what each other's wants are, and with that,

repeat customers are repeat customers because they always leave satisfied. And I think that's the best type of partner. And that's kind of the future of all of this. It's hard to do a one-off and get that ROI that you really want. Of course you'll get it. But if you really want to see a massive bang for your buck, it's by creating a relationship and kind of building out,

okay, what does it look like? And that's how you go from just integration into elevation. And I think that's where we see advertisers always winning. Michael, this has been absolutely fantastic. And I just want to shift gears one last time as we close out here to ask you a little bit about career. I have a bit of a loaded question. But I want to know, what do you know now

that you wish you knew earlier on in your career? That's a great question. It's actually patience, I think. I think coming to now this, I imagined, you know, if you have 90 million followers, that everything you do, even if I was just literally filming spaghetti on the wall, instead of throwing at it, just filming it and posting it, I thought it would get millions of views.

But what I really learned was, everything that you do here has to be intentional. Everything has to hit, everything has to have experimentation, a little bit of science behind it, to figure out what exactly will make a format repeatable and what is that secret sauce to get the audience to really not go from just doom-scrolling to actually craving your content and with that, with the distribution, it hits and it gets there. I thought it was gonna be a

lot easier, it's been a lot harder. I think we've, along the 10 months, we've learned an incredible amount. We have, you know, several hit shows, several exciting ones in development that are based on, you know, the learnings there. But I really thought, and maybe it was naive, it definitely was, that we could just do anything, it'd be a walk in the park. But no matter what, no matter how big you are, the most important thing is to make the things you want to make because that is truly what will resonate with the audiences. And you can't just fall back on a massive distribution because that has been the downfall. Looking at, you know, all these legacy companies, they stopped innovating.

They stopped creating. They got comfortable. And I think you can never overestimate your potential in that space. It always has to do with, is it good? If it's good, make it great. Yep. And I love that as just an analogy for your own personal career as well, you know, making that stuff that you want to make and just going for it. I mean, you obviously created this opportunity for yourself. You went out there, you developed the content you wanted to develop, and now it's led to where you are today. So I think that's just a powerful reminder in your work itself, but just also in general and in career and chasing your passions. So really loved that advice. Thank you for sharing that.

Thank you. And thank you so much for having me. This was really a blast. Oh my gosh. Of course. As we close out though, too, I want to know where can we follow along with you personally and then tell us more about where we can follow NowThis too. Of course, of course. You can follow me personally. Feel free to follow me on LinkedIn at Michael Vito Valentino and I'm also Michael Vito Valentino on Instagram. And then you can follow along NowThis across all platforms at NowThis and feel free to check out some of our hit shows like Are You Okay, Crosswalk Crush, top dog, judgey, et cetera. Yeah. Amazing. Thank you so much, Michael.

We'll have everything linked below as well. So go check out the show notes to follow all the different pages and Michael also thank you so much for being here today. Again, this has been amazing. So many takeaways and notes. So I really appreciate you coming on and sharing all of your knowledge with us. Thank you. This has been really fun. Thank you so much for tuning into this week's episode. If you enjoyed this conversation, I would love your feedback. And if you're ready to take things to

the next level, sign up for my weekly newsletter in the show notes, you'll get weekly career and marketing insights straight to your inbox. And if you have an idea for a future marketing happy hour episode, shoot me an email. hello at marketinghappyhr.com. Thank you again and I'll see you next Thursday.