What was the moment that made Donald Trump want to run for president? Was it when Barack Obama zinged his eventual-successor at the White House Correspondents Dinner? Or was it the first time that Trump’s daddy didn’t hug him? We may never know, but we do know the moment that he decided to start his own digital media company.
Fox News was the first outlet to call Arizona for president-elect Joe Biden in the election, which “enraged Trump, and gave him something tangible to use in his attacks on the network,” according to Axios. He has since been telling “friends [that] he wants to start a digital media company to clobber Fox News and undermine the conservative-friendly network.” (I assume “friends” means “Melania wearing noise-canceling headphones.”)
Getting carried on cable systems would be expensive and time-consuming. Instead, Trump is considering a digital media channel that would stream online, which would be cheaper and quicker to start. Trump’s digital offering would likely charge a monthly fee to MAGA fans. Many are Fox News viewers, and he’d aim to replace the network — and the $5.99-a-month Fox Nation streaming service, which has an 85% conversion rate from free trials to paid subscribers — as their top destination.
Tomi Lahren is checking her email every three seconds.
Trump wants to “wreck” Fox News (he plans to hammer the channel during vote-count rallies), but Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch welcomes the competition. “We have always thrived with competition,” he said earlier this month. “The only difference today versus some years ago is as our audience has grown and our reach has grown, we see our competition as no longer only cable news providers but also as the traditional broadcast networks.” But the Trump Network has at least eight subscribers already!
One show for Diamond and ANOTHER for Silk. The ratings will very very very big… bigger than a lot of people ever thought possible… and it's a really incredible thing you're going to see…
— Drew Magary (@drewmagary) November 12, 2020
(Via Axios)