Light bulb moments, doom-saying and the power of comic relief. Plus, laughing all the way to the bank.
In this issue, we revisit one of our most read newsletter issues from the Archives. Issue No. 30.
Why? Because it sits there, on our minds, as applicable to nearly every week that has gone by since we published it.
The key theme was how, as an audience, we overcome the constant pressure from a constant sense of overwhelming doom.
The answer is simple: laughter.
Someone, anyone, who can make us laugh is key to our sanity and, it turns out, to lots and lots of money.
Let’s Get Started
At some point, after sunset most likely, on October 22nd, 1879, Thomas Edison perfected the incandescent light bulb. It was an event that dramatically changed the course of human culture forever.
To power the lights, Edison helped develop the distribution systems needed to safely and efficiently deliver electricity across towns and into any home by cable. With the light bulb, reading in our leisure time allowed news, knowledge and fantasy to spread like never before in the medium of newspapers, books and magazines. For those who could afford them.
Media, suddenly, became big business.
With those cables, the electrical age evolved into today’s digital age in which the whole of human knowledge is literally in the palm of our hands and at our fingertips. History. Literature. Science. Philosophy. Religion. News. Free, for everyone to know.
One would think that enlightenment would have come with that electric light bulb. For some perhaps.
But on that same date, in 1962, US President John Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of Cuba and declared a national security emergency referred to as the Cuban Missile Crisis. That event culminated in both the US and the then-Soviet Union being within a single step from full-scale world-wide thermo-nuclear war.
It was, perhaps, the closest our species has come to destroying our planet and ourselves.
So far.
Today, we can sit under electric lights and watch, listen or read in abject horror as leaders of neighbouring peoples, in several regions of our world, try to position followers to utterly destroy each other.
What is one to do?
One could whither in despair.
Or, if one chooses to, there is always the option to laugh.
Laughter, it turns out, is a salve.
As un-natural as it sounds to laugh in the face of destruction, it is often the one thing that changes our attitude just enough to avert it.
Just Catching Up?
A lot of people are.
Here’s the kicker, it really doesn’t matter what makes us laugh. Nervous laughter will always be better than fear.
Comic Relief
Physiologically, the simple act of smiling changes the cocktail of neurotransmitters in our brains and elevates both mood and cognition. It doesn’t even matter if the smile is genuine or not.
Simply arranging the muscles in our face into a smile works miracles for our minds, bodies and souls (for us and everyone around us).
Imagine what a full-on belly laugh can achieve!
Time to Stand Up!
We have plenty of thrillers and horror movies out now.
We have the news.
We have viral anti-social media posts.
What we don’t have enough of are recordings of Robin Williams.
There’s no reason a professional journalist can’t ask that angry politician if he’s joking. The answer will simply raise the absurdity level just enough for folks to see that he (or she) is actually serious and needing to take a breath for all our sakes.
So, what can the Media & Entertainment industry do to make our world just a little less vile and provide that much needed momentary pause for reflection?
Perhaps we might tell a joke.
Someone, anyone, just … fart on camera for goodness sake!
At some point, before it all falls apart, all that’s really needed is for someone to make us laugh.
And if existential pressure isn’t a good enough reason to do so, there’s always profit motive.
There’s a lot of money to be made in comedy. No joke!
What It Means
The comedy sector is a massive, booming component of the global Media & Entertainment industry, with the live stand-up market alone tripling in value over the past decade to well over $900 million in ticket sales annually.
The total comedy sector (including streaming, film, television and live performance) is experiencing significant growth, with the global market projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.5% through 2028.
Key Facts
- Live Stand-Up Boom: Stand-up comedy grosses have nearly tripled over the last decade.
- Streaming Content: Netflix spent an estimated $500 million on comedy specials and content in 2022, the last year we have data specific to genre-spend at the streamer.
- UK Comedy Valuation: Live comedy generates over £1 billion-a-year in the UK alone.
- High-Volume Talent: Top comedians can generate between US$40 to US$60 million in any given year from movies, touring and other ventures.
- Digital Reach: Social media platforms like TikTok have seen comedy hashtags reach over 1.5 trillion views recently, serving as a vital driver for ticket sales and digital ad revenue.
Sector Specifics:
- Comedy Clubs: A single 150-seat comedy club can generate US$7,500 in revenue from a single show, with profitable clubs boasting 10%–20% profit margins.
- Film: While big-ticket comedies have become less frequent in cinemas, low-budget comedy films continue to be a high-ROI genre, often acting as a key driver for streaming engagement.
Industry Outlook
The rise of digital content, specifically stand-up specials on streamers and short-form comedy on social media, has democratized the industry, allowing creators to bypass traditional television gatekeepers and directly monetize their audiences through touring and digital platforms.
Looking Forward
There’s a lot coming up.
Our Initiatives
We’re building out a capital dashboard to demonstrate where smart money is entering Media & Entertainment, which verticals are attracting more of it and how investors are realising capital gains.
This includes our own sector index of publicly-listed M&E stocks, a monitor on what capital strategies are gaining momentum and where private capital is finding dealflow advantages.
Here’s a taste of what we’re looking into:
Why Private Equity Is Paying Premiums to Take Publicly-Listed Media Companies Private
A consortium of private equity giants recently undertook history’s largest leveraged buyout of a public company. It wasn’t a bank, oil or pharma. It was Media & Entertainment.
Flipping the Script: How a New Capital Strategy is Changing Media & Entertainment
Capital markets are increasingly financing and valuing Media & Entertainment through royalty revenues rather than control over distribution.
I encourage you to read through the last several articles, there’s a theme developing around what smart money is thinking and how to find it.
In the meantime, I’m grateful for your continued support each time you visit the site and read one of our articles.
Please do comment. You can also help push us to deliver more value by adding your voice and suggestions to our Community Forums.
Help us all to “Be in the Know”.
Explore More Articles
→ View all articles in The Business
Related Pillars
Creative Value is one of four strategic domains within the Media C-Suite. The adjacent domains are:
Explore Also: Our Industry
Representing the entire team, posts from “The Publisher” offer deeper insights into the collective mind of the Media C-Suite. Our acting Publisher is Thomas Kingston, and you may recognise his voice and style in much of the work posted under the by-line of The Publisher.
