A couple of years ago I asked “how much is NBC worth?”
Bear in mind, this was before the media market meltdown… before online began to eat away at TV’s might… but nonetheless, my valuation pegged NBC at $32 billion.
Today the rumor is that Comcast bought NBC for $35 billion.
Not bad.
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We had a long conversation last week with Barbara Corcoran, whose real estate empire rose to the top of the NY residential world. She sold her company recently to focus on her media interests, but for all intents and purposes, she remains queen of NY’s real estate market. In this part, we talk about the real estate. Read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.
WatchMojo: Well, let’s get to it, what is your read on the real estate situation right now?
Barbara Corcoran: Well, right now I think we are definitely in the midst of a market turnaround. So, and hold on just one second, there are some good numbers that I’ve got this morning, and maybe because I always like to have an opinion than try to find the stats at support. For example, if you look at all the communities across America, they are usually always watched very carefully every month a hundred and sixty major markets.
For the first time in this quarter a hundred and twenty-seven of them went up in price; that is amazing to me.
I don’t think people realize that, you know because people are so much expecting more bad news that they are not on the game as to what good news are out there. And, some of the markets have gone up tremendously.
Markets that I think most people have written off as being in the dumps like San Francisco open area. I don’t think people realize that those house prices and condo prices are really shooting up all across the state. So, the main thing is a hundred and twenty-seven markets, and hundred and sixty markets are up for the first time in sales price. And, the bottom-line in this really, and I know a quarter doesn’t make a lifetime. But, it’s first time we saw prices go up in most of the major markets across the US, and somehow people have the moods for bad news I think.
WatchMojo: Bad news is good for a headline, yes. This article will be called Barbara Corcoran killed New York’s Real Estate market. Just kidding. So, what is your read on the recession and the economy overall?
Barbara Corcoran: Well, I think we have a lot of problems. We have fewer jobs; we have people mistrusting the economy in every ritual way. We have tons of foreclosures which is a terrible black file that hangs over the real estate market. And, Ash, frankly hangs over every market, because people don’t spend when they think they have supposed value you know. We have assured financing for all kinds of things, new businesses, homes; we have banks under appraising. So, people who have the cash to buy it find the appraisals were coming in too low, because it would be compared to less quarter spaces. And so, you have so much bad news that people are in a negative mood, but I think it’s slightly better than it was three months ago; don’t ask me why, but it seems my own circle of friends and business people seem a little bit happier. And, what else is going on in the economy, I don’t know. The only news I ever read is real estate frankly.WatchMojo: I’m a Web entrepreneur… so I must ask, how has the internet affected real estate?
Barbara Corcoran: Oh, it’s been a Christmas gift to the real estate market from the get go.
I am speaking about the internet overall. It took the keys out of the hand of the broker and handed them to the buyer and the seller. Now, a seller can appraise their on your home; they don’t need to go at real estate broker. The buyer could drive by fifteen houses; see if they like them from the outside without ever needing to ask the real estate broker if she would have an appointment on Sunday at two, you know.
So, what it has done is it’s set lose the statistics and the information within the marketplace and the inventory to anyone who wants it in easy fashion with just a click or two. What it’s done for the real estate broker that kicked and screamed in the beginning, because they didn’t realize how good this was, it’s realized them from the terrible labor of showing ten houses.
If people don’t like them onside of the outside it saves them endless phone calls of people saying how big or small is the room. Now, they look at the photos and dimensions online, and it’s made the negotiation process faster, and it’s dramatically increased the number of transactions a typical broker can do in America now, and almost double them, and I would say eight years or nine years.
So, the average sales from selling twice as material things I used to with the help of the internet. So frankly, there is absolutely, it’s been the Christmas gift to the real estate industry, and it keeps on giving you know.
WatchMojo: Do you think that real estate remains like the best long-term investment to make?
Barbara Corcoran: Yeah, I believe long-term, the question is how long-term is long-term.
You know prices have gone down almost exactly a third in three years, okay? So, most people would say my God, why would you ever want to invest in real estate, but I’ve lived through too many identical markets to this even if you’d say we’ve never seen it like this. No, it’s a different twist on the old thing, but it’s still the old thing you know. And, markets are very slow to unwind, but they recover in a flash. When they start to spin, they spin quickly and people will forget about this. You don’t think so, but people will forget about this the minute they have to bid against another buyer. People have short memories and besides just people have to live somewhere.
WatchMojo: Yeah, that’s true. You’ve heard of the greater fool theory that on the way down there might not necessarily be somebody there to buy an asset, but on the way up there will be someone who will be willing to bid higher.
Barbara Corcoran: Absolutely. And, people look comfortable with real estate, again the moment they have to buy in a crowd which happens quicker than people remember.
WatchMojo: Who do you blame - I know nobody likes to say blame and blame is a strong word, but we want a really negative headline (laughs). So who do you blame or what do you blame for the real estate mess?
Barbara Corcoran: You know what, I don’t blame anybody.
Everybody is responsible for their own actions.
And so, the bank has made mortgage money so available, so inexpensive, and so to some degrees deceptive. You know they were the lending industry, because the big lie that was told, and I don’t even think it was intended as a lie, was always you can “always refinance” and “what knowing envisioned is a house value going, falling below the mortgage amount. And so, the number one thing that people were counting on when they signed up for, so one, so I guess not to blame, but I guess one factor is certainly the over-promising mortgage market, okay that you could “always refinancing. The other thing is places were going up so dramatically in every market that you have to be a fool to sit on the sidelines if there was anyway you could buy and get it on the game. So, anyone who wasn’t buying, so like there were nobody, that they were left behind.
Anybody and anybody who could work an angle to buy a house is buying a house. So, you had inordinate amount of demand, so you can say hey, blame the buyer. I’d say don’t blame the buyer, anybody sitting in that position then is just like a fool if they didn’t buy. And of course, they promised you can always refinance.
You know just tease a rate 2% owner set for three years, oh three years from now, you don’t like it popping up you know, your monthly payment doubling; you could always refinance. Well, and then people lost jobs, they couldn’t refinance either on that sense you know.
WatchMojo: Tomorrow, we talk about NYC, and the hit - if any - it has taken since the econopocalypse.
I have always maintained that traditional media won’t really die (well…) and that TV advertising probably won’t get surpassed by online ads… but seeing online ads surpass TV ads in the UK I am starting to doubt that.
In fact, I’ve ran numbers using basic growth estimates and the case can be made for both
Online Ads Surpassing TV Ads by 2021
Online Video Surpassing Online Search Ads by 2018
Told you, not crazy…
It seems like yesterday when we crossed 25,000,000 cumulative streams.
Of course, it wasn’t yesterday. But the company sure has picked up its growth rates:
- 25M in April 2008 (28 months after launch),
- 33M in October 2008,
- 40M in December 2008,
- 45M in February 2009
- 50M in April 2009 (12 months after hitting 25M),
- 75M in September 2009 (5 months after hitting 50).
WatchMojo adds clients and distribution as it crosses 75,000,000 cumulative streams; on track to hit 100,000,000 all-time streams in January 2010.
New York, NY (PRWEB) September 30, 2009 — WatchMojo served its 75,000,000th video in September 2009, a mere five months after crossing the 50,000,000 mark.
While a few VC-funded new media companies have aggregated producers to cumulatively generate more video streams, WatchMojo has emerged as one of the most ubiquitous digital brands of the online video revolution, with its 5,000 WatchMojo-branded videos being streamed 75,000,000 times since 2006 across thousands of portals, media destinations, newspaper sites and blogs.
WatchMojo had over 250 videos watched by over 100,000 people; though on average, 53% of all YouTube videos are only seen 500 times over the course of their lifetime, according to online analytics firm TubeMogul.
In addition, the company also reaches over 20,000,000 consumers in the digital signage market. In aggregate, the WatchMojo brand reaches over 25,000,000 consumers each month on multiple platforms.
Over the summer, WatchMojo continued to add to its impressive list of distribution partners - which include YouTube, Hulu, MySpace, NY Post and many more - by signing on Canwest Media in Canada and nine MSN in Australia. In addition, WatchMojo’s travel content has become a staple on Verizon Central in the US.
In addition to media companies that turn to WatchMojo for evergreen and ad-friendly video content on popular culture topics, marketers are also relying on WatchMojo. For example:
- Japanese soy sauce maker Yamasa (which has been in operations since 1645) turned to WatchMojo to create an advertisement for its latest product. The ad ran online and in stores.
- Coca-Cola counted on WatchMojo for fashion videos on the Formula for Happiness microsite on MySpace which garnered over a million Friends.
The one-two punch of licensing fees and syndication revenues pushed WatchMojo to be profitable from operations in July 2009 at a time when most companies were scaling back video production and new media investments.
From Summer 2008 to Summer 2009, WatchMojo grew 200% at a time when the booming online video universe soared by 88% on an annual basis. WatchMojo’s growth has accelerated, it:
- served 28,000,000 videos in all of 2008,
- has served 45,000,000 videos in the past twelve months, and
- is on pace to serve over 50,000,000 videos in 2009.
Despite holding back distribution by favoring companies that pay recurring licensing fees to access its library of premium videos, WatchMojo will serve its 100,000,000th video by its four-year anniversary in January 2010.
About WatchMojo
WatchMojo (www.watchmojo.com) helps you become more successful by covering the people, places and things that inform and entertain you socially, personally and professionally.
Supplying the world’s largest media properties, WatchMojo is a leading producer of professionally-produced, ad-friendly, premium videos covering Automotive, Business, Comedy, Education, Fashion, Film, Food, Health, Lifestyle, Music, Parenting, Politics, Science, Space, Sports, Technology, Travel and Video Games. The company’s library of 5,000 videos generate 5,000,000 views a month, 75,000,000 all-time and reach 20,000,000 consumers each month in the out-of-home digital signage network, reaching over 25,000,000 people each month.
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And here is our monthly chart:
We also reach over 20,000,000 consumers each month in the out of home space, so our cumulative reach is close to 25,000,000 people each month!
Beet.tv and Daisy Whitney talk about licensing models, and they mention our company WatchMojo along with Magnify.net. Here is the video:
See the previous interview I did with Beet.tv below:
Read part 1 and part 2 of our interview with Barbara Corcoran, whose namesake company became the top brand in NYC residential real estate. Barbara sold her company and is now busy with her production company as well as with making investments on the ABC show Shark Tank.
WatchMojo: What’s the common trait between all the investments you’ve made?
Barbara Corcoran: Oh, they have many things in common:
#1, each and everyone of them very high energy,
#2, they weren’t all great presenters, but they all had the right answers to the questions,
#3, they totally believe in their idea,
#4, which is harder to get in a TV form like that organized, I kept trying to say my success guide has got one, two, three as he or she organized, because I think you have to be organized or have a second in command to be organized for you if you are going to succeed in business.
WatchMojo: That’s true. Are there any sectors that your investments focus on?
Barbara Corcoran: Yeah. Well, most of the businesses presented on Shark Tank are products, new products. I would say two out of three are new products, and so two out of three of the businesses that I bought were new products. One technology company, one soda company, I guess you can call that a product, but it’s a food good, right? So, they are across the board totally different; one is totally different from another. One is a textile business, so yeah but the great majority of them start out as a single product firm. And so, that’s what most of little businesses are.
WatchMojo: But, one thing that’s interesting and I notice a lot of involves the investors worrying about control. One of the panelists mentioned: “I don’t mind sharing control with you, I just need to be in control”. When I saw the investors trying to wrest away control, I thought maybe they don’t trust themselves, and that is why they can’t trust someone else, because they are expecting the worst to happen; do you agree with that that any…
Barbara Corcoran: No, I don’t. No, I wish I could agree with you, but I don’t at all. When an investor wrestles or holds on to control I respect them, because I’ve been there. It’s your baby, you created it; you burst it, you’ve nurtured it, you know in his toddler year or however old it is, and you trust yourself.
I see it as a compliment to the investor that the, not the investor, the entrepreneur, they totally trust themselves. And, they are not, it’s like a good mom then it is, she is not going to be so quick to toss your baby over to a new babysitter, which you are really doing if you give up majority control. And so, when somebody is hanging on to their kid or their business I respect them for that.
The reason why so often we are in the position on the show of going for majority control or larger shares of the business is because one of the rules of the show is you can’t mess with the money. So, if somebody is coming and asking a 150,000 for a 10%, you can offer them a 60,000 for 10%, if you thought the evaluation was whacked up. You’ve out to meet the money they’ve come in and asked for, so the only piece you can move around is the percentage; does that make sense to you?
WatchMojo: Yeah, that I didn’t know.
Barbara Corcoran: Yeah, I don’t think people will… It’s hard to make it clear, but it would be good if people knew, because I think a lot of people wonder why we are always so greedy trying to take control. The thing is we are just trying to make the numbers make sense you know. Can I tell you the truth. I wish we could play with the money, I think it would jazz up the show.
WatchMojo: When it comes to investing, is your style very hands-on, or are you more hands-off passive investor?
Barbara Corcoran: I am very hands-on building a business, but I don’t have the time to be hands-on. So, I am being particularly choosy about who I pick as a partner. There is a CEO as a firm; they are the ones just going to drive it across the finish line. So, I am paying very careful attention to the attribute of the entrepreneur, the attributes to the entrepreneur.
That’s really the main pick for me, more than the business. Because, you know what I see more entrepreneurs with us, our business sense is not right. But, if they are great entrepreneurs then you’ll have to turn it, twist it and make it right.
WatchMojo: Yeah. That’s why ofetntimes the investors look at the market, if the market is big enough then you could always navigate differently.
Come back tomorrow when we chat about Barbara’s forte: the real estate market.
Largest advertisers online by category:
Highest ad rates by categories:
This weekend, we uploaded a hilarious video from 1993 on Internet. Today, we travel back in time and look at cell phones:
I had a chance to sit down with Barbara Corcoran. She’s currently on Shark Tank alongside Robert Herjavec, Kevin O’Leary, Kevin Harrington and Daymond John.
We chatted about numerous things, to read the interview from the beginning, see Part 1 here. Here is Part 2:
WatchMojo: You were quoted as saying that the worst students make the best entrepreneurs. I actually understand why you would say that, but do you think that good students make for bad entrepreneurs?
Barbara Corcoran: With a few exceptions, I would say generally so, yes. And, this is my logic, and I don’t really know, because I’ve not done a survey, but just on my life experience of meeting entrepreneurs’ day in and day out. I think great students operate very well in a defined role, okay? And so, the problem that happens as an entrepreneur is you’ve got to redefine your role constantly, and you’ve got to do it for yourself. You also have to set your own great standards, so you are not reaching for a program that’s been outlined that you can succeed at; you have to create your own program.
I think very often great students don’t have incredible imaginations, whereas kids that are terrible students have the whole school day to daydream. So, they have much more opportunity to practice being creative, because they’ve got to fill in their brain with something while they are not figuring, while they are not getting what’s going on in the classroom. And so, I think entrepreneurs who are terrible students often have a head start of a great student who is stuck with the program.
And then lastly, kids that don’t do well in school can’t wait to get out of school, and so when they get out of school it’s like getting out of jail and they burst out. And, their shear relief of being let go out of the confines of the school role usually creates great energy. And so, they are much more comfortable in a freewheeling, high risk workplace without rules than they are in something that’s defined; that’s my own theory, I don’t know if that’s to be true.
WatchMojo: From my own experience both from working with great entrepreneurs and starting a company I think there is a pattern.
Generally speaking if you are good at working within a framework, I think that makes you excellent to actually take direction and do great things. But, I think entrepreneurs generally like to work when there is no playbook; you throw them in the wild and ask them to solve the problems, that’s when we excel.
Barbara Corcoran: Oh, definitely.
WatchMojo: Now, the interesting thing is whether it’s New York City in particular, the panel on Shark Tank, the real estate world or business in general, women are generally out numbered. Their voices aren’t even heard oftentimes, or if they are heard, they’re not always taken as seriously as they should be. So the question is, how has being a woman played a part in your success?
Barbara Corcoran: It’s been an absolute advantage, or certainly that’s how I perceive it. Because, I walked into an old boys club where the large firms were owned, controlled by men. And, when I would meet, when I would walk into any industry event, I was the only person in skirt, and I made sure I had a red suit on to be noticed. So, I was noticed more, because I was the odd duck, so that’s an advantage to be noticed in any business for better or worse to be noticed is better then not being noticed, right?
WatchMojo: Exactly. That’s why I haven’t changed my name…
Barbara Corcoran: Yeah, right. Because, for you it’s true, isn’t it?
WatchMojo: Yes.
Barbara Corcoran: Because, people will remember your name. And then, the other thing is women operate very differently than men, and in the real estate world even though in my day it was owned by men, it was worked by women. And so, I intuitively knew how women liked to work, what was important to them; how to build a great workplace for females, whereas the men had to guess about it? You know, so I was closer.
WatchMojo: That’s a very good point, because you can have a fantastic company and provide all these opportunities, but if the women are not comfortable, you are right, you are going to lose a lot of talent and a male boss might not even understand why.
Barbara Corcoran: Yeah. We were the only firm in New York City where we designed our offices like spas where we had, you know shoe shine guys, massage therapists. Why, because 80% of my staff was female and they really liked that, I don’t think a guy would have thought of that one.
WatchMojo: Do you spend more of your time looking for ideas for your production company or investments on the show?
Barbara Corcoran: Both, I have one leg in each. I, you know I had both seat in looking for the story ideas and getting more television appearances, that was my career. Since I’ve been on the Shark Tank, I would have to say I’ve got one foot in each arena, because it’s not just doing the Shark Tank, it’s when you buy the businesses, and I bought twelve in the first season. Once you buy the businesses, now you have to tend to them. You know you’ve got to get the contracts done, you know arrange the funding.
You have to start working, getting to know your entrepreneur. So, clearly you can imagine how much time is involved in that. And, I’ve also had to build a financial team that I didn’t have going into that TV show. I had to hire venture capitalist to work for me, because I don’t want to lose my money.
WatchMojo: Who would?
Come back tomorrow, where we continue our discussion and I ask Barbara what the common traits of the businesses she’s invested in were.
October 2009 will mark the two year anniversary of Google’s acquisition of YouTube. Before the deal even took place, I wrote that YouTube had the potential to print money. It wasn’t at the time, mainly because YouTube was growing like a weed and the company’s “meager” $11.5M in funding didn’t [somehow] allow it to build the kind of sales organization needed.
Ultimately, with soaring bandwidth and a lack of imminent monetization plan, founders Steve Chen and Chad Hurley sold their Sequoia-backed startup to Sequoia-funded Google, for $1.65B in stock. Read my conspiracy theory suggestion here.
Last year around this time, the entire US video industry was generating about 10 billion video views. Today this figure has climbed to 25 billion and YouTube alone does over 10 billion. Read comScore’s release here.
I can also attest that while YouTube has lots of upside (being kind here folks) to improve monetization, the kinds of advertisers than now advertise alongside our channel has improved exponentially, that’s right, less “Punch the Monkey” or “Press the Fart Button” and more BMW, Absolut Vodka. Of course, I send YouTube a littany of complaints and suggestions, but the fact is: it’s YouTube’s universe and we just stream it… we all need to understand that.
Ultimately, especially in light of the fact that YouTube was a stock deal, I think that Google’s $1.65B acquisition of YouTube might go down as one of the best M&A deals of all time. Maybe it’s time to update this list.
