In short
Creator Upload discusses the Time 100 Creators “Titans” list, TikTok’s planned U.S.-only app and divestiture timeline, Amazon Prime Day doubling creator commissions, and then a deep interview with Dhar Mann about scaling his media business.
Guests
Darvan “Dhar Mann” (Dhar Mann Studios founder; launched main channel in 2018; 25M+ subscribers; 18B+ views; hundreds of millions of monthly views; built a 125,000 sq ft studio with 65+ sets and 200 employees). Hosts Lauren Schnipper and Joshua Cohen (no guest backgrounds beyond podcast hosts).
Key claims
Mann stepped down as CEO after hiring Sean Atkins, arguing founder-CEO skills often fit early product-market fit but not later scaling; he says growth came from implementing advice during Jelly Smack due diligence. He plans more output, genre expansion, nonfiction vertical content, and acquisitions to build a “family of brands.” He limits reliance on brand deals/merch because viral “share” distribution drove profitability; he argues brands should become creators and vice versa.
Notable examples
TikTok new app launch Sept 5; current U.S. TikTok shut down March 2026. Mann cites “share button” emotional life-lesson storytelling and compares brand authenticity to Nike sponsoring LeBron “for one game” vs real moments.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOWeather Chit-Chat
0:46 to 1:35
Hosts discuss their current locations and the effects of humidity.
“Lauren, did you ever go to Arizona and see those t-shirts where it's like a skeleton sitting under a cactus?”
Excitement for Time 100 Creators List
1:36 to 2:37
Hosts discuss the recent Time 100 Creators List and their featured guests.
“And in that list, they sort of separate the categories into Titans, Entertainers, Leaders, Phenoms, Catalysts.”
Notable Titans on the List
2:38 to 3:47
Discussion on notable creators included in the Time 100 Titans list.
“Of course, Kai Sinat, Alex Earl, Sean Evans, Jimmy Donaldson, Mr.”
Creators on Magazine Covers
3:48 to 5:51
Hosts reflect on creators featured on magazine covers and their significance.
“who made a name for himself as what you and I would think of as a creator in quotes to grace the cover of a nationally syndicated magazine with extensive readership.”
Kai Sinat's Growing Influence
5:52 to 7:42
Exploration of Kai Sinat's impact and achievements as a creator.
“They did these beautiful photos, sort of shoots, or I should say photo booths.”
TikTok's U.S. Only App Launch
7:43 to 11:48
Discussion on TikTok's plans to launch a U.S. only app and its implications.
“But it's cool now for the rest of the world to see him for the incredibly just influential individual that he is and looking for this is just a start for him.”
Interview with Dhar Mann
11:49 to 14:00
Introduction to the interview with Dhar Mann and his journey as a creator.
“So excited to have Jarman on the podcast.”
Dhar's Journey and Mission
14:00 to 15:10
Explore Dhar Mann's initial motivations and what drives his work.
“I didn't realize about the five-year aspect.”
Acquisition Talks and CEO Transition
15:10 to 18:20
Dhar discusses his experience with Jelly Smack and the transition to a new CEO.
“I was like, this guy, we got to know him.”
Challenges of Growth and Business Insights
18:20 to 20:35
Dhar shares insights on the struggles of growth and the learning process during acquisition talks.
“And we started to see our business return to growth.”
Show all 20 chapters
Emerging from Underground
20:35 to 22:34
Discussion on the rapid growth of Dhar Mann Studios and the challenges of visibility.
“It's so interesting you say that about like being underground because you really, it was crazy how big you were, how fast it happened and how little people knew about you.”
Future Plans and Content Strategy
22:34 to 24:49
Dhar outlines future plans for content creation and different genres he plans to explore.
“And so, you know, being able to talk about the things that I want to talk about now, but by having that as my backbone, I think just helps to bring a lot more legitimacy.”
Nonfiction and Acquisitions
24:49 to 27:04
Plans for expanding into nonfiction content and acquiring other creators.
“So there clearly is an appetite and demand just for more of the existing content that we're already putting out.”
Building a Creative Machine
27:04 to 28:00
Dhar discusses the importance of building infrastructure over just creating content.
“Like, like, I just wonder, like, where you think in terms of like zooming out in the larger kind of creator economy?”
Building a Scalable Content Machine
28:00 to 29:45
Learn about the importance of creating a scalable content production model.
“The other creator goes, OK, I'm going to start chopping away.”
Challenges Faced by Creators
29:45 to 31:35
Hear about the struggles creators face and the importance of focusing on passion.
“Well, I think you're all, you know, candidly, that's a really good sort of pitch also to why a creator might want to join kind of like, you know, come inside the our family, right?”
The Evolution of Brand Partnerships
31:35 to 34:42
Discover the shift in brand relationships with creators and the move towards authenticity.
“I mean, this is God, I love talking about this stuff.”
The Future of Brands and Creators
34:42 to 37:55
Explore how brands are becoming creators and the need for creative insight within companies.
“You've really upped your LinkedIn posting.”
Reflecting on a Unique Encounter
37:55 to 39:47
A light-hearted recount of a memorable meeting with a creative figure.
“I would love to have check-ins and have you come on because I just think what you're building is so interesting.”
Recent Industry Updates
39:47 to 42:01
Get the latest trends and news in the creator space and product launches.
“Apparently Prime Day is here and Amazon is doubling its creator commissions for Prime Day.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Dhar Mann:Welcome to Creator Upload, your Creator Economy podcast. I'm Lauren Schnipper.
0:05Lauren Schnipper:And I'm Joshua Cohen. Lauren. What? That's a different backdrop for you. Where are you?
0:09Dhar Mann:Is the humidity doing well for my skin or is it just me? Yes, this is Florida Lauren visiting her parents. You, on the other hand, look greasy and red.
0:20Lauren Schnipper:It is humid in New Jersey. I am a desert rat.
0:24Dhar Mann:I am in Florida and we have air conditioning. It's like refrigerators in every single house. So don't talk to me about humidity. I mean, I don't know what's happening over there in that attic.
0:34Lauren Schnipper:I'm just trying to do my part for the environment. I feel like I can have my own biological refrigeration system take into effect at some point. But I am a desert rat. I love a dry heat.
0:45Dhar Mann:You were raised in Arizona. I was raised in Arizona.
0:48Lauren Schnipper:Lauren, did you ever go to Arizona and see those t-shirts where it's like a skeleton sitting under a cactus? with the skeleton saying, but it's a dry heat.
0:59Dhar Mann:It feels like I've seen that. It feels like I've seen that, but I'm not sure.
1:02Lauren Schnipper:Grew up. I was the embodiment of those t-shirts.
1:04Dhar Mann:I know, but I understand it now. Like I'm spending time here in LA, obviously also a dry heat. And like my skin, it's like, what is going -
1:11Lauren Schnipper:You're just experiencing it. Yeah.
1:13Dhar Mann:I mean, I grew up with this, but I just, I forgot. I'm just saying. How's your hair though? I mean, is that an accusation? I mean, no, it looks great. But usually people complain about the humanly in their hair, right? It sounded like an accusation. Certainly. That was a pointed question. That was a leading question. So does the skin make up for the hair? The humidity? The point is, we're going to get to other conversations right now. And dropping just today was the Time 100 Creators List. And in that list, they sort of separate the categories into Titans, Entertainers, Leaders, Phenoms, Catalysts.
1:48Dhar Mann:And I am so excited to say that like we didn't know this, but this today, this week on Creator Upload, we have a titan on our podcast. We have a titan. And I'm not just talking about you and I. We have a titan of the creator economy on our podcast. And that is Mr. Darvan. We're interviewing. We interviewed him. He's going to be on the podcast today. So excited. And he is listed as one of the titans of the creator economy. Josh, can you believe that? Can you believe that? I mean, look at that.
2:16Lauren Schnipper:I think it's not a coincidence. It's fortuitous. And we're told. I mean, we we get great guests on this platform. I mean, we really we have amazing listeners. And obviously the people we we have on here are going to be recognized by other sources.
2:33Dhar Mann:Obviously. Some other notable folks on that Titan list. Let's just go through it. Of course, Kai Sinat, Alex Earl, Sean Evans, Jimmy Donaldson, Mr. Beast. Mel Robbins, I thought was she, Let Them. Are you familiar with her? Let Them. Are you familiar?
2:51Lauren Schnipper:Of course I'm familiar with Let Them.
2:53Dhar Mann:Let Them. Let Them. Joe Rogan, of course. Mark Rober. I'm just thinking if there's anybody else. Rhett and Link. Nick Giovanni. Tons of just great people on the list. I think it's also exciting to see Colin and Samir as in the leaders category. So, oh, really exciting. What do you think about this list, Josh?
3:12Lauren Schnipper:Lauren, what I think is most interesting about this is Kaysenet is on the cover. So he's one of a number of Titans. Yes. Also, he's the cover feature story of this. which is a little bit of a trend. I mean, he was on the cover of Billboard magazine in January. He was on a digital cover of Complex back in 2023 and now on the cover of Time magazine, following in the footsteps of Jimmy Donaldson, who's been on the cover of Rolling Stone and Time, all following in the footsteps of PewDiePie, who was on the cover of Variety back in like 2000, I don't know what, early 2010s? And he was kind of the first big creator who made a name for himself as what you and I would think of as a creator in quotes to grace the cover of a nationally syndicated magazine with extensive readership.
4:01Lauren Schnipper:It's now cool to see that this happens as a just regular occurrence.
4:05Dhar Mann:I mean, when I, like my first month at Facebook, it was the first time Seventeen magazine was going to have a creator on the cover. And that was Bethany Moda was on the cover. And that was like a huge, huge deal. That's awesome. And it was right before the streamings that year, if you might recall. We did a collaboration. I know you and I, that was one of our, one of our first collaborations, Josh. And notably, I will never forget that we set up a photo booth as you do. And it was all the photos were going to go on 17 magazines, kind of, you know, their Instagram. And some of the creators, I guess I won't name names.
4:41Dhar Mann:I don't know. Refused to, even though they were in the magazine, they refused to do the photos because they, at that time, like they knew that they, And they were being used, they perceived it that they were being used for their following because they were bigger than Seventeen Magazine. And so they were just like, I've already given you like a lot because I'm in this magazine. You don't pay me to be in your magazine. I'm not going to get you. I'm not going to be on the cover. And in fact, I couldn't actually go to the event. I planned the event. I did everything. I couldn't go to the event. You might not remember this part.
5:09Dhar Mann:I was actually on my honeymoon. It was like a delayed honeymoon. And I woke up in Greece and I went on Seventeen Magazine's, you know, profile to see how, I mean, there were like so few photos that were actually on my website. on their um you know instagram and i freaked out because i was like oh my god i'm gonna get fired like we spent what i thought was a lot of money which relatively speaking was not at this like whatever and my boss at the time was just like we spent a lot more and got a lot less like i was like i was like oh i'm because i was coming from digital like production i mean you spend five dollars you better account for that you know and this was a lot more than that so then you all
5:43Lauren Schnipper:totally learned from your experience and in subsequent photo booths you just had the creators take it on their own cameras.
5:48Dhar Mann:So we, that was, and it was hard because we would have professionals. So we took a cue from the Golden Globe, which I'm sure people have seen. They did these beautiful photos, sort of shoots, or I should say photo booths. Is that the right word to say it? But photo experiences backstage of the Golden Globes. So we're like, we want to get a professional photographer and, you know, make it fun and more like, you know, young, if you will, and do like a streamies version of that, which we did. But we wanted to get the photos immediately to the creator so that they could post them and they loved them because they were fantastic photos because they were professionally done.
6:18Dhar Mann:But it was no small feat getting them the photos because the photographer was like, I want my guy to like touch him up a little bit. You know, it's not like he's just going to give you a raw file. And then even just the transfer of those files, like, so it was like madness, like getting that all done and getting it to them. But yes, it was born out of that. I was like, these creators don't want to put their photos on Seventeen Magazine. They'll take the photos and they'll put them on their own thing.
6:37Lauren Schnipper:Yeah, people are still using those as avatars still. You see them on Wikipedia, all over the place.
6:41Dhar Mann:A thousand percent. There's so many people from those photos. We did it for, what, three years of the streamies, I think?
6:46Lauren Schnipper:Yeah, three or four years.
6:48Dhar Mann:And then, yeah, and people, we had fantastic photos.
6:51Lauren Schnipper:And what I also like about Kaisenap being on the cover is that it's well-deserved. He's a hugely influential creator that produces just really incredible stuff. I mean, he streams multiple hours a day, several days a week. But, like, the promo video for his streamer university that he launched is just an amazing piece of content in and of itself. so he can captivate the attention of audiences when he's just live streaming doing a bunch of different things he is incredibly creative and has surrounded himself with some creative people to produce really compelling vod pieces of content and the whole world's starting to wake up to this now i mean he invented the word riz did he really i don't think i knew that yeah that's one of his uh just contributions to the culture and of course we recognized him at the streaming awards back in 2022.
7:40Dhar Mann:I mean, Josh, you're nothing if not ahead of your time.
7:41Lauren Schnipper:Of course, for sure. But it's cool now for the rest of the world to see him for the incredibly just influential individual that he is and looking for this is just a start for him. Excited to see where he goes.
7:52Dhar Mann:All right, let's get to one sort of big story that we cannot ignore, which is TikTok is going to debut this fall a U.S. only app. And so perhaps this is what they've been working on is like Trump has delayed and delayed and delayed this, you know, ban. But apparently it's only for users in the U.S. and the law that forces TikTok to divest from Chinese owners or face a ban only applies in the U.S. So the company is preparing to sell its U.S. business specifically. The new app is due to launch in U.S. app stores on September 5th. And if it works, the current version of TikTok will be removed from app stores.
8:26Dhar Mann:The existing version will still work for those, you know, until March, but I guess the March of the following year. But TikTok will encourage users in the U.S. to download the new version. So sometime in March 2026, the current version will be shut down in the U.S. And the idea is that, of course, most people at that point will be on this new app. Now, what we don't know, we don't know the political ramifications of this. We haven't even, I don't think there's even an official TikTok sort of statement about this. I think this was all leaked. And this was all reported first by Kaya Yuriev at The Information, who said that what we don't know is the company has not responded to our meaning the information's request for comment and has not put out any public statements on the plans for the new app so none of this has been like officially recognized but um this is a big scoop and kind of makes sense as to what's going on so and also it's unclear as to whether or not this is going to differ from what the current app is or what this means for the magical chinese algorithm and all the other things so um yeah josh this is a this is this is semi not surprising like they had to figure out something But is it going to be as good?
9:24Dhar Mann:I don't know. Thoughts?
9:26Lauren Schnipper:Two things first. Well, one thing first, Lauren. So according to the information, ByteDance will divest primary ownership, transferring control to Oracle and other investors, but it won't be completely uninvolved. The publication reports it will retain a minority stake, allowing it to continue profiting from U.S. operations. and honestly I am surprised by this. I think Trump was just punting the ball over and over again and then was going to grab the ball to continue this analogy to benefit whatever political situation he was in at any given time and then continue to punt it over and over and over again.
10:01Lauren Schnipper:So I am surprised that there might be some actual finish line in sight here for this. If we just go back through the basic timeline in December 2024 the TikTok ban was looming and the incoming Trump administration was asking for a delay. Then on January 18th, the TikTok app briefly went offline with this dramatic messaging, and it was removed from US app stores. January 20th, on his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order giving TikTok 75 additional days to find a US owner. Mid-February, TikTok returned to US app stores. In March, the Trump tariffs kicked in, thinking maybe a deal wouldn't be reached.
10:37Lauren Schnipper:June 17th, Trump admin announced it will extend the TikTok ban once again. And then July 4th, Trump tells reporters on Air Force One that the deal is close to being clinched.
10:48Dhar Mann:Does she think this is what he meant by the deal?
Read the full transcript
10:50Lauren Schnipper:Yes, of course. I think this is the deal he's referring to. But he's basically said they've been close to a deal before, just not in this, maybe not in this same type of conviction.
11:01Dhar Mann:The only thing that is unknown is if they can move all these folks over. Like, I mean, if there's one thing that TikTok has been really good at its messaging, to your point, when they were down for one day and they were like, call your reps and do all these things. And these people are very passionate about their TikTok. So we'll see. There's going to be some drop off, obviously. And folks might end up going, I think this is going to be obviously knowing these dates too. It's a big opportunity for other platforms to court these creators and talk about all the monetization they can receive on platforms like YouTube.
11:29Dhar Mann:So I have to imagine that that strategy is being put into place now, knowing roughly these sort of dates that are happening.
11:34Lauren Schnipper:It's got to be fun for the strategic individuals at YouTube and Instagram who are tasked with getting these creators on board.
11:42Dhar Mann:For sure. For sure.
11:44Lauren Schnipper:This is their one last big shot, potentially.
11:46Dhar Mann:Game on, man. We need to get to our interview with Jarman.
11:49Lauren Schnipper:So excited to have Jarman on the podcast. Again, a newly named Titan. Titan. We have a Titan. Of the creator economy and online video industry. He's been at it for a while. He launched his main channel in 2018. started off, I don't know if you know this, Lauren, he started off doing just these inspirational videos.
12:05Dhar Mann:I mean, I did my research, so I do know that. Thank you. I'm assuming that was a rhetorical question. Go on.
12:09Lauren Schnipper:And then morphed into this narrative storytelling with a just ethical, positive message. It's really resonated with viewers. He's done thousands of videos now. On his main channel, he has over 25 million subscribers with more than 18 billion views. He's getting a couple hundred million views a month on that channel alone across all of YouTube and all of the other social networks that Dar's on. He's getting in the billions in terms of long form viewership a month. So excited we had an opportunity to talk with him and just is, I think, a really kind of platonic example of what creators who reach his magnitude of success can do in order to transform their business for the future.
12:53Dhar Mann:Darman, welcome to Creator Upload. We're so excited to have you here. Oh, thanks, Lauren. Hey, Josh. I'm super excited to be here too. Oh my God. I'm very stoked to see you. Yeah. So we are catching you in such an amazing, awesome, cool time in the evolution of like sort of Dharman Industries, for lack of a better word. So I want to sort of, you know, you started in 2018, you've built this massive kind of channel, many channels, infrastructure, you know, you've got sound stages, people kind of know that. I want to talk about what's sort of like going on right now. So, you know, there is recently you brought in a CEO and you sort of stepped away from that position.
13:29Dhar Mann:Sean Atkins, who I worked with at Jelly Smack, who I think is amazing. But that's a really hard thing to do as a founder. I read something a while ago that sort of said something about how founder CEOs are usually good for like the first five years of a company from like zero to product market fit. And then the skill set required to take it to the next level is a totally different skill set. And most people, though, don't walk away, not walk away, but, you know, step that and give somebody else that responsibility. And you did. And I think that's so kind of awesome and amazing and shows a lot, tells a lot about you.
13:59Dhar Mann:So I'd love to just talk about sort of that and the decision and kind of why that happened. Yeah. So that's an interesting set. I didn't realize about the five-year aspect. Maybe that's why in year six and seven, we struggled before shock came on since we've been at it for seven years. Yeah. But you know, for me, I've always, I started this whole journey with just trying to impact people and make a positive difference in people's lives. It was never to start a studio. It was never to be a CEO. It was never to have hundreds of employees or 100 ,000 square foot of studio space. It was to impact that person who was having a bad day, who felt like their life did not pan out the way that they had hoped, that thought that maybe all they would ever be is a failure in life because that's all they've experienced so far.
14:50I want to help that person have a better day. And if that means me having a more capable CEO doing that job than me, then by all means, I am fine with stepping down from that role and letting more capable hands lead. And it truly has been magic. I was also in a unique situation as you know Lauren I don't know if we were sharing our personal history here as
15:15Dhar Mann:I mean I I I welcome it if you're if you would like to I'm not I haven't said a word so you know I'm actually kind of grateful to Lauren as to why I have a CEO because Jelly Smack almost almost acquired us last year was it a year ago yeah it was like a year and a half ago yeah like a year and a half ago 2024 at the beginning yeah and so you know I was fortunate enough to meet Lauren through that whole process where for a while I thought that - And for the record, I found you. I'm the one who brought you in. I was like, this guy, we got to know him. Go on. Just for the record, if anybody's counting.
15:51Very first time I met Lauren and her colleague at the time, Ross, who's now our chief strategy officer. I was wearing a lion suit. So if you do have this being as a video podcast, please put that image in. Oh my God.
16:03Dhar Mann:Oh my God. We definitely will. It's amazing. You were literally wearing a lion suit. Like I'm not exaggerating. Go on. I go through far extents to entertain my kids. And so when I say I was dressed as a lion, I'm not lying. No, he's not. He's not. And so that whole journey was about an 18 month process where we were in due diligence with Jelly Smack. And I was building a relationship with Sean, who was going to be my boss. And so I was very fortunate to have all this history and trust built up with somebody who later became our CEO, which is not usually the process. No, you got to get. Yeah, that's you got a dry run in some ways, you know, to like get to know each other.
16:51Dhar Mann:And I mean, like it was no secret that like everybody when we'd get off these calls were like these two, they you just worked really well together. And it was just like it was it was we all knew it. We all knew it. Yeah. So at that time, I also wasn't kidding when I was saying we were struggling in years like six and seven. So our studio was coming off of the COVID high. And I think a lot of creators were just experiencing stagnant growth. And so we were in that same boat. And that's why when Jelly Smack had originally come to us interested in the acquisition, that was a time where I didn't know how to grow Darmant Studios any further.
17:27I think creators have a very special ability to be scrappy, to be very fast and agile, to build a connection with their community. But we don't have the deep industry experience that Hollywood does in knowing all the different ways to monetize our IP and all the things that are the playbooks that traditional studios have used to sort of build big business. And so I was struggling. But during that due diligence process, just by the questions that were being asked to me, I was learning so much because I realized, oh, if Jelly Smack is asking me these questions, this is clearly what they intend to do with my studio after acquiring me.
18:11So why would I wait to be acquired to start doing these things? So I very quickly started implementing all of the advice I was getting or the questions I was being asked. And we started to see our business return to growth. And that was all based on really the relationship I was building with Ross, with Lauren, and most importantly, Sean, who I was spending a lot of time with. But so it became pretty evident to me early on that Sean was just a much more seasoned, capable CEO that could take our company to new heights. And I would never let my ego go and get in the way of serving our community better.
18:51And that's exactly what Sean has done.
18:53Dhar Mann:Yeah, but that's I don't know. I'm sure you've been told this is unusual. Most people would let their ego get in the way. So I think it's actually like really commendable and not to make this a total Dar love fest, but like truly it was incredible to see how quickly you took kernels of ideas that based on questions and would implement it in the next call you'd show up and like revenue would have gone up and all this stuff. We'd be like, holy shit, you know, like these are real things that was happening. It was happening real time. It was crazy to be a part of that and really interesting. Okay, so you've stepped away from the CEO role.
19:25Dhar Mann:What are you doing right now? What is, how's your role shifted? How are you spending your time? what are you focused on most today?
19:29Lauren Schnipper:I'm doing podcasts now.
19:31Dhar Mann:You can't tell. I love it. I love it. You know, for seven years, I've just had my head down writing scripts and I've written almost 2000 scripts. You know, it was just for references, what more than double the amount of Simpsons episodes that, you know, I was able to do in less than a decade. So that was exhausting. It was a lot of work. It was a lot of fun. And so now I've had time to sort of pop my head up and just kind of talk about all the great things that my team has been accomplishing at Darman Studios. And, you know, it's amazing because to the world, it's like, wow, look at this overnight success, right?
20:07Like they don't know the seven years of hard work that's gone into this, where we have been mostly underground, but now I'm able to talk about it. And so being the face of the brand, being able to, you know, participate in more strategic business decisions, we've been having incredible meetings with other founders and platforms and brands. So doing things that can help move the business forward, that just wasn't possible when I was writing every single script.
20:35Dhar Mann:Yeah. It's so interesting you say that about like being underground because you really, it was crazy how big you were, how fast it happened and how little people knew about you. Like when I found you, there was one, at least my Googling found one article on you. There was one New York Times article. And that was the only thing I could find in terms of press. Like there was nothing else. And I was like, nobody's paying attention to this. And then, and you'd built this like giant soundstage in bourbon. And it was like, where did this guy come from? And why is nobody paying? I'm like, you know what I mean?
21:03Dhar Mann:It's like that moment you're like, is nobody else? I'm all right. I'm going to show up because nobody else has noticed this yet. It was crazy, but also just shows like, you know, it's interesting because like PR and all the things you're marketing, that's, that's a job. Right. And people kind of think it just happens and it doesn't. If you're heads down writing 2000 scripts, you do not have the time to do things even like this or, you know, and to do all these other sort of initiatives. So it makes a ton of sense. Yeah. It's like that quote, you know, when you're good at something, you tell everyone, when you're great at something, they tell you.
21:31So I'm fortunate to have built, you know, such a great business and studio and mission that has grown over the past seven years. But now that we're finally able to talk about it, we can come up from a place of true stats as to what we've accomplished. Like you see, I think there's a lot of influencers or thought leaders who talk about the journey to success, but haven't really lived it or experienced it. You see a lot of like these types of prophets that just haven't been through the actual experience that they're preaching. But for us, we can actually talk about, hey, we have a studio of 125 ,000 square feet.
22:16We have over 65 standing sets, 200 employees. We have 1 ,500 actors that come through our doors every single year. We put out about five hours of premium scripted content each week. So these are just stats. These aren't things that I'm trying to toot our own horn. And so, you know, being able to talk about the things that I want to talk about now, but by having that as my backbone, I think just helps to bring a lot more legitimacy. So I wouldn't have changed the order of things. I'm glad that everything worked out the way that it did.
22:49Lauren Schnipper:So, Dar, speaking of stats, you're dominating YouTube. I mean, you're getting a couple hundred million views a month and you're that's across shorts and longs. On your shorts, you're averaging about like a million views per short form video in the last 90 days. On longs, you're averaging like three plus million views per long form video in the last 90 days. That's going to put you at like the top of the echelon in terms of long form content creators, especially your consistency over time. I mean, I'm looking at some data that we have on Gospel Stats and you were averaging close to that last year and even several years ago.
23:22Lauren Schnipper:So you've maintained this like really high level of audience engagement and viewership. What's the future look like? Like it feels like there's obviously deltas to go up on YouTube in terms of viewership a little bit, but not not super much for you. So like what's the future of Dhar Mann look like and what's the growth look like? That's a great question. So first off, I do just want to clarify that, you know, our views are primarily long form views. We average last month we did one and a half billion long form views. And that's a to a primarily English market because YouTube now, you know, when people talk about numbers, it includes short form.
24:00but it also includes international languages. So it's really hard to know like what somebody's true long form English speaking viewership is, which is what I think most like brands and, you know, opportunity.
24:14Dhar Mann:And for the audience too, that English speaking countries get the highest ad sense on YouTube as well. So I think that's also relevant in terms of valuation of a company. Yeah. Right. So in terms of the future, you know, I think a lot of people, especially creatives, are always looking at what is the new thing that we're going to jump into. Whereas for me, I always start by saying, well, can we just do more of what's already working? And when we doubled our Facebook output, for instance, recently, we started seeing our viewership and watch time double. So there clearly is an appetite and demand just for more of the existing content that we're already putting out.
24:55And by the way, most people think of Dhar Mann content as dramas, but we actually do have other genres of content that we're creating as well. So we have action, we have horror, we have comedy, we have romance. So we're going to continue to dabble more into other genres and create more of that type of content. And then the second shift that we're doing is up until now, everything has been built on fictional storytelling. And, you know, fiction across any media is usually the most successful category. But because we are trying to inspire people, nonfiction stories are also just as inspiring, if not more inspiring.
25:37So I recently have shifted in my new responsibilities to focus more on vertical content. So right now we're doing horizontal long form. Now I'm also focused on vertical short form content. And one of those formats that I'm doing is nonfiction where I'm going around interviewing, inspiring people to find out what their story is. And that is going to segment into a long form nonfiction podcast that we're actually starting to film next week and is going to launch later this year. So first thing is just doing more of what's already working, more content, more output. We're putting out about five hours of content a week.
26:19We're going to get to about 10 hours by the end of this year, if not early next year. Second is going into nonfiction. Third is an opportunity that I don't talk too much about, but Lauren has something to do with. We are, you know, you look at most major media companies and they achieve critical mass through acquisitions and mergers. And so you look at Disney, they've achieved the level of success that they've had because they've been able to acquire the IP of Pixar and Star Wars and Fox and all these other incredible brands. So we are looking to follow that same playbook. And we're actually already in the process of talking to a few different creators about acquiring them.
27:03So that way, Dhar Mann would be more so a family of brands as opposed to just one channel.
27:10Dhar Mann:you know there was a minute where people were like every creator should build like a business and every creator should build this huge thing and that's absolutely not true what it takes to be creative and you said it earlier and to build a business are two different skill sets some of them have some of that skill set and the ability to do that not so because i guess the question um you know people listen to this and they're thinking about they where they are in their business big or small as a creator like what do you think about like other creators building these kinds of bigger kind of media companies or do you think the move is some consolidation You know what I mean?
27:39Dhar Mann:Like, like, I just wonder, like, where you think in terms of like zooming out in the larger kind of creator economy? What interesting analogy that I use is that let's say you were to tell another creator and I that our objective is to try to cut down as many trees as possible in a 90 day period. And you threw us both axes. The other creator goes, OK, I'm going to start chopping away. and let's say he can chop down one tree every single day for simplicity. He's hacking away, he's hacking away. For me, I wouldn't even pick up that ax. I would take, I would from that very first moment, go out and start assembling a team of incredible tree cutters.
28:22I would start building a factory, building a warehouse, building a whole production line. And I would actually spend 89 of my days, focus on building the machine. And then even though by that 90th day, that one creator has cut down 90 trees, in that one day alone, I would be able to have this machine that could cut down hundreds of different trees. And the reason I use that analogy is because I've always thought about how do I build a machine? How do I build an infrastructure? Whereas most people think about how do I build videos or a video library? I'm more think of how do I build a platform?
29:00How do I build an IP machine? So to answer your question, it really just comes down to what are your passions and what is your mission? Our ambition was to help people going through a hard time. So I knew right away that I wanted to impact as many people in the world. And so it matters to me to be able to scale in order to fully realize that mission. There's other creators where I actually recommend the opposite. that if your mission is just to create art that inspires you, art is not meant to scale. What makes art so special is when it is exclusive, when there's not a high quantity. And so, yeah, it just depends on what drives you, what excites you.
29:43And for me, it's always been that bigger vision.
29:46Dhar Mann:Well, I think you're all, you know, candidly, that's a really good sort of pitch also to why a creator might want to join kind of like, you know, come inside the our family, right? Like if you have that, if you don't have that operational, that doesn't excite you, like continue doing your content and then we can help you scale. Yeah. I was talking to a creator yesterday and this is one of the top creators on YouTube, you know, has done billions of long form views. And when I was asking this creator how life is going, she's like, not well. And I was like, well, what's going on? She's like, man, I've just been having problems like managing my team.
30:22I have to deal with HR issues. I have to try to run our books. I'm trying to direct. I'm trying to oversee post-production. I'm trying to see thumbnails and packaging. It's all just becoming overwhelming for me. And I was like, well, what are the parts that you enjoy the most? And she said, I just love acting and being on camera. Like if I could just have nothing else to do with any of the other aspects of the business, I would love that. And so this is actually a creator that we're in the process of acquiring. And that was like the selling point for her is imagine just being able to focus on what you love and a team who clearly understands how to create YouTube content and build a direct relationship with the community is the one that's running everything behind the scenes, making it all possible for you just to focus on what you're actually passionate about.
31:14And by the way, we also know how to double or triple or quadruple your output. So it allows you to actually achieve much bigger scales. So I think you're exactly right, Lauren, that it is a great, compelling reason for creators to want to partner with someone else who understands scale and who has done this before. Because otherwise, if you're going to sell your business as a creator to a media company who's never created an original YouTube video in the first place, that confidence level is going to be much lower versus somebody that you know has done something similar.
31:51Dhar Mann:Well, it's also a matter. I mean, this is God, I love talking about this stuff. It's also a matter of like the creator understanding where their content should live. And if they're like, I just want to be on TV, which you'd be surprised. A lot of creators are just like that. That's still what they want, even though we all know TV is kind of dying. And by the way, the fastest growing service for YouTube is connected TV. So it's going to be on your TV anyway. But if they're confused about like where they sit in the sort of space, that's also like can come into play. Josh, I know you have questions.
32:15Dhar Mann:Keep going.
32:16Lauren Schnipper:Yeah. So, Dar, I think it's when you're talking about your growth of your company. I mean, if you look at it in contrast to how other creators, bigger or smaller than you have grown, it's normally, OK, they start out doing content creation. then they do some brand deals, they incorporate some merch, then they start selling products, then maybe they spin off into other channels like a podcast. It seems like you're doing bits and pieces of that. But as far as I know, you don't do a ton of brand deals and you don't sell a ton of merch. You do have this Dharman app, but tell us about the decision-making processes about limiting the amount of brand deals you do, not selling merch, not trying to develop other products for your fan base?
32:55We've just been very fortunate that since day one, our videos have been very viral. And so, you know, we've been profitable since the very beginning. Our secret sauce is basically the share button because we tell emotional, impactful stories that teach life lessons. Our very early success started on Facebook just by people sharing our videos saying, hey, watch this. It teaches such an important life lesson. So we've been able to be so successful just off of platform revenue that we've never had to depend on brand deals in order for us to bring our creative vision to life. And in the past, brands have always been very transactional when approaching creators.
33:42We use this example often, but Nike doesn't go to LeBron James and say, hey, we want to sponsor you to wear our Nike shoes for one game. That would feel so inauthentic. In order for fans to really connect with Nike and LeBron, you want to see that one candid photo where he's walking out of a coffee shop and happened to be wearing Nike shoes, because that feels like a real moment, not a polished ad. So it's been more transactional historically where brands haven't been looking to build long-term relationships with creators.
34:14Lauren Schnipper:For some reason, they've just treated creators differently than they have traditional talent. But coming off of Cans Lions, this was the first time that I've heard that brands are totally shifting the playbook with creators. And now, not only are they shifting more budget towards creators, but they're also approaching creators with longer term brand partnerships that feel a lot more authentic. So now we actually are embracing brand deals. As long as it's a fit for the audience and there's a connection that I have with that brand and they're in this for like the long term vision of being able to impact people for the long run, then we actually are starting to take on brand partnerships now.
34:58Dhar Mann:I have a question around you. You've really upped your LinkedIn posting. I've noticed. I'm loving it. And you've done a couple of posts recently. And I totally align with this. And I'd love to hear you kind of talk about a little bit. You sort of called out Delta and I think Nike and some bigger brands saying like you guys need a chief creator officer. I've been saying this for a really long time that like there's going to be somebody, there should be somebody inside these big fortune, whatever companies that understands this ecosystem. Like there's just no avoiding it. And I love the way you're positioning.
35:29Dhar Mann:Can you talk a little bit about that? We're at a point in time right now where creators are becoming brands. And what we're going to see is brands becoming creators. so i was at the century city mall and i'm with my kids and i look around and i see a big skim store and i see a big good american store by chloe kardashian and i see somebody walking around with an unwell drink a woman in her 20s by alex cooper and i see another teenage boy drinking prime and i'm like these are all brands that have been built by creators so clearly creators are taking a chapter out of the brand playbook and just creating their own products.
36:11But we haven't seen so much of the reverse. And I think that's the future. So when I met with some different CMOs in Cairns, one of the number one things I was hearing was that paid media is not working. Earned media is also dying. But owned media is the future where brands aren't trying to rent audiences anymore. They want to actually own their audiences. How do you do that? You actually create content. So I'm sitting with the SVP of this big financial services company. He's giving me this pitch about how they're going to start creating YouTube content. So I'm like, great. You know, what is your budget per video?
36:49What is your ideal, like click through rate you're trying to achieve? What is the retention rate? What is your posting cadence? I just started asking basic questions that any creator can answer.
36:59Dhar Mann:Their minds, their like steam started coming out of his ears a little bit. Exactly. As though right away, he's like, oh my God, I hadn't thought about all these different things. And I was like, that is why you need to work with creators, because we understand storytelling in a way that connects with audiences all over the world in an organic way. And by the way, we can also do it a fraction of the cost of whatever traditional media is going to cost you. So I very much so, we've already seen creators becoming brands. I think more brands are going to become creators. I think the brands that have had very successful content strategies, such as Poppy, who just exited for a couple billion dollars to Pepsi, we're going to start to see more brands embracing that.
37:43And in order to be successful at creating content that resonates with the masses, you have to tap into the magic that creators have.
37:52Dhar Mann:I agree. Well, Darman, this has been so great. I'm so excited. I would love to have check-ins and have you come on because I just think what you're building is so interesting. And how you're thinking about the industry at large is so interesting. And I'm so excited to perhaps be like a small teeny part of what's happening in the future. But where can everybody find your content just in case they don't know? Thanks. You can just look me up, Darm in. We're on every platform. But more importantly, check out Creator Upload wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. I love it. I don't think we're out.
38:22Dhar Mann:I guess like push us, Josh. This is amazing. Yeah, I love it. We are on the same team here, Lauren. I love it. Yeah. And thanks for not buying our company, Lauren. Oh, yeah. No, no problem. Yeah. Anytime. Anytime. I'm here to surf. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you again, Dar, for being on the podcast. I have had the opportunity to spend a decent amount of time with him. He mentioned some of the work we almost did and did together at Jelly Smack. And he just always amazes me with like, honestly, he's incredibly articulate. He's very like just he's got big ideas that he executes upon. and he's just kind of inspiring to be around and it's really, really cool to see what he's building and, you know, I get to, you know, view it from a little bit of an insider's lens lately, so it's very cool.
39:06Lauren Schnipper:Dude seems to really get it also when he said he was wearing a lion suit when you first met. I thought he meant he skinned a lion. No, he was - And he was wearing a lion, like a suit made out of lions.
39:16Dhar Mann:He was literally wearing like a lion, like a full-on onesie lion suit with a tail and then he took us on a tour of his studio in the lion suit. Like there was no like, I'm going to get out of the lion suit. Like it was just full lion suit. Like I'm going all in and are you guys cool with this? And we're like, never been cooler.
39:35Lauren Schnipper:That's a great power move.
39:37Dhar Mann:It was amazing.
39:38Lauren Schnipper:He should sell lion suits to like hustle bros online. Be fantastic side business star.
39:45Dhar Mann:Yeah, that'd be great. Josh, you want to get to some uploads and downloads? I will start. Apparently Prime Day is here and Amazon is doubling its creator commissions for Prime Day. rumor has it according to tube filter that this is likely due to the uncertainty of tiktok shops this is another example of other platforms taking advantage of the uncertainty around tiktok and what's going to happen so these high commissions will be in place july 1 through 20 and it's not going to be on every product but they're going to give they're going to give uh commissions on about 13 products categories like beauty home cooking dining toys and games which i feel like are there any other categories like that's that seems you know the commission should go from about 4 % to 8 % or 3 % to 6%.
40:23Dhar Mann:And, you know, some instances from 10 % to 12 % just sort of depends on the product. But yeah, I think it's really cool. I think it's a move. You jump on an Amazon. I've always said forever that I don't understand why Amazon hasn't bought TikTok. I can't imagine that conversation hasn't happened. But they seem most poised to take advantage of this opportunity in shopping.
40:44Lauren Schnipper:It's a really smart move too from Amazon to take advantage of a pre-existing moment in the calendar year where they're doing a ton of marketing and then seeing what kind of traction they can get among creators that I'm guessing is going to inform a lot of their future activity in this space.
40:58Dhar Mann:Absolutely.
40:59Lauren Schnipper:Lauren, quick upload from another Titan, Kai Sinat's Toned product. He created Toned with his power group of streamers, AMP. That includes Kai Sinat, Duke Dennis, Phantom, Agent Zero Zero, Chris Next Door, and I'm Davis. They are releasing into Targets across the country, a collection of body lotions, deodorants, and lip balms. Again, it's called Toned. Will be cool to see how this one checks out. And also Targets just basically becoming a like as seen on the internet store.
41:27Dhar Mann:As seen on the internet, yeah. For those that don't know, as seen on TV used to be like a thing they would see in stores. All right, Josh, I think we did it.
41:35Lauren Schnipper:Lauren, I think that's it. I'll see you just walking around with some type of humidifier at all times wherever you are now just to get that kind of floor of the glow.
41:44Dhar Mann:Josh, you'll always be a titan to me.
41:46Lauren Schnipper:And if not there next week. That titan part really threw me off. It's rare I get even a sarcastic compliment from you. If not there, see you next week on Creator Upload. Today's show is produced by Lauren Schnipper, Joshua Cohen, that's me, and Adam Conner. It's edited by Adam Conner too. Original music is by London Bridge. You can check him out on Instagram at London Bridge Music. Make sure you subscribe to Creator Upload right here on YouTube on Apple Podcasts as well as Spotify or wherever you're listening. While you're there, give us a rating and leave us a comment. If you want to talk, hit us up at info at creatorupload.com.
42:18Lauren Schnipper:If you like our show, recommend it to a friend. If you love it, just tell everyone. Thanks for listening to Creator Upload, and we will be back next week.
From the publisher
Dhar Mann, just named a Titan on the TIME100 Creators List for 2025, joins Creator Upload to reveal the strategy behind his global media empire. In a candid conversation, Dhar shares why he stepped down as CEO, his playbook for acquiring other creators, and his vision for why brands need to start thinking like creators.Plus, hosts Lauren Schnipper and Joshua Cohen break down the massive news of TikTok's plan to launch a US-only app this fall and discuss how Amazon is doubling creator commissions for Prime Day to capitalize on the platform uncertainty.00:00 Intro 01:40 TIME100 Creators List 2025 Revealed08:07 TikTok to Debut a US-Only App 11:53 Welcoming Dhar Mann 13:35 Dhar Mann on Stepping Down as CEO 19:50 Dhar's Focus After the CEO Role 22:54 The Future of Dhar Mann Studios 26:34 Acquiring Other Creators: The Disney Playbook 27:56 Should Every Creator Build a Big Business? 32:44 Why Dhar Mann Avoided Traditional Brand Deals & Merch 35:16 Why Brands Need a Chief Creator Officer 38:06 Where to Find Dhar Mann's Content 39:34 Uploads & Downloads 39:55 Amazon Doubles Creator Commissions for Prime Day 40:58 Kai Cenat Launches TONE Body Care Line in Target 41:44 OutroCreator Upload is your creator economy podcast, hosted by Lauren Schnipper and Joshua Cohen.Follow Lauren: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schnipper/Follow Josh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuajcohen/Original music by London Bridge: https://www.instagram.com/londonbridgemusic/Edited and produced by Adam Conner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamonbrand


