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When Kevin Hart teamed up with Lionsgate back in the summer of 2017 to launch Laugh Out Loud Network, the idea was to create an owned-and-operated streaming home for comedy content, with subscriptions a big piece of the revenue pie.<\/p>\n
As it happened, that was right around the time NBCUniversal pulled the plug on Seeso, its own comedy roll-up SVOD play.<\/p>\n
The subscription side of LOL didn\u2019t last long, as niche streaming services struggled and as major players like HBO Max and Disney Plus streamed into the fight for consumer entertainment spending. Hart\u2019s company pivoted from the original plan to become a distributed, diversified producer of comedy content \u2014 a shift in strategy, Hart told Variety, that has allowed LOL to expand well beyond its original goals in terms of audience reach.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made some changes that were for the better, which put us in a position to grow,\u201d Hart said. \u201cNow it\u2019s much bigger than we thought.\u201d<\/p>\n
In early 2019, Hart bought out most of Lionsgate\u2019s stake in Laugh Out Loud to become majority owner. Then earlier this year he inked a deal with NBCU, under which the media company took a minority equity stake in LOL. The deal makes Hart\u2019s company a flagship partner for Peacock with a slate of series and short-form originals coming to the hybrid free\/paid streamer starting later in 2020. Peacock also will distribute LOL\u2019s catalog.<\/p>\n
Having the controlling interest in LOL, Hart said, \u201clet me build the company I believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The creative mission of the company hasn\u2019t changed, Hart said. \u201cThree years ago it started off as a vision to give people, the comedy talent of today, male and female, an opportunity to pop \u2014 and be seen\u2026 We have progressively busted our ass, and worked hard to get closer and closer to that goal. We made some noise and stayed consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n
LOL\u2019s content comes from a talent lineup of some 300 comedians from over 30 countries. The biggest opportunity, Hart said, remains \u201cbeing able to give people a true identity on our platform, especially people of color. It\u2019s comedy in color, from people of color.\u201d It\u2019s a space that historically has been underserved, \u201cand we\u2019re doing our best to fill it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As he and his team at LOL \u2014 led by EVP and GM Thai Randolph and president Jeff Clanagan \u2014 have been trying to build a digital comedy empire, Hart has had to juggle his time at Laugh Out Loud with his acting work, which he\u2019s continued apace with roles in recent movies including \u201cJumanji: The Next Level\u201d and \u201cThe Secret Life of Pets 2.\u201d There was also the PR blowup in 2018, when his past homophobic tweets were resurfaced and he stepped down as host of the Oscars; Hart and his production company turned the experience into a Netflix docuseries, \u201cKevin Hart: Don\u2019t F**k This Up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did Hart ever think about throwing in the towel on LOL? \u201cNo, not at all,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was about, for me, \u2018How do I step up to the challenge?\u2019 My challenge now is build this thing from ground zero to potentially a hero \u2013 one of the ones that made it. That\u2019s my motivation, that was my reason to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, Laugh Out Loud is a multiplatform network with multiple lines of business. The company says it reaches over 100 million video viewers, via distribution on streaming platforms including Roku Channel, ViacomCBS\u2019s PlutoTV, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram \u2014 and will soon have a perch on NBCU\u2019s Peacock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe landscape has really evolved the last three years,\u201d said Randolph, GM of Laugh Out Loud Network. \u201cWe\u2019ve expanded it in terms of reach and distribution but also in terms of ambition about what the company is and can be. Our focus \u2014 our moonshot \u2014 is to develop the most relevant comedy brand in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
To mark its third anniversary, LOL Network is launching a redesign of its website (at laughoutloud.com) to better highlight the scope of its content across all platforms and formats, as well as comedy talent. \u201cWith the site redesign, we wanted to create a new destination that mirrored our evolution as a company and showcased the multiple divisions, distribution touchpoints, and top-tier talent partnerships we\u2019ve developed,\u201d Randolph said.<\/p>\n
The company also operates LOL Studios, a full-service production company with 40,000 square feet of studio space in Canoga Park, Calif. That arm of the company produced Quibi original \u201cDie Hart,\u201d co-starring Hart and John Travolta. In addition, the LOL Audio division comprises a radio channel on SiriusXM with a show hosted by Hart, and the No. 1 podcast on Pandora, \u201cStraight from the Hart With Kevin Hart.\u201d<\/p>\n
It also launched LOL X!, a live-event and experiential division, and earlier this year led marketing for Nick Cannon\u2019s Wild N Out tour in partnership with ViacomCBS, though additional projects have been on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic. And LOL is continuing its global expansion through Canada\u2019s Bell Media, with other deals in the pipeline.<\/p>\n
Randolph noted that LOL always had an ad-supported component to the business model, targeting a multicultural audience and doubling down on an African-American base of comedy fans. The industry\u2019s increasing lean into AVOD, as demonstrated by Peacock, \u201cvalidated our assumptions,\u201d she said. At the same time, company execs wanted to diversify their portfolio to not be overly reliant on any single revenue stream because, as Randolph put it, \u201cnot all of these things are going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, marketers have tapped LOL to create comedic branded content through diverse cultural voices. For example, the company has worked with Lyft on \u201cKevin Hart: Lyft Legend\u201d (in which Hart goes undercover as a Lyft driver to give unsuspecting passengers a trip they\u2019ll never forget) and \u201cCold as Balls,\u201d sponsored by P&G\u2019s Old Spice, the ice-bath sports talk show on YouTube.<\/p>\n
LOL has been built around Kevin Hart being \u201cthat North Star, the heart and the vision\u201d from a talent perspective, Randolph said, with him being \u201can endorser\u201d to raise up other comedic voices. \u201cWhat Kevin has done, and his whole MO, is sweat equity \u2014 making sure the foundation is there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company is profitable, Randolph said, with headcount scaling up or down as needed for productions. \u201cThe core team is deliberately small and nimble,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve kept this bottom-line focus and an eye toward profitability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clanagan, who is also Hart\u2019s longtime business partner, said the company has been able to adapt quickly to industry trends with its lean, partnership-focused structure. He sees continued global expansion for LOL, particularly in Africa. \u201cWhat we saw from Kevin is there\u2019s a huge global market for this content,\u201d Clanagan said.<\/p>\n
LOL, like other networks and studios, has been thrown for a loop because of production shutdowns caused by the pandemic. That\u2019s forced the team to become more creative, Hart said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou saw people really get to a place where they said, \u2018Although we\u2019re not in a position to physically produce on set, what can we do virtually?’\u201d he said. \u201cWe challenged the team to still produce and come up with things, and be aggressive in this time\u2026. It never was the time to sit back and be engulfed in our own misery. It was about constant trying, that\u2019s what literally has gotten us through this pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n
During COVID-19 lockdowns, LOL has put several animated projects in the works. \u201cThat wasn\u2019t really in our road map, but we accelerated that development pipeline,\u201d Clanagan said, because it\u2019s far more feasible to produce animated content remotely. The company has a pilot coming out in a couple weeks of a show called \u201cConfessions From the Hart,\u201d with animated renditions of stories told by comedians. \u201cComedians are storytellers,\u201d Clanagan said, noting that idea germinated after Hart posted stories around 10 minutes long on Instagram every week \u201cand they started blowing up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hart is hoping to be able to start production in L.A. as soon as September on his first original Peacock series, \u201cHart to Heart,\u201d with him interviewing different guests in what he promises will be \u201creal, authentic and raw conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once productions get back into action, Hart is hopeful that LOL will be able to land even more fans on Peacock. The NBCU deal is \u201chuge and special,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can act as great partners and put us in a position to do more \u2014 and be more.\u201d<\/p>\n
View this article at Variety<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kevin Hart on Laugh Out Loud Comedy Network Turning 3: How He Built \u2018the Company I Believe In\u2019 When Kevin Hart teamed up with Lionsgate back in the summer of 2017 to launch Laugh Out Loud Network, the idea was to create an owned-and-operated streaming home for comedy content, with subscriptions a big piece of
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