Rokfin: Who Would Buy Them and Why?
Speculating on Potential Buyers for the Rokfin Video and Podcasting Platform.
UPDATE (Sept 17, 2pm ET): I’ve heard from multiple creators that they received RAE into their wallet beginning last night, with no further explanation from Rokfin beyond the one we received below.
Intro
This is another follow up/companion to Rokfin, Video Publishing Platform: Financial Trouble?, published yesterday.
There is a companion article describing some of the challenges experienced getting paid out via the Rokfin video streaming platform, which you can find here.
There is another companion piece detailing the technical issues with the platform, which you can find here.
The past several years, we’ve seen YouTube, the dominant video platform, censor and demonetize creators who are critical of the US Government’s policies on COVID, January 6, Election Integrity, Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine and a host of other topics. That sent those censored & demonetized creators looking for alternative places to livestream and build an audience.
One of the safe havens that’s served as an ad-free home for the censored and controversial has been Rokfin, a crypto-based video platform built to cater specifically to a couple of niches (amateur wrestling and the censored, “free thinkers”).
Could Rokfin Be Setting Up to Shut Down or Sell?
There are several signs that something is going on. The combination of a reduction of headcount, their lack of communication & engagement with their creators in 2024 the lack of development on the tech side all indicate that there could be financial difficulties at Rokfin.
The platform has been stable and working ok (for the most part), but no new development or fixes have been deployed in ages. I also noticed Rokfin has been buying Facebook & Instagram ads featuring their creators in vertical, TikTok-style videos (called Bites) to generate more traffic to the platform.
Typically, when we see behavior like this, it is not the indication of a healthy, growing platform pushing to grow revenue & viewers.
It would be interesting to learn the total in Tips + Monthly Subscription revenue for 2024 vs their expenses.
It would also be interesting to see what Rokfin would be valued at, for sale purposes.
Who Would Want to Buy Rokfin?
I would speculate that Rumble is the likeliest target, but they’ll probably need cash to do it. Rokfin would be an attractive acquisition target for a few reasons. The only logical players with the available cash to take out a competitor are Rumble & Alphabet. A merger with a smaller player like Bitchute or Odysee is also possible.
Alphabet - Possible, But Not Likely
Alphabet has plenty of money and would only potentially buy it to shut it down and take out a competitor. There is little other value to the platform to Alphabet.
Rumble - More Likely
Rumble, on the other hand, has several potential reasons to acquire Rokfin. Rumble already has some sports content and has also been selling itself as a champion of free speech. Rokfin’s amateur wrestling niche would fit in nicely alongside the Slap Fight / UFC / Barstool audience. A lot of the “free speech” creators on Rokfin are already co-streaming to Rumble, so they snatch that traffic for themselves. They would also be interested in taking out a competitor, the goal being moving up in Livestream viewership time and total hours watched, according to StreamsCharts.
They have a long way to go to catch Kick, the next largest video platform operating in the US. Acquisition and consolidation would certainly be one way to get Rumble there faster, although with Rokfin not even reaching the top 12, it’s questionable how big a boost Rumble would even get.
Video-Crypto Integration, Tokenization
An acquisition of Rokfin would also include the crypto tokenized element of video/publishing based around the RAE token. That could be technology which Rumble, and by extension the Trump Media & Technology Group, are interested in acquiring.
It’s quite possible that Trump Media DJT 0.00%↑ could potentially get involved, as they are already connected with Rumble. Rumble Cloud hosts Truth Social and Rumble already paid Don Jr $1M to exclusively host his podcast.
Trump Media is in the process of sponsoring the launch a DeFi crypto offering, World Liberty Financial, and Trump spoke at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville earlier this summer. Rumble also could feasibly utilize the RAE token, or create their own offering using the same technology as an alternate to FIAT currency. Crypto is another tool that could be used to control and manipulate valuations when necessary.
Rumble has not been doing well, financially. They’re a publicly traded company RUM 0.00%↑ who has had trouble fighting with governments over censorship. They’ve already been burning $10M/month for the past 2 years with no path to profitability. Their total cash on hand will down to near $100M left after a $300M raise in 2021. My further speculation is that there will be a merger or acquisition between the two organizations announced within the next 12-18 months, or Rumble will do another round of a capital raise.
They’ve been thrown out of, or shut down services to, Brazil, France, Russia and others. The US and Australian governments have also targeted Rumble, so the legal challenges eat into financial resources that could otherwise be invested in the platform.
Check Out This Extensive Deep Dive on Rumble, including the cash burn, written a year ago:
Rokfin’s Red Flags:
Red Flag: Headcount Reduced?
One reason to be concerned is that the company appears to now be down to just 2 senior executives, CEO Martin Floreani and Creator Acquisition & Stream Manager Matt Williams.
Former VP of Product Jaime Brugueras, I am unsure if VP of Operations Scott Augustine & marketing guru Nickolas Veliquette still work there. A recent auto-reply to my email advised that there are only 2 people to contact beyond a generic “support” address.
Red Flag: No Payments to Creators for August, 2024 with no Communication
Rokfin has not paid out its creators in RAE tokens since the end of August, an alarming sign, to say the least. I have spoken with over a dozen creators, and none have indicated that they’ve been paid since August 23.
Rokfin advised late on Sept. 12 that “the Mints & Tips haven’t been sent out yet, but they will be processed in the next few days. We’re currently in the process of streamlining this responsibility to ensure more efficient handling going forward.”
UPDATE (Sept 17, 2pm ET): I’ve heard from multiple creators that they received RAE into their wallet beginning last night, with no further explanation from Rokfin beyond the one we received below.
We have not received any communication from Rokfin about our channel’s payout yet.
Why wasn't any communication sent to Rokfin creators about the delay in payout since the 1st of September?
I just noticed that their monthly emails, notifying how much the channel earned in tips and viewing time, stopped coming in January 2024.
Rokfin has provided no explanation about the holdup in distributing the value of money that was contributed by viewers and for livestream viewing, earned in FIAT currency and available to Rokfin to use immediately, as far back as AUGUST 1ST.
In spite of these (and many more) challenges, a handful of creators have been loyal, saw the ad-free, censor-free vision - and stuck around. They could possibly be getting the short end of the stick from Rokfin in return.
Read More:
This is a companion piece to Rokfin, Video Publishing Platform: Financial Trouble?. Read that here.
Rokfin has always been challenging from a technological standpoint. To learn more about the technical challenges of the platform, CLICK HERE.
For more of a deep dive into the nightmare for a creator on Rokfin showing the insane steps to extracting actual cash from RAE tokens to deposit into a bank account, CLICK HERE
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Active & Former Rokfin Creators on Substack:
The obvious acquisition would be by Musk/X and a truce with Rumble but he’s too busy trying to make muskbook video on ex-Twitter work
Rumble is a publicly listed company so can raise cash fairly quickly if need be.
I think the most logical move for them will be to grab Rokfin and integrate it into Locals. That way they have a clear delineation for the two platforms they own:
Rumble - free videos and live streams supported by ads (YT clone)
Locals - Subscription based premium video and audio content