In today's Global VID podcast episode, we dive into User Generated Content (UGC) which is essentially all of that self-made content that you see on YouTube and other social media platforms... and in this episode, we talk with Jonathan Skogmo, the CEO of Jukin Media (with content brands such as Fail Army, The Pet Collective, People Are Awesome), arguably the BIGGEST UGC production company in the world. We caught Johnathan Skogmo at a pivotal moment in his career as Jukin Media just sold their company to Trusted Media Brands... ever heard of them?

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Well... Trusted Media Brands (a.k.a. the original Reader's Digest Association company) is about to celebrate their 100th anniversary in February of 2022, when they published their very first edition of Reader's Digest, promoting the magazine through direct mail marketing by sending 5,000 letters to nurses and schoolteachers. By 1927, they had 30,00 subscribers, by 1939: 3 MILLION! By 1973? Over 30 MILLION! So what do these two brands have in common? Hang tight.

Fast-forward to 2014, a CNBC article explained that Trusted Media Brands was going through its second bankruptcy in 5 years, right around the time when Bonnie Kintzer became the company's President. Nice challenge, huh? By 2017, the company cleaned up its debt and Trusted Media Brands started growing again as a digital-first company.

So what do these companies have in common? In our episode, Johnathan Skogmo, labels Reader's Digest as one of the very first UGC content producers as they would often source articles from their readers. Finally, in the middle of the pandemic, Jukin Media was approached as Trusted Media Brands was looking for a video content company to align with their business. And this is where our podcast begins...

https://www.jukinmedia.com/

Global VID Season 2, Episode 7 was produced by And Now Global, a Vancouver based international content consulting company.

Host: Eric Y. Lapointe
Editor: Nicole Almeida
Theme Song Composers: Nightwood (Amber Goodwyn, Erin Ross)