"Hey Phil! Enough with the Olympics and the sports and all that! What's up with JellyTelly, our favorite as-of-yet-unlaunched kids network?!?"
Oh! Good question! Glad you asked! Well, we're in the final stages of collecting all our programming for the first season of JellyTelly. It's going a bit slower than we would like, primarily because some of the producers of Christian children's programs that we're working with have more or less gotten out of the business (due to some of the very same economic issues we're trying to solve with JellyTelly) and they're having a hard time digging up all the content we need. ("Where did we put those masters? Back in 1998 when we got out of this infernal business?")
So that's slowing us down a bit. Our own internal programming is coming together pretty well – just a few more things to wrap-up and we'll be good to go there. But about half of our programming is coming from partners, and that's been a bit of a slow go.
On the finance front, we're very, very close to having all our season 1 financing in place. I was really hoping to be able to announce "We're done! We're all funded!" by yesterday or today, but we're still waiting for lawyers to sign off on a few legal terms.
I love legal terms.
Anyway… God-willing, early next week we should be able to announce that we're good to go.
While I've got your attention, I'll be speaking in chapel at Baylor University Monday morning. If you're a Baylor student, swing by and say 'hi'!
More news soon…
Well we’re ready to subscribe. I’m really excited!
I was just wondering, who owns YT? Does Phil own it 100%? Or are there private share holders?
The “financing” is interesting to me. Is the idea that you get the first season funded, and then (hopefully) pay back those loans after the subscription revenues come in?
I’m still a bit hesitant about the subscription model. I know it can work; but with each monthly subscription being so low you will need a mass of people to subscribe.
I’m in the software business myself; if your average family brings you $60/year, how many customers are you going to need to bring in? It seems like it should be 15,000-20,000.
Club Penguin, which would be the “secular” success story, had 12 million accounts (after about 2 years of business) when Disney purchased it; but only 70,000 of those were “paying customers.”
If the ratio is the same for Jelly, you’d need 3.5 million users total to generate 20,000 paying customers.
Anyways… I’m more of a “Walt” than a “Roy,” so I’m probably missing something.
Just want to make sure this Jelly thing works!
Baylor! Why Baylor? Can’t you come speak at Liberty? 🙂
Justin knows his stuff on this subject and I certainly don’t…but a potential difference between the Club Penguin success and the success of this venture could be found in the word “secular”. While Club Penguin had a low ratio of paying customers, Christians very often look at these things with an eternal perspective and measure the value beyond entertainment. For instance, where we are from (Columbus Ohio) there is a very cool Christian radio station that doesn’t gear itself towards Christians but towards kids between 13-25 years old. Inbetween songs you hear announcements for the help line or quick 30 sec testimonies without ever getting preachy. They refuse to play any commercials as all of our other “listener supported” radio stations do (harruuummmph. Don’t get me started on that sanitized-prostitution).
Anyway, my point is this–that radio station, reaching kids with the Gospel and no real form of funding, has taken off in the last 10 years and has affiliates all over the country. We personally support it and we’ve moved out of the listening area. Oh, and our ears have aged and the style doesn’t necessarily appeal to us anymore either. But we still financially support it because it’s a MINISTRY.
So yeah, there’s math involved. 🙂 I’ll leave that up to the Roys, too.
Thoughts and Prayers,
Charla
We are pros at hearing the phrase, “…we are close…”. You are remain in our daily prayers~ both personally and professionally.
All the best. Bummer – you’re in my neck of the woods (DFW) and I’m in Florida. 🙂
I know where all of my Booples masters are if you want to use them for JellyTelly. 😉
God bless!
Know what you mean on the funding aspect. Just because you know its as good as gold doesn’t mean everybody else shares that opinion…frustrating.
next week! yay!!!
I would like to help. i have 2 kids and i love cartoons any way I can help please let me know.
thanks
Steve
thefreelancejunkie.com224.717.9815 http://www.thefreelancejunkie.com
Terrific news! I’m excited for the official launch. Can’t wait!
Praying you receive another big bucket of faith in the mail this week! You can do it, Jelly Telly— we believe 🙂
Praying on Tuesdays, still- everyone who feels led, come on and join in the fun. God is the best at giving encouragement.
I just found out about JellyTelly last week, and as both a parent of four young kids and a volunteer youth pastor, I am very excited about this. I will definitely promote it to everyone I know at church. Can’t wait for an official launch date! 🙂
I’m a freshman at Baylor University, and I just wanted to stop by and say that you were a great speaker at my chapel this morning. 🙂
You’re off by a zero, Justin. It wasn’t 70,000, it was 700,000.
I was at the 10 o’clock chapel. Thanks for sharing your story. It really made me think and taught me a lot. …and of course, thanks for the laughs.
Good luck with JellyTelly!
-Luis
I have a grand total of 3 weeks of business classes under my belt now so I have very little to add to the financial discussion. However, it was a pleasure meeting you today Phil and I will be praying earnestly for you! Thank you very much for speaking to us at Baylor and speaking with me backstage, you were most certainly a word from God for me and it was exactly what I needed to hear.
Mr. Vischer,
I was really inspired by your message today at chapel. It was really hard to acknowledge that in many ways I have chosen my Dreams over God. neat less to say that it’s because of people like you that come and share your life story with us, that (My) Day after chapel are miraculously transformed with Joy and assurance that God is always present even when I am in the mist of darkness.
Thank you once again.
Very cool! I just learned about JellyTelly last week. As a parent of four young kids and as a volunteer youth pastor, I am very excited about this! Can’t wait for a launch date. 🙂
Enjoyed your talk very much at Baylor. Thanks for the photo.
Praying that the Lord continues to bless you and the new company. Can’t wait till it gets launched! 🙂
Hello,
I wanted to drop by and say “Thank You!!!” for coming and speaking at Baylor University Monday morning!! It was very enjoyable for me and my friends. Your story is one that really hits home because it involves a life true story. I think that it really helps to here a lesson from God through somebody that has experienced God and His word. It also helps to here how to apply it to our life.
Thanks Again!!
God Bless,
Nathan Fischer
Oh wow, if I hadn’t been sitting in a waiting room I’d have snuck over to Waco.
re: the financing. I won’t go into details, but we ourselves are very tight on money because of my husband’s commitment to revitalizing smaller churches. But… there are some things that are just worth supporting. Even though we could get away with something like $2/month, we love this so much we want it to succeed. So instead, we will be praying about how much we can give each month rather than how little we can give without feeling guilty about it. And I doubt we’re the only ones.
The beauty of this, though, is that even those who really only can afford $1-2 month will have access. It’s a wonderful concept, first off. (Keith Green, one of my personal heroes, did this at times as well.) But… an unintended benefit may be that because there are no financial barriers to access, those with little income can enjoy it and then enthusiastically spread the word, too. I’d never even heard of club penguin until Phil mentioned it on the blog. No one has ever mentioned it to me in conversation. Yet, people whom I’ve told about JellyTelly have turned around and told me about it a week or two later — they’d gotten into such a habit of mentioning it that they’d already forgotten I was the one who originally told them.
I know I am one of those annoying optimists; but, I also know that if the Owner of the cattle on a thousand hills wants this to succeed, then it most certainly will.
I am super excited about JellyTelly and am in discussions with the rest of our staff and our pastors to see if we can put together a series for you. We have everything we need … just need to get approval and get something written. Super pumped!
Yay! As devoted Veggie fans ( even before I started having kids) I cannot wait to see JellyTelly. When I watched the promo, I laughed out loud. When you said subscription, my heart sunk. When you said, set your own rate, I danced around the room! We want our kids to know the Lord and the things of God, intimately. Thanks for helping.
Hey Chris,
Hey Chris,
“You’re off by a zero, Justin. It wasn’t 70,000, it was 700,000.”
According to Club Penguin had 70,000 paying customers (out of 12 million subscribers) when Disney purchased it.
“If the ratio is the same for Jelly, you’d need 3.5 million users total to generate 20,000 paying customers.”
Did I do my math correct with the ratio?
clubpenguin.comAccording to the actual Press Release, yeah, it was 700,000.
Hey Phil, just watched the 30 minute intro to JellyTelly, and I’m impressed with your vision. Hope it all works out! I’m a die-hard fan of Rhett & Link and glad to see they’re part of your programming. Can’t go wrong with those guys. God bless!!