Originally published December 2020. Last Updated July 2022.
As restrictions in YouTube’s content policy become more stringent, many content creators are entering the parallel economy by switching to Rumble to publish their videos. But is Rumble the next big thing, or just a passing fad?
Here’s what you need to know about Rumble:
What is Rumble?
Basically, it is comparable to YouTube with fewer restrictions and a simpler algorithm.
Rumble, launched in 2013, contains viral videos that are commonly seen on YouTube and other social networking sites, but it has looser restrictions on what constitutes a violation of its video policy. Because of this, it has become a haven for controversial political figures who have had their YouTube videos taken down for questioning the results of the presidential election.
Many conservative creators have also been shadowbanned by traditional social media outlets. Because Rumble gives content creators an unfiltered connection with viewers, shadow banning is not a concern.
Remember how conservatives flocked to Parler from Twitter after censorship concerns? Similarly, Rumble is attracting disenchanted conservatives from YouTube.
Last year, Rumble attracted investors like Peter Thiel, Narya Capital (J.D. Vance and Colin Greenspon), and Colt Ventures. As of June 2022, Rumble is nearing a deal with CF Acquisition Corp VI. (still awaiting SEC and stockholder approvals) to take the company public on Nasdaq, which would provide approximately $400 million in proceeds.
Rumble plans to use this money to invest in attracting more content creators, further build out their independent infrastructure, expand the Rumble teams and start robust marketing of the platform, among other things.
Who is on Rumble?
Current Rumble users include politicians as well as commentators and celebrities from the right. One of the most popular conservative commentators on Rumble is Dan Bongino, who now has over 2 million subscribers on the platform – more than twice what his show has on YouTube.
One of the greatest boosts for the platform came on June 28th, 2021, as former President Donald Trump joined, and he now boasts over 1.38 million. The former president and his team use the platform for everything from live streaming his rallies, posting video ads, and providing news clips of President Trump.
Another large get for Rumble came when Senator Rand Paul joined the platform in August of 2021 after a video he posted calling for the end of lockdowns and mask mandates went viral and got him suspended from YouTube. He has since become exclusive on Rumble.
House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy followed suit to post exclusively on Rumble as well. Other popular Republicans include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with 263k subscribers, and Congressman Jim Jordan with 284k subscribers. Various right-leaning news outlets are also on Rumble including The Daily Caller, One America News Network, and Newsmax.
While Rumble may be becoming more popular among conservatives, most mainstream news outlets and politicians have yet to join the platform.
Why Are Conservatives Flocking to Rumble?
Some conservatives are hesitant to use social media outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube because they believe the content is filtered to meet guidelines and that popular conservative creators are shadowbanned.
Rumble didn’t start out as a “conservative” social video site. But self-declared “free-speech platforms” like Rumble are poised to take advantage of that demographic’s shift away from traditional social media, and they’ve shown they will back their creators when needed. “Shadowy activists may not like what [our creators] have to say, but Rumble will always encourage open debate without taking sides.” said Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski. “We won’t tolerate politicized attempts to cancel creators.”
More people also want to consume unfiltered content from creators directly, “…Rumble’s skyrocketing numbers reflect that. The platform exploded from just 1.6 million monthly active users to 39 million monthly active users in just a year and a half. On top of that, user engagement grew to 8 billion minutes watched per month. “…it’s clear that we are witnessing a major shift on the internet. Users are sending a clear message that platforms supporting the free and open internet will be the future,” said Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski.
They’ve also stated that Donald Trump’s popular new Truth Social app has successfully moved both their mobile application and website on to Rumble’s growing cloud infrastructure. As Rumble continues to expand and become highly independent, Truth Social marks the first significant addition to their cloud service.
As calls for increased content moderation intensify, as big tech censorship shows no signs of slowing down in the future. Will demand for an unmoderated platform like Rumble continue to surge? Or will it face the same fate as Parler if it gets out of control? Only time will tell.
How Can You Monetize Content on Rumble?
Rumble also gives its creators more options to monetize content than YouTube, and has recently been making changes to their infrastructure which are highlighted in 3 main areas to improve their mission of being a cancel-culture free community. Rumble’s CEO, Chris Pavlovski, says:
Rumble was built on the belief that all video content creators should be given equal opportunity to freely express themselves and reach a broad audience across the globe, all while maximizing their revenue.
First, Rumble announced it will be moving to a transformative payment processing company called Parallel Economy. This will further the company’s mission of creating an independent infrastructure and provides reassurance that supporters can still transact with creators on the platform should there be any big tech obstacles in the future.
On top of moving to Parallel Economy, Rumble has also acquired Locals Technology Inc. A subscription based service for online communities. This will allow Rumble users to create a direct stream of revenue through subscriptions, giving creators even greater control over their content.
Lastly, Rumble has started testing on their new Ad Marketplace, where soon, all advertising being served will be handled through their own system instead of the public ad exchange. Their hope with this new ecosystem is to build out an improved method of how ads are handled in the future, providing greater advertising options on all sides.
Rumble’s first monetization option is through an ad revenue split. While YouTube only shares 10-15% of ad revenue with users, Rumble shares up to 60% of ad revenue with its users.
Other options include giving creators the opportunity to give up the rights to their content in exchange for a lump sum of money and profit-sharing through Rumble’s other partners.
Rumble also has a simpler video recommendation algorithm than YouTube. YouTube recommends videos for users based primarily on previously watched videos while Rumble displays videos solely in chronological order from creators that a user follows, allowing users to select what content they want to consume without influence.
A brand seeking to reach a right-leaning audience may be wise to use Rumble as a component of their omnichannel marketing strategy because of its new popularity among conservatives.
But don’t put all of your resources into one platform. We always recommend a diversified omnichannel strategy. Learn more about how IMGE uses omnichannel marketing here.
