Dear Media's Co-Founder Michael Bosstick Says Acquisition Of Fitness Platform Obé 'Just Made A Ton Of Sense'

Forbes

5 days ago

Paige Port, Lauryn Bosstick and Michael Bosstick of Dear Media
Dear Media—which has billed itself in the podcast market as the largest podcast network for women—is merging deeper into the wellness space with the acquisition of digital fitness platform obé Fitness, also bringing obé co-founder Mark Mullett on as Dear Media's President of Global Entertainment and Business Development.
While many of Dear Media's nearly 100 shows focus on wellness content specifically—like Arielle Lorre's aptly titled 'Well' and Dr. Will Cole's 'The Art of Being Well,' for example—the obé acquisition is a deeper dive into the space. Founded in 2018 by former CAA talent agents Mullett and Ashley Mills, obé differentiated itself through its entertainment content, partnering with Hollywood studios to translate movies and television shows into fitness. (It, for example, offered a Sex and the City-themed workout class among its many offerings, which E! News, using a word known to fans of the hit HBO show, reported was 'absof—kinglutely not your ordinary workout.') It will now live as a standalone platform within Dear Media, the company said in a release.
Like obé, Dear Media was also founded in 2018, it by Michael Bosstick and Lauryn Evarts Bosstick, who are not only co-founders but also married and also co-hosts of 'The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast,' one of Dear Media's most popular shows. The show's title stems off of The Skinny Confidential, now a self-care product brand operating within Dear Media that originally began as a blog started by Lauryn back in 2011. The couple's 'Him & Her' show began in 2016—two years before Dear Media's launch.
Michael Bosstick
'You have to imagine, at that period of time, there was very little female representation,' Michael tells me on Zoom, explaining that the space was filled with 'the Gary Vaynerchuks, the Joe Rogans, the Rich Rolls, the Tim Ferrisses, 'Serial,' NPR, 'How I Built This.'''
'It was a lot of the OG podcasts that we respect and admire, but there was very little female representation,' he says. 'We had met a bunch of other female hosts and realized that they were really struggling to find their footing in the market. They were struggling to monetize, they were struggling to rank on the charts. And for Lauryn and I, at the time looking at it, it didn't make a lot of sense.'
Their mission, he says, was to even out the charts: 'Let's give these women their fair shot at earning the same kind of incomes that some of the men were earning,' Michael says of Dear Media's impetus. 'Let's give the female advertisers an audience and the ability to be represented in the space. I think over time we've really done a good job as a company to even out those charts now where this conversation is maybe becoming not as much of an issue as it was then. And I feel really proud of Dear Media for doing that.'
Now based in Austin, Texas, Dear Media's revenue falls between $51 million and $100 million, 'moving closer towards the latter than the former,' Michael tells me. 'We're doing well.' The obé acquisition—announced June 23, though the specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed—seems evidence of that. Mullett tells me that he will continue to oversee obé's 'continued evolution' but will also take on a larger role within Dear Media to 'amplify and expand how we show up as a leading media and entertainment company of the future.'
Mark Mullett
'The goal of the acquisition is to build upon how Dear Media can best serve our growing audience in and beyond our show expectations,' he says. 'We'll continue to expand our owned and operated channels to drive deeper engagement, while growing our slate of talent and IP through the creation and acquisition of new programming.'
As has long been Dear Media's approach, Mullett says that he is looking to 'create more brand extensions across commerce, longform content, events and publishing, always with an eye toward our 360 approach of engaging a host's audience across every platform while their content can be consumed.' The acquisition, he adds, 'also provides Dear Media with obé's tech infrastructure and world-class tech team to create even more opportunities for the shows and audiences to engage with.'
The aforementioned 360 approach refers to Dear Media's goal of helping its hosts monetize through various channels beyond just advertising dollars; take, for example, Lauryn, who not only hosts a show as part of the Dear Media network but also still runs her The Skinny Confidential blog and has now expanded into products ranging from ice rollers to mouth tape to, intriguingly, toilet paper. E-commerce, publishing, events and longform content are also encouraged by Dear Media as avenues of growth for its creators, with their respective podcasts as their springboards and launchpads. The Dear Media 360 model ranges from show conception to audio and video production, distribution, marketing, social, monetization and more, seeking to not just host podcasts, but incubate brands.
Lauryn Evarts Bosstick speaks onstage during the SIMPLY Los Angeles Fashion + Beauty Conference ... More Powered By NYLON at The Grove on July 15, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo byfor Simply)
Shows can either begin with a host and become a brand, or can begin with a brand that becomes a host; shows can also be built from the ground up or acquired and scaled.
'The blog and podcast created the foundation to launch The Skinny Confidential clean beauty and wellness brand,' Lauryn tells me. 'I focused on growing a community and building an engaged audience, constantly interacting over DM and email to crowdsource their opinion on everything from colors to texture to packaging. The audience felt like co-creators—by the time the products were launched, they were deeply invested in every step of the process.'
'The Skinny Confidential became the model for Dear Media's 360 approach,' she continues. 'Once you have the show, it's about figuring out ways to expand the creator's brand—whether through product lines, events, publishing or any other extension. The first step is to give the audience consistent value through content. The next step is to double down on what they're asking for, then the last step is to launch the brand extension to engage them further.'
Amanda Hirsch, host of "Not Skinny But Not Fat"
Shows under the Dear Media umbrella include genres like fashion, beauty, health and wellness, pop culture, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and parenting. According to the company, after being acquired by Dear Media, a show sees between 25 to 50 percent growth, both in audience and revenue, and shows include the beauty podcast 'Breaking Beauty'; the beauty and wellness podcast 'Life with Marianna' (hosted by Summer Fridays co-founder Marianna Hewitt); the parenting podcast 'Raising Good Humans,' hosted by Dr. Aliza Pressman; the pop culture podcast 'Not Skinny But Not Fat,' hosted by Amanda Hirsch; and other shows ranging from 'Dear Gabby' (hosted by author and spiritual teacher Gabrielle Bernstein) to Kristin Cavallari's 'Let's Be Honest,' sisters Erin Foster and Sara Foster's 'The World's First Podcast,' Whitney Port's 'With Whit' and Khloé Kardashian's 'Khloé in Wonderland.'
Dear Media's leadership—its co-founders Michael and Lauryn and its president Paige Port—actually host podcasts themselves, which helps them relate better to the talent. (In addition to the Bossticks' 'Him & Her,' Port hosts 'DITL,' short for 'Day in the Life.') As Michael tells me, Dear Media 'was built by talent for talent.'
Khloé Kardashian interviewing Kris Jenner for "Khloé in Wonderland"
Port has been with the Bossticks building Dear Media from the ground up. 'Sitting in both seats and really understanding the need on both sides of 'How do we build a media company, but how do we also support talent?' was something that resonated with me early on,' she tells me over Zoom. 'And I think that because of that sort of superpower, we've been able to be a first mover. Because we are so connected to every single part and process of the business, I feel like we're able to sort of innovate on a daily basis to push our business forward—I don't think most media executives are in that same sort of situation.'
Port says the company's focused vision and disciplined deals have been key factors why their 'bets have paid off': 'Because of that, there is this trust here, but there's also that if you are going to build a show within Dear Media and a brand, that we can really service it and add value and grow it,' she says, adding, 'We do know how to grow an audience here.'
'I think that what we have built over the last almost a decade is a brand built around trust and integrity and knowing that Dear Media will do right by talent and by a show,' Port continues. 'I think that we see partnerships in a really creative way. I think that we have an entire team here that lives and breathes this content and understands our hosts and our talents and the partnerships and how they make sense.'
Paige Port
To this, Michael adds, 'We actually step in with the right resources and the right capabilities and help them actually grow a brand with longevity. And I think that's something that we're very proud of.'
The recent obé acquisition 'just made a ton of sense,' he adds, noting that obé began with a similar mission as Dear Media, primarily speaking to women—obé doing so specifically through fitness. 'The alignment made a ton of sense, and it gives us now the credibility to service this audience and our creators in a different way, and maybe stand up our own premium channels that haven't existed,' Michael says.
Even as Dear Media grows through the acquisition of obé, the company hasn't deviated from its original ethos of amplifying female voices, he says. 'We still have a huge focus on female voices,' Michael tells me. 'We always will. That's just the lane we've chosen, but the business is mature enough now where I feel like we've almost accomplished a lot of what we initially set out to do, and now it's just the norm [with both] men and women in this space.'
Lauryn Bosstick, Paige Port, and Michael Bosstick
'I think a lot of companies, they say they're going to do something but they don't actually do it,' Michael adds of what sets Dear Media apart. 'We've actually put our money where our mouth is, and we've produced a wide genre of content across so many different categories and topics. I really think when I see what the company has put forward and the people we've represented—I feel really good about it.'