The Death of Conservative Inc.

The landscape of right-of-center media in the United States has changed substantially in the last ten years. Much of it was due to Donald Trump, but the changing media landscape made the old guard of Fox News increasingly irrelevant. The fall of Jeremy Boreing and his humiliating relegation at The Daily Wire foreshadow the end of Conservative Inc. as we know it.

The Wild West

As someone who runs a podcast, I can confidently explain how there are zero barriers to entry. Monetizing a podcast is one of the easier things you can do. Writing articles and monetizing a website are also exceedingly simple. YouTube is far more difficult, in this regard, providing the only barrier to monetization at 1000 subscribers and hours watched.

Social media has become the Wild West, and the zero barriers to entry mean that anyone can aspire to be a pundit. It is a matter of talent, grit, and or sex appeal to make it in this industry.

In the Wild West, creators do not have to split commissions with corporations on live-read advertisements. They can keep superchats, have their own subscriber based system, and sell their own merchandise. Services that Conservative Inc. provides can even be outsourced by those who insist on working for themselves.

Thus, Conservative Inc. lacks a clear value proposition. Elijah Schaffer who was fired from Blaze TV remarked on how much more money he made afterward. Brett Cooper left The Daily Wire to make more money. Candace Owens was fired and likely makes more money. Matt Walsh could make more without The Daily Wire.

Conservative Inc. might be able to guarantee higher quality ad reads, but they still subsist on My Pillows, gold IRAs, doomsday prepping, etc.

The biggest names do not need Conservative Inc. Looking at Blaze Media’s catalog, Allie Stuckey and Jason Whitlock are big enough not to need The Blaze. This isn’t to say that the relationship isn’t mutually beneficial. Both seem to utilize the Blaze for their respective conferences, but this service is not irreplaceable.

What Conservative Inc Has Become

Conservative Inc. has become something of a venture capital firm for creators. Looking at Blaze Media, they picked up Alex Stein who failed to materialize. They bet on Normal Word with Dave Landau and Quarter Black Garrett which also did not go anywhere. They parted ways with Chad Prather in 2024 whose YouTube channel with 372k subs does worse numbers than Evangelical Dark Web’s at 8.32k subs.

Their best pickup since Jason Whitlock has been Auron MacIntyre who is crushing it in the intellectual rightwing space while also not alienating the boomer audience of Blaze TV. This is a mutually beneficial relationship where Blaze bought into MacIntyre low, and he was able to grow with their support. But Auron MacIntyre is genuinely talented, something that cannot be said of everyone in Conservative Inc., much less Blaze Media’s catalog, many of whom are propped up by the Blaze and would not succeed in the Wild West of social media without the institutional credibility.

Looking at The Daily Wire, they bought into Jordan Peterson high who has since tanked his brand, a most recent example being Peterson’s attachment to a study labeling Christ is King as hate speech. Additionally, after Brett Cooper’s departure, Reagan Conrad took over The Comment Section and its 3.88 million sub YouTube channel. She is increasingly failing to get even 1% subscriber views. The Daily Wire has failed to make Reagan Conrad a thing, much like Blaze Media’s multiple misses.

With the risk of losing more personalities, The Daily Wire will struggle to bring on new talent, especially since Steven Crowder aired out their contract terms which highlighted a lot of control.

Conservative Inc.’s emergence as a venture capital firm betting on talent carries a lot more risk. They run higher operating expenses than their competitors in the Wild West and have to invest in higher production value. Moreover, the talent in Conservative Inc. can outgrow their need for them. Thus, Conservative Inc.’s sweet spot is buying talent low and riding their growth.

But I foresee Conservative Inc. struggling to acquire talent, especially since there are certain areas they do not want their creators to stray into. This creates a disconnect between Conservative Inc. and the younger generations who reject Zionism and also feminism.

Conservative Inc.’s gatekeeping is a liability when the Wild West allows any topic to be discussed.

What Jeremy Boreing Was Right About

Jeremy Boreing was a failed Hollywood personality who helped upstart The Daily Wire and turn it into a billion-dollar company (by merit of convincing someone of this high valuation). His pet project, Pendragon, an expensive streaming TV show, is widely believed to be a financial boondoggle that has endangered The Daily Wire, leading to Boreing’s ouster.

However, Boreing’s ambition for Hollywood was a correct instinct to have for the future of The Daily Wire. In order to sign on talent, you need to have a value proposition, something these media personalities cannot do themselves. Getting movie gigs is something the Wild West of social media cannot offer. Matt Walsh can make more money podcasting without The Daily Wire, but he likely couldn’t make and distribute his movies without them.

Brett Cooper was promoted to starring in films, something she attempted to do in Hollywood. A bunch of personalities were in the poorly received Lady Ballers. Conservative media was already full of failed actors and theater kids. Hollywood ambitions were the way that The Daily Wire and Blaze Media could institutionalize themselves amidst the rising Wild West social media. But both companies have had abysmal entries into the creative space.

The Daily Wire became a laughingstock of Mr. Birchum. The Blaze’s first movie was mediocre at best. But Mr. Birchum could have been a funny concept, but instead was a boomercon power fantasy where the main character is a loser.

The ambition was correct, but the execution was horrendous, and the talent was not there. The Daily Wire’s reputation for bad content and their further alienated brand due to drama ensures a rough road ahead for their Hollywood ambitions.

Conclusion

Conservative Inc. as we know it served a valuable purpose in helping transition rightwing talent that could not make it onto Fox News. They also supported creators during the height of Big Tech censorship. But now that social media is more monetizable than ever, Conservative Inc. lacks a justification for its continued existence outside its current legacy personalities.

Without promising Hollywood ambitions, they lack an aspirational value proposition to recruit a class of people capable of making it on their own. Conservative Inc. is dead.