Jash

Mickey Meyer came to Jash after years producing at Maker Studios, where he oversaw programming and helped build some of YouTube's most successful channels, including Epic Rap Battles of History. That show reached 13-17 million subscribers with over a billion total views, with individual videos regularly hitting 10-15 million views. Rather than stay at Maker, Meyer saw an opportunity to build something different—a studio that would treat short-form digital content as legitimate entertainment IP that could be exploited across traditional revenue streams, not just ad views.

Jash was co-founded with Daniel Kelsen and Doug DeLuca, who brought formidable credentials: Kelsen had produced David Letterman for eight years and created shows like Crank Yankers and Jimmy Kimmel Live. The studio assembled a roster of top comedians including Sarah Silverman, Reggie Watts, Tim and Eric, and Michael Sarah. Rather than chase viral trends, Jash took a deliberate, planned approach. Meyer showed a content calendar with 46 weeks of programming mapped out—a mix of short films, music videos, animation, pranks, and series. This was the opposite of reactive content; it was entertainment as a scheduled product.

The strategic insight was understanding YouTube's algorithm shift toward watch time. Meyer and his team realized that longer-form talk shows with comedians would both get algorithmic favor and dominate search results when people looked up specific comedians. They built shows around this format, getting users to stay longer on the platform while simultaneously owning search real estate.

The biggest revenue driver became branded content partnerships. Meyer explained that most brands entering the digital space were "beyond clueless"—they could hire Jash to create amazing comedy but had no idea how to distribute or integrate it authentically. Jash solved both problems. A signature example: Purina's campaign tested three different spots through Jash at mid-six-figure budget. One featured a corgi in a music video directed by influencer Julian Smith (who had ~1 million subscribers at the time). Smith introduced it authentically to his audience with context ("Purina let me direct this"), and it accumulated around 20 million views.

Meyer noted that influencer distribution fees ranged from sub-$20,000 early on to $75,000-$500,000 minimum by the interview date. The critical lesson: brands that tried to force ads onto influencer channels without context failed about 50% of the time. Those that let creators introduce content authentically succeeded.

Consistency was Meyer's cardinal rule. He compared audience building to a weekly lunch date—viewers expect you every week and lose trust if you skip without explanation. That reliability builds the intimacy required to introduce new things (like branded content) without alienating the audience.

Jash had diversified revenue streams including branded content (their top earner), AVOD (YouTube ad revenue), music licensing, international sales, and OTT/FOD distribution deals. Rather than chase AVOD like other MCNs (Maker, Machinima, FullScreen), Meyer positioned Jash as a genuine entertainment studio leveraging YouTube as a distribution channel, not a primary revenue source. Meyer was also writing a book called "Television" interviewing media executives like Ted Sarandos (Netflix), James Cameron, and Rupert Murdoch about the past, present, and future of TV.