C (3:22)

Yeah, let's sit.

B (3:24)

So to wrap up this session, we have a really exciting conversation with Aileen Drexler, a co founder and the CEO of Betches Media. Fifteen years ago, Aileen, in her dorm room with two of her roommates founded Betches. Fifteen years later, it's one of the largest entertainment brands focused on women. 650 monthly views and 1 in 2 women in the US engage with it. So this should be a lot of fun. Please welcome Aileen. And I'll start with a bit of a disclosure. Lena, I think I mentioned this to you. We were neighbors once upon a time at Cornell University. This is not going to be a trip down memory lane of our favorite college town bars. But I do want you to bring us back to February 2011 and tell me about the original vision of Betches and why you all started it.

C (4:06)

Of course. Hi everybody. Thank you for having me. And thanks Mike. So 2011, I was a senior in college at Cornell, living apparently across the street from Mike. And I lived with, yes, they were my roommates, but they were actually my best friends since we were 10 years old. Yeah, we didn't branch out much in our lives. And at that time, if you remember, social media that existed for us was really Facebook, wall to walls and some Twitter. And at that time, you know, for women or girls, really, we were 21, the content that existed. And we were also in a sorority. So like, imagine that mind space. The content for women was really so vanilla and so preachy and also it created this feeling that there was nothing that you could be except for perfect. Especially being in a sorority. We were getting emails about how you need to show up looking like XYZ for those frats. And the three of us were sitting on this couch in our apartment and we just look at each other in our pajamas looking like anything but perfect. And we were like, well, this is bs. Why is nobody writing about this? Because this is the real stuff. And so that's what we kind of set out to do. That said, though, we really wanted jobs after college. So I was pre med and we started an anonymous blog. And what we set out to do was really create a place for women to come and laugh at each other and ourselves. Because love language, our love language is humor. Myself, Sammy Giornano. That's why we've remained friends for so long. We speak the same language, and that is humor. But what we realized we did, which we didn't mean to do, was tap into, like, the female millennial. At the time, we were 21, so millennial were just people right out of college psyche. And we created a blog that was fully satirical, and it just went so, so viral in the most organic sense. Like, people were tagging their friends, and we were also anonymous. That's what I meant to say when I said we want a job. So we created a blog that was anonymous. They were tagging their friends, accusing them of writing it, because the references were so on point and so specific in places that I've never even visited. And that's how Baches was born. And from that moment, we just continued to grow it. And 15 years later, we really are one of, if not the biggest entertainment brand for women. We reach one in every two women in the U.S. we have incredible IP, we've launched podcasts, We've done so much, all while bootstrapping the business. And here I am.

B (7:07)

It's an amazing story. So it started as a WordPress blog that went viral on Facebook, but as you mentioned, you're now on audio. You have nearly 10 million Instagram followers. You're on massive. Oh, apologies, TikTok. You're meeting audiences where they are. So talk about how batches expands to new platforms.

C (7:26)

Yeah, so the thing that the three of us had in common was that we knew nothing about business, but what we did know was our audience. We knew women. We knew how we were feeling at any given moment, and we knew how to translate that to content. And so we created content in the places that women were going to. So at that time, like I said, it was Facebook. But then quickly we saw that people started to use Instagram before really it was a thing. So we, like, got the handle betches, we sat on it for a bit, and then we started to use it once we noticed, people started talking about it and using it. I launched E. Com right after because I saw, like, there was this desire to wear funny things on clothes on Instagram and social media. And then when Podcasts started to really come back. I mean, podcasts been a thing for long before they started, but this was 2015 and we saw like, wow. So we are very good at the written word. We were writing blogs. We also wrote a book right out of college, which became a New York Times bestseller. We've written two since then as well. But we noticed that podcasts would be an incredible medium for us to continue to reach women in a way that was extremely relatable, on point, and most importantly, funny. So that we started our first podcast nearly like 11. Yeah, 11 years ago. And we continue to build since then. So the biggest things that we have done since is really, yes, we've expanded on platforms, but we've also expanded in verticals. What I realized early on is that what BETCHES stands for is not necessarily for a demographic. It's really about a psychographic, it's about a sensibility. The what we do for women is we make them feel seen and make them laugh. And who else does that in your life? That's your friend, your best friend, the funniest friend in your group chat. And that's who we represent for all women. And that's how we're able to show up for Gen Z, for Millennial about all sorts of topics, including most recently, Betcha Sports, which we've just launched.

B (9:43)

So I want to dive into that a little bit more. So writing on a WordPress blog that goes viral on Facebook is very different than creating the most kind of fun meme for Instagram. How do you keep the brand voice so distinct across so many different types of platforms?

C (10:00)

Well, that's what I was saying is that we just know our voice so, so well. I mean, the three of us were writing in one voice and it almost became like our fourth co founder. And that voice became kind of this voice that made women, young women all over, feel okay to be imperfect and then also laugh about it. And that's the thing that we continue to thread through to this day. Maybe what we talk about has evolved in so many different ways. Like, we've launched batches moms years ago. Right. But the way in which we do it has not changed. And you can see that in the extreme loyalty and fan and intensely engaged fan base that we have. We have one of the highest engagement rates of all women's media brands, period.

B (10:47)

So, yeah, why do you think the voice that you've created really transcends so many generations? Again, you started this in college, and yet you're able to write so thoughtfully and create content so thoughtfully around motherhood. It's such a different thing that I imagined 15 years ago you wouldn't necessarily been able to contemplate.

C (11:05)

Well, I think it's because we know that we speak the language of women. We're not like marketing to a demographic. So when we were speaking to women in college, we weren't starting Betch's moms, we started Betches Moms. When one of us became a mom and we were able to speak, we had the authority to speak on that and had the experience, most importantly, to talk about what's relatable in that sense that nobody else is talking about. The same way with our Gen Z content, we have people who have that same batch of sensibility who are Gen Z creating our Gen Z content. We don't have a bunch of millennials sitting around. What does Gen Z care about? No, it's not going on at Fetches hq. So I think it's that. But it's also, like I said, it's the best friendship. It's how we represent your best friend. And we say things that people realize, oh, wait, I am not alone in this. I actually have thought that. I've thought that a. That's either very funny or weird or whatever it is. And we make people feel a little bit less alone. And like, we have data to show that. So it really is amazing.

B (12:24)

So just before we move off that, you mentioned that you launched a sports vertical. Why sports? That's something that women's sports is something that we talked about a lot today in some earlier sessions. But ultimately, what is the Betch's story or Betch's voice when it comes to sports?

C (12:41)

So what I realized when everybody started talking about women's sports, a lot of women's brands were talking about women's sports. And I was like, that's amazing. We need that. But also, why women are not the only people who watch women's sports, and vice versa. Women are also watching men's sports, but nobody is speaking to women as an audience about men's sports. And no one really who's creating women's sports content is speaking to women. They're really just kind of talking about women's sports as a cause, I would say. Whereas what it is, it's entertainment. And if you want it to be as big as men's sports, you have to treat it like entertainment. You have to create the stakes, the drama. And you also have to know women and how they watch sports. So the reason Bach of Sports became what it is we launched in October. I Believe or September of 24, don't quote me on that. But then December of 24 we had the NFL reach out to us and asked to become their exclusive media partner to reach women. So we knew we had something. But the thing really is it's twofold. Betcha Sports. It's about answering a white space in the market where it's a male dominated space for sports media. There's really no place for women to go and consume sports in the way that they consume media and content and a place to celebrate female athleticism and celebrate the celebrity, the fun, the entertainment of women's sports. And it's been great. I can't wait to see everything, can't wait for you to see everything we have in store.

B (14:18)

I'm very excited. I mean this is the moment for women sports and the fact that women are watching sports more and more. It's really fun to see what you're all doing. You mentioned the NFL reached out to you. So that is something that I have seen that with the audience that Betches has built, brands have followed. Tell me how does Betches work with brands and how do you keep the brand voice distinct and unique for that?

C (14:40)

As we have said, Betches is an entertainment company that reaches one in every two women. We have one of the most loyal audiences and fan based and most engaged fan bases there is out there. And we really are experts in women behavior and culture. So brands will come to us as those experts. And the way we work with brands is really based on a spectrum. They can come in and we can work with them on creating very much, always on organic content that inserts them into culture over time working with our ip. Or we can go all the way to the other end and create completely like fully custom either new IP or content or events even that also breaks through to culture. The craziest thing I would say about what we have been doing is who we compete with has changed so much over time. And that's been a testament to my incredible team and everything we've done over these last years. But years ago I didn't even know what an RFP was. I had to Google that. Fast forward to today we were just working with Uber Eats who we were competing against a creative agency. We weren't even being RFP'd. Like we worked with UberEats to create a white label insane campaign for them for Holiday with like Megan Thee, Stallion and Jonas Brothers. Like the juxtaposition of those two aliens is really hard for me to compute. So it's been a Crazy ride. But the thing about why brands, how we, why we win, why brands and audience bet on batches is the thing about humor is that it increases sales effectiveness by 33%. Humor is the number one reason why people cite to follow a creator on TikTok. And people say that they're 80% more likely to buy from a brand if they are funny or use humor. So for us, it's like a recipe to success. And the thing is, it's really hard to execute humor, as I'm sure many of you have been online and you see super bowl ads, we see those. It's really hard. And doing it well takes precision and expertise. And that's what we do.

B (17:16)

Do brands feel that they know the Betch's brand voice or do you have to introduce them to that when you're kind of, you know, discussing an opportunity?

C (17:24)

Totally depends on the brand. So many people come to us, they're fans, they're audience members. So. But then there's many people who we have to really, we have to educate and show. To me, it's not that hard because we have incredible insights and data to support our ideas. We have the same people who are creating our original content that's getting viewed by many, many millions on a daily basis, creating that content for brands. So it's an incredible ecosystem that we've built. But sometimes, sometimes it's not.

B (18:00)

I mean, it's been 15 years. You've been able to work with some really kind of truly legendary brands and really have built a heck of an audience. I mean, as you mentioned, when you first heard the term rfp, you literally had to look it up and now you're, you know, acting as the white label agency for Uber Eats. What does the next 15 years look

C (18:18)

like for batches in 15 years is a long time, Mike. But I do know that we will be and are on our way to be the most powerful women's brand and as a group in the US to be an entertainment powerhouse for young people. So we're only going to continue growing. We are looking at M and A in the US as a group. We are building a. I mean, I can't say yet really, but something within creators. The way that I think about batches is we've been sort of the OGs when it comes to creators and funny people in house, and we're going to continue to build that. I kind of see batches as a place where young funny women come to make it a la and snl and I want to continue to explore that concept. And idea, but we're only really just getting started.

B (19:17)

So, last question. You are 22 years old. You're sitting on your couch in college. What would you say to yourself back

C (19:25)

then now, oh my God, stop studying biology. It doesn't matter. I think Alyssa Lu just said this, but I wouldn't say anything. You'll figure it out. And that's what batches is about. Just kind of figuring it out. We're all just figuring it out. Nobody really has it more figured out than anyone else, and I think that's what we represent to people. So I would say nothing, except maybe just work a little bit harder, a little less hard on immunology.

B (20:02)

Well, Eileen, this has been really exciting. Thank you so much for sharing.

C (20:05)

Thank you.

B (20:06)

And for talking about the future. And thank you all for joining us as well.

C (20:10)

Thank you so much.

A (20:14)

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the AdTech Godpod, a podcast for the people about the people. Stay connected with me for more insights, trends and interviews in the realm of adtech. Don't miss out on the latest updates, so follow me on X Instagram and connect with me on LinkedIn. Don't forget ATG Slack community has insights, networking opportunities and jobs. Keep the conversation going and stay at the forefront of adtech innovation.