11 Things You Missed On The Internet | 01.12.24

5 Goals For BroBible In 2024

Author

Brandon Wenerd
January 12, 2024

I like big yet attainable goals.

We have big goals at BroBible, but they’re all most attainable goals. Too many internet content businesses get in way over their skis by chasing “the thing everyone is doing” or the pivot from the one thing they’re very good at to chasing nickels and dimes over whatever: Video, podcasts, selling t-shirts no one buys, starting NFTs no one cares about, being super inflammatory with hot takes, or attempting to be condescendingly cool in a way that’s really not cool at all.

The most important thing in a content business like BroBible is the business fundamentals: Are you doing things that bring in ad dollars to make payroll? Are people reading and watching you? Cool, keep doing that. Don’t play yourself. Don’t overthink it. The arch of a great media business is a very long time. Take bets, but smart bets. Be scrappy, but strategic. Know thyself. Don’t bet the farm on a media trend that’s going to screw everything up. We’ve done that before. It sucks.

Now that I have that preamble out of the way, I thought it’d be fun today to talk about some of my 2024 goals for BroBible. I spend most of my time in BroBibleland doing business development and advertising related things. That’s my role in the partnership. These are not sales goals. They’re more a wish list for growth. But they things that can help us hit those others hard business goals as a company. In the wise words of Eddie Vedder, it’s evolution, baby:

  1. 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. Crazy that it’s taken us 15 years as a media company to get there. But we’re really close! Because we’re way better at written content than video content, YouTube has always been this thing at the very bottom of our priority list. It hasn’t been core to our business, which I think blows some people’s minds. Had we prioritized video more heavily in 2013 or so, I’m sure we would have been able to scale way differently. Or more community content focus. But this year, I want our 100,000 subscriber plaque. I want to treat it like winning the Stanley Cup: Everyone who has been hands on with making videos at BroBible over the years will get to spend some time with it and take a picture with it. Going out to dinner at Chili’s? Bring the YouTube plaque along and take a silly picture.

  2. 200,000 TikTok followers. Ambitious, I know, but we finally have everything in place from a vision and workflow place to hit it. Informative videos about something interesting happening in sports or culture.

  3. 500,000 followers on Instagram. Is there a better platform on social media? In my book, Instagram is the gold standard of information platforms. It’s mostly visual, but not entirely visual. It’s personal. It’s whatever you want it to be. BroBible has been a lot of things on Instagram over the years, but I think we have a great aesthetic now that isn’t just memes. Don’t get me wrong, the memes were cool! But they didn’t always reflect how BroBible is mostly an information source these days. We lost some followers when we switched from doing just memes to sports and culture news during the summer of 2023, so this year I want to go the other direction with churn.

  4. A vibrant email newsletter product and engaged email newsletter audience. Another thing we should have scaled 10+ years ago, but were focused on other goals at the time. That’s why I took this space over and started the 11 Things You Missed On The Internet thing. I get that the way people are consuming information on the Internet is changing. It seems like a good way to bundle up what we do at BroBible and present it to you in a new, curated format, along with providing a little bit of behind the scenes about the awesome people that work at this company. I want this space to be compelling and comforting to you, the reader, in the same way grabbing a slice at your favorite neighborhood pizza place is. I hope I’m not too annoying. Tell me if I am. My email at is at the bottom of this newsletter.

  5. Have at least one original, brag-worthy piece of content a week in the BroBible ecosystem. In other words, the content that’s the secret sauce that makes BroBible special in the wider Internet publishing world. So far the year is off to a solid start: We broke the news about Pat Perez’s wife, Ashley, filing for divorce from the LIV golfer. We had a nice conversation with David Ayer and Jake Johson. We had a video about aliens in Miami go viral on TikTok and Instagram. We interviewed a guy with Pop-Eye muscles (more below). Mark Zuckerberg responded to my Instagram comment. All this original stuff gives BroBible a certain vibrancy as a content business. Hopefully it gets recognized. When you’re in the content business for a long time, you start recognizing the strikes from the gutters. I’ve contemplated doing a weekly podcast where we talk about all this cool stuff that happens in our universe, but IDK - I’m worried no one will listen to it and the time I put into it won’t be worth the squeeze. But it also feels like it could add another dimension to whatever this newsletter is trying to be and keep the Brommunity engaged (remember the Brommunity, BroBible old-timers?). Thoughts? Also, as an addendum to that goal, a personal goal: Produce at least one brag-worthy thing every two months, personally, as my time around other business goals permits.

We have a ton of other goals related to advertising, partnerships, traffic, the business as a whole and all that, but this isn’t the time or space to bore y’all with that.

Happy Friday. First weekend of the NFL playoffs! Great weekend to make a big pot of chili. Hope it’s a great one.

1. Real-life Popeye With Giant Arms Offered To Join Power Slap

This dude literally has Pop-Eye arms. I’m flabbergasted.

You HAVE to go watch Jorge’s interview with Jeff Dabe on our YouTube channel. Run, don’t walk, because it’s incredible. Then you have to hear why he didn’t want to join Power Slap, which is completely valid.

2. Government UFO Whistleblower Claims He Gave Secret Presentation To CIA, FBI Officials

Check out the video we made about this story on our Instagram, YouTube or TikTok. The truth is still out there…

3. Grunt Style Weekend Sale: Save Up To 60% Off SITEWIDE On Your Favorite Patriotic Gear (Ends Mon. 1/15) [sponsored]

Cheers to making it another very happy Friday! For most of you, this was the end of the first full week of work in the new year. Felt like an eternity, didn’t it? That’s alright. Nothing a little (or a whole lot of) whiskey or beer that can. Go on, you earned it. You know what else you earned? An extra-special, long weekend sale courtesy of Grunt style.

Between now and Monday, January 15, you can get 20-60% off EVERYTHING at Grunt Style, including T-shirts, hoodies, and any other patriotic gear to take your weekend from good to great. Think of it like a late Christmas present as we look ahead to the abyss that is the rest of winter (don’t worry: pitchers and catchers report February 14).

4. Alan Ritchson Went ‘Instant Reacher Mode’ And ‘Tossed A Dude Into A Building’ After He Caught Him Committing A Crime

Life imitates art, art imitates life. Kudos to Alan Robinson for stepping up while out to dinner with his wife in Montreal. I don’t think I’ll ever get over how Thad Castle from Blue Mountain State has transcended an extremely niche Spike Network comedy series beloved by Sperry-wearing dudes at your local Delta Chi house into a mainstream Hollywood star. It’s like a genuine caterpillar to butterfly transformation. America, what a country!

5. Jake Johnson And Rob Riggle Got Blackout Drunk On Channing Tatum’s Moonshine Within Hours Of Meeting Each Other

This is an amazing story from Eric’s recent interview with Jack Johnson. Please go read it and watch it on our YouTube. Maybe subscribe while you’re at it?

I can confirm that Rob Riggle likes to Bro-down. He came to our office once when he was promoting a partnership with Bud Light and we made a bunch of really D-quality sketch videos. Like, really, really intentionally bad. Here’s a link to it on YouTube.

Pics or it didn’t happen, right? Check it out below the link. It actually just showed up on my Facebook memories the other day on the 10-year anniversary of that afternoon. That was a fun day at the old BroBible office, with great people that I miss hanging out with daily.

6. Jeffrey Epstein’s Brother Accuses Feds Of Covering Up Evidence

But like, for real - read how Doug lays it out all. What the heck are they hiding?

7. Angler Gets Revenge On ‘Tax Man’ Stealing His Fish By Catching A Massive Bull Shark In The Florida Keys

It’s pretty wild to watch this YouTuber catch, clean, and cook a bull shark.

8. Push To Create ‘Irrelevant Bowl’ Between Worst Teams In College Football Faces Uphill Battle

That’s a real shame because this is an excellent idea.

9. Hims Has New ‘Hair Hybrids’ Treatments That Will Change How You Combat Your Hair Loss In The New Year (sponsored)

It’s a new year, so why don’t you try something new to get the best version of you? You’re used to the usual New Year’s resolutions: work out, eat healthier, read more books. Those are all fine and dandy, but it’s time you address something you’ve been putting off year after year: your hair loss. Thankfully, Hims has a new line of “Hair Hybrids” treatments that will transform how you keep your luscious locks.

10. Smash Mouth Has Pivoted To Reviewing Sandwiches On YouTube

Eventually, everyone pivots into doing food reviews on the Internet. That’s exactly what the remaining guys in Smash Mouth are up to, posting sandwich reviews on the band’s YouTube channel. Hey now, there are worse directions to go on the Internet. Like, they could be posting cold plunge videos.

11. Here Are The Weirdest Things Left At Nick Saban’s Statue Following His Retirement

We have no shortage of coverage on BroBible about Nick Saban’s retirement from the University Of Alabama. Go read it. But also, I love how someone left a bucket of pickles at his statue in tribute. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!

Friday Music

We’re back with some updates on the 11 Things You Missed On The Internet Spotify playlist! The vibe is still laidback and worldbeat-y, yet optimistic.

I threw my favorite new Chris Stapleton track from his album Higher on the playlist, a highway truckin’ song called “Crosswinds”. I also added a vaporwave samba version of Joe Johnson’s synth-pop banger “Steppin’ Out”, as recently reimagined by producer Trevor Horn and Seal.

“Muse Au Musée” is a song by French percussionist Isolde Lasoen that has this California surf noir vibe that I'm sort of obsessed with. Speaking of California sounds: I added an gorgeous version of “I Was Made to Love Her” by Jerry Garcia and Merle Saunders in 1971, as remastered and released in 2020. Jerry’s guitar tone with his Alligator Fender Strat during this era is so warm and crunchy. It makes my brain melt.

Finally, I threw on "Blues Don’t Lie” by the great Buddy Guy. I saw him perform at the Jim Irsay Experience last night with Kenny Wayne Shepherd and company. It was special. Just check out how fresh and clean those overalls looked with his Indianapolis Colts hat:

OK, on with Friday, everyone! I’m heading up to Big Bear to get my first chair and get some. ski runs in. Maybe I’ll throw a pic here on Monday. If anyone out there reading is at Affiliate Summit West in Vegas from Sunday - Wednesday, hit me up if you want to talk some BroBible business. I’ll even have a blazer on, per usual conventioneering attire.

Thanks again for reading. If you have any feedback about the newsletter or have something you’d like to tell me, email me at [email protected]. Suggestions? How can I make this better? What would you like to see more of about BroBible or behind the scenes or whatever?

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