Fox Corporation on Monday announced an acquisition of Red Seat Ventures, bringing the digital media services provider that’s behind direct-to-consumer podcasts and shows of conservative media and true crime personalities like Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Nancy Grace under its Tubi Media Group business unit.
Red Seat Ventures is a service provider that works with creators (its biggest-name publicly disclosed clients are largely those with traditional media roots) to build up their own digital media and direct-to-consumer businesses, including audio and video podcasts available on platforms such as YouTube, Spotify and SiriusXM, among others.
Its services include content and distribution strategy, financing, staffing and production, back-office functions like billing, as well as ads sales. It also produces live and virtual events, including the owned-and-operated annual true crime live event CrimeCon. Kelly is a former Fox News star who left the political cable network in 2017 to join NBC, as is Carlson, who parted ways with the Fox Corp-owned network in 2023. Each now have their own namesake video and podcast shows, supported by Red Seat services. The firm’s client roster also includes Piers Morgan, former To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen, Dr. Phil, and former Fox News host Bill O’Rielly, among others.
Red Seat Ventures will continue to be led by brothers Chris Balfe and Kevin Balfe, with Tubi Media Group CEO Paul Cheesbrough taking on the role of chairman of the company. It will operate as a standalone entity within Fox’s Tubi unit. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Through the acquisition, the conservative media personalities with former Fox relationships will be tangentially tied to Fox Corporation as clients of Red Seat Ventures, but it doesn’t reunite them with the Fox News channel. Fox News is also housed in a separate division of the company from the Tubi Media Group unit.
The Tubi unit includes the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service by the same name, which Fox acquired in 2020 and earlier this year disclosed surpassing 97 million monthly active users as of the end of 2024. Fox formed the Tubi Media Group in April 2023 to house the FAST service and its other standalone digital businesses and streaming efforts.
In announcing the acquisition, Fox wasn’t explicit in its plans for leveraging Red Seat but emphasized “creator” and brand-led cross-platform programming.
“The creator economy is one of the fastest growing media categories worldwide by measure of reach and influence, and consumers are increasingly looking to get their information, insights and entertainment directly from the voices and brands they trust across these platforms,” said Tubi’s Cheesbrough in a statement.
Cheesbrough also suggested Red Seat would help expand other genres key to Fox’s portfolio.
“Working with two outstanding entrepreneurs like Chris and Kevin, we see tremendous opportunities to drive additional scale in genres such as sports, news and entertainment and look forward to supporting the continued growth of this business,” Cheesbrough stated.
Chris Balfe, CEO of Red Seat Ventures, also pointed to its work to build up personal brands and the press release touted the company’s podcast prowess.
“From the beginning, Red Seat Ventures has had the opportunity to work with some of the most influential creators in the world to grow their new media businesses and develop their personal brands,” said Chris Balfe in a statement. “In aligning with Fox, we will be able to build upon that investment and expand the services we provide to our creators, while continuing to maintain the independence and integrity of their brands, which is truly the best case scenario.”
According to the press release, Red Seat Ventures’ 17 creator-led shows cumulatively drove over 200 million monthly active views in the U.S. presidential election month of November 2024 and “exists as a Top 10 podcast network in the US in terms of scale and reach.”
Fox has seen success in its Tubi unit, which notably streamed Super Bowl LIX on Sunday and last week reported fiscal Q2 revenue increase of 31% year-over year. During the company’s earnings report, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch also disclosed plans to launch a separate direct-to-consumer streaming service later this year, which he categorized as a “holistic” combination of the larger company’s live sports, political opinion and entertainment programming, targeted at cord cutters and cord nevers.
The Tubi FAST, meanwhile, offers a variety of films and TV series for free, and has also looked to pull in a younger audience. It has experimented with creator-focused efforts that expand outside of traditional media and entertainment avenues for programming before. In May of last year, for example, it launched a pilot program dubbed Stubios. That initiative sought to inject social elements and bring new voices into the storytelling fold by greenlighting and funding film and TV series projects developed by independent and aspiring creatives, with a platform that also let consumers and fans follow along, weigh in on the production process and voice support for projects – which ultimately stream on Tubi.
With Red Seat Ventures now part of Fox Corporation, it could signal a stronger emphasis on building up digital media presences through personality and brand-driven, cross-platform programming, including podcasts.