Locals, a community-based subscription platform that’s owned by the free speech video sharing platform Rumble, reported record increases in transaction value, unpaid members growth, and paid supporters growth in Q2 2022.
The total value of all transactions on the platform for the quarter increased 400% year-on-year to $7.5 million, unpaid members grew by almost 150% year-on-year, and paid supporters grew by 106%. This means that Locals creators collectively earned millions of dollars in Q2 2022 after platform, app store, and payment processor fees.
Rumble noted that “a significant portion of the Locals growth can be attributed to the successful ongoing integration between Rumble and Locals and the deployment of the Content+ feature, which allows creators to sell access to movies and other content on an individual basis.”
Rumble started integrating Locals subscriptions buttons in August 2021 and both platforms started sharing communities and data operations in October 2021 when they merged.
Both platforms also provided censorship protection to author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza’s most recent documentary, “2000 Mules,” in Q2 2022. The documentary was included with annual subscriptions to D’Souza’s Locals community and also made available to purchase directly on D’Souza’s Locals page. It became a “huge hit” for Locals and Rumble and grossed over $1 million in its first 12 hours on these platforms.
“Our explosive growth comes from the shift we are seeing in the media ecosystem where independent creators are starting to build their brand outside of traditional networks,” Locals President Assaf Lev said. “Our merger with Rumble is also helping our creators to reach a larger audience and grow their communities.”
The announcement of these new Locals records follows Rumble announcing record increases in monthly active users, content uploaded, and user engagement for Q2 2022.
Locals has added several new features in Q3 2022 including a toggle that makes it easy for creators to quickly monetize free live streams by converting them into supporters-only live streams and a live tipping feature.
As Locals has continued to build out its subscription platform which supports free speech, many of the other services that let creators set up subscriptions, such as Patreon and PayPal, have deplatformed users.
