Uscreen Spotlight is a special feature article showcasing our most successful clients to share their journeys through the realm of online video streaming.
Life has a habit of throwing curveballs when you least expect them.
Take Jason David, CEO of Llama Tribe LLC and the Mytribe.watch video streaming service.
He faced life-threatening illness and the sudden loss of his career. Then, despite it all he decided to take control of his life by launching a video streaming business with Uscreen. Now, he creates and sells content to a community he loves.
We spoke with Jason to learn how he bounced back and found success.
Uscreen: Hi Jason! Thanks for chatting with us. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how MyTRIBE came to be?
Jason: My background is in film, music, and theatre, and I was raised in the church. Before the pandemic, I worked as a youth pastor. I’m also a cancer survivor – I lost about 80% of my tongue, and the doctors told me I’d never speak or sing the same way again.
That’s my life, so it was really difficult to process. But I went through 9 months of rehab and learned to speak again. My voice sounds different now, but I found a way to use that to my advantage in my videos.
Then, the pandemic hit and I lost both my jobs. At first it felt like I was back to square one, but then I realized – just like getting my voice back – it was an opportunity to do something new.
My wife and I had been making videos together for years, and we always said “Wouldn’t it be fun one day to have our own studio and make videos for a living?”
So I created MyTRIBE for kids, teens and parents who want Christian content that they can watch and enjoy together as a family. I wanted to use my experience to make that dream of making videos full-time a reality.
Uscreen: What gave you the idea for MyTRIBE?
Jason: When everything shut down, families were stuck at home and a lot of churches were creating at-home content for kids or adults separately. I didn’t see content that helped families laugh and learn together. So I decided to start a video streaming platform that filled the need for that type of content.
Uscreen: Nice! You saw a gap in the market and decided to create content for it. How did you get started?
Jason: We partnered with Uscreen which allowed us to launch in just 2 weeks. I had almost no content when we started, but I wanted to get going as soon as possible. So I uploaded some old videos that I’d made in the past, just to have something on the platform.
After that, I went through the Bible in chronological order and made a full-length episode around each key story or lesson every week. Every month, my streaming platform becomes more valuable because I have more content – so it’s getting easier to sell to people as we go!
Uscreen: We love that you used our platform to get started! But, how did you know Uscreen was the right choice for your content?
I had to do a lot of research because, to be honest, I didn’t start with a master plan. I just knew I needed a platform that would allow me to use my creative skills and give me all the tools to run a successful business.
I started comparing my options, and kept coming back to Uscreen. I’m all about design, and Uscreen’s website looked very modern and clean. I also looked through examples of Uscreen platforms, and they looked really professional. I thought if my platform would look like that, that’d be great!
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Uscreen: Sounds like you did your research. What has your journey been like since starting?
Jason: At first my goal was just to get 100 subscribers who already knew me. After that, all I wanted was to work my way up to 300 subscribers within a few months. I felt like this would make up the income I lost by being out of work during the pandemic.
But It turns out I was dreaming very small.
We’ve grown way beyond that number! Now, 1 year after launching, I have over 50 episodes and 1500 paid subscribers – and every day, another 25 customers join.
It’s been amazing. Everything happened so fast, and MyTRIBE found more success than I ever thought possible.
Uscreen: That’s amazing growth in a short period of time. Why are people connecting so strongly with MyTRIBE?
Jason: MyTRIBE is a digital platform, but we have a real community feeling. We’ve built strong connections with our audience, many of whom are going through life struggles of their own. MyTRIBE is a safe, fun space for these families to laugh and learn together.
For example, a lot of my customers are families with kids that have autism or other special needs. Some of them are scared to go to church because it’s overwhelming. All these people, and more, feel like they belong here.
Uscreen: What features do you offer that you think make MyTRIBE stand out to your audience?
Jason: A couple months after we started we launched our OTT app. That’s when things really took off. It allowed me to give people more content – including our educational Llama game – and more exciting ways to connect with us.
It honestly blew me away that I could have my own apps with Uscreen. I don’t have any professional friends with apps on Roku, Amazon, Fire TV, or any of those platforms. There’s a lot of technical knowledge involved in making them, and app stores have pretty strict rules and regulations.
But Uscreen handled all of that for me, and having a well-designed and intuitive app made a huge difference for my business. Families want to be able to interact with us in all those places!
Uscreen: People love getting their content natively on their favorite devices! But, how do you bring these customers to your membership site and get them on board?
Jason: One of our best strategies is offering 5 minute teaser videos on our Youtube channel to give people a taste of the content they get as subscribers. We add a link in the video to our landing page, which brings them to our Uscreen website. There, we explain our service and tell them more about our apps.
That marketing style has done a lot for our business; we often see customers watch the teasers on Youtube for a couple of months before they decide to subscribe.
Uscreen: Awesome! Lots of our customers have success with this strategy. Are there any other tools you use to make running your business easier?
Jason: Uscreen’s upsell feature was a game-changer! I even reworked my advertising strategy and my landing pages around it. I now funnel everyone into the monthly plan and let the upsell feature do the work. It took our revenue and our subscribers through the roof!
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I also love the abandoned cart feature. If someone doesn’t complete the purchase, Uscreen does all that email marketing for me. They send 3 emails that encourage people to come back and try the service, and I’ve gained a lot of customers this way – without having to do anything.
Uscreen: Your success is really inspiring. Let’s wrap this up with one final bit of inspiration – can you tell us how running MyTRIBE has changed your life?
Jason: Launching MyTRIBE helped us fulfill our purpose – we’re serving a need. We’re bringing live lessons to a bigger audience to help kids live happier lives.
Plus, my best friend – my wife – has been able to join me full time and work with me on the business. We have a studio, we hired our first employees, and we work with an amazing team of people. I’m my own boss now.
A year ago, I never could have imagined this would happen. It’s been a huge success and a dream come true.
