Rumble is a smaller version of YouTube which is currently enjoying tremendous growth. Analysts and commentators believe that if it continues with the same trajectory, it might eventually give YouTube a run for its money. The rival company is welcoming everyone on the ‘left and right’ indiscriminately according to the CEO Chris Pavlovski.
Being a smaller-scale YouTube alternative, Rumble is convinced that small creators should have the ability to reach all their followers without any restrictions. In the first half of 2021, the company enjoyed tremendous growth as highlighted by its CEO in an exclusive interview with Fox Business.
Rumble’s average monthly users have exploded from 1.6 million in the third quarter of 2020, up to the time around the 2020 presidential election to surpass 31.9 million users by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
“Not as a political platform, but as a way to provide video creators a way to host, manage, distribute and monetize their content.”
He then added:
“Rumble was built on the belief that small creators should be given equal opportunity to freely express themselves, reach their followers without restriction, and be given the same access to tools that large creators have.”
Republicans Favor Rumble Over YouTube
However, as the Republican legislators take on the Big Tech in recent months amid claims of censorship of conservative viewpoints and ideas, Rumble is now experiencing explosive growth.
During an exclusive interview back in April, Pavlovski told FOX Business that in the first quarter of 2020, the platform was recording an average monthly unique user rate of 1.2 million. Later on by the end of Q3 2020, Rumble had an average monthly user base of 1.6 million. By the end of the year after the elections, it attracted around 21 million users every month.
The CEO said that by the end of March this year, the number of monthly users had averagely increased to reach 31.9 million. Since then, the numbers have been growing as more users criticize censorship implemented by some of the big names in the social media space, including Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
This growth is believed to have happened due to the 2020 presidential election and has reached the current levels within a few months after most social media platforms including YouTube permanently banned President Trump from their platforms after the Capitol riot that happened in January.
Exponential Growth
Pavlovski also unveiled data on ‘ the average minutes watched’ to represent the platform’s growth. In this illustration, he said that the platform recorded 188 million minutes watched per month on average in Q3 2020 compared to an average of 4.5 billion minutes watched every month in Q1 2021. He explained:
“We launched in 2013 to compete in this market, and what we saw were platforms, in 2013, de-prioritizing small creators and prioritizing large influencers. We felt it was time to come into the market and help that small creator.”
“By 2020 and 2021, large platforms were prioritizing content they want to amplify—not by small creators. That exodus has been happening in the last year at a pace that I think will set in stone for the long term—those small creators are fed up with the larger platforms and are looking for an alternative solution— and I think they found it in Rumble.”
The CEO said that his primary focus now is on developing a fair ecosystem for all, whether small, large, right, left, it does not matter to him. All he wants right now is to give everyone a fair chance to express themselves on Rumble. Pavlovski stated:
“My goal is to keep it as fair as possible. We’re not interested in taking any position on any type of content, we just want to be a platform, and I believe that’s why we’ve seen so much growth. The company hasn’t moved the goalposts on our policies—we’ve stuck to our core policies we started with back in 2013.”
Fairness And Equality Is Vital On Rumble
By creating functional work ethics and policies while maintaining a good, fair ecosystem, Rumble has managed to create a platform where people can reach their family, friends, and viewers without any restrictions or obstruction. Pavlovski mentioned that a users’ feed on Rumble is designed to appear in “chronological order.”
He said that the platform is not designed to amplify anyone’s comments that get a lot of replies, comments, or likes. There is nothing like amplification settings on Rumble which means that the users are just reaching out to their followers in a free and fair manner. According to the CEO, this platform is designed ideally for small creators.
However, amid the Republicans’ war on Big Tech companies including Google, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, some prominent conservatives have started to shift their social media content to the other available alternative platforms. In the case of video-sharing, they have opted to go to Rumble. For Twitter, they have moved to Parler, which is a conservative version of the social media platform.
At that point, Republican legislators, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Rand Paul, and Republican Reps. Devin Nunes, Elise Stefanik, Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs have now shifted their social media activities to Rumble. Also, members of former President Trump’s family, including Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., together with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump are now using this platform.
Other renowned conservative voices like Sebastian Gorka, Dan Bongino, Charlie Kirk, and many others have also shown some growing interest in the platform. But when he was asked whether Rumble should be considered to be a platform for just the conservatives, Pavlovski denied that assumption. He said:
“We are building a fair ecosystem for everyone, regardless of whether you’re on the left or the right. We welcome anyone to our platform, and we encourage everyone to use our platform, regardless of what your thoughts are.”
Whether anyone likes gaming, politics on the left or the right, they are all welcomed to use Rumble. The CEO also encourages users to bring their friends and family knowing that there will be no obstruction in seeing and commenting on their content.
In some cases, some Republicans started using Rumble after they were banned or had their content deleted from the other social media platforms.
YouTube Blamed For Unfair Treatment
For instance, earlier in April, DeSantis had a video pulled down from YouTube. His video featured a roundtable discussion that he had with medical experts about whether children should be compelled to wear masks in classrooms amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many of the experts in his panel shared their views on the matter, which were directly in conflict with the recommendations issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A YouTube spokesperson told FOX Business that the company has clear policies around the pandemic-related medical misinformation to support the safety of its users. The spokesperson explained:
“We removed this video because it included content that contradicts the consensus of local and global health authorities regarding the efficacy of masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19. We allow videos that otherwise violate our policies to remain on the platform if they contain sufficient educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic context. “
He concluded by saying that YouTube’s policies apply to everyone, and they focus on content irrespective of the speaker or channel.
In a statement issued to FOX business after the video was deleted, a spokesperson for DeSantis criticized this move vehemently. He termed it as a blatant example of Big Tech trying to silence anyone and everyone who disagrees with their woke corporate agenda.
Pavlovski was then asked about Section 230, and how his platform Rumble handles all alleged misinformation or content regulation on the site. He said that the platform is run by ‘strict policies when it comes to all content that incites racism, violence, terrorist groups, antisemitism, and much more.
However, when it comes to opinions and views that people disagree with or consider to be right or wrong, Rumble encourages debates, and it also encourages different opinions and civil discourse. Using this open-minded strategy, the platform encourages content creators to speak their minds, provided that it does not violate the underlying rules.
Pavlovski concluded:
“When it comes to opinions we disagree with, that’s important, we’re all for that.”
