The product, which Beheshti teased last fall, presents users with a daily Digest, a collection of vertical videos designed to surface content tailored to the interests of users. A separate Explore page allows users to find new creators on their own accord.
At launch, only 30 or so creators are participating in SaySo, a small number but one that reflects an important element of the product, which is that all of its content creators are vetted by Caliber.
These creators, whose followings range from 200,000 to 4 million, do not yet create content exclusively for SaySo; instead, when they are distributing their vertical videos, they can upload them to SaySo as another point of distribution. While the number of categories covered will expand, at launch most of the content deals with politics, climate, lifestyle, and urban planning.
Critically, the Digest product presents users with a finite number of videos—for me, it was around 12 per day. The point, per Beheshti, is not to keep users glued to their phones, but to inform them quickly and in an accessible fashion with news content from trustworthy sources. (Notably, the endless scroll itself has lately come under legal scrutiny, following landmark legal cases against Meta and Google in recent weeks.)
SaySo has no immediate monetization plans; while it focuses on fine-tuning its product and growing its audience, it will probably not generate any revenue this year.
When it does come time to flip the revenue switch, the primary product will likely resemble a freemium model, with users paying for additional features, like more Digests or enhanced access to creators. Rather than traditional display or native advertising, certain product features might be underwritten by sponsors, similar to the Apartment Therapy model.
The concept behind the product is compelling enough, but adoption will likely still be challenging. Most people only use around six apps on a daily basis, Beheshti admitted, so spurring user uptick will present its own set of hurdles. Caliber has a small advantage in that it can use its other brands, including TNM, The Recount, and Capsule, to promote SaySo, but its ability to amass users will largely depend on the degree to which its creators promote it.
The creator base, which the company aims to grow to 100 by the end of the year, will be incentivized to promote SaySo because it offers them a share of the revenue generated, according to Beheshti. While platforms like TikTok and Instagram are great for exposure, they typically offer meager payouts to all but their most popular creators, an oversight that SaySo hopes to use to its advantage.
Regardless of its success, the launch of SaySo shows Caliber is doubling down on its core thesis, which holds that companies need to serve content in the ways their audiences prefer to consume it. If leaning into vertical video was the first iteration of that, then this deeper embrace of creators is the natural step in that evolution.
