How Jubilee turned authenticity into a $50,000,000 brand

If you’ve been on YouTube in the past five years (and I’m going to assume you have), you’ve probably stumbled across those videos that seem to break every norm.

You know, the ones with titles like, '1 Liberal Teen vs 20 Trump Supporters,' or 'Is Being Fat a Choice? Fit women vs Fat Women.'

Not your everyday headlines, huh?

They're raw, unscripted (or at least appear to be), and often extremely uncomfortable.

That's Jubilee—a YouTube channel-turned-media powerhouse that dared to bank on one thing: the power of raw human connection.

Think of Jubilee as a social experiment hub and a masterclass in how to build a brand with a soul, all wrapped into one deliciously disruptive media company. It's something we marketers have been trying to crack forever.

So, what can we learn from such a meteoric rise? And how do we apply it to our own strategies?

Starting with raw human connection; and being unapologetically bold about it.

In 2016, when social media was getting murky with politics and toxicity, Jubilee bet on a wild card: empathy.

They noticed no content was addressing the issues at hand.

So, instead of churning out more safe, polished content, Jubilee rolled out social experiments on hot-button issues—'Rich vs. Poor,' 'Black vs. White,' and 'Blind race-guessing,' among others, putting stereotypes, disagreements and similarities on full display.

The result? Every video ended up with over 2 million views a pop.

Jubilee didn’t shy away from uncomfortable topics. Instead, they embraced them, creating a movement of empathy in the most unexpected places.

This is what happens when a brand fully rejects the notion of playing it safe and leans into those topics no one dares to touch.

Audiences respond to stories that feel real, unfiltered, and a little risky. People are craving authenticity more than ever, and Jubilee proved there’s an appetite for content that stirs the pot.

Jubilee shows us that if you take a stand and tell stories that matter, you’ll likely watch your brand’s engagement go from meh to meaningful.

So let's take a look at their playbook to see what steps they took to get such astronomical results.

1. Experiment like there’s no tomorrow.

Jubilee’s ideation process was anything but standard.

Imagine your boss is like 'right, I’m locking the entire team in a room for 24 hours and until you come up with 800 show ideas!'

And then actually doing that.

No, really, the Jubilee team literally held a 24-hour brainstorm and came out of it with hundreds of show ideas. And, within the next 48 hours, they built MVPs, tested each concept, and scrapped anything that didn’t resonate.

Sure, it’s super intense. And I’m sure there were multiple eye rolls at the beginning. But that’s how Jubilee developed its most successful formats.

This is a lesson in not being afraid of wild brainstorming sessions and fast pivots.

Jubilee’s rapid ideation reminds us that success isn’t always found in careful planning. Sometimes, it’s in the willingness to try everything until you find the magic.

This is also something I learnt at university. My lecturers would make us come up with 50 ideas, choose 5, can the rest, then expand those 5 into 50 again.

Marketers can take note: test, learn, kill what doesn’t work, and scale what does. This iterative approach is gold, especially in the fast-paced digital world.

2. Nail a format that keeps people watching.

Jubilee carefully designed their formats to be highly addictive.

The secret sauce? Pique extreme curiosity, create high emotional stakes, and use strong pay-offs that keep viewers hooked. Their shows are almost like structured experiences.

And it was that structure that built a loyal audience and sent their viewership into the billions.

A strong format can be done and done again. Meaning Jubilee could continue iterating on the topic while still giving the audience the structure they loved.

It goes to show, that no matter how short attention spans get, there’s always a recipe for keeping eyes on your content.

To take a page out of Jubilee's book, think of creating your content in a similar format. Set up a hook (curiosity), raise the stakes (emotional investment), and finish with a pay-off (that ah-ha moment).

These elements make people stick around, so design your content to lead them from curiosity to payoff every time.

3. Think bigger.

The founder’s ambition to build a 'Disney of Empathy' is more than a cute phrase; it’s a declaration.

Jubilee wanted to do more than make videos, they wanted to redefine media’s role in connecting people. And they’re not stopping at YouTube; they’re diving into TV, film, and live events.

This is brand building at its finest: creating an entire ecosystem where the content serves a bigger, deeper purpose.

This is what happens when you don’t think of your brand as a product or even just a series of campaigns, but as an experience.

To think bigger, ask yourself what purpose your brand serves.

When you expand your vision and create an ecosystem of experiences, you give your audience something to rally around—a brand that doesn’t just talk, but one that invites them into a community with shared values.

Beyond content.

Jubilee’s impact shows us one big thing: audiences are tired of mindless, filler content.

They want something with heart.

And the truth is, we marketers don’t always hit that mark. We get sooo caught up in virality, KPIs, and the chase for engagement metrics. But, in doing so, we sometimes miss the opportunity to create content that actually hits home.

Jubilee shows that when you prioritise substance over style, the audience response will speak for itself. So let’s take a page from their playbook:

Ditch the effing fluff, embrace those bold stories everyone’s too scared to tell, and go all-in on content that builds a community, not just a view count.

Because at the end of the day, it’s about creating connections that last.

-Sophie, Writer