Radish
The short-form serialized fiction platform that knows how to capitalize on the shift to mobile reading.
Case study
From zero users to being acquired for $440 million
Founded in 2015, Radish initially focused on user-generated content. Still, now the core of its business is Radish Originals or serial fiction series designed specifically for the app, which definitely helped propel its growth.
Their story
Highlighting diversity and inclusion
Founded in 2016, Radish tapped into a vein of demand for serialized stories, spanning genres including romance, paranormal/sci-fi, LGBTQ+, young adult, horror, mystery, and thriller. In 2018, the company began producing original in-house series alongside curated user-generated content — and Radish Originals now account for more than 90% of revenue, according to the company. Investors include Greylock, Lowercase Capital, Softbank Next Media Innovation Fund, UTA, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investment (BDMI), Sherpa, and individuals including Amy Tan, Peter Bazalgette, Charlie Songhurst, Nicolas Berggruen, Matt Humphrey, Duncan Clark, and Jeremy Yap, among others. Last news? In 2021, serialized fiction app Radish get acquired by Kakao Entertainment in a transaction valued at $440 million.
The challenge
Attract people to read it’s not an easy catch in the 21st century
Our challenge was to win that first touchpoint: Radish monetizes content through its micropayments system, allowing users to read several free episodes before making payments of about 20 to 30 cents to unlock new episodes. About 90% of its revenue now comes from Radish Originals
The solution
Manage as many tests as possible to gather the most information that we can get
Have the data needed for optimizing campaigns was a complete challenge when Apple first launched the iOS 14 privacy settings. The main goal was to grow Radish’s revenue at least 5 times compared to the previous year. We try with Interest vs. Broad campaigns, LAL - Custom Audiences using Mobile App Events, bidding on mind-funnel, minimum ROAS bidding, and targeting the US with No English targeting. The results? Radish’s revenue grew over 10 times the year prior.