• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, November 13, 2020

Veteran advertising executive Donny Deutsch -- former chairman of Deutsch Inc -- has an interesting take on what President Trump is doing just days after he lost reelection.

And it isn't about advertising on TV. But it is about the media and overall marketing. More of a subscription pay TV platform mode of thinking.

“Donald Trump is in pre-production now,” Deutsch said on MSNBC this week. “He is going to be starting the Trump Revolutionary Network -- a subscription model. He has already trademark ‘TeleRallies.’

Maybe some tongue-in-cheek here -- like the operation and/or network. But ‘TeleRally’ is a real thing, a trademark granted to DTTM Operations LLC. You know this company better as The Trump Organization. We get the direction.

Even if it’s only 10 million of the 70 million people who voted for him, this subscription media platform could work, says Deutsch. “[At] six bucks a month; [or] seven bucks a month,” this could pull in just under $1 billion ($840 million) year.

“If you were in pre-production what is more compelling -- [to be] a ‘loser’ -- and we know that’s his biggest fear -- or a aggrieved [person] where [Biden] stole the election?’ And, an “aggrieved party” is something that hardcore Trump supporters will continue to back.

Deutsch says this makes a great marketing premise for a new political-themed news organization. “If you were pre-producing Donald Trump's next act, this is what you would be doing.”

Though media critics believe retaining the most influential paid government position in the world is Trump’s biggest push, Deutsch thinks the reality is more subtle -- as a marketing/advertising buildup to some other effort.

“He probably doesn’t think he is holding on to power. He’ll move on to his next venture. That's what this is all about.”

Rumors have circulated about how Trump may been looking to buy and/invest in a small, low-profile, low-subscribers conservative cable news network. But TV Watch guesses that might take much more money and effort. He'd also have to deal with existing pay TV carriage agreements that might not get renewed, due to typical network deal points when a channel changes programming focus.

A subscription-based, online TV network would be an easier bet. Digitally based TV networks/platforms are somewhat easier to launch, given growing distributor competition -- including app/platform distributors like Roku and Amazon Fire TV

A subscription TV-based, web-based news networks could also have limited advertising revenue. That means some big existing TV marketers supporting some conservative TV networks might come running.

Need a good pillow? Big Fox News Network sponsor My Pillow may be looking for more heads.