As the Hollywood strikes continue, celebrities have been turning to video message platform Cameo as a way to make money. Over 2,500 celebrities have joined or reactivated their accounts since July 14th, according to Cameo.

“A few months before the strike, we actually struck a first-of-its-kind partnership, where the earnings that talent make from Cameo for business, actually accrue to their pension and healthcare benefits,” Cameo CEO Steven Galanis tells Yahoo Finance Live.

“This has been really huge for” talent “to be able to come back to the Cameo platform, engage with their fans, and, you know, earn a living,” Galanis says. “Cameo has really become like a public utility in Hollywood. We’re there in the good times, we’re there in the bad times, and, you know, it really is a platform that matters,” Galanis adds.

Video Transcript

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- Overall, a majority of Americans approve of labor unions and 67% side with television and film actors amid the ongoing Hollywood strikes. According to a new Gallup poll, less than a quarter side with the studios. SAG-AFTRA members have been on strike since mid-July. And many are finding new ways to make money.

Video message site Cameo has seen more than 2,500 celebs start or reactivate their accounts since the strike began. Here with more is Cameo CEO Steven Galanis. Steven, thanks so much for joining us here. We rattled off some of those numbers. But how much of a boost are you seeing amid these strikes? And how does that compare to what you saw pre-strike?

STEVEN GALANIS: Yeah, look, you know, in the last 48 days since the SAG strike started, we've seen over 2,500 talent join or reactivate on Cameo. Now, this is 180% month to date increase from where we would have been in before the strike. And it's really the best time that we've had from a talent onboarding perspective since COVID when every production was shut down.

AKIKO FUJITA: Steven, what's been the conversation with SAG-AFTRA? Or I guess the question is, have you had a direct conversation with them? It sounds like there is some kind of partnership that's happening that allows for actors to be able to use, you know, what is-- what they get from Cameo for business to work towards those hours needed for health and benefit.

STEVEN GALANIS: Yeah, that's exactly right. One of the things-- you know, back to your earlier point about the public being really supportive of the actors here, 86% of SAG-AFTRA members did not qualify last year to meet the $26,500 threshold to make them eligible for their health care that they get through SAG. This has been a big problem. SAG has long been looking for other ways to give their members qualified earnings. And before the strike, a few months before the strike, we actually struck a first of its kind partnership where the earnings that talent make from Cameo for business actually accrue to their pension and health care benefits.

So this is a really big godsend to actors that otherwise aren't able to go do Comic-Cons anymore. They're not able to do, you know, merch drops if they have IP related to movies. They can't do personal appearances in many cases. So, you know, this has been really huge for them to be able to come back to the Cameo platform, engage with their fans, and earn a living.

- Are you concerned at all that once the strikes end, you'll see a significant drop-off of those participants, especially those more high-profile names?

STEVEN GALANIS: Look, we've seen this happen as different things happen, whether it's COVID or the disaster of the day. So any time there's a natural disaster, for example, we'll see talent join to raise funds for things like the Maui wildfire or the hurricanes that are going on in Florida right now. So this is business as usual for us.

On the aggregate though, once, people join Cameo, they tend to really like it. And our year gets busier and busier and busier as we get towards Christmas. So, you know, any pull forward that we see right now in supply side acquisition will be good for the business in the long-term.

AKIKO FUJITA: Steve, to your point, you have seen the highs of the highs really at the peak during COVID to the lows where you've had to undergo a number of rounds of layoffs in terms of your employees. This has got to be a positive. And I know you're saying this is temporary. But how do you use a company ride this momentum when you've got more eyes on the platform right now to try and keep this going?

STEVEN GALANIS: Look, we-- you know, we've struggled with a lot of issues just like other tech companies that had big bumps during COVID. If you look at how our business was before COVID and where it ended up today, I think anybody would have taken that straight line back in 2019 to where the business is in 2023. But when you go all the way up and, you know, have a comeback down, you know, it's certainly a much more turbulent path than we're all thinking.

As far as, you know, what this means for our team, look, we have a small but mighty team right now. But this is just more evidence to all my-- all the talent on the platform, our investors, the industry in general, and our employees that Cameo has really become like a public utility in Hollywood. We're there in the good times. We're there in the bad times.

And, you know, we're-- it really is a platform that matters. And that's the thing that is probably most important to our team going forward. And it's what gets us up to go work hard every single day.

- I, myself, Steve, I've purchased two Cameos in my life. They were two-- for two different friends, pretty far apart. But it got me thinking about how the novelty sort of wears off after you buy the first one. So what ways are you working towards to try and attract that repeat customer? Is that an issue you're facing at all?

STEVEN GALANIS: Look, we've-- we, at this point, have sold single digit millions of Cameos. So there's 8 billion people on the world-- in the world. And I think we have a long way to go before Cameo doesn't become special. We get the reaction videos every single day. And the brand awareness is only 14%, only 14% of Americans in our core demo know what Cameo is and have unaided recall of it. So we've got a ton of upside to go on that front.

But you ask a great question. And so much of what that effort that we are working on right now is seeing that, you know, retaining talent and retaining customers and making sure that they have an insanely delightful experience. And, again, that's what we work towards every day.

AKIKO FUJITA: Steve, you know, you've been very transparent about the challenges you've had to face in your company. And to your point, I mean, sure, you're not the only tech company that really scaled up massively during the pandemic and have had to downsize in a big way. When you think about where the company is right now, is this kind of more in line with how you want to grow?

In other words, it's not a company where you had hundreds and hundreds of employees. You've got a limited number. You're a smaller operation. But is this sort of more in line with how you envision the growth to be?

STEVEN GALANIS: Look, the company's lean and mean right now. You know, we are on path to be break even very soon, which is a huge milestone for us. This was a business burning millions of dollars a month only a year and a half ago.

So we've taken huge strides. You know, we've got a small but dedicated team that is fired up about our mission. They love our vision. They love the culture that we have here.

So, you know, we're doing everything that we can to make sure that this is as fun and rewarding a place to work as it possibly can be. And we want to make sure that from our customer side and our talent side, they don't notice any degradation of having a much smaller team. And huge props to everybody on our team that's really been doing the job that many people were doing to keep it at business as usual for everyone, especially during a period where we're seeing a big spike.

- And to follow up there, Steve, you've made some recent acquisitions like the celeb merchandise platform Represent. Is there more M&A in your future?

STEVEN GALANIS: Look, our ears are open. And the whole larger creator economy, I'm an investor. And a lot of the companies, you know, that are there-- right now, if you're not an AI company, it is tough to raise money.

And I believe there will be a lot more consolidation in this-- you know, in this space over the next 18, 24 months. So our ears are open. You know, we're constantly looking for things that can help with distribution that are accretive to our core business. And, you know, we'll continue to be aggressive as we can be.

- Steven Galanis, Cameo CEO, thank you so much.

STEVEN GALANIS: Thank you.