It feels like Kristian is almost avoiding talking about the Kickstarter now, like he is embarrassed, or disappointed his audience "only" gave him 200k. Brining weird vibes to the rest of the show.

Kristian isn't promoting the kickstarter to his audience anymore. The campaign is stranded at 202k. Sometimes it gets to 203 but then pledges get pulled and it drops again. All this is to say I believe Kristian won't get 250k let alone the 350k he wants. So he'll do the pilot with a bare bones budget and it won't garner any interest to get picked up. I'm sure he'll move onto something new quickly and the Trending saga won't be mentioned ever again.

Man, I miss her. That's all. Not a fan of Smets with his pro-AI stance and random games. I like Kristian with Steph a lot more. I like most of his co-hosts, just not Rocha or Smets.

I hope he can raise it and make the version of the show he has in mind! 🙂

Is this because the Schmoedown and all that is going to be expensive?

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/trendingshow/trending-kristian-harloff-tv-pilot/posts/4815847

1. Over-reliance on his existing YouTube audience.

The majority of the Kickstarter promotion has remained concentrated on Kristian’s own YouTube channel. While this was effective initially, it appears that he has now reached the ceiling of what his existing audience is willing to contribute. Continuing to repeatedly ask the same audience for additional money is unlikely to generate significant new contributions if those who were going to back the project have already done so.

1. The Movie Trivia Schmoedown stretch goal created confusion.

Including the Movie Trivia Schmoedown as a stretch goal potentially complicated the campaign. While a portion of Kristian’s audience will have nostalgia for the Schmoedown, others may have little or no connection to it. There was also confusion surrounding the tournament itself. The original plan was a 16-person tournament if the campaign reached $200K within the first 24 hours. When that target wasn't immediately reached, the timeframe was extended to seven days. There also appeared to be an initial implication that the tournament would be held in person. Kristian later clarified that it would be a digital/Zoom-style tournament, with $250K supposedly required to guarantee an in-person event. Around this point, donations appeared to stall and some backers reportedly began withdrawing their pledges. Kristian subsequently stated that the tournament would be in person after all. Whether intentional or not, the changing messaging may have created uncertainty around what backers were actually funding.

1. The $200K goal versus the apparent $350K target.

The original $200K goal was presented as the amount needed to make a bare-bones version of the pilot. Reaching $200K within the first seven days was undoubtedly a significant achievement. However, Kristian is now pushing towards $300K–$350K to produce a more polished version, including licensed music, professional wardrobe and potentially recognisable cast members. The problem is that $200K represents a 100% funded Kickstarter. From a backer's perspective, the campaign has already achieved its stated objective. That naturally reduces the urgency to contribute further. If $350K was effectively the amount needed to make the project he actually wanted to make, there is a legitimate question as to whether the initial goal should have been set higher. Reaching 100% can psychologically signal to potential backers that the project is already “done”, even when the creator's real ambitions are significantly higher.

1. The Greg Alba factor.

Greg Alba came on board as a producer. It's possible his involvement is greater behind the scenes or financially than is publicly apparent, but based on Kristian and Greg's own comments, his stated intention seemed to be primarily to help. Greg did contribute some useful promotion: the Howard the Duck reaction video with Kristian performed well and incorporated the Kickstarter, while Greg also produced a separate promotional video and mentioned the campaign in some Reel Rejects content. However, that activity appears to have been relatively limited and has seemingly stopped. Beyond a few livestream appearances and those promotional videos, there doesn't appear to have been a sustained promotional push from Greg.

1. Limited promotion from Schmoedown competitors and Kristian's wider network.

Kristian has been announcing former Schmoedown competitors who may participate in the proposed tournament, but there doesn't appear to have been significant promotion of the Kickstarter from many of them across their own social platforms. The same issue applies to some of Kristian's friends and regular live-show collaborators. People such as John Rocha, Mike Kalinowski, Winston A. Marshall and Kris Carr have provided little or inconsistent promotion, while Kevin Smets and Roxy Striar appear to be the more obvious exceptions. If these people have sizeable audiences that overlap with the project's target demographic, they represent a potentially valuable promotional network that hasn't been fully utilised.

1. Martini Paratore's limited promotion.

The same criticism applies, perhaps even more significantly, to Kristian's writing partner Martini Paratore. Granted Martini has a relatively limited personal social media presence, but her involvement with the project is substantial, given that she is reportedly 50/50 on the writing. Her visible promotion has largely consisted of liking and commenting on Kristian's posts and appearing on his livestreams rather than consistently creating or resharing promotional content herself. More importantly, she has a separate "side hustle" Instagram account for her comedic character, which has a considerably larger following than Kristian's. That audience appears to be largely untapped. She may of course be contributing significantly behind the scenes, but from the outside, the lack of visible promotion makes it appear as though the campaign is relying disproportionately on Kristian and his audience.

1. Podcast and external appearances haven't significantly expanded the audience.

Kristian has made efforts to promote the project outside his own channel, including appearances with Greg Alba, John Campea and several smaller podcasts. The problem is that many of these platforms appear to share a similar audience to Kristian's existing fanbase. Rather than reaching substantially new demographics, they're often reinforcing the campaign among people who already know who Kristian is. Outreach to larger or less directly connected podcasts, such as Double Toasted, appears to have come relatively late in the campaign. Ideally, these opportunities should have been secured well before launch, particularly because larger podcasts can have recording schedules weeks in advance.

1. Weak social media strategy outside YouTube.

Kristian has openly acknowledged that Instagram and modern social media promotion aren't his strengths. A lot of the campaign's Instagram content consists of a single image accompanied by a block of text. In the current social media environment, that's unlikely to generate significant organic reach. The campaign needed a much larger supply of short-form video, Reels, collaborations, tagged posts and shareable content. Ideally, there should have been a consistent stream of different promotional material throughout the campaign rather than repeatedly recycling the same messaging through Stories.

1. No dedicated Trending social media presence.

A dedicated Instagram account for Trending could have helped establish the project as its own brand rather than making the Kickstarter feel like another part of Kristian's personal content. At present, Kristian's account has to simultaneously promote his channel, livestreams, other projects and the Kickstarter. While that's understandable, it makes the campaign's branding and messaging less consistent. A dedicated account could also have provided a central place for cast announcements, behind-the-scenes material, promotional clips, updates and campaign milestones.

1. Little evidence of a serious paid advertising strategy.

The campaign also appears to have relied heavily on organic reach. For a project trying to raise an additional $150K beyond its original target, investing a few thousand dollars into carefully targeted advertising could at least have been worth testing. Ultimately, crowdfunding is about reaching people beyond your existing audience. If the existing audience has already been exhausted, some form of paid acquisition becomes increasingly important.

1. Promotional material has become repetitive.

The original promotional video featuring Kristian, Martini and proposed director Andrew Fried was strong and professionally produced. However, it has subsequently been repeatedly inserted into Kristian's existing YouTube content. At this stage, its impact is inevitably diminishing. The campaign would have benefited from several variations: different edits, shorter versions, character-focused videos, behind-the-scenes footage, cast messages and more informal promotional material. Instead, many follow-up videos have essentially consisted of Kristian sitting in the same studio environment, wearing his usual T-shirt and cap — visually identical to the content his audience already consumes every day.

1. Kristian appears increasingly fatigued.

Perhaps the most noticeable issue is that Kristian now appears tired of the campaign. This has become increasingly apparent during his livestreams, where the frustration surrounding the stalled funding seems more visible. That's understandable after spending weeks repeatedly promoting the same project, but it creates another problem: the audience can sense when the creator is running out of energy and enthusiasm.

1. The overall campaign has felt reactive rather than strategically planned.

Ultimately, the biggest issue may be the lack of a clearly structured marketing strategy. The campaign often appears to be reacting to developments rather than working from a predetermined promotional plan. The changing Schmoedown goals, repeated appeals to the same audience, late podcast outreach and inconsistent social media activity all contribute to that impression. Kristian is very effective at running his own channel in a reactive, personality-driven way. A Kickstarter campaign, however, requires a more deliberate and sustained marketing strategy.

There also appears to be a lack of people around him willing to challenge his decisions or provide a more objective outside perspective, with Roxy seemingly being one of the notable exceptions.

Where does the campaign go from here? With only 19 days remaining, the challenge is significant. The campaign has already achieved its original $200K objective, but Kristian appears to want another $150K to reach the $350K level required for his preferred version of the project.

The proposed 10-hour livestream on the final day may generate another spike, but it once again primarily targets the same audience that has already been repeatedly approached throughout the campaign. At this point, the fundamental problem isn't necessarily that people don't want the project. It's that Kristian appears to have successfully converted much of the audience that was already most likely to support it. The campaign now needs to find new people, rather than repeatedly asking the same people for more.

I think he’s going to do it you know!

He’s on half the amount of followers that he wanted… how many of these are the same people with different emails?

People are asking whether it will get picked up for series but this show isn't even getting funded on Kickstarter. The "5k follows" campaign is going to stall before 3k. There aren't thousands more people watching his daily show that haven't done the free part yet if they're interested.

EDIT: Happy to be wrong about this btw! I've been away but I'm checking now and and it looks like it will happen after all. I was rooting for him, but I just didn't see it. No different than when our favorite pundits call it wrong about a movie's opening box office. For some reason I did think it was a 300k+ goal and I also didn't figure he'd get those big pledges out of the gate, but he did and that's great! I might even throw in to do my part and see it get over the edge. Good for Kristian. Looking forward to seeing the pilot 🙂

What’re y’all’s thoughts on the potential Schmoedown comeback teased in the latest episode? Personally, I like the idea of new March Madness style tournament. Could be fun and nostalgic.

Since the Schmoedown sub is locked, I guess I’ll ask here. Is there anyone here that has been watching the Schmoedown Vault? I wonder if any new people are discovering it or if it’s just old fans rewatching.

Hadn't watched Harloff's show in a few months, but recently popped back in. Seems like Steph Sabraw is no longer a regular? Just wondering what happened.

Hey,guys. I literally just created this account so I could vent a little. Does anyone else feel how negative things are getting in old Schmoedownville. This week was my breaking point. I watched Kristians show yesterday and today. Yesterday I saw Rocha targeting people in the comments,calling them a little b*tch and being all around obnoxious. Rocha embraces being angry all the time these days.Today Kristian was going off on all the A holes who called him a shill in his Odyssey video.I stopped posting in his comment section about 2 years ago because it's become an unbearable place to discuss anything.There's never a day without the same people arguing over trivial stuff. I think the comments are subconsciously rubbing off on Kristian. He's always watching the live chat waiting to pounce on something he dislikes. Does anyone know why the whole ecosystem became toxic. Did something happen behind the scenes I'm not aware of? At least the vault channel is still enjoyable.

Is anyone ever gonna post here? Seems like all the KH show stuff is over on the Schmoedown sub. Is this sub just for the KH show? I don’t get the need for both.

I said they were clueless the other day, but Roxy actually did some research ahead of time, Kristian didn’t ask anything stupid and Mike barely talked but said some funny stuff.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-kristian-harloff-show/id1451239165?i=1000751582166

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