Celeb greetings app Cameo pivots to creators

Celeb greetings app Cameo is pivoting to creators with a new product called CameoX.

The company became a pandemic hit, as people stuck at home marked various celebrations, like birthdays and graduations, with celebrity shout-outs. It became a tech unicorn valued at $1 billion, but as life returned to normal, Cameo was hit with multiple rounds of layoffs, saw its valuation tank as it took on additional funding, and found itself unable to pay an FTC fine over undisclosed celebrity endorsements.

Cameo’s struggles to attract A-list celebrities was only part of the problem — its business model relied on video messages and it couldn’t make other potential revenue-generating products stick, like live video calls or live events. At one point, it even dabbled in crypto with its NFT project, Cameo Pass.

With CameoX, Cameo is embracing its status as a place for lesser-known talents to expand their reach.

The company says it’s been piloting CameoX since May 2023, making the service accessible to the broader creator community. Before, Cameo tried to avoid being thought of as an app for “D-List” by handpicking and vetting the talent that could use its platform. The company noted that over the past three years, it had rejected over 100,000 applications from talent who didn’t meet its threshold requirements.

Now, creators can enroll themselves via CameoX by filling out a form, downloading the app, and verifying their identity. This, the company says, puts the app more in line with others focused on creators, like YouTube and Twitch.

Over the past 18 months, CameoX has added 31,000 creators who have collectively performed over 155,000 Cameos, resulting in millions in bookings, the company claims. CameoX creators have ranged from reality TV stars to influencers and creators and even questionable characters like former Congressman George Santos. (The latter represents a continuation of Cameo’s strategy to target noteworthy individuals, even if they’re famous for notorious reasons — as was the case when Cameo controversially partnered with the Tinder Swindler, aka Simon Leviev, the subject of a Netflix doc on dating app fraud.)

By making Cameo less exclusive and more of a creator toolkit, the company hopes to boost its revenue, which derives in part from its 30% share of bookings. However, entering this space means it has to compete with the platforms that creators already use to monetize their fanbase, including YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, TikTok, and others.

“The nature of fame has changed dramatically. Some of our most successful talent are digitally native creators who aren’t famous in the traditional sense, but have an extremely engaged fan base,” said Cameo CEO Steven Galanis, in a blog post announcing the service’s official launch. “The amount of fame in the world is exponentially increasing as new stars are being minted overnight on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, SoundCloud, and YouTube. Whether you’re famous, infamous or emerging, there is a place for you on Cameo,” he added.

To date, Cameo says it’s generated over $310 million in talent earnings across over 8.2 million bookings.