Exclusive: Music game show Track Star lands investment from Gus Wenner
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Jack Coyne and Gus Wenner. Photo: Courtesy of Public Opinion
Former Rolling Stone CEO Gus Wenner has invested in Public Opinion, the company behind popular music game show Track Star, he and CEO Jack Coyne exclusively tell Axios.
Why it matters: The deal pairs one of legacy media's most recognizable names with a New York-based media startup aiming to be a modern MTV.
Zoom in: Wenner has invested a seven-figure sum through his firm, Wenner Media Ventures, and joined Public Opinion as executive chairman.
- Wenner, whose father founded Rolling Stone, helped sell it to Penske Media in 2017. He stepped down as CEO last May. Wenner launched the investment firm this year. Public Opinion is its first investment and operating partnership.
- Core Advisors supported Wenner Media Ventures on the investment.
- Wenner and Coyne, who went to high school together, say they had talked about how Rolling Stone and Track Star could work together. But discussions later evolved to an operational role and investment.
Zoom out: Track Star has quickly risen to popularity, attracting regular passersby and later celebrities such as Olivia Rodrigo and David Byrne to listen to songs and be quizzed on the song title and artist.
- The Verge called it "your favorite musician's favorite TikTok show" in 2024, and the New York Times profiled it last year. It was a campaign stop for both Kamala Harris and Zohran Mamdani.
- Track Star now touts more than 1.5 million unique daily viewers — 933,000 Instagram followers, 576,600 TikTok followers and 206,000 YouTube subscribers.
- The team has added more formats, including a podcast exploring topics like the history of pop punk along with live performances.
Catch up quick: Coyne has had a long career working in online video, including on Casey Neistat's first YouTube video in 2010.
- In 2022, Coyne co-founded Public Opinion with Henry Kornaros and his brother, Kieran Coyne. They originally launched as a man-on-the-street trivia show about New York City before moving to music.
Follow the money: Public Opinion is profitable and makes money through brand partnerships with clients like Rivian, Beats by Dre, T-Mobile and Jack Daniel's. It also runs an agency business.
- "All of our revenue up until this point pretty much has been inbound partnership requests," Coyne says. "We felt like if we started to play a little offense, we could build out the business a lot."
The big picture: Track Star is part of a larger shift in attention to social-first, personality-driven media brands. Legacy media companies are looking to creators who understand algorithms and audience.
- "I could see the degree to which the show moved the needle and really had an impact with its audience," Wenner says. "I heard from musicians who had gone on the show and said ... we got a big response or sold more records from going on Track Star than any other piece of press we did."
- Coyne partially attributes their success to people wanting to meet interesting characters, learn something and feel good about what they're watching.
What's next: Coyne and Wenner say Public Opinion plans to significantly grow its team of 12 with hires in operations and sales, launch a slate of shows and host live events.
- "We're creating something that's super accessible. It has a tremendous amount of depth," Coyne says. "But I think we continue to go deeper. I think we continue to go broader ... bring in new voices."
