Here comes the first broadcast TV show about cryptocurrency

A successful YouTube series about cryptocurrency is about to hit conventional airwaves.

Jason Appleton is better known to his 73,000 YouTube subscribers as “the Crypto Crow,” a plain-spoken cryptocurrency personality who carefully hedges that he does not provide financial advice. Instead he helps his audience navigate the big, wide world of cryptocurrency at large. Now that he’s used some of his money to buy his way into conventional airwave broadcast with CBS Television Networks, Appleton’s brand of crypto know-how will see mainstream broadcast on a number of local CBS and CW television networks, as well as on Roku streaming devices.

With the first episodes slated to air this June, his (already substantive) audience is poised to grow from tens of thousands to tens of millions.

“The TV show is about reaching new people who don’t live on YouTube,” Appleton told Modern Consensus. “It will be focused on those who have heard of crypto but have shrugged it off as something over their heads.” His aim is to explain cryptocurrency to people in such a way that “anyone can get involved and potentially profit from it.”

While this distribution will lend significant momentum to Appleton’s mission, it’s hardly a primetime, nationally syndicated situation. Appleton’s ready for it, however. “My hope is that this first season sparks some interest from a forward-thinking TV executive, and they come asking to help me produce the show for a national audience. The world is ready, they just need to be educated in the right way by someone who understands them,” he said. “I’m a 40-year-old family man who has been up and down his entire life. Since getting into crypto, my life has been changing in big ways. This is going to be a huge year for crypto and those who get involved.”

He doesn’t plan to change much from his current YouTube setup. He told us about his “crappy webcam and mic” from when he first started out, but he intends to stick with his nicer HD video camera and green screen setup that’s been his standard for a while now. “There’s a certain charm and realness that people can relate to that comes from the YouTube setup, so I don’t plan to change too much,” he said. The main difference will be time: “I won’t have an hour or two to ramble on about things that my audience seems to love. My passionate rants or emotionally charged messages will sadly be lost in the TV show. With only 30 minutes to fill in a show, I want to cover the weekly message and feature the crypto companies that are making waves in the space.”

Appleton simply wants “as many people as possible discover what cryptocurrencies are, how to use them, and understand the technology behind them.” As he changes gears from creating for a hyper-connected audience to a more conventional broadcast audience, his message seems sure to echo far and wide to those who are otherwise uninitiated. 

[This story was edited to clarify Appelton’s arrangement with CBS.]