Messing with the local ducks

[Flysmallie]

11 minutes ago, Devan S. said:

They probably made 40M on apparel, cups, boxed DVD sets, vinyl stickers for your truck, and all the non-duck hunters that go through their tourist trap store that buy a duck call. 

It says they had $40 in sales in 2012 before the show started. 

[fishinwrench]

10 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

It says they had $40 in sales in 2012 before the show started. 

Exactly.   So shouldn't some of these guys that have been blowing waterfowl out of the sky for 20+ years at least own one lonely Duck Commander call ?

Surely he didn't sell that 40M worth of duck calls to the members of his church.

Then again maybe his preaching is how he stays tax exempt.  

[Devan S.]

4 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

It says they had $40 in sales in 2012 before the show started. 

$40M before Duck Dynasty started, they were on outdoor channel before that and Buck Commander division was before Duck Dynasty even started. 

Sure to the non-hunter Duck Dynasty is all they know but they were certainly on TV and capitalizing on that before 2012. 

[Johnsfolly]

I did not quickly find the date of release of the first Duck Commander hunting video but did see a Duck Commander 16 video. Tells me that they have been selling those videos for many years and likely all of the other merchandise as well. As mentioned they also had Buck Commander videos and show and that associated merchandise.

Their T shirts range from $5 to $25.

[ness]

I have no idea if the $40 million in revenue is a reliable number, but... keep in mind the difference between revenue and net income. Revenue is how much you sold. That's before expenses and taxes. Don't really care one way or the other, but it's a pet peeve of mine when people quote the revenue number and act like it's all going into their pockets. It's not. 

[Johnsfolly]

Wikipedia (as reliable that is) had their total revenue as $40M and operating income of $20M in 2012.

[Devan S.]

Agreed $40M is large don't get me wrong but its really not that big....and ultimately certainly a drop compared to what they make today. 

Google shows Buck Commander first aired in mid-2010, Duck Commander was on Outdoor Channel in the late 2009 period. Giving them a roughly 3 year jump on the true explosion that came with Duck Dynasty in 2012. You can bet they were selling t-shirts/hoodies, cups, and vinyl decals during that time period. 

Sure they got started making calls but it wasn't a $40M company selling duck calls(which is why to Wrench's point most of the guys here don't have a mid 90's duck commander call they use). What you really want to know if their revenue in the early 2000's that would probably tell you how "popular" their calls were. I'm sure you can find guys in LA or MS that have some but its still a local/regional company at that point. Ultimately where they made their money, is marketing based off TV. Details on their story pre-2009 are pretty vague but I highly doubt that outdoor channel was their first big break on TV....maybe nationally but not likely regionally. Most people don't go from a family business and then leap straight to TV in that big of a jump some do but not very often. 

Not many real, true hunter/fishermen on outdoor channel anymore. Most of those guys/gals started with a silver spoon(land, location, small-mid sized family business) and turned it into a golden spoon by marketing and pimping their name. Most are marketing ambitious and just dragging their product along for the ride. 

[Flysmallie]

1 hour ago, Johnsfolly said:

Wikipedia (as reliable that is) had their total revenue as $40M and operating income of $20M in 2012.

I don't know where I got that quote. 

But yeah $40 in sales means nothing. 

My only point was that they had made some progress before everyone in Walmart was wearing one of their t-shirts. 

[wily]

I’ve got a cool pirogue style boat that was originally sold by duck commander...Welded aluminum...it’s cool

was made way before the show

i think it was just a regional sporting goods store before the show

20million in operating revenue sounds killer...but if retailer and haven’t subtracted cost of goods sold...probably didn’t amount to much

 

[wily]

I should also say...no matter how much it was...it was a lot better than me.  I know I didn’t just have a regional sporting goods store or have 20mil in operating revenue...so good for them.

i like Phil and his message