Your once-a-month recap for digital-facing strategies, from the creator economy to vertical video, free streaming channels, and AI.
ScreenMDM Digital First
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Vertical video deals, FAST expansion, and creator partnerships defined the month in digital strategies.
What's Inside:
- FAST Times with Rakuten TV’s Cédric Dufour
- Viewpoint: The Four Horsemen of the Streaming Apocalypse
- YouTube Nears 16% of U.S. Viewing Share
- Making Better Content Decisions—The Chronicle Way
- Vertical Shift: 9:16 Developments
- FAST and YouTube Expansion
- Merzigo’s Next Stage
- Vuulr Reinvents Digital Rights Trading
FAST Times with Rakuten TV’s Cédric Dufour
Through its B2B arm, Rakuten TV is expanding beyond Europe for the first time, developing bespoke strategies to target FAST and AVOD opportunities in the U.S., Japan, and the Middle East. After unveiling its new international approach at MIPCOM, CEO Cédric Dufour joined ScreenMDM Talks to discuss the positioning of Rakuten TV Enterprise, CTV monetization, TV OS and telco partnerships, and how to design user interfaces that meet consumer needs and drive discovery.
Viewpoint: The Four Horsemen of the Streaming Apocalypse
Thom Chapman, co-founder and CEO of 5th Wall, delivers a “ghost story for studio boardrooms,” as he weighs in on churn, price hikes, social video, and the challenges of sustained, ongoing fan engagement. 5th Wall is an engagement platform for studios and franchise owners, turning fandom into direct relationships, first-party data, and new revenue opportunities.
YouTube Nears 16% of U.S. Viewing Share
YouTube remains at the top of Nielsen’s Media Distributor Gauge, scoring a 15.8% share of all viewing in August as TV viewership eased after the FIFA World Cup ended. Streaming was down 3.2% in August, but YouTube still captured a wider audience, reaching a record 15.8% with monthly viewing up 6%. Key to that increase were older audiences, with viewing among the 50-plus set up by 9%.
Making Better Content Decisions—The Chronicle Way
Veteran Hollywood executive Scott Greenberg is pitching the global production, distribution, and commissioning community on Chronicle Media’s AI-driven social optimizer model for overcoming the challenge of audience discovery. Rather than a tool for one slice of the market, Greenberg says Chronicle is aiming to be of value to everyone in the deal chain. “We’re really building a platform for audience layer,” he says, “and how that works for all the different parties.”
Vertical Shift: 9:16 Developments
A new Luminate study found that 57% of U.S. viewers aged 18 to 24 use short-form video to find new movies and TV shows to watch, edging out streaming service browsing at 55%. Luminate’s U.S. Entertainment 365 survey shows why all the major streamers are launching vertical video feeds for mobile. Vertical is just ahead of browsing and traditional social (52%), and considerably ahead of commercials and trailers (33%) for the 18 to 24 set. Browsing is the primary discovery source for 25 to 34. For 35 to 44 and 45 to 54, word of mouth edges out browsing. For the 55 to 64 set, commercials and trailers are the primary discovery mode at 57%, as they are for the 65-plus set.
It's been a busy month for developments in the vertical video space across a range of areas, including new players, new models and new partnerships. In Asia, the competition for telco partnerships has intensified. COL Group brought its FlareFlow vertical video platform to AIS Play in Thailand, and ReelShort expanded its significant Southeast Asian footprint, aligning with Singtel CAST in Singapore and Telkomsel in Indonesia. These Asia-originated microdrama giants made other significant moves over the last few weeks. The FlareFlow platform is headed to Digicel, a telco operating across the Caribbean and Central and South America. COL also held what was billed as the first Upfront event for the vertical video industry in partnership with V47 Entertainment and VIRTUE Asia, and aligned with MediaSpurs to boost its microdrama business in Poland. Wattpad is working with ReelShort to adapt three of its popular webnovels into microdramas. Another AsiaPac major, RisingJoy, committed to making 30 vertical anime series by the end of Q1 2027, and set an MOU with NTT DOCOMO Studio & Live.
Meanwhile, several major media companies had big vertical video announcements over the last few weeks. FOX Entertainment entered into a broad partnership with Hartbeat, the media company co-founded by Kevin Hart and Jeff Clanagan, with a first look at FOX Entertainment Studios for vertical series as a development pipeline, a distribution component for FOX Entertainment Global, and a branded channel on Holywater’s My Drama. FOX Entertainment Studios also partnered with Endemol Shine North America for an original scripted horror vertical series inspired by FOX’s Fear Factor: House of Fear. As Lifetime unveiled a slate of new microdramas, A+E Global Media said it was adding vertical video series adapted from nearly 200 titles to its international distribution catalog. Vertical video specialist RoseBerry clinched a deal with Fremantle to reimagine the long-running soap Neighbours for a short-form vertical rollout.
FAST & YouTube Expansion
Samsung TV Plus has been scaling its international content lineup across both “traditional” studio deals and creator content. The platform is bringing a collection of segments from Trevor Noah’s podcast series, along with his stand-up catalog, to users in the U.K. Leaning further into the global creator economy ecosystem, Samsung TV Plus also launched a slate of new creator-driven channels for the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, as well as added to its slate in Brazil and Mexico. In traditional content house deals, meanwhile, it expanded its content lineup in France, adding an array of public-service and commercial channels; reached deals with BBC Studios and ITV Studios’ Zoo 55 for its European footprint; and expanded its K-content lineup in the U.S. Also on the Korean content side, CJ ENM K-Dance arrived on LG Channels in North America. That TV OS also launched the German Soccer Network in a deal with Cineverse. In other U.S. news, Versant added four new channels to its FAST portfolio; MeidasTouch, which has more than 18 million followers across social platforms, partnered with Swerve TV to launch a 24/7 news channel on FAST; and Radial Entertainment launched the new FAST channel Paranormal Chronicles. In the U.K., meanwhile, UKTV added eight FAST channels to its lineup, and wedotv brought its wedotv Movies channel to Freely.
It was an equally busy month for YouTube channels and creator collaborations. Little Dot Studios teamed with broadcaster and mathematician Rachel Riley on a new YouTube channel and podcast. Wildstar Films, a Fremantle company, joined forces with wildlife filmmaker, explorer and scientist Dan O’Neill for The World Is Out There. Fremantle also partnered with Miroma Group’s Buzz 16 to resurrect the digital football and sports talk show The Inside Scoop, hosted by U.K. content creators and presenters Harry Pinero and Culture Cams. Cineflix Rights joined forces with Australian producer McAvoy Media on the Inside Taronga Zoo YouTube channel. Radar Studios aligned with broadcaster Sir Tony Robinson to launch a new history brand featuring a YouTube channel and a TV show. Sony Pictures Television is working with Professor Brian Cox to develop a slate of premium digital-first science content. Aurora, part of Banijay Entertainment, teamed with TV presenter, chef and author Si King (one half of The Hairy Bikers) and his new production company, Magnetic North Productions, on his first dedicated YouTube channel. Also at Banijay, Endemol Shine Brasil aligned with Grupo Podpah, a leading creator-led platform in the region, around some of its biggest entertainment brands; and Banijay Benelux entered into a strategic pact with ClipHub to boost discovery and audience engagement around premium franchises through creator-led distribution.
Merzigo’s Next Stage
Embarking on its next stage of growth, with the U.S. at the heart of its expansion plans, Merzigo has created four new divisions and committed $200 million to investing in content in 2027. The company, led by Yiğit Doğan Çelik, chairman and CEO, is structuring its business around four key divisions—Merzigo Studios, Merzigo Platforms, Merzigo Ad Alliance and Merzigo Academy—as it eyes further global expansion.
Vuulr Reinvents Digital Rights Trading
Vuulr relaunched its rights-trading platform, powered by new tech, with a UX designed to address the discovery conundrum, and unveiled a white-label solution for rights owners. Vuulr emerged as a buzzy B2B tech platform in the late 2010s, aiming to democratize the business of buying and selling content. It operated successfully for five years before economic uncertainty, inflation, and a lack of capital investment resulted in its shuttering in 2023. After a full reorganization, the service is now back up and running. Silvia Kusnirova is on board as chair, having acquired the Vuulr assets with Peter Lukes. Ben Flint co-founded the platform and has returned as chief commercial officer. The mission remains unchanged, but the tech powering it has been revamped, alongside the business model, Flint tells ScreenMDM.
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