A ‘next generation studio’ for YouTube creators
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- L.A.-based Wonderloom Media is launching as a new studio focused on acquiring major YouTube creator-led businesses, debuting with true crime juggernaut Dr. Insanity, which has 5 million subscribers and 1.3 billion views.
- The venture reflects Hollywood’s intensifying bet on the creator economy as studios struggle to fill theaters and audiences increasingly watch YouTube on living room TVs alongside streaming hits.
- Backed by Content Partners and media entrepreneur Ed Simpson, Wonderloom aims to build a next-generation studio, while CAA and others launch rival funds to buy fast-growing creator businesses.
Hollywood’s fascination with YouTube creators is going to the next level.
Los Angeles-based investment firm Content Partners and media entrepreneur Ed Simpson announced Tuesday that they are launching a new company, Wonderloom Media, that will acquire YouTube-creator led businesses.
Wonderloom’s first acquisition is YouTube true-crime channel Dr. Insanity, which has more than 5 million subscribers and more than 1.3 billion total views.
The movie industry is still riding the box office high of ‘Obsession’ and ‘Backrooms.’ But in true Hollywood fashion, studios are already scouring the depths of the internet, in search of untapped talent and viral content that could re-create a similar success.
Content Partners owns or licenses more than 800 films and more than 3,000 hours of television content. The company co-owns the “CSI” franchise.
“This is a kind of next step evolution in the type of IP we will be acquiring,” Alphonse Lordo, an executive vice president at Content Partners, said in an interview.
The effort comes as the film industry continues to struggle to bring more people into movie theaters and has had recent success with the YouTube creator-led films “Obsession” and “Backrooms.” As studios and TV networks have shed jobs over the years, more entertainment workers are applying their expertise at major YouTube creator-led businesses, which have continued to grow their audiences.
In a tough Hollywood job market, crew members and actors are finding more work in the creator economy, businesses led by influencers who post content for YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
YouTube’s audience has shifted from smartphones to TVs, on which many U.S. consumers watch YouTube videos with their families. That in turn has attracted streamers such as Netflix to partner with YouTube creators to bring their content to the same platform that has high-budget television shows and movies.
Simpson, a former TV producer who will be Wonderloom’s chief executive, said Dr. Insanity was the “perfect first acquisition” because it had a loyal audience, proven storytelling and meaningful room to expand. “True crime is an incredibly sticky genre of programming that works just as well as it does on YouTube, as it does on Netflix and linear and cable channels,” he said in an interview.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The box office success of “Obsession” and “Backrooms” isn’t something that could’ve been predicted. By drawing a young audience and honing in on original storytelling, these two horror films are clearing a new path in Hollywood.
Wonderloom, based in L.A., also will assist entrepreneurs who started YouTube channels grow their businesses.
The new company also is eyeing possible acquisitions in food, travel and general entertainment programming, added Simpson, a former chief strategy officer at Wheelhouse, a production firm behind “America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.”
“This is about building the next generation studio, so we think of this as the beginnings of Paramount, of Warner Bros., of those great studios,” Simpson said. “We see this space following in that very same pattern right now.”
Other Hollywood companies also are getting into the creator business acquisition space. Last month, Century City-based Creative Artists Agency said it was partnering with Integrated Media Co. to form a $250-million holding company called Compound Creative Holdings that will acquire and operate a portfolio of creator economy businesses.
