Creators are taking over yet another screen.
Free ad-supported services such as Tubi and Roku have been striking partnerships with top creators including MrBeast, Steven He and Alan Chikin Chow to feature their videos on their platform. The streamers view the move as increasing engagement on the platforms and building fruitful relationships with next-gen talent, while creators see a chance to get greater reach for their content, and to bring in easy money, as they’re repurposing already produced videos.
“Our point of view is that creators are the new media startups,” said Rich Bloom, evp of Tubi for Creators. “They own their own IP, they have distribution, they have these built in fandoms.”
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Tubi launched its program in June with six creators and a few hundred episodes. The Fox-owned streamer is now up to more than 70 creators and more than 8,000 episodes of content, which are largely featured as on-demand videos. MrBeast, one of the most popular creators, is an exception and has his own FAST channel which includes episodes from past seasons of YouTube channel.
While some of the content is older, Tubi also features content released around the same time as it is on YouTube or the creator’s platform. Regardless, demand for creator content on the platform is high, according to Bloom, and consumption has been increasing since the program began.
“We see a lot of demand from our audience for original, authentic stories, and we hear from them in interviews that creators are the number one place to get that,” Bloom said.
On Tubi, the belief is that the consumers of this kind of content are a mix of existing fans of the creators as well as viewers who were previously unfamiliar with the creators, since many go through and watch all episodes. The algorithm has also played a big part in this as it suggests the creator content alongside TV and movies on the platform. Importantly, and surprisingly, Bloom also notes that 31 percent of the Tubi audience is not on YouTube, according to third-party data.
The move follows in the footsteps of the Roku Channel, which began launching creator FAST channels in earnest in 2013, with content from the ever-popular MrBeast as well as creators including HotOnes, Rhett & Link of Mythical Entertainmentand the YouTuber Unspeakable.
“FAST is emerging as an attractive method for creators since it offers a curated way for them to reach incremental audiences that they’re not already connecting with YouTube and other social platforms,” said Lisa Holme, Roku’s head of content.
Striking these partnerships often requires that a creator have millions of followers, and produce longer-form content with high production value. Reality and challenge videos do particularly well on Tubi, as do those that fit into the top genres on the platform, such as teen drama.
Creators in Tubi’s program have a revenue-sharing deal, based on ad revenue, which is similar to the deals with other studios and independent filmmakers, according to executives.
Jomboy Media, a creator-led sports media company, recently partnered with Tubi to feature video episodes of their two flagship podcasts, Talkin’ Yanks and Talkin’ Baseball. Their shows will also soon be on Roku. The goal is to expand the reach of the shows, more so than any incremental ad-revenue which is just an “added bonus,” said Courtney Hirsch, CEO of Jomboy Media.
“Streaming opens up new exposure for us, and it could open up casual fans that are just searching on the Tubi platform, and helps with discoverability. It’s also a chance for an audience to view our content on the big screen,” Hirsch said. “It’s a high-margin deal for us because it’s just really upside.”
The other hope among many creators is to make it to Hollywood, which is where streaming partnerships could provide a pathway. One well-known TikTok creator, Celina Myers, aka CelinaSpookyBoo, recently produced a film, House of Eden, which premiered in theaters, and will soon bring a long-form series to Tubi.
Tubi also plans to tap into this by eventually funding the production of videos from creators and having those videos live exclusively on the platform for a limited period of time.
“They’re deficit-funding the content that they’re making, and we’re seeing a desire from creators to be able to elevate what they’re doing without needing a giant incremental budget from what they’re already creating, and derisking a little bit,” Bloom said.
The overall goal is to build out creator content on the platform with the same breadth and depth as its regular content library, which Bloom notes means that they will “scale significantly” beyond the current roster of 70-plus creators.
