JC Cangilla from New Form Digital, the online studio joint venture of Discovery, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, speaks with Allison Stern, co-founder of Video Intelligence firm Tubular Labs, about the future of the data-driven digital studio. New Form Digital uses Tubular insights to identify rising star storytellers, create engaging digital scripted content, and successfully grow engaged digital audiences.
Video will be 74 percent of all Internet traffic in a few years, noted Stern, and it’s fragmented across multiple sources. That’s where Tubular comes in, providing data about video data from 30+ platforms. Now, “Anyone is a video creator,” said Stern. “What does that mean for creators ”
There are 2.5 million providers on YouTube, and over 1200 of them have over 1 million subscribers, Stern pointed out. Cangilla described one influencer that New Form Digital, a digital studio, found through use of Tubular’s data. New Form has produced 25 pilots over the last 18 months, and sold 17 of them into series. “We use Tubular to find new talent, and then to cast additional talent on projects,” said Cangilla. “Our business model is funding pilots and then selling them as series.”
The process uses Tubular’s data to help choose talent, but it’s not that simple. “It’s not just taking influencers and putting them into the content they typically create,” said Stern. “It’s giving them the resources to do something even better. It’s an exciting thing you guys are doing.” “Our creative assumptions are that YouTubers, Viners, etc. are the creative talent of the future,” said Cangilla. “And that people will stick around to watch a 15 minute pilot on their page.”
“What do you see moving forward into the future ” asked Stern. “It looks a lot like your slide,”said Cangilla, “Where you have lots and lots of different distributors. We’ve seen a proliferation of platforms that need their House of Cards, and that’s what we’re trying to produce.”
“What are the secrets to success in building a digital studio ” asked Stern. “One is we had done 25 pilots in a year, and the reason is we feel there’s a need for volume,”said Cangilla. “We’re looking to double and triple those numbers. We want to leverage what already exists and then build upon it. The last piece of advice is to start 18 months ago we’re well on pace and it’s a rapidly changing environment.”
