(Shay Mitchell of "Pretty Little Liars" has a new show on Fullscreen.Getty/Matt Winkelmeyer)
Fullscreen is betting it can spin YouTube talent into shows you'll pay good money for every month.
Over the past few years, Fullscreen has ridden the wave of change in the online video ecosystem. The company was basically a big YouTube network in 2014 when it sold for $200-$300 million, but has expanded since into areas like its own subscription service, which launched in April 2016.
That service, which costs $5.99 per month and is focused on 18-to-25 year olds, puts Fullscreen into competition with heavyweights like Netflix and Hulu, as well as a slew of more niche upstarts. Fullscreen has its own original shows as well as a catalog of licensed older shows and movies, from "Chuck" to "Firefly" to "Chappelle's Show."
But the primary aspect that sets Fullscreen apart is its focus on YouTube stars and personalities, many of whom Fullscreen develops through its "network" business, which helps manage and promote a whopping 75,000 of them. That part of Fullscreen can function a bit like a farm team in baseball. Fullscreen will identify a YouTuber with talent, and then work to get a show onto the Fullscreen premium subscription service.
But what does a “premium” show from a YouTube star look like?
That’s something the industry is still figuring out, and there have been some missteps along the way. YouTube star Issa Rae scored a Golden Globe nod this year for her new HBO show, “Insecure,” but both of Netflix’s recent bets on social media stars, Miranda Sings and Vine star Cameron Dallas, were trashed by its subscribers. Shows also continue to pop up on newer outlets like YouTube Red and Go90, but it's hard to judge which are gaining traction.
So what's Fullscreen's answer?
The first thing Fullscreen learned was that trying to simply reproduce traditional TV with social media stars in the leading roles doesn’t work particularly well.
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“We are moving away from just trying to replicate TV shows, TV formats, and putting influencers in [them],” Fullscreen’s SVP of programming, Scott Reich, told Business Insider.
Reich wants Fullscreen to create shows that capitalize on the company's position as an online service. One thing Reich stressed was that Fullscreen can push the boundaries on the subject matter, compared to traditional TV, since the subscription service doesn’t have ads.
“We don’t have that concern [advertising deals with brands], and can be a little more opinionated …. We want people to have a polarizing point of view … a point of view in general.”