Peacock is rolling out a slate of scripted originals, with a twist: The shows are all led by creators who have significant followings on platforms like TikTok.
The creators in question are Charlie Curtis-Beard, Katie Florence, Serena Kerrigan, and Daren Vongirdner. They developed their respective Peacock originals as part of NBCUniversal‘s Creator Accelerator Program, a year-long initiative that launched last year with 11 participating TikTokers.
As part of that process, the program participants earned development deals with NBCUniversal and took advantage of guidance from development mentors. Now, four of the projects greenlit in that fashion are set to premiere on May 19 as part of an effort dubbed the Peacock Emerging Artist Series.
Curtis-Beard’s contribution to that slate is The Warehouse Phase, in which he stars as a musician who starts making content. Florence is the topliner for The Kouncil, a breakup story. Kerrigan is putting her spin on the road trip genre with Older Hotter Wiser. Vongirdner’s entry, People Like Me, will explore his relationship with his therapist. Trailers for all four projects can be found on YouTube.
When NBCUniversal debuted Peacock in 2020, the streaming service boasted a strong lineup of licensed content. But as the quality of that archive diminished, Peacock found itself in the same situation as most other subscription-based streaming services: Chasing high-profile originals that could make its library more attractive to potential consumers.
Increasingly, that effort involves influencers. Netflix is going all-in on creator-centric programming as it looks to woo talent away from YouTube. Peacock dipped its toes into those waters last summer when it enlisted podcaster Alex Cooper as one of the hosts of its Summer Olympics coverage. Now it’s taking another step into the world of social media stars.
“Each series put the creator’s distinctive voice on display, and it’s taking the storytelling that they’ve been publishing for years and sort of amplified it for long-form premium video,” NBCUniversal CMO of Advertising & Partnerships Josh Feldman told The Hollywood Reporter. “They really developed and executed their series from concept to screen, but also they’re starring in them, which is great, right? So they wrote them, they produce them, they star in them as well.”
The relationship between Peacock and its new slate of showrunners is mutually beneficial. The creators get to tell stories with TV-quality polish, while the streamer gets to appeal to new fanbases that could be converted into subscribers. And if the shows live up to their silly premises, the viewers stand to benefit as well.
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