We recently chatted with Head of Programming Paul Telner about how Viral Nation is meeting creators in the middle ground of becoming the next Hollywood. Some creators are self-producing major projects and putting them in theaters (the latest of whom is Markiplier, with his sold-out adaptation of indie video game Iron Lung), and others are signing traditional studio production deals with established entities like A24 and Neon.
Viral Nation’s model is a different beast. Over the past year or so, it’s worked with creators represented by its talent management division to come up with their dream IP, then approached companies like Wind Sun Sky Entertainment to work on the projects.
Now that pipeline is about to get a lot busier.
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Viral Nation just signed a deal with British multinational production company Fremantle, and its label Beach House Pictures, to produce a number of creator-led series that are designed to reach digital-savvy audiences.
“Fremantle has this incredible history of building global formats, scaling ideas, and producing premium content at scale,” Danny Rowlands, Fremantle’s SVP of Global Entertainment, tells Tubefilter. “Viral Nation, on the other hand, lives right in the center of the creator economy, using data, deep relationships with talent, real-time understanding of digital culture, and ability to move quickly and authentically.
“When you pair the two,” he says, “you have an opportunity to capture the audience in fresh and creative ways.”
Rowlands says the partnership stemmed from both Viral Nation and Fremantle “recognizing that creators and traditional media are crossing over. They’re overlapping, influencing each other, and in many cases co-creating the next big hits.”
A deal between the two means combining “Fremantle’s storytelling engines with Viral Nation’s creator ecosystem” to “build IP that feels relevant, modern, and scalable across platforms,” he says.
Telner adds, “We’ve created this amazing partnership to really give our creators an opportunity to develop, produce, and eventually have air premium projects, starring themselves, produced by a world-class company like Fremantle. It’s incredible for our creators to have that ability to connect with Fremantle to develop shows and projects, whether those are on streamers or straight to YouTube.”
He explains that debuting shows straight on YouTube–the home platform for many of the creators Viral Nation represents–is “a really big priority” for both Viral Nation and Fremantle.
Fremantle’s Singapore-based Beach House Pictures, which has grown itself a thriving business making true crime content for Netflix, will lead the charge in developing the partnership’s first two shows, Model Creator and Cr1me C0de.
Produced hand-in-hand with top modeling agency Ford Models, Model Creator is an America’s Next Top Model-esque contest that will “spotlight authenticity, storytelling, and self-expression across digital and fashion platforms,” per the show’s official description. Contestants will compete in challenges posed by world-renowned models and fashion industry experts, and the winner will be signed for representation with both Viral Nation and Ford Models.
Across the genre aisle (but still in the realm of reality TV), Cr1me C0de will take cases from around the world and use generative AI to turn them into installments of creator-led long- and short-form content.
Donovan Chan, co-founder and Creative Director at Beach House Pictures, says the AI tools involved will be “proprietary” and “used in a way that would give it speed-to-market efficiency, while at the same time giving it that premium feel.”
“It’s very curated, highly stylized,” he says. “It can’t be factory setting. It has to be that Netflix vibe of true crime.”
Chan thinks Cr1me C0de “will allow creators to do something they’ve never done before. It’s their passion, and we want to help them achieve that.”
He also notes that, in contrast to a lot of current English-language true crime content, Cr1me C0de will spotlight stories from around the world.
“We want to offer a perspective that audiences may not be getting from other streamers, and be able to let them hear true crime stories from other parts of the world,” he says. “AI allows us to make it easier for them to digest in English.”
The show will be “universally accessible” and will “involve a variety of Viral Nation creators who are strong and have a social media audience in the true crime space,” Chan says.
For Telner, Viral Nation’s partnership with Fremantle is confirmation of something he knew a long time ago: creators are “the cool kids.”
“It’s, selfishly, a very proud moment for me, because I’ve been in creators’ corners–aging myself here–since 2004, 2005. I was like, ‘These are the cool kids. These kids matter,'” he explains. “To see them now have the ability to work with Donovan and Fremantle, it’s very cool for me.”
Model Creator, Cr1me C0de, and other productions stemming from this partnership will push both Viral Nation and Fremantle forward, into “a world where entertainment isn’t defined by format length or medium anymore,” Rowlands says. “Audiences are fluid, talent is platform-agnostic, and ideas can start anywhere. We are embracing that rather than fighting it.”
Both Model Creator and Cr1me C0de will premiere in 2026.
Viral Nation is a Tubefilter partner.
