Doing Things wants to turn its bevy of Instagram brands into a “broader development engine” for social shows

Doing Things, the studio behind a bouquet of entertainment/comedy accounts like Recess Therapy, Bob Does Sports, Shitheadsteve, and Middle Class Fancy, says it wants to turn the reach of these individual brands into a “broader development engine.”

So, over the past year, it’s more than doubled its slate of original creator-led programming–and now two new shows and a new sports/college vertical are joining the roster.

“Doing Things has always been built around understanding what people actually want to watch, share and talk about, and then finding the right format to bring those ideas to life,” Reid Hailey, Doing Things’ co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. “We can test ideas quickly, then invest behind the formats and talent audiences keep coming back for. Our goal isnʼt another viral video. Itʼs entertainment people canʼt get enough of.”

Just how much reach is Doing Things hoping to pump into that “development engine”?

The studio tells Tubefilter that collectively, its brands/accounts have 95 million followers and bring over a billion views per month from more than 500 million individual people. Original Doing Things content posts average 1M+ shares per day across platforms.

New shows include:

• Overstimulated, a “comedic parenting show” hosted by Manon Mathews and Vincent Marcus. Mathews will talk about her experience as mom of a two-year-old, while Marcus will share about being dad to a 13-year-old daughter. Doing Things says the series will combine “candid conversations about parenting with improv, call-ins from parents sharing their own struggles, wins and horror stories, and appearances from creators and celebrities.” (Launches Oct. 14, with new episodes weekly)
• Family Ad Agency, a scripted workplace comedy series about “a family-run creative agency where aging execs, nepo babies, and creatives attempt to impress clients–only for every pitch to go spectacularly sideways.” It stars Brooklyn Coffee Shop‘s Mack Hubbell and will debut at the end of October.

Doing Things is also expanding its city life eavesdropping brand Overheard (acquired in 2023) into sports and college life social verticals that’ll drop next year.

“Overheard Sports will apply the brand’s signature observational lens to the people, relationships and culture surrounding sports fandom, grounded in the stories that come up at happy hour with friends, coffee with coworkers, and heated debates with rival fans,” per a press release, while “Overheard University brings that same signature observational lens to campuses, where student correspondents will capture the conversations and humor that define the college experience, giving the audience an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at campus life.”

Doing Things says this slate (as well as its overall original content push) makes use of its years-long “obsession” about “how audiences engage with every piece of original content it publishes.”

The studio says it tests potential show ideas as social content, watches audience members’ reactions, and then greenlights series “based on evidence rather than gut alone.”

For example, gentle and jolly connect-with-nature vertical Live from the Trees launched June 2, and Doing Things considers it a breakout success based on 20.4M views, 3M likes, and 518K shares. Processing that data tells it to further invest in the branch.

Other recent performance data includes Recess Therapy’s Aug. 17 episode guest-starring Andrew Garfield, which racked up 33M views and 3.6M likes. The vertical overall is seeing 17% higher YoY engagement rate on Instagram, and 22% YoY audience growth across all platforms.

We also got data about kid think tank Juice Box Jury, which has a 9.3% engagement rate on its content and is seeing a 73:1 ratio for shares and comments on its top-performing debate.

“Those insights guide programming across formats and platforms, from social-first series and long-form YouTube shows to scripted entertainment, with a focus on the categories drawing the strongest audience response,” Doing Things says.

Of course, everybody these days wants to be responsible for the next big social sensation. Hollywood and major platforms are investing in microdramas, Disney has entered the creator race by sealing deals with Dhar Mann and Dude Perfect, talent companies like Viral Nation are taking creator IPs out for pitch sessions, and internet-born projects are getting big-screen adaptations, borne on the wave of Iron Lung, Backrooms, and Obsession.

Viewers have access to more digital content than ever before. Now it’s just about what they choose to watch.