Over the past 15 years, if you’ve obtained a public library card or enrolled in a college or university, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered Kanopy. The streaming service offers access to more than 30,000 titles, which viewers can watch for free. Public and academic libraries facilitate their patrons’ Kanopy subscriptions and typically pony up for films and TV shows on a pay-per-view basis.
That model has made Kanopy into one of the most consumer-friendly streamers in the business; it reaches about 45 million people in the United States. In 2025, however, Kanopy started changing. While the service still offers its typical collection of licensed favorites, it has started adding some original content into the mix.
The first Kanopy co-production to hit the streamer’s digital shelves was Banned Together, a documentary about book bans that hit Kanopy on April 25. Around the same time, Kanopy announced its first original series, titled America’s Next Great Author. The reality competition show will go into production later this year and is due out in 2026.
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The timing of Kanopy’s original content push is curious. In 2025, original streaming content has hit a low point. Many distributors in that space end up losing money on their productions, calling the viability of the industry into question. Platforms like YouTube and Snapchat have greatly reduced their investments in original content. High-profile streamers like Paramount+ and Peacock have gone through several rounds of layoffs. Even Netflix, once the king of original streaming content, is feeling the squeeze — hence its decision to police its subscriptions with a tighter grip.
Add up all of those concerns, and you arrive at a very clear question for Kanopy: Why now? That’s what we asked Kanopy GM and EVP of Content for OverDrive Jason Tyrell in an interview conducted over email.
Tyrell explained that Kanopy has reached “the natural point of scale where developing and supporting original content is viable.” Libraries are embracing Kanopy in greater numbers, but they’re also enduring a long-term decline. Tyrell argued that Kanopy’s originals can give viewers a “compelling reason” to get a library card, allowing those patrons to better support their local third spaces.
“Our long-term goals are to build a slate that libraries can be proud of, and to build a reputation as a home for artists looking to unlock smart audiences across a wide range of media formats,” Tyrell told Tubefilter. “It’s no secret that originals bring new audiences to a platform. We believe Kanopy is one of the strongest collections in streaming. So our hope is that once we’ve crossed that important bridge to awareness, they’ll keep coming back.”
Tyrell also argued that other streamers’ inconsistent policies could play into Kanopy’s hands. The platform’s academic ties make it a favorite for cinephiles, researchers, and older viewers who appreciate time-honored classics. As other streamers dumb down their offerings, Kanopy is seeing an opening to draw in new subscribers. “More recently we’ve found an influx of heavy film and television consumers who are tired of increasing subscription costs or frustrated with the ad-supported experience, that are finding there’s always something of quality to watch on Kanopy,” Tyrell said.
America’s Next Great Author epitomizes Kanopy’s appeal to erudite consumers. The show, hosted by writer Kwame Alexander, will begin with a nationwide casting call. The goal is to find aspiring authors who need funding and other forms of support to realize their novel ideas. The winner will receive a “significant publishing deal,” according to a Kanopy press release.
Kanopy Originals is co-producing America’s Next Great Author alongside Big Sea Entertainment and Can Do Entertainment. “We are here to literally make people’s dreams come true,” Alexander said in a statement.
There’s another wrinkle that makes America’s Next Great Author a perfect fit for Kanopy. The streamer’s parent company, OverDrive, also operates e-book rental service Libby — another product that is routed through local libraries. With its original programming, Kanopy is keen to identify candidates for “book-to-screen adaptations,” Tyrell said. A show about aspiring authors would seem to be an ideal candidate for a future adaptation of that nature.
Beyond America’s Next Great Author, Kanopy has “several other projects in development,” though Tyrell qualified that statement by stating that there is “nothing close to announcement yet” among the other projects. We’ll have to wait until 2026 to see how Kanopy’s original content push takes shape. Until then, its buzzy announcements are drawing more attention to its existing library of free, on-demand choices. That content base has long been one of the most compelling deals in the streaming world, and it’s about to get even better.
