What Else Is Happening at Tubi?
Browse our blog to learn about upcoming events and brush up on industry trends—or download a free copy of our annual report, The Stream, for deeper insights into how viewing habits intersect with contemporary culture.
Properties
Platforms & Partnerships
Spotlight
Partnerships & Platforms
Entertainment Programming
Insights and Innovations
Partnerships & Integrations
Our Solutions
Branded Entertainment
Resources
Contact Us
Programming
Resources
Ad Products
Partnerships
- Build Amazing Brands
How production studios that give decision-making power to passionate fandoms are keeping Hollywood on trend and empowering audiences, creators, and advertisers
If you ask us, fan-fueled content will play a big role in the future of entertainment. And no, we’re not just referring to movie-inspired TikTok trends.
When we say fan-fueled, what we really mean is participatory, even crowdsourced. We’re referring to an approach to content production and distribution that gives audiences an actual say in how and what TV shows and movies get made.
The driving force behind our prediction? Gen Z. And we wager that the benefits of this trend will reach content creators themselves. Because when you put power and influence in the hands of passionate fandoms (as opposed to studio executives), more diverse and authentic stories get a chance to be told.
Read on to find out more about the emergence of fan-fueled studios and what it could mean for audiences, content creators—and even advertisers.
Keeping Up With the Z
Over the past few years, it has become clear to the entertainment industry that staying in lockstep with Gen Z is key to success and longevity. In an effort to get Gen Z back to movie theaters, for instance, Hollywood has turned to experiential (sometimes eyebrow raising 👀) offerings like collectible merchandise and specialty cocktails, with the hopes of stoking young consumers’ inclination to share memorable experiences on social media.
Meanwhile, streaming platforms are hosting more content with diverse characters and storylines—a move that’s clearly in line with younger viewers’ preferences. According to The Stream (2024), a research study from Tubi and The Harris Poll, 74% of Gen Z and Millennials actively seek out streaming content that showcases different identities and backgrounds.
Gen Z? More like Gen UGC
But these efforts by Hollywood to stay with the times are only the beginning. As Gen Z continues to reveal and evolve its preferences, the entertainment industry will have to change accordingly. And one preference that’s coming more sharply into focus is Gen Z’s taste for user-generated content (UGC).
A study by Deloitte found that 47% of Gen Z respondents prefer social media videos, compared to 27% who prefer new TV shows and 18% who prefer new movies. A separate study reported that 61% of Gen Zers prefer UGC over other content formats. And in July 2024, YouTube became both the first streaming platform to exceed 10% of total U.S. viewership and the most watched media channel on television.
Likes, Camera, Action
This affinity for UGC, coupled with their appetite for interacting with the content they consume, suggests Gen Z may be hungry for a new kind of entertainment experience—one marked not just by post-production engagement but by active participation.
That’s the idea behind Stubios, a new fan-fueled studio by Tubi that puts viewers in the driver seat of content production. As Tubi’s chief marketing officer, Nicole Parlapiano, explained on a panel at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year:
“Fans don’t really get to participate in the process. They get to talk about it after it comes out, but they don’t really get to make decisions about what gets made…[But] imagine if we could bring them along the way. Imagine if they had a say in the stories that get told. Imagine if they were mini producers in their own right.”
– Nicole Parlapiano
CMO, Tubi
Now, with Stubios, they can be.
Via a mobile experience, Stubios puts the power to greenlight projects entirely in viewers’ hands. By logging in, they can follow creators, view behind-the-scenes footage of content currently in production, offer ideas and opinions on how that content gets made, and support their favorite projects by engaging with posts.
Fourteen projects are currently participating in the Stubios program, ranging from a horror film about a glamping trip gone wrong to a dramedy about a freestyle-rapping food delivery driver who struggles with panic attacks and financial hardship. The project that secures the most fan engagements earns the green light to turn their project into a show or movie on Tubi—which, in the most recent case, was Rosemary Idisi’s GLAMPING.
In effect, Stubios is incubating and amplifying the authentic and culturally relevant stories young viewers are craving. Speaking alongside Parlapiano at Cannes, writer, actor, director, and producer Issa Rae—who works with Stubios via her management and production company, ColorCreative—put it best:
“I think what this model is proving is that audiences want what they want, and they’re starving to see themselves. They’re starving to see specific storylines.”
– Issa Rae
American Actress & Stubios Mentor
Opening Doors for Creators
Creating a more fan-fueled, participatory environment doesn’t just benefit viewers, though—it also removes barriers to production and distribution resources. In an industry where you typically need to know somebody who knows somebody (who knows somebody who knows somebody) in order to catch a break, a production model like Stubios is a first step toward changing the game.
Take Rae. Today, she’s a household name. But her rise to the top was hard fought.
“I had been trying to break in traditionally for so long, and so, at some point, it was just like, what tools do I have to be able to create an audience to champion or get behind my work?” she recounted at Cannes.
That led Rae to self-produce the web series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, in 2011—a project that earned her a large and enthusiastic fan base as well as industry accolades. Within a few years, she leveraged her internet-based success to land a traditional, big-studio deal: the HBO series Insecure, which ran from 2016-2021.
But Rae’s self-made success is not the typical experience for creators, and today, the digital content landscape is even more crowded than it was when she entered it more than a decade ago. That’s why Rae sees fan-fueled, studio-backed initiatives like Stubios as critical to the democratization of popular storytelling.
“There aren’t a lot of people who have figured out the transition from making work online to television and film. I can count on maybe two hands the number of people who have successfully transitioned, and there’s no blueprint for that. Hopefully, in some ways, [Stubios] can be it.”
– Issa Rae
American Actress & Stubios Mentor
A New Play for Advertisers
Advertisers, too, have a stake in seeing fan-fueled studios come into vogue.
As a CMO herself, Parlapiano admitted that she is acutely aware that the 30-second spot will one day be a thing of the past, and it’s up to brands to figure out how to attach themselves to creators and stories in an authentic way to build deeper relationships with their audiences.
“Coming together with advertisers to create actual, entertaining content that does deliver on a brand message is also something that I’m really interested in seeing come through on this,” said Parlapiano.
She went on to point out that this “new” advertising model isn’t exactly novel. The term soap opera, she recounted, actually derives from the fact that early forms of the genre were sponsored and produced by soap manufacturers like Procter & Gamble.
“I think that’s actually going to come full circle, with product integration that has to be smart. It can’t be obvious or awkward…And I think it’s such an incredible advertising opportunity, to really influence an audience in a more native way than…a 30-second spot jammed in the middle of your show.”
– Nicole Parlapiano
CMO, Tubi
Of course, Stubios is just one initiative. It alone can’t change an industry. But embraced at scale, fan-fueled production studios could make waves in a way that meets the needs and wants of stakeholders across the entertainment ecosystem—audiences, creators, and brands alike.