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Teen-focused streaming channel Brat TV surpasses Nickelodeon in popularity

Teen-focused-streaming-channel-Brat-TV-surpasses-Nickelodeon-in-popularity3
The well-known YouTube-based network Brat TV is producing high-quality content and employs an aggressive business strategy to lay claim over teenager’s attention.
Darren Lachtman and Rob Fishman founded Brat TV in 2017 after selling the influencer marketing platform Niche to Twitter. For their next company, the two decided to develop the streaming channel after they noticed traditional TV content didn’t attract Gen Z. They identified a need and room for short-form content rooted in social talent. The network’s goal is to become an entertainment brand that matters to Tweens and creates content that should be broadcasted on TV but is instead shared for free on Gen Z’s preferred social media platform, YouTube. This strategy enables Brat TV to surpass teenage-directed TV networks in popularity.
Research reveals people born between 1995 and 2015 consume 50% less TV content than 5 years ago. Experts identify cord-cutting as the main factor leading to this decline and reveal that major TV networks are left to develop online content if they want to snatch Tween attention.
However, even the streaming landscape quickly becomes overcrowded and too mainstream for this picky audience that turns to the leading video content provider YouTube. If there’s one thing Gen Z is obsessed with, that’s YouTube. In this context, it’s no surprise that teenage-focused streaming channels such as Brat TV overperform traditional networks like Nickelodeon as it delivers the Gen Z audience the content it wants through a means it finds accessible.
Pew revealed that 85% of teenagers prefer to use YouTube instead of Instagram, Snapchat or Facebook. And considering that statistics show that YouTube’s watch time on TV screens is around 250 million hours daily while Netflix’s only 164 hours, there’s no surprise that streaming channels like Brat TV focus their efforts on developing content for this social media network.
Brat TV has over 5 billion minutes of watch time
Even if it’s not the first streaming channel to target Gen Z-ers, it’s a direct competitor to more seasoned providers. For example, AwesomenessTV was a popular channel a couple of years ago, but because it failed to provide high-quality content, it lost its acclaim among the public. AwesomenessTV is now owned by Nickelodeon’s parent company, Viacom, and struggles to keep up with Brat TV, which has a different approach than all the other streaming channels on YouTube. Brat TV uses influencer talent to create unique content that appeals to the Gen Z group. Even if the platform has a lower budget than streaming platforms like Netflix, it still delivers well-executed shows.
A micro-Hollywood studio for GEN-Z
Brat TV operates from a 10,000-square-foot-studio space in Hollywood, CA. Over the last few years, Brat has transformed Social media stars into main characters for popular shows.
For example, Mani, a Brat TV scripted-series created and written by Lawrence Wayne Curry aka THE YOUNG LC has starred some of the internet’s biggest stars including: Piper Rockelle, Hayley LeBlanc, Txunamy Ortiz, Evan Alex , Sky Brown , Mar “Curly Head Monty” McCoy, Corinne Joy, Merrick Hanna, Mia Talerico, Sophie Fergi, Coco Quinn, & Jules LeBlanc. The viral hit series has garnered more than 150 million views and 6 seasons. Brat TV exploits a gap in the market, and has become the contemporaneous WB and Nickelodeon. Netflix and other streaming services have a couple of teen series, but not enough to cast the numerous talented content creators that connect with their fans via social media platforms. They have no specific entertainment produced for this age group because they don’t realize how much the young generation has to offer.
Teen-focused streaming channel Brat TV surpasses Nickelodeon in popularity

Through shows like Crown Lake, Mani, Chicken Girls and Zoe Valentine, Brat TV wants to deliver video content that discusses thoughtful and real issues Gen Z deals with. 

For instance, Chicken Girls created by Janey Feingold is a show depicts a high school lesbian couple because the studio is aware that sexuality is no longer a big deal to teenagers as it was with the older generations. They need to see it reflected in the series they watch. However, even if Brat TV covers a broader range of subjects than other teenager-focused streaming channels, it still doesn’t reflect the full diversity of its audience, but it strives to be inclusive and continuously works to develop shows centered on all groups. 

Brat TV proves that any platform can become a tool to leverage talent and gain an audience, as long as the content producer correctly identifies its target public and the network it prefers. 

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