The Transition From Influencer To Actor

For many years there was a significant gap between being a social media influencer and making it in the traditional entertainment space. Now companies and influencers are pushing to bridge that space.

Pre 2018 and the rise of TikTok studios and agencies paid little-to-no attention to influencers making waves across their requisite platforms. Eventually, however, major agencies such as CAA, WME, and UTA started dedicating whole divisions to talent from different backgrounds such as YouTube and TikTok.

Though there has been more investment into the space many in Hollywood are still skeptical of the viability of digital stars in an age where everyone is seeking Oscars and Emmys.

Brat TV was launched as a plausible intersection. Raising $2.5 million in seed funding after one of the founders, Rob Fishman, sold his company Niche to Twitter in 2015. Niche, helped connect advertisers to influencers and helped influence Brat TV to become what it is today. Since the sale Brat TV has raised millions in funding from the likes of Goldman Sachs, Anchorage Capital, and Bob Shaye (who founded New Line Cinema).

Brat TV takes influencers with strong followings and casts them in professionally produced TV series and podcasts that air on YouTube. The content is aimed at the teenage, pre-teen, and early 20’s age categories.

Talking to Vox, Fishman compared Brat to a breakout stop in the entertainment space. “It brings them to a place where they can start having conversations with the platforms, with the advertisers and industry folks that lets them build businesses beyond posting short-form content every day — which is great, but it’s an incredible amount of work.”

He added, “There’s something missing from the media ecosystem, which is digestible entertainment that’s professionally produced.”

Brat has managed to cut through because its content is accessible and easy to digest on a free platform like YouTube. Other platforms, such as Quibi, have notoriously struggled with this concept.

Brat has gone from strength to strength, generating a reported $15 million in 2020 and almost double that in 2021, whilst employing 45 full-time employees.

New paths to tread

There is also a perspective that artists don’t need traditional entertainment as a precursor to elevating their careers.

Jay Ferrer aka Jay Kinda Funny has built an enviable following across platforms due to consistent content and through viral catchphrase. He catchphrases Munanyo (4.1+ billion views on Tiktok) Chupapi Munanyo (5.8+ million Views on Tiktok) and Toma (563+ million views on Tiktok).

Ferrer has branched off into multiple layers of business as a result, creating his show on Snapchat called Jay All Day, which has grown from 500,000 to 22 million followers in less than a year.

On growing a successfully following in the space Ferrer said: “There are many ways we can grow and develop as influencers now, the options are practically limitless. It’s important to start by having fun, you have to truly enjoy what you are doing for it to not feel like work and trust the process, it will get hard but if you truly love it, you will continue to do it.”

“Through that, you can grow a following and then branch off to create different streams of content to garner more followers whilst staying true to your initial base. We live in a time that is full of possibilities.”

Ferrer, as an individual brand, is also looking to elevate his position more through brand marketing and growth. His goal is to become a worldwide presence with bespoke clothing and merchandising to capitalise on the success of his content.

The ownership and personal profit through that, juxtaposed to being linked to a popular network, is also an interesting comparison that could skew either way. Ultimately, managing to do both would make someone very well placed. However, as someone like Ferrer has leveraged that potential into his channels it gives a slight advantage.

Whether it’s focusing on a more digital skewing route or aiming to enter a more traditional media landscape, the options for content creators seem strong and only set to grow more with the introduction of Web3 and the metaverse.