Burbank, California – FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) has formed Tiny Riot!, its own original digital content studio, it was announced on June 3 by Thom Beers, FMNA’s CEO. The studio is being launched off of the company’s success with The Pet Collective, the premium content pet destination, and recent ventures into the lifestyle and food genres with StyleHaul and VICE Media respectively. Tiny Riot! will operate alongside FMNA. Gayle Gilman, formerly EVP, Digital Content at FremantleMedia North America, will preside over the new label as its Executive Vice President and General Manager, and report into FMNA’s Chief Operating Officer, Lee Rierson.
“FremantleMedia has been at the forefront of the digital content boom for some time. As we established key partnerships and watched our original digital content output grow over the past 12 months, it became clear that this was a business that deserved to operate as its own studio,” said Lee Rierson, Chief Operating Officer, FMNA. “Tiny Riot! is now tailored to build on our recent ventures in the digital space, taking on the responsibility to develop properties based on FMNA’s intellectual property, as well as new verticals across various areas including, food, lifestyle, fashion/beauty, pets and more.”
Tiny Riot!
Tiny Riot!’s content strategy is threefold – developing and producing original content for its own channels including The Pet Collective; partnerships such as the Munchies online food channel, a shared venture with VICE Media, and its content deals with StyleHaul and BroadbandTV; and developing digital content around FMNA’s TV properties including Family Feud and the upcoming Celebrity Name Game. In addition to content creation, Tiny Riot! will also provide ad sales, audience development and distribution strategies across all of its platforms, positioning FMNA as a premier creator and provider of digital content.
“This is an extremely exciting time for our team. We’ve already had great success with The Pet Collective and our strategic deals with BroadbandTV, VICE and StyleHaul are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s evident that there are big opportunities in this space, and platform providers are keen to partner with premium content creators with a global distribution and production reach,” said Gayle Gilman, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Tiny Riot!.
Tiny Riot! follows FremantleMedia’s 2013 launch of its global Digital & Branded Entertainment division, created to extend the company’s role as a TV creator, producer and distributor onto emerging digital platforms around the world. Building on the investments of FremantleMedia and its parent company RTL Group in a variety of new media businesses, Tiny Riot! is poised as an important content partner for the larger company’s overarching relationships and investments. In 2013, FremantleMedia announced an investment in Europe’s largest multi-channel network, Divimove, and a co-production deal with the world’s biggest fashion and lifestyle MCN, StyleHaul. FremantleMedia also works closely with BroadbandTV, the world’s third largest MCN. FremantleMedia’s parent company RTL Group invested in both BroadbandTV and StyleHaul last year.
