A+E Global Media and Lifetime are building on their commitment to vertical storytelling with a slate of premium microdramas, new digital viewing opportunities and a growing international sales strategy designed to meet audiences wherever they discover and consume content.
A+E recently debuted a new MyLifetime.com experience featuring vertical, chapter-ized content, offering three original Lifetime vertical films from Microhouse Films, and seven titles adapted from A+E Global Media’s premium library.
New vertical titles will roll out every two weeks, with the Lifetime app on mobile serving as the primary destination and additional access available on MyLifetime.com. The app will showcase up to seven originals by end of year, including two holiday-themed verticals from vertTV and will be sponsored.
A+E has also adapted nearly 200 titles from A+E Global Media’s content library into chapter-ized, vertical microdrama formats that will also be available to global licensing partners, beginning next week at MIPCOM.
For Lifetime, microdramas represent a growing content format within the existing Lifetime brand. The stories are designed to deliver the emotional experiences Lifetime audiences already seek, including escapism, emotional catharsis, mood-boosting romance and thrill-driven suspense, through a mobile-first viewing experience.
“Microdramas are one of the most dynamic and exciting areas of growth in entertainment, and Lifetime is proud to be an early and meaningful participant in that evolution,” said Elaine Frontain Bryant, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming, A&E, Lifetime and LMN. “Our opportunity is not simply to introduce a new format, but to define its role within the Lifetime ecosystem in a way that strengthens our brand, deepens fandom and gives audiences another way to experience the stories they already love. With original series, library titles and new brand-supported projects rolling out through the Lifetime app on mobile and MyLifetime.com, we are building a strategy that spans premium storytelling, audience engagement and global distribution.”
“By adapting 200 titles into premium microdrama formats, we are extending the reach and value of proven IP while creating new opportunities for mobile-first audiences, platforms and distribution partners,” said Brian Weiss, Executive Vice President, Strategy, A+E Global Media.
The initial launch slate will include:
Original Microhouse Films series:
· Tides of Temptation
· Matched With a Murderer
· His Lies Taste Like Love
Library films adapted for vertical viewing on MyLifetime.com:
· A Lifeguard’s Obsession
· Burned by Love
· Danger in the House
· My Husband’s Worse Mistake
· What Would You Kill For?
· Secret of a Dean’s Wife
· College Professor Obsession
Library programs adapted into micro series for third-party distribution:
· Nearly 200 Lifetime movies
· Cold Case Files
· I Survived
· Alone
· Ice Road Truckers
· Forged in Fire
· History’s Greatest Mysteries
· Hoarders
· Married at First Sight
Tides of Temptation, executive produced by Taye Diggs, Autumn Federici and Shelby Stone, is a digital companion to Lifetime’s upcoming original movie Terry McMillan Presents: Paradise with You which debuts on November 7th. While the two projects share a story world, the vertical drama stands on its own as a complete story.
The broader Microhouse Films slate will also include Reunion Island and Recklessly in Love with My Daughter’s Best Man which will roll out later this year. Reunion Island will also make its world debut at the inaugural ALZA Festival, a New York based festival dedicated to microdrama and vertical storytelling this October.
Lifetime’s holiday slate will include Casting Christmas and Destination, Christmas, two vertical originals from vertTV, the filmmaker-led studio and mobile-first streaming platform founded by Jeffrey Schenck, Barry Barnholtz, Peter Sullivan, Brian Nolan and Ben Rosenthal. These films will also be sponsored.
“The expansion into vertical storytelling creates compelling new opportunities for brands to connect with audiences in highly engaging, mobile-first environments,” said Toby Byrne, President, Media Solutions, A+E Global Media. “Projects like these give advertisers the ability to participate in premium, culturally relevant storytelling while reaching audiences across the platforms where they are spending their time.”
