Why Branded Entertainment Goes Unwatched and What To Do About It

Majestic, confused, forgotten. Ghostly specters in the dimly lit digital wastelands of YouTube. There they roam: the white elephants of branded entertainment. Projects filled with so much promise and belief, but that were ultimately seen by no one. Nine times out of 10, it’s not because these weren’t great ideas, beautifully executed by talented people. The reason they ended up in this online purgatory is because there were fundamental elements that were overlooked, which meant they never stood a fighting chance at getting their moment in the sun. It’s time for us to end the bloodline of these white elephants. Let’s talk about how. The conversation around whether brands should behave more like entertainment companies is all but settled. More than 500 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube every minute, everything exists in the same algorithmic bloodstream, and no one has to watch anything they don’t want to. So creating entertainment that an audience will choose to spend time with isn’t a creative indulgence, it’s a commercial imperative. The most forward-thinking companies are already announcing marquee entertainment hires, building entertainment divisions, and launching entertainment formats, from podcasts to game shows to feature films. The entertainment world is also ready to welcome the brands who really get it. Look at Mipcom, once a film and TV industry-only affair that has launched MIP BrandWorks, a track dedicated to connecting producers, commissioners, and distributors to brands and agencies. Brands and their creative partners should be setting their sights firmly on the Emmys, the Golden Globes, and beyond. The conversation needs to move on from the vagueries of "whether" to the intricacies involved in the "how." Our industry is brilliant at making things, but the trap that we can fall into is assuming that the same process for making commercials works for making entertainment. It doesn’t. Whether you’re making a vertical comedy, game show, or feature film, here are some key questions you should ask yourself before even thinking about what format it could take. Audience Who are you making this for? Rather than obsessing solely on what you want to communicate to them, ask: what will they want? Why will they watch this or care? What are they into and how are they currently being underserved? Measurement Make sure that everyone, from the CMO to the CFO, is clear and aligned on what success looks like commercially and how it will be measured. What are the KPIs, and how is it designed to achieve them? Distribution This was once a word that felt distant from the creative realm, but when making entertainment, distribution cannot be an afterthought. Distribution needs to be considered early in the development phase, because it can determine not just where an idea lives, but what the idea is. Every medium has its own audience behavior, commissioning logic, format nuances, and economics. That means we should not begin to make anything until there is a clear understanding of where it will live and how it will get there. That might be a brand’s audience plus acting talent as a media channel, or it might be through an audience you spend a year building via a podcast with guests that bring their own following. Partners Once you know who you’re serving and where you want to reach them, ask: who knows this world better than you do? Bring them in early enough that they can meaningfully help shape the project. That could involve conversations with platforms or commissioners to understand what they are actively looking to commission, and coming up with an idea that answers that need. Or it could mean a development producer or a production company with a slate of projects waiting for finance. Or maybe it’s high-profile talent with a built-in audience, looking for opportunities to push their career in new directions. How can you co-author something with them that will be valuable, rather than just use them for a one-dimensional endorsement? Think long-term Your horizon needs to be far more ambitious than the conventional campaign window. Have the rights been structured properly? Is there potential for another episode, season, or market? Could the IP be spun off into other formats, products, books, toys, theme parks, or anywhere else that your audience might credibly follow? It’s the way that Gap is thinking as it backs a boy band, how Saint Laurent Productions is producing feature films premiering at Cannes, or how Nothing has announced Charli XCX as a shareholder. The entertainment industry is opening up to brands, but to shape a future for creativity that we can be proud of—and that moves the needle for our client’s business—we need to shed old dogmas and operate in wildly new ways. Our greatest challenge won’t be coming up with great ideas, but rather building projects in a fundamentally different way. When the industry is capable of creativity that can make its way onto any global stage, let’s make sure we don’t squander that on breeding white elephants.

Voice

Why Branded Entertainment Goes Unwatched and What To Do About It

Baby Teeth’s Chris Watling explains why branded entertainment has a "white elephant" problem and how to fix it

UNLOCK FULL ACCESS

Chris Watling

Creativity

Polymarket Taps Kathryn Bigelow to Court a Wider Audience in Midterm Ad Blitz

Pringles Offers One Die-Hard Fan a Final Resting Place in a Branded Urn

Chipotle Drops a 'Big A** Bag' to Make Group Dining a Bigger Deal

Aura Wants to Be the Social Network for People You Love, Not Just a Gift for Grandma

How to Resonate With Consumers in the Age of Attention

The 2026 Halloween Ads Worth Screaming About

Sprite Enlists Nikola Jokić to Take Its NBA Play Worldwide

Ads of the Week: 12 Campaigns That Caught Our Eye, From Wet Ones to Ikea

Oura Wants Wellness to Mean More Than a Personal Best