This company is turning YouTube videos into TV shows as streamers chase Gen Alpha

• Pocket.watch, a kids creator powerhouse, is launching 12 new shows on Hulu and other streamers.
• Gen Alpha overwhelmingly prefers YouTube over traditional media.
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Streamers are warming up to creator content — and hoping it can draw Gen Alpha away from YouTube.

Pocket.watch, the company that works with popular kids channels like Ryan's World and Love, Diana, is launching a dozen new creator shows on platforms including Disney's Hulu, Amazon's Prime Video, and Fox's Tubi, Business Insider can exclusively report.

It's part of a bet by Pocket.watch to move into shows for teens and young adults as its original audience of young kids grows up.

The shows are compilations from the YouTube libraries of several creators, each of whom appears in "Rabbit Hole," an original, "SNL"-style series set to roll out on Hulu this summer.

The lines between YouTube and TV have been blurring.

Netflix and other streamers are licensing shows from YouTubers like Ms. Rachel and Mark Rober, while YouTube is encouraging its creators to make more TV-like shows.

One of the new Pocket.watch shows is "Jesser: Ball or Nothing," where the basketball creator pits athletes, influencers, and others against each other in sports competitions for $10,000 prizes. In another, "Zhong: Creator Essentials," the comedian embarks on zany challenges, such as using extreme camouflage to hide in public.

Pocket.watch CEO Chris Williams said the company wants to use these shows as a complement to "Rabbit Hole," the way reunion specials for entertainment properties like "Harry Potter" and "Friends" can get people to go back and watch the rest of the catalog.

"I think of it as, come for the original, stay for the library," he said.

Streamers are trying to catch YouTube

Pocket.watch has long argued that the popularity of YouTube shows could translate to other platforms. That idea is getting validation as paid streamers rush to sign on its stars like The Sidemen and Salish Matter.

"It has taken them a long time to recognize a lot about creator content and that particular demographic and audience," Williams said. "To a certain extent, platforms had traditionally associated production value with quality when those things aren't necessarily the same."

For the 12 new "Rabbit Hole"-related shows, Pocket.watch delved into the creators' back catalogs to create a series of 15 half-hour episodes. The videos used had to meet streamers' standards and practices guidance and feel evergreen. Pocket.watch also had to strip YouTube-specific elements, such as subscribe buttons, from the episodes, clear music rights, and create new logos and graphics for the shows.

"We're really turning it into TV," Williams said.

In addition to its "Rabbit Hole" slate, Pocket.watch is developing a set of five to 10 originals focused on teens and young adults.

YouTubers are having crossover success

Pocket.watch's hope is that exposure on prestige streamers like Hulu will help the creators grow their brands and expand to other areas, like consumer products. It'd like to replicate its experience with its launch of "Ryan's Mystery Play Date" on Nickelodeon alongside a new line of Ryan products.

Having a creator series sitting next to a tile for a Hollywood hit like "Only Murders in the Building" changes how they're perceived.

"It makes them more than just a YouTuber and now a true media brand," Williams said.

Some YouTubers have had crossover success, like Mark Rober and Ms. Rachel on Netflix and Pocket.watch's Ryan and Diana shows on Hulu. It's unclear whether putting creators on these paid streamers will change Gen Alpha's preference for YouTube, though.