Entertainment
Fox Entertainment has partnered with YouTube star Dhar Mann to create an initial 40-title slate of microdramas for the company’s growing vertical-first audience.
The original narrative-driven series will debut on Holywater’s MyDrama platform and be distributed worldwide through Fox Entertainment Global. Fox initially acquired an equity stake in Holywater last October and committed to producing more than 200 verticals for the platform.
“Dhar Mann’s inspiring, undeniable storytelling excellence and passionate audience has made him one of the most powerful and consequential voices in entertainment today,” Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade said. “Entering the global vertical video arena in partnership with FOX and Holywater is an exciting next step in the studio’s remarkable trajectory.”
Mann has an audience of over 163 million followers across all platforms. The content creator produces, hosts and writes his content targeted at family-friendly audiences, often with a moral takeaway.
Through his partnership with Fox, Mann will retain ownership and creative independence over his original content. Fox Entertainment Global will distribute the programming worldwide following an exclusive debut window on the MyDrama app.
“As we introduce Dhar’s creative vision to this new format and era of entertainment, it became clear that Fox Entertainment and Holywater are partners that truly understand what this scope of ambition requires,” Dhar Mann CEOs Sean Atkins and Erin McFarlane, the studio’s newly appointed heads of vertical content, said in a joint statement.
“Rob and his team are both embracing innovation and investing in it, affording us an unprecedented level of creative autonomy and resources needed to build something that has never been done before at this scale,” the statement continued. “That combination allows us to reach new and existing audiences in powerful ways while staying true to Dhar’s positive and resonant storytelling.”
This vertical series deal marks the first partnership with Dhar Mann Studios in the microdramas space. Former development executive for SaltyTV McFarlane will lead DMS’ vertical content slate.
“Collaborating with Fox and Holywater in the vertical space adds a new dimension to Dhar Mann Studios’ outstanding universe of creative content and delivers our long-standing distribution partners the highly engaging, narrative-driven entertainment their audiences crave,” Prentiss Fraser, president of Fox Entertainment Global, said. “At the same time, this deal further solidifies Holywater’s mobile-first dominance through an entirely new lane of verticals that move, inspire, and redefine modern storytelling.”
Holywater co-founders and co-CEOs Bogdan Nesvit and Anatolii Kasianov said this partnership is the first step in the company’s broader strategy to attract global creators and top-tier talent to vertical storytelling at scale.
This collaboration furthers Fox Entertainment’s growing interest in its digital storytelling business. The company has made investments across mediums in verticals with Holywater, experiential storytelling with Chain, podcasting with Meet Cute and creator-led formats through the newly formed Fox Creator Studios.
Fox launched its creator studios with foodie internet talent like Rosanna Pansino, Jolly, Sorted Food, Food Theorists, and Little Remy Food. Longtime Fox host and producer Gordon Ramsay will lead the creator roster with his production studio Ramsay Global.
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Tess Patton