The Audience Didn’t Disappear: How TV Networks and Brands Can Win With Vertical, Social-First Entertainment

Audiences have not stopped watching entertainment. The way they discover, engage with, and follow content has changed. Here is how networks and brands can use vertical video, social-first entertainment, and cross-platform storytelling to reach viewers where they already spend their time.

Television networks, streaming services, media companies, and brands are all facing the same challenge: How do you build an audience when viewers are splitting their attention across more platforms, formats, and screens than ever before?

The answer is not to wait for audiences to return to their old viewing habits. Media companies have to meet viewers where they already spend their time. Increasingly, that means TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, livestreams, creator communities, and other digital-first platforms. Vertical video is no longer simply an additional social media deliverable created after the main production is finished. It should be considered during concept development, production planning, marketing, and distribution.

The audience has not disappeared.

The discovery process has moved.

Audience Decline Is Often a Discovery Problem

The conversation surrounding traditional television frequently focuses on declining ratings, fragmented audiences, changing subscription habits, and competition from major streaming platforms. But distribution is only part of the challenge. Networks also have a discovery problem.

A television series may have an engaging concept, a talented cast, and strong production value. None of that matters if the intended audience never encounters the show.

In the past, networks could promote upcoming programming to viewers who were already watching their channels. Today, a significant part of the potential audience may never organically reach that channel, network application, or streaming destination.

They may discover their next favorite series through:

• A dramatic character moment on TikTok

• A funny scene shared on Instagram

• A vertical trailer on YouTube Shorts

• A creator discussing the show

• A livestream featuring the cast

• A behind-the-scenes video

• A meme, reaction, interview, or social conversation

Social media can no longer be treated as the final item on a traditional marketing checklist. It has become one of the primary places where awareness, interest, and audience relationships begin.

“Audiences have not stopped wanting entertainment. They have simply stopped waiting for entertainment to reach them through one specific channel,” says Director Zane, founder and creative director of ZANE Productions. “Networks have to treat vertical video as an audience-acquisition strategy—not as a last-minute social cutdown.”

Vertical Video Should Be Planned From the Beginning

Many entertainment campaigns still follow the same process:

First, create the television program or long-form project. Then produce the horizontal trailer. Finally, crop some of the existing footage into a vertical frame for social media.

That may create another deliverable, but it does not necessarily create effective social-first content.

True vertical video production requires more than changing an aspect ratio. It considers how audiences behave inside fast-moving, mobile-first feeds.

The opening seconds need to create immediate curiosity. The composition must work inside a 9:16 frame. The pacing, captions, performances, sound design, editing, and visual information all need to be designed for viewers who can leave with a single swipe.

As a vertical video production company, ZANE Productions approaches vertical storytelling as a format with its own visual language. Each project is developed specifically for full-screen mobile viewing, with close attention to hooks, retention, shareability, emotional payoff, and platform-native storytelling.

For television networks, streaming services, and brands, that may mean capturing additional material during principal photography, including:

• Alternate openings and platform-specific hooks

• Character introductions and point-of-view videos

• Short-form trailers and episodic teasers

• Cast interviews and behind-the-scenes moments

• Vertical scenes that expand the story world

• Creator collaborations and reaction content

• Cliffhangers that lead into a full episode

• Social-first companion stories

The primary program and its social campaign should not feel like two unrelated products. They should operate as parts of one connected entertainment system.

Social Platforms Can Become the Front Door to Television and Streaming

Social media is sometimes framed as competition for television and streaming. It can certainly compete for time and attention, but it can also serve as the discovery engine that sends audiences toward longer-form content.

A strong vertical clip does not need to communicate everything about a show. Its job is to create enough intrigue, emotion, humor, tension, or cultural relevance that the viewer wants more.

That “more” might be:

• Watching the full episode

• Starting a streaming subscription

• Downloading a network application

• Visiting an owned platform

• Following the characters or creators

• Returning for the next social episode

• Joining a larger fan community

The destination may change, but the principle remains consistent:

Earn attention before asking for commitment.

“Social media should not be where an entertainment campaign ends. It should be where the audience relationship begins,” says Director Zane. “Hook people where they already spend their time, and then give them a compelling reason to continue the experience somewhere else.”

This is particularly important for mid-tier networks and niche streaming platforms that may not have the marketing budgets or built-in awareness of the largest entertainment companies. They do not necessarily need to outspend the major players. They need to create more effective entry points into their programming.

Live Content Can Turn Passive Viewers Into Active Participants

Vertical video is not the only way to reach audiences directly. Livestreams can help networks and brands transform a traditional promotional campaign into a two-way audience experience.

A well-produced livestream can include cast interviews, red-carpet coverage, product launches, watch parties, behind-the-scenes access, interactive competitions, audience questions, live shopping, or companion programming tied to a larger release.

These experiences allow viewers to participate rather than simply watch.

Working with an experienced live stream production company can also help brands and media teams maintain the production quality expected from a premium entertainment property while still preserving the immediacy and authenticity that make live content compelling.

A livestream can function as:

• A launch event for a new series

• A companion experience for an episode premiere

• A creator-led promotional event

• An interactive branded competition

• A product demonstration or shopping experience

• A live interview with cast members

• A behind-the-scenes production

• A community-building event

When combined with vertical clips, trailers, social episodes, and longer-form content, livestreaming can become another important part of a connected audience strategy.

Can Niche and Brand-Driven Streaming Compete With Major Platforms?

Yes—but niche platforms and brands should not try to beat the largest streaming services by becoming broader versions of them. They can compete through specificity.

Major streaming platforms win through scale. They offer large libraries intended to attract many different types of viewers. A niche platform or brand-driven entertainment strategy can win by becoming highly relevant to a defined community.

A company that deeply understands its audience may already know:

• What that audience talks about

• Which creators they follow

• Which platforms they use

• What problems they experience

• What identities or aspirations matter to them

• What kinds of entertainment they share

• What makes them return for another episode

That knowledge can become a significant creative advantage.

“A niche or brand-driven streaming strategy does not need every viewer,” says Director Zane. “It needs to become meaningful to the right viewer. Major platforms compete through scale. Niche platforms and brands can compete through relevance—and relevance often creates a stronger relationship than reach alone.”

Social-first content can become the marketing engine behind that relationship. A company can use TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, or livestreaming to attract attention and then move viewers toward an owned application, streaming platform, website, event, or product ecosystem.

In other situations, migration may not be necessary. A brand may decide to create an entire entertainment experience directly inside the platforms where its community already watches, comments, shares, and participates. Both models can work. What matters is whether the content feels worthy of the audience’s time.

From Branded Content to Brand-Powered Entertainment

Traditional branded content often begins with an existing advertising message and then attempts to make it more entertaining. Brand-powered entertainment takes a different approach. It starts by asking:

What would this audience genuinely choose to watch?

The brand then helps make that entertainment possible. Instead of simply placing a product inside an unrelated story, the brand’s values, audience, product, or purpose can become part of the creative foundation.

A qualified branded content production company can help transform those brand objectives into an original entertainment format designed to work across social, streaming, live, narrative, and cross-platform environments.

The result might be:

• A vertical reality competition

• A branded episodic series

• A narrative micro-drama

• A documentary series

• An unscripted social format

• A creator-led entertainment property

• A live interactive program

• A streaming special

• A cross-platform entertainment campaign

This does not mean turning every scene into an advertisement. In fact, the entertainment needs to work first. The stronger the concept, characters, conflict, emotion, and viewing experience, the more valuable the association can become for the brand.

Don’t just advertise around entertainment. Power it.

“Best in Class Powered by Xfinity” Shows What This Strategy Can Look Like

A recent example is Best in Class Powered by Xfinity, a social-first vertical reality competition based on a concept developed by the advertising agency Carmichael Lynch for Instagram and TikTok.

Six Creators. One Roof. $100K On The Line!

The series follows college creators competing in creator-inspired challenges for an Xfinity brand partnership. It was produced through Rock Studios at NBCUniversal in partnership with Xfinity Creative Production, and represents a forward-looking approach to how established media companies and brands can connect entertainment, creator culture, and platform-native storytelling.

ZANE Productions was brought in to lead the physical production and direction of the series, working with the teams at NBCUniversal, Rock Studios, Xfinity Creative Production, Carmichael Lynch, and the project’s creative partners to turn the concept into a premium social-first competition format.

Best in Class Powered by Xfinity demonstrates a major change in how sophisticated brands and media companies are approaching content. Xfinity is not merely advertising beside a piece of entertainment. It is helping power the experience itself. The brand, the prize, the creator economy, the challenges, and the series concept all exist within the same entertainment ecosystem.

To bring the vision to life, Director Zane directed Best in Class, drawing on years of experience across commercial, multi-camera, broadcast, and vertical production. Best in Class was also developed for the platforms where its intended audience already spends time. It did not begin as a conventional television program that was later repurposed for social media. Its vertical format and social distribution were central to the concept.

That distinction matters. Best in Class represents the growing convergence of premium entertainment, creator culture, social-first production, and brand strategy. It also illustrates how networks and brands can develop original intellectual property without relying exclusively on a traditional television or streaming release.

A Practical Social-First Strategy for Networks and Brands

For networks, media companies, streaming platforms, and brands considering a similar approach, an effective strategy should answer six questions.

1. Who Is the Audience?

Start with a specific understanding of the people the content is intended to reach.

Their interests, behaviors, language, communities, and viewing habits should influence the format.

2. Where Does Discovery Happen?

Determine whether the audience primarily discovers entertainment through TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, livestreams, creators, search, streaming recommendations, traditional media, or a combination of channels.

3. What Content Would They Choose to Watch?

Do not begin with the advertisement.

Begin with the entertainment proposition.

What is the competition, conflict, mystery, transformation, character, or emotional promise that makes someone want to watch?

4. Is the Content Native to the Platform?

A social-first production should consider framing, pacing, hooks, episode length, captions, sound, interaction, and repeat-viewing behavior from the beginning.

5. Where Should the Audience Go Next?

The strategy should define the desired next action.

That might be watching a full episode, following the account, visiting a platform, downloading an application, exploring a product, joining a livestream, or returning for the next installment.

6. How Will the Idea Expand?

The most efficient productions create an ecosystem of deliverables rather than one isolated video.

One production can generate:

• A hero piece

• Vertical episodes

• Horizontal trailers

• Social-first teasers

• Livestreams

• Cast and creator content

• Promotional photography

• Behind-the-scenes footage

• Paid-media assets

• Platform-specific cutdowns

At ZANE Productions, we describe this philosophy as:

One shoot. Multiple deliverables. Maximum results.

Our full-service production model supports projects from concept development and pre-production through filming, directing, post-production, and multi-platform delivery.

Social-First Does Not Mean Lower Production Value

Platform-native content does not always need to feel highly polished.

Sometimes an authentic, creator-led style is exactly what the concept requires.

But social-first should not be confused with careless production.

Professional execution still matters when a network or brand is building a major entertainment property. Strong casting, storytelling, production design, cinematography, sound, lighting, editing, and platform strategy can help social content feel intentional without losing authenticity.

The goal is not to make every video look like a traditional television commercial production.

The goal is to select the right level of production for the idea, the audience, and the platform.

The Future Is a Connected Content Ecosystem

Television, streaming, social media, and live content should not be treated as completely separate worlds. The boundaries between television, streaming, advertising, creators, and social entertainment are becoming less rigid.

A viewer might:

• Discover a character on TikTok

• Watch the full series on a streaming platform

• Follow the cast on Instagram

• Join a livestream with the creators

• View behind-the-scenes footage on YouTube

• Attend an in-person experience connected to the property

To the viewer, these are not separate campaigns.

They are all part of one relationship with the story.

Networks and brands that plan for this behavior from the beginning will have more opportunities to earn attention, build communities, and extend the life of their intellectual property.

Those that continue to treat vertical video, social-first content, and livestreaming as afterthoughts risk becoming invisible to the audiences they most need to reach.

The audience is still there.

The opportunity is to meet them where they are—and create something compelling enough that they choose to follow.

About ZANE Productions

ZANE Productions is an award-winning, full-service video production company serving brands, advertising agencies, entertainment companies, studios, and networks across Los Angeles, New York City, and nationwide.

Since 2015, the company has produced commercial campaigns, vertical videos, social-first content, branded entertainment, television projects, music videos, livestreams, corporate videos, and multi-platform content campaigns for more than 250 clients.

ZANE Productions has delivered more than 500 projects, generated over one billion cumulative views across web and social platforms, and helped create more than $100 million in client-attributed revenue. Its clients include Amazon, Samsung, Adidas, Marvel Studios, Warner Bros., NBCUniversal, Volkswagen, Hyundai, UFC, Procter & Gamble, Kraft Heinz, Cisco, Capitol Records, Virgin Records, and many more.

Led by Director Zane, the company combines cinematic storytelling, platform strategy, and scalable production to create content designed for how modern audiences actually watch.

Build a Brand-Powered or Social-First Entertainment Series

Whether your company is developing a vertical reality series, branded episodic format, narrative micro-drama, livestream, streaming concept, television campaign, or cross-platform entertainment property, ZANE Productions can support the process from early creative development through final delivery.

Work with a production company that understands both premium storytelling and the fast-moving platforms where modern entertainment discovery begins.

Contact ZANE Productions to start developing your next social-first or brand-powered entertainment project.