When you have over 58 million followers across YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, you would be forgiven for thinking that most people have heard of you. That’s not how King Bach, aka comedian and actor Andrew Byron Bachelor, thinks. And that’s why he has partnered with Creator TV to adapt his existing YouTube content into an episodic TV series.
“It doesn’t matter how many followers you have or how many views you have. There’s always somebody who hasn’t seen it,” Bachelor, who requested to be called “Bach” in this exclusive interview, told TheWrap.
Bach first rose to fame on Vine, the now-defunct shortform video app that launched in 2013, when he gained recognition for his parody music videos. Vine didn’t last, but Bach’s popularity did as the comedian continued to create shortform parodies for everything from “Sinners” to “Dancing with the Stars” while also making day-in-the-life skits. And now, thanks to Creator TV, he will be the star of his own sketch show titled “The King Bach Show.”
Partnering with creators to develop their previously released content into TV shows is core to Creator TV’s business model and represents a blurring of the creator and traditional entertainment worlds. The company previously worked with creator and comedian Trey Kennedy (4.2 million TikTok followers) to create the standup special “Blinded by the White” as well as creator and actor Jenny Lorenzo (332,000 Instagram followers) on her show “Latinos Be Like.” Thanks to this partnership, both Kennedy and Lorenzo’s work, which would have previously been confined to social media, are available to watch on Sling TV.
Bach’s partnership is part of a larger trend when it comes to FAST streamers. Samsung TV Plus has several channels dedicated to creators like Mark Rober, Dhar Mann, Michelle Khare, Smosh and The Try Guys. Tubi has been even more aggressive, featuring content from creators-focused channels like Jubilee Media, Kinigra Deon and the Good Mythical Morning team while also developing originals.
There’s even an entire company devoted to repackaging children’s YouTube content into TV-ready shows. Pocket.watch has worked on series from everyone from Ryan’s World to KidCity and considers Hulu and Peacock among its streaming partners.
Now King Bach is getting the same treatment.
“We’re really adapting and producing the work into a series where the episodes connect thematically,” Charlie Ibarra, co-founder and head of content at Sabio’s Creator TV, told TheWrap. For Bach, that means viewers can expect episodes that feature the creator’s sketches about dating as well as parody-focused episodes. That series will then be available to watch on the free ad-supported TV (FAST) options Plex, Sling Freestream and LiveTVx.
Bach’s partnership with Creator TV came together in just a couple of months. In December, Bach came in second place during the inaugural Creator Poker Championship, which was held in Las Vegas and hosted by the World Poker Tour and Creator TV. It was during that first event that Bach clicked with the Creator TV team.
“I’ve been in this game for over a decade. Working with all these different brands, companies and networks, you can tell who’s just trying to keep their job and who’s trying to really elevate and make something big,” Bach said. “Everybody at Creator TV is doing that.”
“A couple of us built a really strong relationship with King Bach, in which we got a deeper understanding of his artistry, not just as a content creator, but as a director, an amazing writer, producer — just all around amazing filmmaker,” Ibarra said.
To capitalize on Bach’s storytelling expertise, Creator TV is also partnering with the creator on a new poker-focused series titled “Straight King High Flush,” which is currently in development.
“It’s about the connection with friends,” Bach teased. “You feel like you’re at the table with us. The game is there. But it’s really about the relationship with the players.”
To date, King Bach is the biggest creator to partner with Creator TV. Aside from enjoying the team, Bach chose to partner with the organization because “I like starting things from scratch. That’s how I started,” Bach said.
The FAST world’s willingness to embrace creators legitimizes their work and fan bases.
“If talented creators come up through [YouTube], and they end up at the top with a massive audience that loves them, it’s not because they’re lucky,” Chris M. Williams, the CEO of Pocket.watch, previously told TheWrap. “It’s because they found magic, the same type of magic that leads to art or film being successful.”
There’s a reason why so many creators have been partnering with companies like Creator TV and Pocket.watch. These companies take creator libraries and reformat them to make a secondary revenue stream off of library content without creators having to do much heavy lifting. Ibarra has a background in screenwriting, and the company’s Co-Founder and General Manager Joe Ochoa previously worked on MTV shows. Because both are familiar with the requirements of television, Creator TV’s repackaged shows are edited to account for standards and practices, allowed music licenses and optimal TV length, all so that these shows can easily plug into the library of any streamer.
As Michelle Khare put it during TheWrap’s Creator x Hollywood Summit earlier this month, it’s “self-syndication.”
@kingbach The ultimate save @ashleynocera ♬ After Party – Don Toliver
“Creators built their audiences on algorithm-driven platforms. They can’t quite control the platforms or the algorithms. What we’re doing is we’re building a model that creates and offers a bit more consistency in how their content and how their stories are programmed and consumed, and this creates opportunities for them to build deeper and more durable audience relationships,” Ibarra explained. “The additional revenue opportunities that this more predictable, programmed viewing experience offers allows creators to extend beyond just social media platforms.”
That flexibility is especially important to creators like Bach, who, in addition to his large following, has a strong acting career. Bach previously starred in Netflix’s “The Babysitter” and “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” and he’s set to star in Oran Zegman’s “Goodbye Girl,”
Ilya Naishuller’s “Road House 2” and Tommy Wirkola’s “Violent Night 2.” Having additional revenue streams like the one through his Creator TV partnership lets Bach better focus on other creative pursuits as they arise.
“Being a filmmaker, going to film school, being such a huge fan of film, longform is where I started. So, for me, it goes back to me creating more longform content that people can also enjoy and watch on their TV again,” Bach said.
