Why Platforms Are Rethinking Content Ownership With Creator Studios

The line between "creator" and "media company" has officially disappeared. Dhar Mann, the entrepreneur behind Dhar Mann Studios, is heading to the Tribeca X festival this week to make the case in front of advertising executives and studio heads. His argument is simple: creator-built studios can make better content, faster, and with audiences already attached.

Traditional media built content for gatekeepers. Creators built it for audiences first. That difference, compounding over years, has become a structural advantage that brands and platforms are now racing to tap.

"That very long cycle of traditional content just doesn't work at the speed at which culture moves in today," Mann told Digiday. "Creators are able to make content with the audience first, get instant results on how their content is performing."

A 21-Day Production Cycle That Studios Can't Match

The operational edge is stark. Dhar Mann Studios can take a TV-length episode from script to screen in 21 days. That timeline can shrink to seven days when needed. The studio is divided into specialized divisions, each focused on a different content length and style, so the production machine never stalls.

Compare that to 18-month development cycles at traditional Hollywood studios, where every project passes through layers of approval, distribution negotiation, and gatekeeper sign-off before reaching an audience. By the time a traditional studio greenlights an idea, a creator studio has already tested 10 versions, found what works, and scaled it.

"We build with the audience from the start, and we own our distribution and our data, so that allows us to move a lot faster," Mann said. "We can test ideas in real time, and then we can scale on what works."

Deals That Would Have Gone to Major Studios

The partnerships Dhar Mann Studios has landed confirm the shift. Samsung, which already hosts a dedicated Dhar Mann TV channel streaming across 100 million devices globally, recently signed an original scripted content deal with the studio. An exclusive original series, "Unlikely Romances," is set to launch on Samsung TV Plus, making Dhar Mann the first creator to secure that kind of original commission directly from the platform.

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Fox Entertainment also tapped the studio this year. Rather than approaching traditional production companies, Fox signed Dhar Mann Studios to co-produce a slate of scripted vertical-video shows for the Holywater app. A traditional broadcast studio is now going to a creator studio for content creation, not the reverse.

Earlier in 2026, the NFL named Mann its first-ever "Chief Kindness Officer" for Super Bowl LX, placing him at the center of the league's largest-ever influencer campaign with over 160 creators. Mann says that campaign earned more than 100 million impressions and a 94% positive sentiment score. The NFL typically sees around 65%.

The Platform Negotiation Has Flipped

What has changed is not just the audience numbers. It is the use creators now have of negotiating leverage that did not exist three years ago.

Mann describes three distinct phases in how platforms approach creators. Three years ago, they wanted creators to appear in platform-made videos. Two years ago, they shifted to licensing creator libraries, and when original deals were offered, they demanded full ownership and control.

"Now I've seen more than ever, platforms saying 'we're more flexible on ownership terms, we actually want you to lead creative, you tell us what will work,'" Mann said.

That shift matters because creator studios, unlike traditional producers, own their IP and distribution from the start. Agreeing to hand those over was never a real option. Now that platforms are dropping the demand, deals are closing faster and on creator-friendly terms.

This also explains why Dhar Mann Studios has been profitable since day one, a fact Mann is direct about. "We've been profitable since day one, we've never actually relied on brand partnerships to greenlight our content because our audience is so large," he said. The studio generates around 300 million long-form views every week. Brands do not come with conditions; they come because the audience is already there.

What This Means for Brand Budgets

For marketing executives watching where media investment is flowing, the data backs the momentum. 70% of US advertisers plan to increase their connected TV spend by an average of 17% this year. MrBeast's "Beast Games" pulled 50 million viewers within 25 days of its Prime Video debut, making it the platform's most-watched unscripted show ever. Creator economy deal volume grew 17.4% last year to 81 transactions, with investment flowing to studios that own their IP.

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The ROI case is not yet locked down. CTV measurement still lags digital precision, and Mann is candid that some of what his studio does is long-term brand building, not immediate return. But the direction is clear. Creator studios are no longer auditioning for a seat at the media table. They have their own table, and platforms are pulling up chairs.

The question for brand leaders is not whether creator studios matter. It is whether their current media mix reflects where audiences actually are.