Cineverse and Lloyd Braun‘s venture firm Banyan have teamed to launch MicroCo, a short-form, mobile-first studio, with TV industry vets Jana Winograde and Susan Rovner set for top exec roles.
MicroCo, whose consumer-facing brand identity will be announced at a later date, is a 50-50 joint venture between the companies. It is described as a purpose-built supplier of series for mobile platforms. The market is projected by analysts to be on track to reach $10 billion market outside China by 2027. Hispanic media giants Univision and Telemundo have each announced initiatives around “micro-novelas” in recent months. No premium U.S. outlet for these small-form dramas exists as of yet.
Banyan is the investment entity of Braun, former ABC entertainment chief and WME chairman. Cineverse gained attention last year for delivering huge results from low-budget horror breakout Terrifier 3. The former cinema equipment company has transitioned to streaming, also building a roster of film releases including new takes on Toxic Avenger and Air Bud. Chris McGurk, a former Disney and Universal exec who was CEO of MGM and Overture Films, is Cineverse’s CEO.
Winograde, former president of entertainment for Showtime Networks and head of business operations for ABC’s broadcast network and studio, will lead the new venture as CEO. Rovner, who was president of Warner Bros. Television and chairman of entertainment content for NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, will be Chief Creative Officer. Rovner will come aboard in October and continue leading her production banner AHA Studios.
Along with producing originals lasting one to three minutes an episode, MicroCo plans to connect with content creators and offer a new avenue for their programming. Shows will span multiple genres, from romance to horror, and will feature both live action and animated. MicroCo could draw comparisons with Quibi, Jeffrey Katzenberg’s short-lived streaming platform, but one key difference is that Quibi was built as a subscription app and launched into the teeth of Covid in 2020. MicroCo is a supplier of programming to multiple outlets with much lower overhead given that it is not in the business of building and maintaining a direct-to-consumer service.
“The average person scrolls through hundreds of feet of content a day, but almost none of it is built to last,” Braun said in a press release. “We’re merging the storytelling rigor of series television with the pace, energy, and intimacy of short-form – creating addictive, emotionally rich, quality series that are developed specifically for this format and speak directly to how people consume content now.”
McGurk said MicroCo will “combine a new style of storytelling that engages fans and creators alike, with state-of-the-art technology that we have spent years developing, and an elite leadership team that includes some of our generation’s most successful media and content executives. The end result will be a category defining studio and platform.”
The revenue diversification of short-form is seen by the JV’s backers as a noteworthy trait, with advertising complemented by retail, personalized subscriptions, product integration and other sources.
Winograde said the company’s focus will be on the ongoing shift of viewing to social and mobile, with programming intended to be shared. “Whether it’s leaning into genre or the creator community, we have the tools to meet fans in their native ecosystems and pull them into this new format and platform built just for them,” she said.
Along with McGurk, Braun, Winograde and Rovner, key MicroCo execs will also include Erick Opeka, president and chief strategy officer at Cineverse.
“By bringing Hollywood best practices to a global format that’s taken off in Asia – but hasn’t been cracked in the U.S. – we believe MicroCo is uniquely positioned to lead this space,” Opeka said. “The tech, the talent, the timing – it all lines up.”
