Content intelligence platform Chronicle Studios has provided an insight into its first YouTube creator channel partnership – with Gabe Hordos (How to Train Your Dragon, Flushed Away) on his animated short film series The Old Knight.
Chronicle Studios, which discovered Hordos through its AI-powered discovery models that index YouTube and other social platforms to identify IP, is overseeing all content optimisation and monetisation for The Old Knight on Hordos’ YouTube channel.
The company began supporting Hordos in November, and said the partnership is already reaping dividends. In just under one month, Hordos’ YouTube channel has grown from approximately 500,000 monthly impressions to over six million – a 13x increase, resulting in two million new views, 41,000+ watch hours and a 100x increase in brand revenue with virtually zero ad spend, according to Chronicle.
Chronicle Studios’ platform automates the full scope of social content distribution and marketing. Its features include overall channel strategy, optimising new and existing content, audience discovery and real-time monitoring and analysis across all social media to intelligently drive traffic from high-value viewer segments. An AI-driven platform, it sets out to “activate partner channels to build and grow their global audience, generate channel revenue and maximise potential franchise expansion for the IP through other formats and means of monetisation”.
Written and directed by Hordos, The Old Knight, which is entirely produced and animated through traditional methods, follows a royal knight’s journey to redemption after his services are dismissed by his king. The first two parts of The Old Knight are currently stream on Hordos’ YouTube channel.
Chronicle Studios’ CEO and co-founder Aaron Sisto said: “Our vision is to empower storytellers, studios and brands by using AI to find and grow a community of passionate fans, creating meaningful revenue opportunities for creator-led channels and IP. The moment we saw Gabe’s work on YouTube, we knew this was a great opportunity. The strong early returns on The Old Knight validate our value proposition to creators and point to a promising future for Gabe and his creative vision.”
“The Old Knight has been a passion project of mine for as long as I can remember,” added Hordos. “While developing, writing and bringing animated content to life is a true joy, the task of finding viewers for your work in the digital realm is daunting. Watching Chronicle Studios’ platform grow the numbers so quickly and deliver a meaningful audience to ‘The Old Knight’ is extremely exciting.”
Chronicle Studios is a content intelligence platform that partners with creators and brands to launch and scale global IP franchises. Having raised $11.6 million in seed funding from Patron and Point72 Ventures, with participation from Z Ventures, Sands Capital and other prominent investors, Chronicle Studios is focused on identifying and partnering with talent throughout the global creative community, spanning areas including animation, comedy, video games, music, brands and video podcasts.
