Mythical Entertainment

Digital network also inks pacts with Fine Brothers Entertainment, touts Dwayne Johnson and Lilly Singh partnerships

YouTube stars Rhett & Link later this year will revert to their original shorter “Good Mythical Morning” daily talk-show runtime — less than a year after the comedy duo have been trying their hand at a longer-form, TV-style format.

The news came at Studio71’s Digital Content NewFronts presentation in NYC for advertisers. The company also announced it’s bringing back “This Might Get,” the daily talk show from YouTube comedians and BFFs Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart, for a second season, along with a deal with Fine Brothers Entertainment that includes three new original shows and a branded-content partnership.

Studio71 also touted upcoming content coming from its ongoing partnerships with actor-comedian Lilly Singh, aka YouTube’s “SuperWoman,” and Seven Bucks Digital Studios, the digital arm of Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions.

With the next season of “Good Mythical Morning,” the show will return to a one-segment, 12- to 15-minute daily episode that will premiere on YouTube in mid-August. The change for season 14 of “GMM” comes after YouTube funded an expanded version of the show as part of its ad-supported originals initiative, with multi-part segments running a total of 22 minutes or longer per day.

Some fans haven’t liked the longer “GMM,” which debuted last November and was designed to feel more like a late-night TV show. Now the Rhett & Link show is going back to its roots.

“Mythical could not be more excited to return ‘GMM’ to its classic format for season 14, premiering in August, and to be back in market with our trusted team at Studio71, who know how to connect the show with brands better than anyone else,” Brian Flanagan, COO of Mythical Entertainment, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, season 14 of “Good Mythical Morning” will add a Saturday recap show, “Let’s Talk About That,” where every week Rhett and Link will be joined by “GMM” executive producer Stevie Wynne Levine to discuss their favorite moments from the week, reveal behind-the-scenes secrets and extra material, and interact with fans and Mythical crew members.

“Good Mythical Morning” remains one of the most popular daily shows on YouTube, averaging more than 100 million views per month. The show’s stars and creators, Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, have been producing YouTube material for more than a decade. They’ve also created two seasons of “Rhett & Link’s Buddy System” for YouTube Red, in which they play fictionalized versions of their “GMM” personae.

Also on the Studio71 slate is season two of Helbig and Hart’s comedy talk show “This Might Get,” which runs five times per week. The duo describe the show, which debuted this March, as a cross between of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” and the “Today” show’s Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford. Upcoming guests on “This Might Get” include Tyler Henry (“Hollywood Medium”), Smosh co-founder Anthony Padilla, Flula Borg, Tyler Oakley, Tana, Brittany Furlan and Mayim Bialik.

Studio71 also has ordered three new shows from Fine Brothers Entertainment: “Measure Up,” in which teens, parents and elder generations team up and compete to see if they can correctly guess the prices of products; “Poker Face,” in which two people compete in a classic game of BS; and “Will a Baby,” in which a baby is paired with various things to interact with — will it eat bacon? will it pet a kitten? — in episodes running 3-5 minutes.

In its presentation to marketers, Studio71 also highlighted programming from Lilly Singh, whose YouTube comedy channel has over 13 million subscribers and more than 2.5 billion lifetime views. Her fans (who call themselves “Team Super”) skew 13-24. Singh has featured stars on her channel such as Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Selena Gomez, Will Smith, John Legend, Chelsea Handler, Nick Jonas, Karlie Kloss, Charlize Theron, and Priyanka Chopra.

Meanwhile, Studio71 said the content slate from Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Digital Studios will revolve around four key pillars: courage, strength and discipline, gratitude, and service. Upcoming programming will include a “body transformation series” helmed by Dwayne Johnson’s strength, conditioning and nutrition coach, a travel series profiling the gyms around the world, plus fan-favorite series like “Rock Reacts” and behind-the-scenes segments showing Johnson promoting upcoming films like “Skyscraper” and “Fighting With My Family.”

Also as part of the NewFronts pitch, Studio71 emphasized its focus on “brand safety” — a refrain other content producers have been singing as well. The company recently launched Studio71 Context, which combines computer-based analysis and human reviewers to check every video that runs through its network “for content quality and brand safety.”

The digital network is owned by German media conglomerate ProSiebenSat.1, which last December merged Studio71 and Red Arrow Entertainment Group into a new division, Red Arrow Studios.

Studio71 manages 960 channels in the U.S. from 680 creators, and worldwide has around 1,500 channels in its network.The company’s content is distributed on more than 30 video platforms, including YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Roku, Facebook Watch, Instagram and PlutoTV.

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