Insight Productions eyes millennial audiences with Youngster launch

Insight announces new banner aimed at creating and producing short-form digital content for millennial parents called Youngster!

Headed by Erin Brock as chief creative officer, Youngster will both acquire and create original short-form content (approximately two to six minutes in length) around a spectrum of topics that are relevant to millennial parents – everything from how to make Play-Doh to more weighty subject matter like bullying. The new entity will also work with social influencers and parenting experts to create its original content. Youngster is designed to be both an informational and entertaining platform for parents – of babies to pre-teens.

Content will live on a variety of platforms (including Facebook and YouTube), with Youngster planning to launch initially with a catalogue of approximately 1,000 videos. No launch date has yet been announced, though Brunton said the current target is for Youngster to produce 1,500 videos in its first year and 3,500 in its second. Production on original content is slated to begin later this month.

The new company was founded on insight gleaned from a two-year research project undertaken by Insight, which indicated there is an under-served market of millennial parents (in markets such as China, India and the Middle East, as well as Youngster’s primary market, North America) looking to consume short-form video content pertaining to everyday parental issues. “We found many interesting influencers that existed [in the millennial parenting space], but they were almost all either in blogs or other forms of print,” said Brunton. Part of the strategy now will be to transition some of the print-based influencers into video, with Youngster currently in the process of holding casting sessions to find influencers. Another part of the strategy will be to contract existing video influencers to host video content for Youngster.

The research also indicated a compelling business case for the launch of Youngster, said Brunton, with many brands consulted stating the ad market was in need of informative, trustworthy and entertaining content for millennial parents, who are becoming increasingly difficult to reach via linear television.

Led by Brock, who also served as showrunner on the Insight-produced series Big Brother Canada, the team will also include Insight’s Tanya Low, who will oversee content development and talent acquisition. Greg Milo meanwhile will head up the digital media strategy, while Anthony Matkovic will work with brands looking to partner with Youngster and its family-friendly content. All Insight staff will maintain their current roles with the company, with Youngster being run out of the company’s Toronto office.

Brunton said that while Youngster will fall under the Insight banner, the new company will have a separate board and governance. Current partners in Youngsters have not yet been announced. Insight Productions is owned by Brunton and Barbara Bowlby.