Ionic buys into factual streamer Documentary+, takes on platform’s ad sales

Delaware-based Ionic Studios has made a strategic equity investment in non-fiction streaming platform Documentary+ through its Ionic Emerging Channels Fund and will also take on the role of publisher for the platform’s ad-supported streaming business.

Shafi Mustafa

Under the agreement, Ionic assumes operating responsibility for monetisation, demand and advertiser activation across the Documentary+ AVoD service and FAST channel. All Documentary+ advertising inventory will be exclusively represented by Ionic and integrated into its unified buying system via its iX Access framework.

Documentary+ is available in more than 80 countries and across over 100 million US households, with apps on Roku, Apple TV, iOS, Amazon Fire TV, LG, Android TV and mobile, and a FAST channel distributed on Samsung TV Plus, DirecTV, Xumo Play, Dish, Sling TV, Fubo and Plex, among others.

The platform was acquired earlier this year by streaming television company acTVe and hosts an originals library that includes TIFF title Still Single, Oscar-shortlisted A Swim Lesson and A Man With Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole.

Geoff Clark, CEO of Documentary+, said: “We’re building the definitive home for documentary film. When someone wants to watch something great and true, Documentary+ is where they come. Ionic’s investment and operating partnership gives us the monetisation infrastructure and advertiser access to fund that ambition – so we can stay focused on the films, the filmmakers and growing our audience.”

Shafi Mustafa, MD of Ionic Studios, added: “Factual is one of the most engaged and trusted environments in streaming, and it has never had a properly operated home in the open ecosystem. Documentary+ has the brand, the library and the global footprint. We are putting capital and our operating platform behind it and connecting it to the advertisers who have been waiting for exactly this environment.”

Ionic’s portfolio currently spans 97 exclusively represented channels reaching more than 100 million US households, according to the company, with over 250 million hours streamed monthly and 5.2 billion monthly ad impressions.

The Documentary+ investment follows Ionic’s recently announced joint venture with Questar Entertainment to operate GoTraveler, described as North America’s largest travel-themed FAST channel.