Little Dot Studios expands digital media network, partners with S4C in Wales

Real Detectives, one of Little Dot Studios’ 10 new digital broadcast channels

All3Media-owned Little Dot Studios has launched a further 10 digital broadcast channels as it looks to expand the reach of its owned-and-operated network and partnered with Welsh broadcaster S4C to grow its presence on YouTube.

Apex Predators, Criminal Underworld, Real Detectives, Wild Waters, Big Ships!, All Out Engineering, All Out Warfare, Battlefields of History, Silk Road and The Aviation Channel will each have a presence on various social media platforms.

Little Dot has licensed a range of third-party titles to programme the digital channels, which will feature full-length episodes on YouTube and Facebook and shortform content on Instagram, TikTok and Snap.

Little Dot said each brand follows a bespoke content strategy with specific licensing deals to offer viewers hours of entertainment based on specialist genres.

Among the distributors Little Dot has done deals with for over 20,000 hours of long-form content are Blue Ant Media, Off The Fence, Big Media, Cineflix and Abacus Media Rights.

Little Dot’s digital media network now extends to 60 digital broadcast channels and eight free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels that aim to super-serve niche audiences online.

Many of the new channels look to combine cross-over areas of audience interest, with The Aviation Channel bringing together history, science, technology and human interest for tales of exploration, tragedy, and triumph.

Apex Predators, meanwhile, explores the untamed realms inhabited by nature’s ultimate predators and Big Ships! brings together historical and technological content around the popular content genre of big ships.

In related news, Welsh public service broadcaster S4C has partnered with Little Dot Studios to grow its presence on YouTube with digital-first series.

This comes after S4C received £7.5m (US$9.5m) of additional funding from the UK government’s department of culture, media and sport to develop its provision on digital platforms.

The broadcaster’s annual report for 2022/23 noted that the number of hours of S4C content watched on YouTube had almost doubled within a year.

S4C is working on a digital-first bilingual series with YouTubers Jon and Emilie James, bilingual prison drama Bariau and a series starring Wales footballer Oli Cooper and his partner Tanwen Cray.

S4C’s YouTube channel will also feature exclusive interviews with high-profile figures from the likes of Donald Trump to Wrexham co-owners, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.