LOS ANGELES — For nearly three decades, Jeff Kmiotek helped shape some of television’s biggest hits from behind the scenes.
But as the industry grapples with shrinking budgets and shifting audiences, the Emmy-nominated producer and two longtime colleagues are betting their future on a different kind of screen.
Kmiotek, alongside fellow producers Michael Zinman and Andrew Watnick, has launched Elixir, a Los Angeles-based production company designed to bring network-quality dating and reality shows to YouTube. The move comes as Nielsen reports YouTube drew a larger share of viewers this year than cable and broadcast TV combined — the first time the platform has outpaced traditional television.
“We get the creative freedom now to kind of make all the shows that we want — simple, fun concepts that we can just put out to the people,” Kmiotek said. “We can take chances, we can take risks, we can take big swings.”
Kmiotek built his career on network hits including “The Masked Singer,” but with audiences migrating online, he says the shift was necessary.
“We’re not making YouTube videos, per se,” he said. “We’re making shows for YouTube, which is kind of a new concept. I don’t think that many people are doing it.”
Elixir’s programming slate includes series such as “Date on a Plate” and “Red Flag, Green Flag.” Zinman said the team’s goal is to blend the aesthetics of professional television with the viral-ready demands of YouTube’s algorithm.
“We said, why don’t we just do it? And within two months later, we were starting to tape shows,” Zinman said.
The pivot comes amid turbulence across Hollywood. FilmLA reported that film and TV production in LA dropped 22% from last year, a slowdown Variety’s Michael Snyder has described as “real” and “scary.” At the same time, online creator-driven advertising revenue is up from last year and expected to double again this year.
Kmiotek noted that the industry is already paying attention, with interest now coming from both content creators and traditional executives.
“Network executives, big executives from big companies are reaching out saying, ‘I want to come do what you’re doing,'” he said. “It’s so exciting.”
For Elixir’s founders, the growing momentum is proof that the future of television may not be television at all.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source spectrumnews1.com ’
