There’s a meta moment in Season 8 of “Jet Lag: The Game” when the stars of the unscripted travel competition series sit on a plane behind a fan and watch an episode of the show on the Nebula streaming platform. Capturing a ‘Jet Lag’ viewer in the wild would have been unthinkable when the series demised in 2022. But not anymore.
Nebula is part of a wave of streamer startups owned by content creators and targeting niche audiences and passionate fandoms. The list also includes Dropout (formerly known as CollegeHumor) and Beacon, a tabletop roleplaying-focused service that grew out of YouTube channel Critical Role (which has 2.3 million subscribers).
These outlets position themselves as vehicles through which they can reach the superfans of their niches, and they wear their independence as a badge: no venture capitalists or pesky parent companies to respond to.
Sam Reich, CEO of Dropout, makes a sharp distinction between his service and a broad player like Netflix. It’s the difference between “a brand play and a utility play,” he explains.
“Netflix is trying to be people’s answer to TV, and that’s not what we’re trying to be. We try to be a very specific brand that stands for something in a creative way, that people like to subscribe to, to hear our voice,” says Reich.
Dropout, which costs $5.99 per month, is best known for the Reich-hosted game show “Game Changer” and the Dungeons & Dragons series “Dimension 20,” hosted by actor and game master Brennan Lee Mulligan. The fandom surrounding “Dimension 20” is so strong that a January 2025 live recording at Madison Square Garden sold out when tickets were released in April.
Reich says subscriber numbers for Dropout, which launched in 2018, are in the mid-to-high six figures, with viewership growing 600% over the past three years. In April, the number of hours viewed was almost 8 million.
Dungeons & Dragons’ powerful fandom is fertile ground for subscription streamers. From the D&D-focused Critical Role team, Beacon launched in May for $5.99 per month. Critical Role co-founders Travis Willingham and Marisha Ray did not reveal Beacon’s subscriber count, but they say initial engagement has been “overwhelming” and confirm their choice to add another streamer to the marketplace.
“We used YouTube or Twitch or Twitter — some third-party app or company that comes between us and them,” says Willingham. A special subscription platform allows them to ‘establish that intimacy, that thread’.
Ray added: “We’ve always had a strong mantra that we want to give our fans the flexibility to choose how they want to support us, whether that’s subscribing to Twitch or buying a T-shirt. That all went to Beacon, where we looked at it like the bonus features you used to have on a DVD.
Like Dropout, Nebula (priced at $5 per month) has surpassed the 500,000 subscriber milestone since launching in 2019, according to CEO Dave Wiskus. Thanks to the success of “Jet Lag” and other originals, the service has more than tripled its customer base from last year, while churn and profitability remain in the single digits. In the past year alone, Nebula’s revenue has more than doubled, according to Wiskus, and the company has seen about two-thirds of its subscribers sign up for annual memberships.
Although Nebula initially launched as a streamer with a focus on content from YouTube stars, who own the platform, it has quickly expanded its brand over the past year: the team led by Wiskus and chief content officer Sam Denby (creator and host of “Jet Lag : The Game”) has launched a film studio, opened a news division in partnership with Morning Brew and signed a deal with Spotify.
According to Wiskus, what leads to the growth of small platforms such as Dropout and Nebula is largely their indie status.
“The great thing about not having millions of dollars in cash on day one is that we didn’t have that money to spend on day one,” Wiskus says. “If we hire people, it is because the turnover has become so great that we can hire people. If we greenlight new Nebula originals, it will be because the budget is there.”
At the same time, Nebula and Dropout are eager to find ways to collaborate with bigger names in entertainment. Dropout has created an Emmys FYC campaign for its programs this year. Nebula is in talks with “Hollywood power players” for new projects, Wiskus says.
“We made a concerted effort, as I think Dropout has, to strive for legitimacy. We recognize the importance of legitimacy,” says Wiskus. “There’s a Hollywood machine out there, and if we think the solution for us is to load up a truck and pull it up next to the bank, blow a hole in the wall and loot the safe, that doesn’t really work Like this. . What we’re doing is a heist, and that requires slow, methodical thinking and making friends with the right people.”
While Nebula, Dropout and Beacon are taking different paths in a crowded mega-streaming landscape, other indie makers are entering with their own subscription-based models, including Watcher Entertainment and The Try Guys’ platform 2nd Try.
“The more people in this room the better, because it sends the message to the public that services like us should be part of their new cable package,” says Dropout’s Reich. “I’m not interested in a world where Dropout is the only niche streaming service you subscribe to. I’m interested in a world where you have three, four or more.”