There’s a quiet shift happening in how big publishers sell to brands — and it matters for anyone who makes branded film.
Digiday reports that DMG Media’s year-old New Media division now gets 30% of its revenue from social-only briefs: campaigns that never touch print or the website. That stream didn’t exist a year ago. One recent cross-platform deal had a seven-figure social component alone.
What they’re selling isn’t “another post on the brand page.”
They’re selling shows.
Creator-led IP. Recurring formats. Hosts audiences return for. Bespoke brand editions of series people already know. DMG’s New Media team runs more than 100 staff across 11 brands, with 25 salaried creators working beside producers, videographers and editors — and those creators appear in about 90% of their branded content.
The lesson for production companies is blunt:
Stop just making the commercial. Own the show.
A one-off spot still matters. But the money is migrating toward formats brands can live inside for a season — sports debates, lifestyle series, personality-led shorts — where the production partner isn’t a vendor for a single shoot day. They’re the studio that builds the IP.
That’s the lane Caldera already works in with projects like Centinela — brand film that behaves like entertainment — and Create with Kendall Toole, where the talent and format carry as much weight as the product.
When a brand asks for “content,” push the conversation toward what the audience comes back for. A series. A host. A premise. A world they recognize next month.
That’s branded entertainment with a business model attached — not just a prettier ad.
Caldera Films — The Core of Imagination · Beyond Reality.
Source: Digiday — DMG Media’s social briefs account for 30% of New Media revenue.