Digital media firm Little Dot Studios has acquired the rights to more than 230 hours of documentaries from Curiosity Stream, the companies announced this week.
The deal will see Little Dot Studios license the content for its YouTube channels — of which there are nearly five dozen — as well as its eight free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) content streams.
“We are thrilled to announce this forward-thinking partnership with Little Dot Studios, an industry leader renowned for its innovative data-driven approach to digital content distribution,” Ludo Dufour, the Vice President of Licensing at Curiosity Stream, said in a statement. “This collaboration enables Curiosity to leverage Little Dot’s extensive digital network and FAST channels, enhancing our global reach and the impact of our premium content. Thanks to this partnership, our evergreen, globally appealing, and high-quality productions will connect with new audiences and further our mission to enlighten, entertain, and inspire viewers around the world.”
Licensing has become an important part of Curiosity Stream’s business as the company pushes forward with a path toward profitability. During the first three months of this year, Curiosity Stream added seven new licensing partners, bringing the total number of licensing partners to 11.
Those partners, coupled with Curiosity Stream’s own subscription and advertising businesses, helped push the company’s overall revenue to $12 million during the first quarter (Q1) of the year. It also helped Curiosity Stream narrow its quarterly loss to $5 million, a reduction of 35 percent compared to the $7.7 million loss it sustained during Q1 2023.
Little Dot Studios appears equally thrilled to be licensing content from Curiosity Stream, with its knowledge-based documentaries complementing the brand’s existing portfolio of facts-first channels and platforms. The company already outputs more than 20,000 hours of content from a wide range of producers, including Blue Ant Media, Cineflix and Big Media.
“To be partnering with an established and reputable platform such as Curiosity Stream and to be able to bring their premium content to the Little Dot Studios network, increasing brand awareness on a global scale, is a huge win for all of us,” Connie Hudson, the Director of Content Acquisitions and Partnerships at Little Dot Studios, said in a statement, adding, “I can’t wait to unlock the potential that this new partnership offers.”
Content distributed by Little Dot Studios gets in front of 125 million unique viewers each month, the company said. On YouTube and other platforms, Little Dot Studios channels have a collective 45 million global subscribers. Little Dot Studios is part of All3 Media, which was acquired by Jeff Zucker’s RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi’s International Media Investments (IMI) earlier this year.
