As the media landscape fractures and Gen Z rewrites the rules of attention, ShowUp Studios is building something different. The company is betting on a new model — one that blends the agility of the creator economy with the craft of premium storytelling, aimed squarely at the most diverse and discerning generation yet. CEO Carolina Lightcap talks about how Gen Z consumes content, what it takes to build lasting IP, and why the legacy media world might want to pay attention.
What surprises you most about how Gen Z engages with content today?
While it is always hard to generalize consumption habits across an entire generation – especially one as large as Gen Z – what surprises me most, and is part of the opportunity for us, is how naturally they move across different types of content and experiences, and how simultaneously eclectic and discerning their tastes can be. They search for their favorite content in both vertical and horizontal formats; different genres and lengths; and across both creator-led videos and premium mainstream content. They’re a truly multi-faceted generation, and likely the most diverse.
Interestingly, especially at the younger end of Gen Z, they may still revert to rewatching the shows they loved as kids one minute and then choose to watch edgy content right after. Additionally, many of them grew up watching premium content, for instance, properties from mainstream cable channels, on platforms like YouTube, and now continue to spend a large amount of time in free ecosystems.
We think there is a real opportunity to bring more premium, culturally relevant content into the social video environments where Gen Z already lives – especially content created specifically for them.
What does success look like in year one vs. year three?
In our first year, success is launching strong IPs, working with brands to provide appealing content and a positive consumer experience, and developing an engaged audience in Ibero-America. By year three and onwards, success means having developed a portfolio of recognizable properties in multiple genres and languages, a fandom community across platforms, repeat brand partners, and continuing to build those IPs so they can become franchises able to expand across new formats, markets, and businesses.
Are you building talent, or betting on existing creators?
Both. Existing creators can help accelerate awareness and bring immediate relevance, but we’re also very interested in discovering and building new talent in every area of the storytelling process. We’re lucky to have co-founders with complementary points of view and experience developing talent based on their unique expertise – not only including television production but also the music industry and the artist development world.
We see ShowUp Studios as a place where creators, storytellers, artists, and emerging talent can evolve within a broader ecosystem, with the opportunity to grow across formats, platforms, and audiences over time.
Could ShowUp Studios evolve into owning distribution, not just content?
Right now, we’re focused on creating strong content and building an ecosystem across the platforms where Gen Z already lives, to develop engaged communities and direct relationships with audiences around different genres and IPs.
What would make a legacy media company nervous about what you’re building?
There are multiple ways in which content can be developed, produced, and distributed, and deliberate choices to be made by each media player based on strategy, business model, and scale. We are excited by our specific approach – combining the agility of the creators’ world with the professionalism of mainstream media to create premium digital content designed specifically for Gen Z.
