SANTA MONICA, Calif.—The daunting economics of the video business mean that a well-distributed OTT company owned by a major media-telecom conglomerate, boasting 2 million subscribers and 50 million registered users, must diversify its revenue streams.

“You have to go beyond video,” said Eric Berman, head of partnerships and business development for Ellation, an anime-focused OTT programming service provider owned by WarnerMedia’s Otter Media division. Speaking at the OTT & Video Distribution Summit in Santa Monica, California, today, Berman explained that program brands have to be diversified into merchandise, events, videogames, or “whatever you can think of.”

Fellow panelist Richard Cusick, CEO, College Humor's Dropout, nodded in agreement. “Everything you do needs to have a merchandizing component."

The next step: These brands and their extensions have to be bundled together.

“We call it the 360 approach,” Berman added. “It means taking all those formats, bundling them, then putting one price on it.” The panel also featured Croi McNamara, senior VP of programming for Condé Nast Entertainment, who was honored earlier in the day as a "Woman to Watch" at the Wonder Women in Streaming gala here at the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. She observed that YouTube channels were an effective test platform for concepts that later have become streaming channels for the publisher.

Other panelists were Griffin Gmelich, executive VP of content licensing and programming for Whistle, and Jim Bennette, general manager of North American sales for Applicaster. David Bloom moderated.

VRV, Ellation’s SVOD aggregation service, is adding a set of titles from Warner Bros. Animation as well as content from Dust, a relatively new sci-fi-focused service.

New programing coming way of Warner Bros. Entertainment includes Freakazoid! and Road Rovers (added on May 11) and Dragon’s Lair (added May 14). Content from Dust, a sci-fi service from Gunpowder & Sky focused on short-form titles from emerging and established filmmakers, was added to VRV on May 16.

RELATED: ‘Dust’ Goes Over-the-Top With Short-Form Sci-Fi

With respect to the new animation titles, part of the aim is to add witty content (and “more adult than you might remember”) that works well with VRV’s audience, Gabriel VanHuss, head of programming at VRV, said.

The latest mix of additions also tie into a strategy that enables VRV to see how certain content connects with its audience while possibly opening the door for broader, channel-class offerings.

Out of the chute, that content will be offered on VRV Select, a curated house channel that VRV launched last year and is part of a $9.99 per month SVOD premium package that also bundles in several other individual services such as Crunchyroll, Funimation, CuriosityStream, DramaFever, Rooster Teeth and Shudder, among others.

Mixing in this new content on VRV Select marks an exploratory “first step” that will enable the service to see how VRV customers are engaging with it, how those titles interact with other content on the platform, and enable VRV to assess initial assumptions that this new content will hit it off with the VRV audience, explained Eric Berman, VRV’s head of business development.

If everything pans out in this incubation stage on VRV Select, it’s possible that VRV’s work with these partners could evolve into the building of new individual SVOD channels, he added.

VRV, which has more than 2 million registered users (the service hasn’t disclosed its paid base), is also using other distribution outlets to broaden exposure to the service.

A new example is Facebook Watch. VRV is making French animated series Dofus available on Facebook Watch starting today, with new episodes running on that platform on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through mid-September.

VRV has also worked with Twitch to highlight series and other content offered on the SVOD service. 

Crunchyroll, Ellation’s anime-focused SVOD service, is branching into the world of linear TV through a partnership with Brazilian television network Rede Brasil (RBTV).

Starting April 21, Crunchyroll and RBTV will offer a programmed anime hour featuring two subtitled shows, Black Clover and Re:Zero. The block will run on Saturdays at 8 p.m., and rerun on Sundays at 11 a.m.

That hour on RBTV, they said, will also include eight minutes of local programming from Crunchyroll’s Brazilian community managers, Maria Luiza Petranski Arantes and Beatriz Braz Accioly, who will “explore the latest and greatest in anime and fandom.” (Here’s a video preview from them.)

The TV-focused deal will help to broaden Crunchyroll's reach and attempt to establish more connections with anime fans. It’s another example of how SVOD services are expanding their game plan in order to stand apart in a crowded and fragmented market.

RELATED: SVOD Shakeout: The Survival of the Fittest (subscription required)

Among other recent moves that extend beyond its core OTT focus, Crunchyroll teamed with Sumitomo Corp. and GREE to launch its first game, Memoria Freese, for iOS and Android devices.

Crunchyroll, which is also distributed through VRV (Ellation’s SVOD aggregation service), said it has more than 40 million registered users and more than 1 million subscribers. 

Crunchyroll, Ellation’s Anime-focused subscription VOD service, is branching out into games.

Crunchyroll, in partnership with Sumitomo Corp. and GREE, has launched its first game, called Memoria Freese, an adventure title for iOS and Android devices.

The game, released amid season 2 of DanMachi (the anime off which the game is based) is set in the world of Orario, where bands of adventurers gather to seek treasures in an underground labyrinth, known as Dungeon. The North American release of Memoria Freese features dialogue of the original Japanese version with English subtitles provided. GREE developed and designed the game, while Ellation and Sumitomo Corp. are in charge of the game’s distribution, localization and marketing under the Crunchyroll Games brand.

RELATED: SVOD Shakeout: The Survival of the Fittest (subscription required)

Crunchyroll, a service with more than 1 million paid subscribers, is offering the game for free, with in-app purchases. Crunchyroll said 90% of its users identify as gamers.

Crunchyroll’s move into gaming comes as it, and other SVODs, attempt to differentiate in a growing and fragmented market, establishing stronger ties with their audiences through ancillary but relevant products and components that extend beyond their core video offerings.

In Crunchyroll’s case, the move into gaming follows other initiatives tied to the service, including events like Crunchyroll Movie Night and Crunchyroll Expo. 

VRV, Ellation’s subscription VOD aggregation service, has teamed with Metro Goldwyn Mayer to add Stargate Command to VRV Select, a curated house channel launched last year.

The integration will provide access to the full Stargate Command offering that’s part of an All-Access offering that includes Stargate Origins, a digital, short-form prequel series for the Stargate franchise that was launched last fall, and a library that includes StargateSG-1, Stargate: Universe,Stargate: Atlantis, Stargate (the motion picture), Stargate: The Ark of Truth, Stargate: Continuum and a mix of extras.

RELATED: MGM Slates ‘Stargate Origins’ Digital Series

VRV Select is part of a $9.99 per month SVOD package from VRV that also bundles in services such as Crunchyroll, Funimation, DramaFever, Rooster Teeth, and Shudder, among others. 

RELATED: SVOD Shakeout: The Survival of the Fittest (subscription required)

As a stand-alone, MGM sells All-Access for a one-time fee of $20 (providing access from the Startgate Command launch on Sept. 20, 2017, through May 15, 2018), and will continue to provide those members with a window of exclusivity for newly released content. VRV, meanwhile, will offer episodes of Stargate Origins no earlier than 30 days after each episode first appears on Stargate Command, they said.

MGM also announced that, this summer, it will make the new feature-length cut of Stargate Origins available for sale digitally (in resolutions up to 4K) for $19.99 in the U.S., and will also offer local language versions (at a price to be announced later) in several other international markets, including France, Italy, Japan, Spain and Latin America. That cut, the first Stargate content to be released in 4K, will also be made available for free to All-Access subscribers.

VRV announced that it now supports Apple TV devices, complementing its reach on other streaming platforms that includes web browsers, iOS and Android mobile devices, Android TV, Fire TV boxes and sticks, Xbox One and PS4 consoles, newer-generation Roku devices, and Google’s Chromecast.

"We are honored to partner with MGM to bring Stargate, one the most beloved sci-fi franchises of all-time, to VRV,” Eric Berman, head of business development & partnerships at Ellation, said in a statement. “Together, we can now offer the fandom access to their favorite content across mobile and living room devices through the VRV app, which as of today, is now available on Apple TV."

VRV has not announced subscriber figures, but, at last check, said it had about 2 million registered users.

VRV said two original series from El Rey Network -- Man at Arms: Art of War and Robert Rodriguez’s The Director’s Chair – are being made available on the Ellation-owned SVOD aggregation service.

Season one of both series are available for streaming on VRV Select, VRV’s curated house channel that’s part of a $9.99 per month premium bundle that includes several other services, including Crunchyroll, Funimation, Rooster Teeth, Tested, Shudder and Nerdist.

Update:As a clarification, VRV is now the exclusive streaming service for those two series, which continue to run on El Rey Network, with new episodes in production. While VRV is the exclusive streaming home for The Director's Chair, it is also being sold (via download) on iTunes ($2.99 per episode, or $29.99 for all of season one). 

The Director’s Chair, produced by Troublemaker Studios and Skip Film with FactoryMade, is a series featuring interviews between directors and host Robert Rodriguez. Past guests include Sylvester Stallone, John Carpenter, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Mann, George Miller, Guillermo del Toro, Robert Zemeckis, Frank Darabont, Jon Favreau and Quentin Tarantino.

Man at Arms: Art of War, hosted by Danny Trejo and produced by DEFY, features a team of expert craftsmen who reproduce iconic weapons and armor from scratch.

VRV has not announced subscriber figures, but says it has more than 1.5 million registered users. The additions of the two original series expands on VRV’s move into content that extends beyond genres like gaming, fantasy, comedy and anime that dominated the service’s focus when it launched in late 2016.

RELATED: VRV Adds Drama Fever to Lineup

“The Director’s Chair and Man at Arms: Art of War lifts the curtain and presents a fascinating look at how things are made – whether it’s beloved films or iconic weapons,” Daniel Tibbets, president and GM of El Rey, said in a statement. “I anticipate that the VRV audience will embrace these series as enthusiastically as the El Rey audience.”

RELATED: VRV to Add CuriosityStream to SVOD Mix, Launch Offline Viewing

Ellation, the OTT-focused company tied to Otter Media (the AT&T-The Chernin Group joint venture) has tapped Mediamorph’s cloud-based platform to help it manage content rights and contracts tied to subscription services such as Crunchyroll and VRV.

Ellation manages more than 25,000 titles across Crunchyroll and VRV, a new SVOD aggregation service, along with 20 million registered users and more than 1 million paid subs across both OTT brands.  

RELATED: Mediamorph Lands $21M ‘C’ Round

Ellation joins a list of known Mediamorph customers that includes Liberty Global, Frontier Communications, and Altibox. Ellation is a portfolio company of Otter Media, the OTT-focused joint venture of AT&T and The Chernin Group.

RELATED: Mediamorph Lands Hulu Deal 

“As we continue to grow, it is critical for us to scale successfully and better manage the complex nature of our contracts and title rights,” Susanna Hofmann, Ellation’s CFO, said in a statement. “Mediamorph will both improve the visibility into our library of content to take full advantage of its value, and more effectively aid the automation of our financial processing.”

VRV, Ellation’s budding SVOD aggregation service/platform, is one step closer to its commercial launch after issuing beta invitations today.

“If you signed up to be notified when our beta goes live, check the email address you gave us for instructions to download the VRV app and get things rolling! If you haven’t heard from us yet, though, sit tight!” the company announced here while also sharing word on Twitter:

VRV BETA INVITES ARE ROLLING OUT! Check our Tumblr for more info! https://t.co/xTBgDcmaeK

— VRV (@WatchVRV) October 28, 2016

VRV said it will use its Tumblr to keep tabs on major  bug fixes and content updates.

RELATED: OTT Innovator Helps Build a New Platform

Of recent note, VRV announced several new content partners in areas such as anime, gaming, comedy, horror and tech, including Funimation, Tested, RiffTrax, CollegeHumor, Machinima, GINX eSports TV, and Shudder.

Other announced VRV launch partners include Ellation’s own Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, Seeso, Nerdist Alpha, and Geek & Sundry Alpha, along with exclusive access to Frederator Networks’ premium Cartoon Hangover offering.

RELATED: Ellation’s ‘VRV’ Platform Sets Sights on SVOD Surge

VRV will make all supported SVOD services available on an a la carte basis, but will also feature bundling options. VRV will be available on the Xbox One at launch (VRV has not announced that date).

Ellation is a portfolio company of Otter Media (the OTT-focused joint venture of AT&T and The Chernin Group).

VRV, Ellation’s soon-to-launch curated SVOD service/platform, said it has struck deals with an additional batch of content partners spanning several areas and genres, including anime, gaming, comedy, horror and tech.

The latest to join the mix are Funimation, Tested, RiffTrax, CollegeHumor, Machinima, GINX eSports TV, and Shudder, which will all offer their respective premium channels on VRV, when it launches later this year. Additionally, MONDO, a digital distributor of high-quality animation, will debut “MONDO Premium,” as an SVOD exclusive on VRV in the U.S.

VRV’s platform will be taking aim at rising popularity of niche-focused, SVOD services that can be delivered over-the-top to connected devices. VRV has also announced several other launch partners, including Ellation’s own Crunchyroll, as well as Rooster Teeth, Seeso, Nerdist Alpha, and Geek & Sundry Alpha, along with exclusive access to Frederator Networks’ premium Cartoon Hangover offering.

RELATED: Rooster Teeth Ready to a Take Bigger Bite

Ellation, a portfolio company of Otter Media (the OTT-focused joint venture of AT&T and The Chernin Group), is tailoring its platform for fans of anime, animation, gaming, comedy, fantasy and technology. 

“We have been working to bring as many partner companies to VRV as possible so that our passionate fans can enjoy the most comprehensive collection of content developed specifically for them,” said Mike Aragon, General Manager of VRV, in a statement. “At launch, we will have over a dozen channels on the platform. This unique mix of channels will create a first-of-its-kind video experience, incorporating premium content in a more interactive and community-based environment.”

RELATED: OTT Innovator Helps Build a New Platform

VRV will be available on the Xbox One at launch (that date still has not been announced), and is expected to announce other device partners later.

Watch this sizzle-reel from VRV:

Boston – Netflix, Amazon and Hulu set the stage for OTT-delivered subscription VOD services, but a massive wave of more focused, genre-based has emerged to reach a more targeted audience, and that wave is only expected to get bigger.

That was a big focus here Tuesday (May 17) in a session titled, “Single and Loving It: The Who, How and Why of Standalone SVOD."

The benefits of this approach is that services can be created to target the “super fan” and serve an audience in a unique way that broader SVOD services don’t offer, said Martin Keely, GM of subscription platforms at Fullscreen, which recently launched a $4.99 per month SVOD service.

“We’re just getting started,” he said.

Seth Laderman, EVP and GM of Comic-Con HQ, likened the rapidly expanding SVOD market to a “race,” as everyone attempts to build and launch services for specific audiences, and then get those viewers to actually pay.

But he said there’s some risk involved in targeting niches, because those viewers will also be looking to find similar content from other sources.

There’s an “endless appetite” for premium content, so providers need to rein it in with a curated service,  Ben McLean, SVP of business operations and strategy, digital, at NBCUniversal and Seeso, the new comedy-focused SVOD service, said.

He said offering limitless choice works if viewers know what they want to watch. With Seeso, he said, “We want to [offer] a highly curated, highly-programmed environment” that can engage an audience quickly.

“Seeso is our first swing at this,” McLean said, calling its comedy focus a “large niche.” And expect more. NBCU, he added, is also “looking at digital opportunities across the landscape.”

“There are no more gatekeepers,” said Tom Pickett, CEO of Ellation, a company that produces, designs and helps to market services/brands like Crunchyroll, an Anime-focused service with more than 700,000 paid subs, and Creativebug, a service for craft enthusiasts.

But he agreed that the downside of this second stage of SVOD is the amount of choice and fragmentation in the market, which makes it difficult for a new service to breakout from the pack.

And the technology that underpins these services is as key as the content, David Mowrey, VP of product management at Clearleap, said, noting that more than 100 standalone SVOD services have been stood up over the past nine months.

Not everyone has the resources of  a Netflix to build in all the content protection, interfaces, analytics and billing support. “It’s an extremely challenging thing for a standalone service,” he said. “You need a solid technology partner to do that.”

And the core video service is just one element of these services. To gain and retain customers, SVOD providers must think about “dimensions that go well beyond the video,” Pickett said.

In the case of Crunchyroll, the service is building in additional perks and benefits. One example is its partnership with a service called Loot Crate, which a mystery box of four to six pop culture items. Loot Crate, Pickett said, recently launched a new box focused on Anime, so Crunchyroll offers its subs a $5 discount for it.