Social-First Show Development: How Doing Things Tests Hits

Your next series probably doesn't need a pitch deck, a pilot budget and six people saying "circle back." It needs proof that strangers care.

Doing Things is building around exactly that idea: use social feeds as the testing room, then spend real money only after the audience raises its hand.

The new slate

The studio behind Recess Therapy, Bob Does Sports, Overheard and Middle Class Fancy has more than doubled its original creator-led programming over the past year.

Its latest release is Overstimulated, a weekly parenting comedy show hosted by former Vine creators Manon Mathews and Vincent Marcus. It launched October 14 across YouTube and podcast platforms, mixing conversations, impressions and calls from parents. Basically: family chaos, but with microphones.

A scripted workplace comedy called Family Ad Agency is scheduled for late October. It follows a dysfunctional family-run creative shop and stars Mack Hubbell, known for Brooklyn Coffee Shop.

Doing Things is also stretching Overheard, which it acquired in 2023, into sports and university accounts planned for 2027. The company says its portfolio now reaches 95 million followers and more than 500 million people per month. You can see its wider brand lineup at doingthings.com¹.

Social became the pilot

The clever bit isn't launching more shows. Media companies do that every Tuesday before lunch.

Doing Things publishes an idea in smaller social formats, watches what people share and return to, then develops the winners. Its nature-comedy project Live from the Trees, for example, generated 20.4 million views, three million likes and 518,000 shares after launching in June.

That's audience research without the sad conference-room sandwiches.

Don't ask followers whether they'd watch your show. Publish the smallest version and see whether they actually do.

Why this matters

The wall between "creator content" and television is getting very thin. YouTube says viewers watch more than one billion hours on TV screens each day, while channels earning six figures from TV viewing grew by more than 45% in one year. The platform is actively adding tools for bingeable shows and living-room discovery, as detailed on the YouTube blog².

Hollywood has noticed too. Disney ordered creator-made programming from Dhar Mann Studios and, on October 15, announced a broad partnership with Dude Perfect³ spanning Disney+, ESPN, products and live experiences.

For creators, the opportunity isn't simply "make longer videos." It's owning a repeatable format: recognizable talent, a clear premise and episodes people can watch without needing last week's algorithmic miracle.

Your next move

Test the premise cheaply. Publish three variations before building the expensive version. Change the opening, guest or framing, not everything at once.

Track shares and repeat viewers. Likes are pleasant. Returning humans are a business.

Name the format. A random hit belongs to the feed. A named series can become a channel, podcast, live show, product or licensing deal.

Just don't let dashboards write the jokes. Data tells you where people leaned forward. You still have to give them something worth watching.