New Metric Media built a solid hit with its flagship Crave series Letterkenny. Now that the company has — as the hoser characters would say — “figgered out” a winning strategy, it’s leaning into its strengths.

The Toronto-based prodco, led by CEO and founder Mark Montefiore, laid the groundwork for a banner year in late 2021 after its CTV sitcom Children Ruin Everything — created by Kurt Smeaton — was acquired in the U.S. as an original for The Roku Channel. A few months later the series was renewed for a second season with a 16-episode order, doubled from the original eight-episode first season.

“The momentum was just snowballing and excitement was high,” Montefiore (pictured right) tells Playback on the renewal decision. “Everybody felt like they were sitting on something fantastic.”

He says Bell Media and Roku agreed to double the episode order between seasons based on two critical factors. The series was exceeding expectations in terms of the quality of its production value, and the fact that it was a studio show meant that filming more episodes would amortize the cost of the set builds. “It was a no-brainer in many ways,” says Montefiore.

A month later, Montefiore unveiled the company’s pivot away from drama production to become a comedy-focused entertainment studio, building on their past success creating new revenue streams with Letterkenny through merchandise and live events. The announcement came a few months before the May 2022 debut of Letterkenny spinoff, Shoresy, on Crave, created by Letterkenny mastermind Jared Keeso and directed by Jacob Tierney.

Montefiore says the impetus to move the company solely within the comedy world, despite past success with Citytv and Netflix series Bad Blood, was to address what he saw as a gap in Canada’s English-language market, where no production company was “embracing comedy” from a “360-degree standpoint.”

The decision was based on multiple considerations: the success of long-running series Letterkenny, which has brought in several streams of ancillary revenue through live events, merchandise, and now a spinoff series; their reputation in the comedy space; and data on what’s working in the market.

“The currency for streamers is both subscriber acquisition and subscriber retention. That’s what’s important, whether you’re Crave, Disney+ or Netflix,” says New Metric Media COO Jeff Hersh (pictured left). “When you actually look at the data and the sheer amount of viewing… it’s all lean-back, less than 30-minute shows, which really fall into two categories: comedies and unscripted.”

Hersh, who formerly led Bell Media’s direct-to-consumer strategy, joined New Metric in early 2022 as part of a corporate expansion. He was joined by Bill Lundy, a former comedy production executive at Bell Media, who was named SVP, comedy.

Hersh says series such as Letterkenny and Shoresy are examples of programs that not only drive subscribers, but are a tool for audience retention. “When you look at all that’s been going around about Netflix and other streamers and their cuts, what they’re cutting are those big dramas because they’re so expensive,” he says.

So far, the data backs them up. Shoresy became the most-watched Canadian series debut on Crave when it launched on May 13, 2022, according to Bell Media, ousting previous champion Canada’s Drag Race.

The Children Ruin Everything series premiere on Jan. 12, 2022, was the “biggest debut for a Canadian comedy among the 25 to 54 demo” since CTV’s Jann, said a spokesperson for CTV. It attracted an average 764,000 viewers, according to data from Numeris, and was the No. 1 new comedy for CTV’s 2021-22 broadcast season.

Season two premiered on Sept. 19, which CTV says was the top Canadian comedy in fall 2022 “among total viewers and all key demos.”

Montefiore says New Metric is looking at all possible data sources to help inform business decisions, including social media and e-commerce. They also look at Parrot Analytics, which measures audience demand for series, films and talent through a range of sources, including social media, blogs and streaming. For example, Children Ruin Everything was in higher demand than 88% of other family titles globally as of December 2022, with global market demand peaking at 3.64 times higher than the average series.

Content is still king when it comes to their development slate, however. Montefiore says the company won’t shy away from a strong concept just because there aren’t clear opportunities for merchandising. Rather, the company views ancillary revenue as a long-term benefit of investment in talent development, led by Lundy.

That talent includes Sasha Leigh Henry (pictured right), the showrunner of New Metric Media’s upcoming Crave original comedy Bria Mack Gets a Life. Montefiore discovered Henry through her short film Bitches Love Brunch, and the company spent several years developing the series before getting the greenlight through Crave. The comedy went into production in fall 2022.

“A lot of buyers are looking for a finished product that’s ready to shoot, but we don’t look for that.” says Montefiore. “We buy into the potential of something.”

Hersh says the current blueprint is to build out organic growth, which is focused on development, production and marketing opportunities, and inorganic growth in the form of mergers and acquisitions.

In the case of Letterkenny, which had its season 11 premiere on Dec. 25, Montefiore says “in many ways we’re just getting going.” The prodco has aspirations for even more spinoffs to “grow the Letterkenny universe” in addition to new seasons for the two existing series in the franchise, as well as more live events.

“Everything we’re doing is about building and engaging our fan base, irrespective of the extra dollars,” says Hersh. “Hopefully that at least comes out in larger audiences. We’re always exploring these pieces because at least it could develop that audience, with the potential for significantly more.”

This story originally appeared in Playback‘s Winter 2022 issue