Here’s a tale of two movies.
Supergirlcost $170 million to produce and had everything going for it: the backing of DC Studios and Warner Bros., worldwide distribution, and a marketing budget over $115 million. By year’s end, however, the film is projected to gross around $100 million domestic and a little over $200 million globally. When all is said and done, losses could be as much as $120 million.
Iron Lung, comparatively, had nothing going for it. Produced by YouTuber Markiplier, whose real name is Mark Fischbach, and based on a video game by independent developer David Szymanski, it was reportedly produced for $3 million. It had little-to-no marketing, save Fischbach’s own online fandom. Distribution came from a grassroots effort that got the film into 4000+ small theaters. The film grossed more than $50 million worldwide—outperforming Supergirl by as much as $150 million, all things considered.
This is the latest example of something that entertainment execs have been wrestling with for the better part of a decade: social media fandom is the greatest catalyst of IP success—even more than billboards, TV commercials, or brand partnerships.
Research supports this trend, especially when it comes to younger audiences. Deloitte’s 2025 Digital Media Trends report found that 56% of Gen Zs and 43% of millennials believe social media content is more relevant to them than anything they might see on TV.
<a href="https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/changing-tv-watching-mindset.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Data indicatesthat 35% of all respondents—across all ages and generations—spend more time watching social media videos than more gated streaming services like Netflix or Disney+. Nielsen’s The Gauge, which measures how U.S. audiences spend their viewing time, found that in May 2026, YouTube—the platform where Fischbach focuses most—leads all streaming platforms. It lands only 5.4% behind all of broadcast television combined.
The difference between Iron Lung’s success and Supergirl’s failure came down to the organic influence offered by social content. The same goes for hit shows like Heated Rivalry and movies like Obsession and Backrooms. They’re all building massive fandoms that translate to box office success and streaming viewership. According to Hub Entertainment Research, 63% of viewers under the age of 36 make their entertainment choices based largely on clips they see on social platforms.
New tools help create engaging content
The answer, logically, is for production houses and entertainment companies to step up and create an ever-increasing volume of fresh, engaging content for social channels—not just ads and trailers. Smart IP owners are investing big in tools to make that happen.
Looking at 2024 numbers reported in Variety, KPMG found that major entertainment companies had collectively hit a new spending record: they dropped around $210 billion on tools that augment the production process. And that approach is gaining steam.
Banijay, the global production studio behind Big Brother, Black Mirror, and Survivor and a Moments Lab client, has invested in AI content management and creation tools to develop new short-form content from what would otherwise be static footage catalogs. With the help of AI-guided indexing and retrieval, in-house creators can surface any clips they need—even ones they didn’t know they had. Creative teams can breathe new life into dormant footage and edit fresh content together in minutes, not hours.
Innovations aren’t all AI-based either. Social platform and movie-discovery app, Letterboxd, was built specifically for cinephiles and appeared on Fast Company’s 2026 Most Innovative Companies in social media list. At last year’s Cannes, the company announced plans to build a transactional video-on-demand model that will help make hard-to-find movies available to niche-movie lovers, putting old IP back into the limelight.
Another company, Tubular, offers an intelligence layer for IP owners trying to understand social content efficacy. Their tools have been used by Warner Bros., Paramount, A&E, and other media companies.
Bottom line
Over the next few years, we’ll see further consolidation of features into platforms that are more powerful, more adaptive, and that condense workflows to a fraction of what they once were. Search-and-discovery tools will pair with built-in editing suites, allowing digital teams to go from clips searches to social posts in just a few minutes. New tools will enable advertisers to spot perfect moments for digital product placements, driving more revenue without compromising the viewer experience.
For the most part, IP owners finally recognize that they must meet fans where they are. They’re learning how to adapt: it’s pointless to try and pull consumers away from social content, they must join that party instead. But they also need to provide the same quality audiences expect in premium content—just in bite-sized, vertical formats. And they need to post at intervals that were previously impossible.
The tools to do this effectively are maturing rapidly. With the right humans, using the right tools, offering the right content in the right places, entertainment and production companies can re-capture the hearts and minds that have given in to endless scrolling while ignoring multi-million-dollar marketing campaigns).
Maybe the next time around, DC Studios and Warner Bros will learn how to make Supergirl actually fly.
Phil Petitpont is cofounder and CEO of Moments Lab.
