Wattpad is making a bid to dominate Gen Z programming.

In their first major move following their purchase by South Korean company Naver in January 2021, Wattpad announced the launch of Wattpad Brand Originals.

An offshoot of the Wattpad Brand Partnerships program, Wattpad Brand Originals will look to use Wattpad’s vast library of stories to create new content aligned with established brands in order to reach the Gen Z market, who are notorious cord-cutters and seekers of ad-free viewing content.

I’m aware Wattpad has used its resources to create TV programs and films; I’ve mentioned in the past the success of After, Anna Todd’s One Direction fanfiction turned legitimate IP that continues to make many for the company, and its sequel After We Collided dominating the box offices in summer 2020.

But I know very little about the Wattpad Brand Partnerships. My research led me to one of the more successful products of the program, That One Summer aka This Time, a movie that combined the ingenuity of Wattpad creators with a brand partnership by Cornetto brand ice cream to become one of the hottest films in the Philippines.

Regrettably, I can’t speak Tagalog, but what I’ve gathered from reviewing the original fanfic on Wattpad is that a popular writer from the Philippines was commissioned to write an interactive story to engage fans, and then said story was turned into a film with ample involvement of the brand partner Cornetto.

I have not watched the movie, but perusing a playlist on Youtube shows me that Cornetto took full advantage of the partnership, investing in a robust ad campaign and even including shots of Cornetto products within the film.

What this means for Writers on Wattpad

I’ve reflected on this news and what it means for writers and the current state of writing on Wattpad. Here’s what I ascertained:

Fanfiction is Taking a Backseat

Although Wattpad is one of the big three when it comes to finding fanfiction on the Internet — the other two are Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own (AO3), it appears that Wattpad is trying to distance itself from this fan-centric identity.

Evidence shows Wattpad pivoting away from its focus on fanfiction through its investments in ventures such as Wattpad Brand Partnerships, Wattpad Books, and Wattpad Studios.

The message is clear; they want to mine the resources of their 90-million strong user base for ORIGINAL content that a) is popular b) is viable to be partnered with brands.

Wattpad Brand Partnerships has already seen considerable success with such brands as Coca-Cola, Clean & Clear, Sony, and many more. This appears to be where Wattpad is making its money, not so much with their Wattpad Premium subscriptions, so I don’t think this will be changing anytime soon, especially after their recent acquisition by Naver.

Ultimately, this means good news for writers of original fiction and bad news for fanfiction writers. A brand wouldn’t engage with fanfiction when it could potentially cut the middle man and align itself with the original creators of the IP.

A Focus on a Gen Z Audience

Wattpad has made it abundantly clear through their research and case studies that they are focusing on attracting a Gen Z audience (that is, anyone born after 1996).

Said Chris Stefanyk, Head of Brand Partnerships at Wattpad:

Advertising is evolving, and brands need to find new ways to connect with Gen Z audiences that are spending more of their time in ad-free environments…

Financially, this makes sense; Gen Z makes up the majority of Wattpad’s userbase, clocking in at over 80% of its 90 million users.

But there are people on the platform who don’t write fanfiction who also write original fiction intended for a more mature audience.

Some examples that come to mind are Renee Racine-Kinnear and David J. Thirteen of Toronto, Wattpad’s home location.

The point is, there are authors on the platform that are creating original content, but I worry that this push to gain the attention of Gen Z readers may alienate these writers that are targeting millennials and older generations.

Myself, I’m a millennial, and though I’ve focused on writing mainly fanfiction, I have been experimenting with some original fiction on Wattpad. This knowledge of a Gen Z focus leads me to believe I should cater my writing to a younger audience if I hope for my story to have any future success on the platform.

More Focus on Brands, Less Focus on Creativity

My biggest concern with the proliferation of Wattpad Brand Partnerships is that it will dilute the creativity of writers in favour of chasing lucrative brand deals.

I used to work in the public relations field, so I’m aware that image is everything in that world.

Why would a major brand want to align themselves with a risky story that takes chances but deals with sensitive or controversial subject matter, when they can choose a safe, vanilla story that’s equally as popular and can be molded to shape a brand’s message?

In order to appease brands, writers may start to create predictable, cookie-cutter narratives in the hopes that the Wattpad algorithm will favour them and give them a better shot at success.

While I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with increasing a story’s chance of wide distribution, I worry that writers will self-censor themselves and not create the story that THEY want to tell, but rather the story that they think Wattpad wants, aka, a story that will be the most financially viable.

That said, I’m excited to see that Wattpad is still enforcing its identity as a storytelling platform, even after being bought by Naver.

What do you think? Is this move to Wattpad Originals a good thing or a bad thing? Would love to read your thoughts in the comments!