Turning a TV documentary series into a YouTube growth engine.
DDC International (Emmy award-winning producer) brought in Breakout to re-engineer their 5-part series Undivided — originally filmed for network TV — and launch it on YouTube.
1.3M
Impressions in 8 weeks
100K+
Views from 7 videos
235×
Views vs pre-Breakout trailer
The project
A 5-part documentary series exploring faith communities across America
Producer
DDC International — Emmy award-winning
Format
5-part long-form documentary, originally for network TV
Breakout involvement
April 2026 onwards — during late post-production
Category
Documentary / Non-profit / Religious organisations
DDC International — an Emmy award-winning documentary producer — created Undivided, a 5-part series exploring different faith communities across America. The series was filmed over 18+ months for traditional network TV. In early 2026, deep into post-production, the decision was made to launch on YouTube instead. DDC brought in Breakout to lead the YouTube strategy from that point forward.
The brief
Take TV content and make it work on YouTube.
Re-engineer existing episode edits and the back catalogue for YouTube — not built for the platform in their current state
Own all packaging: titles, thumbnails, content strategy, scheduling
Lead the launch, testing and ongoing optimisation
Deliver meaningful viewership from organic YouTube — no paid promotion
Constraints
Breakout had both hands tied — and still delivered.
Limited edit control: existing cuts could only be lightly altered to protect the director's creative vision
Multiple stakeholders: religious organisations and non-profit funders required sign-off on all packaging, capping how bold titles and thumbnails could be due to sensitivities around religion
Breakout's own estimate: views would have been 3–5× higher with full edit and packaging control
Results & wins
1.3M impressions. 100,000+ views. 8 weeks.
~200
Views on first trailer (before Breakout)
47K
Views on Episode 2 with Breakout
67K
Episodes 1 & 2 combined views
30K
Views from 6–7 re-cut catalogue videos
First 8 weeks total
1.3M impressions
Views
100K+ from 7 videos
What's next
The results deepened the relationship.
The success of the Undivided launch opened the door to something bigger. Breakout is now co-architecting a fully YouTube-optimised original series with DDC International — built for the platform from day one, not re-engineered after the fact.
Budget per episode
$25K – $100K
View forecast per episode
500K+ views
Top eps expected to pass 1M
Episodes 3, 4 & 5
Sep – Nov 2026
Expected 50,000+ views each
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