Former "The Chew" Stars Are Building a Digital Network, and AI Is Fueling Its Growth
ENTERTAINMENT
Clinton Kelly, Carla Hall and Michael Symon (L-R) host the hit food and lifestyle program “Chewed Up,” produced by Simple Alien. (Photo credit: Simple Alien).
Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, and Michael Symon spent years building loyal audiences on ABC's "The Chew." Now they're doing it again, this time on their own terms, on their own platforms, and with ownership stakes in what they create. The results, powered by an AI discovery platform called Chronicle, are turning heads.
Chronicle, an audience discovery platform, announced it is scaling three original YouTube series from digital food and lifestyle studio Simple Alien: the hit food and lifestyle program "Chewed Up," fashion rewatch series "Why'd They Wear That?," and the upcoming cooking series "Simply Symons." The announcement was made by Chronicle Co-Founder and CEO Aaron Sisto.
The Shows
Created and hosted by Daytime Emmy Award winners Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly, and Michael Symon, formerly of "The Chew," "Chewed Up" launched on YouTube last October and quickly became a breakout food and lifestyle channel, amassing 70,000-plus subscribers. New episodes stream every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on YouTube and on the All Chewed Up FAST channel on LG.
Chronicle began supporting "Chewed Up" following its strong organic launch, deploying its proprietary audience discovery, optimization, and micro-targeting technology to connect the series with new, relevant viewers across connected televisions and other platforms. The numbers from just the last 22 days tell a compelling story: 5 million organic impressions, 140,000 watch hours, unique monthly viewers nearly doubled, television views per day grew roughly 60% month-over-month, with April hitting the highest TV daily views ever for the show, new viewers and subscribers grew by nearly 6.5x, and daily revenue grew by more than 32%.
Expanding the network further, "Why'd They Wear That?" premiered April 16 and is created and hosted by style authority Stacy London alongside Clinton Kelly, with new episodes dropping Tuesdays and Thursdays. Chronicle is now optimizing that series as well, with audience development for "Simply Symons," featuring Michael and Liz Symon, also underway following the show's recent launch.
The Technology Behind the Growth
Chronicle's agentic AI marketing and distribution platform manages channel strategy, content optimization, audience discovery, predictive micro-targeting, and monetization for social video. Its cross-platform, multimodal AI agents oversee the full digital IP lifecycle, from viewer acquisition and distribution through to sustained growth and revenue. The key distinction, as Simple Alien's President Nick Panagopulos and Chief Content Officer Marissa Ronca put it, is precision: "They don't just find an audience, they find the right audience. Fans who watch, not scroll, and who come back multiple times a week."
Sisto echoed that view from a business perspective, noting that creator-based culinary, lifestyle, and fashion content is among the most in-demand categories on YouTube, resonating strongly with digital-first audiences that advertisers actively seek out.
Why This Partnership Matters
Simple Alien was built around a fundamental belief: that creators should own what they make. Founded by Emmy Award-nominated producers Panagopulos and Ronca, the studio develops scalable unscripted formats across YouTube, podcasting, and emerging platforms, prioritizing speed and flexibility while keeping IP ownership and programming control with the talent themselves.
Chronicle, founded in 2025 with backing from Patron, Point72 Ventures, Z Ventures, and Sands Capital, completes the equation. The three Simple Alien series also mark Chronicle's expansion into full-length video programming and podcasts for social platforms, a meaningful step beyond its origins in shorter-form creator content.
For television veterans navigating the shift to digital, the Simple Alien and Chronicle model offers a clear-eyed alternative to the traditional network path: own your content, distribute it smartly, and let AI find the audience that's already waiting for you.