Expanding the Opportunities for the Total Video Ecosystem

Content Insider #600 – Story Time

By Miles Weston

“In
the beginning, it is always dark.” –
The Childlike Empress, “The Never-Ending
Story,” Neue Constantin Films, 1984

The
global content industry has never been stronger, more exciting/vibrant, more
confused or more confusing.

Local,
regional, national and global streaming services are under intense pressure to
establish themselves in the new OTT marketplace, to stand out from the
competition.

They’re
investing in talent, taking risks, testing new financing models,
expanding/consolidating and totally reshaping the entertainment media
landscape. 

Their
goal?

Offer
the most robust library of high-quality, unique content possible to build a
broad and loyal subscriber base on every screen they have – in 2018: 236M TV
sets, 226.3M computers/tablets, 6.1B smartphones.

It
should be a fairy tale come true for the independent creative content community
with the largest production studios suffering more than $1.2B profit decline
because of the change in content consumption patterns and distribution
disintermediation

The Big Shift is
taking place!

But
… we didn’t drink the whole cup of Kool-Aid.

Don’t Drink Deep – Just because organizations are throwing millions and
billions around to buy each other, it doesn’t mean much if all they are doing
is buying a ticket to get in.  The buzz
of the growing content world means a lot of folks are betting big on tomorrow
and don’t really know what tomorrow will look like but … it’s gonna be
huge! 

We
just took a few sips before we put the cup down and stepped away from the bar.

The
problem wasn’t the volume or speed of change, but the confusing unknown Indie
creators were facing.

We
talked with members of PVC (ProVideo Coalition) and MediaPro group as well as Indie
filmmakers like Chris Sobchack,
of Wraptastic Productions; Cirina
Catania, of The Catania Group; Larry Jordan, of Production BuZZ; James
Mathers, of DCS; and others.

The
same question always came up …“Who do I
talk to at Netflix, Amazon, Warner, Hulu to get my project on their radar and
into their line-up?”

Creatives
are still looking at the same paths to capture eyeballs and revenue.

Sure,
if Hastings’, Bezos’ and Igor’s teams stopped by to talk, you should listen … seriously.

After
all, they have the distribution pipelines, subscribers and marketing teams to
help make things happen.

And
yes, their several hundred million subscribers are nothing to sneeze at. 

The Product

Whether
it’s an Indie film, series or special; the filmmaker’s challenge and
deliverables are still the same.

“I look back on my
life and it’s 95 percent running around trying to raise money to make movies
and five percent actually making them. It’s no way to live.” –Orson Welles

Francis
Ford Coppola has made four of the finest films in motion picture history but
has last three were basically self-financed by his wine business. 

Studios,
distributors and major channel owners find it difficult to justify artistically
challenging films, documentaries, shows and episodics; even as they fund more
than 800 new projects this year, because of the decline in profits. 

In
every production center around the globe, they are placing increased reliance
on proven formulas including the recent resurgence of 80s/90s TV series and
remakes of proven projects. 

The
industry is changing but not the fundamental decision process, because the
decision makers aren’t in the business because they love to see movies or docs
or watch TV specials, shows or series; but because they are focused on numbers
and analytics.

What
has changed are the economics and ease in creating great content and the
distribution options.

Production Crews – When content creation went digital, it opened up
opportunities for filmmakers and visual storytellers to shoot and produce
content with a minimum of crew using advanced and economic hardware and
software. 

Instead
of an expensive aerial helicopter shot, the Indie filmmaker can shoot the
scenes with a GoPro or Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and a drone for under
$2,000.

An
entire film can be shot with the Cinema 4K or similar camera and even an
iPhone.

Post
On-the-Go – Like many Indie
filmmakers, Chris Sobchack, of Wrapttastic Productions, leads a double
life.  Together with his wife, Nikki, he pursues his creative film work
but also tours as a technician with the Elton John Band. Their episodic
series, “Please Tell Me I’m Adopted,” is doing great on Amazon Prime with the
second season going into production. He’s also finalizing the financing on
their feature debut “Lore Harbour.”   

Economic,
high-performance desktop computers and DaVinci Resolve or Final Cut Pro X or
Adobe’s cloud-based Premiere can be used to edit and post produce content that
will stand up against the finest material you can see on the big screen, your
TV set or smartphone. 

Tools
like Native Instruments and Mellotron proto-synthesizer can deliver
breathtaking music background. 

Audio
– the important 50+ percent of a video project – can be created with DaVinci or
Avid ProTools.  Or, to ensure it really
comes to life, take advantage of the audio expertise of award-winners like
Allied Post Audio or other audio experts.  

The
one thing every Indie must remember is to store the content on the best media
possible and back it up three to four times … just in case.

Because
of their Emmys, Golden Globes and Oscars; Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Hulu, Warner
and other “traditional” providers/distributors are often the first outlets Indie
filmmakers consider for the placement of their finished project; but the
options are much broader and possibly more lucrative as success builds on
success.

Whether
it’s a thoughtful drama, dark comedy, oddball thriller, horror flick, sci-fi
film, experimental project or episodic series, more flexible opportunities are
now available.

Growing Options – Many Indie filmmakers target the big content buyers
(Netflix, Amazon, Warner, etc.), but there are a growing number of distribution
opportunities including social media options folks don’t consider that have
audiences looking to improve their viewing habits. 

YouTube,
Facebook, Alibaba, Snapchat, Tencent (1.3B, 2B, 800M, 500M respectively):
Periscope and a growing number of social media players in countries around the
globe also have their eyes on being major players in the OTT streaming media
arena. 

There’s
a huge market out there that none of the major OTT A/S/TVOD providers have
signed with significant subscriptions.

Films, Shows Travel – Films, series, docs and other video content are
often of interest to people regardless of their home country.  Video storylines are universal and appeal to
folks on a personal, not nationalistic, level. 

While
a growing number of people around the globe have cut or shaved their pay-tv
bundles, even the cable keepers are adding streaming options to their viewing
lists. 

People
are increasingly willing to parse out their entertainment options with Netflix,
Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, Tencent, Sky, Huawei, Mubi, Fobu, Prime, Hotstar, Hiraki,
J:Com, Hayu, Stan and thousands of other services in countries around the
globe.

Often,
their entertainment bill seems to magically grow.

And
if you think you have trouble keeping track of your swelling password library
(different password for everything that you change periodically, right?  Right!) now add your OTT library.

Suddenly,
we have to track another layer – a big wad of “interesting” OTT services plus a
constant mind bend to remember which of your shows/movies are on which streamer
and which we’ve watched/when.

Biggest Hurdle – The major problem for most OTT viewers is that there
is so much good stuff to view, they find it difficult to find just the content
they want to consume from the video buffet. 

According
to Hosana Thomas, Adobe Advertising Cloud product manager, you/we aren’t alone.

Cable
keepers report:

42
percent think cable is needed for live sports, news, events21
percent have no idea where to access content without a cable55
percent found cable-cutting options confusing

Cable
cutters say they face similar issues.

So,
do content creators who finally get their work on one of the services!

In
an era of peak TV, the choices are mind-boggling–not just as to which shows to
watch, but what platforms to watch them on. 

Premiering
stuff competes with last season’s returns, reboots of legacy IP, spinoffs and
niche films/shows. 

Attracting
an audience is a formidable task.

Pass it On – Word of mouth and social media buzz are just two of
the ways people find new visual stories to watch. 

Parrot
Analytics recently reported people try new shows because they’re similar to
what they’ve watched before, heard about it or saw it was recommended to them.

The
study reinforces why people keep their cable connections … they can tune to a
channel and be pretty sure they’ll find video content that will meet their
tastes.

Personal
recommendations – friend or family – are the second most common reason for
watching a movie or show.   

Since
it’s estimated that two/thirds of adults – nearly 100 percent of the younger
crowd – are daily users of social media, online buzz spreads awareness and
viewership almost instantly around the world.

The
Indies we mentioned earlier – Sobchack, Catania, Jordan and Mathers – as well
as other Indies and distributors noted that it’s important for the filmmaker,
actors and crew to “get their hands dirty” and be involved in
marketing/promoting the show or series to ensure optimum viewership.

After
all, the filmmaker and team have the most skin in the game … and the most to
gain!  

But
the new multi-channel, multi-opportunity industry really needs a sophisticated
analytics/search solution that understands the viewers’ wants/needs (even when
they can’t articulate them); looks at all the digital content, everywhere; and
offers up an intensely rich menu of content – AVOD, SVOD, TVOD – for the person
to nibble or gorge on.

The
closest thing we’ve heard of that might, sometime in the near future,
satisfy this impossible wish list is a solution from an Israeli start-up named
Videocites. 

AI Help – Instead of endlessly clicking from film/series title
after title to get your entertainment and news, AI technology could be the best
replacement for the fading pay-tv program guide.  Done properly, it can learn your unique
viewing needs and offer carefully selected options for you to consider and
enjoy.

When
Jeff Hyatt, at MesaAlliance, told us about their SaaS (Software-as-a-Service)
solutions, we said, “That’s it … wishes
do come true!”

The
tools have something for everyone from video discovery to management and rights
protection.

In
other words, not just something for the filmmaker, distributor and channel
owner; but also for the consumer.

Consumers
don’t have to click through OTT service title lists wasting a helluva’ lot of
time and becoming more and more frustrated or despondent.

According
to Eval Arad, Videocites CEO, the AI- and video-based solutions do all the
heavy lifting to deliver what the viewer really wants … a channel of one!

For
the filmmaker/distributor, AI-assisted video fingerprinting enables
organizations to customize their online/catalog video approach to meet their
specific needs. The video fingerprinting seamlessly and unobtrusively solves
the accurate monetization issues
that have plagued content creators since the first silent movie.

According
to Arad, the AI-powered video-by-video search examines all of the visual
information in the frames rather than relying on metadata.

It
just might be what the entire ecosystem needs to fight piracy, increase
monetization, provide true viewership analytics and maximize the viewing
public’s entertainment enjoyment of content – HD, 4K, UHD, 8K, whatever – they
feel was developed just for them.

Time
will tell how quickly creators, studios, channels, advertisers decide its time
to join forces, get past the NIH (not invented here) factor and focus on satisfying
the viewer so everyone in the food chain makes money. 

We’re
like Bastian in The Never-Ending Story who the narrator commented on, “Bastian made many other wishes, and had many
other amazing adventures – before he finally returned to the ordinary world.
But that’s … another story.”