American Film Market Dailies

Bruce Eisen, President of Digital Advisors, Steve Nickerson, President of Home Entertainment, Erick Opeka, Executive Vice President of Digital Networks at Cinedigm Entertainment, Hanny Patel, Vice President of Video Marketing for AT&T Entertainment Group, and Meyer Shwarzstein, President of Brainstorm Media, speak at the American Film Market Distribution Conference: The Future of Video On Demand at the Fairmont Hotel on Tuesday

 

Bruce Eisen

 

 

QUOTES:Steve Nickerson

President, Home Entertainment, Broad Green Pictures

“If your theory about over supply and proliferation causing market prices to go down is a good one, if you think of the industry – meaning all content available serving a one singular market – every product we put out is not a mass market product. It’s a niche item. And you’re trying to reach a niche audience.”

“The amount of places that you can access content without owning it (VOD, SVOD, AVOD) has grown exponentially in the last 5-10 years. The places where you can physically or electronically purchase product has actually constricted. When that happens – and consumer want to get content – they will shift to where they can get content most conveniently and most economically.”

Erick Opeka

EVP Digital Networks, Cinedigm

“What’s interesting is once channels start to get to that couple hundred-thousand range, to get to the next level, channels need to start exclusive licensing. The non-exclusive revenue that can be made is really starting to be meaningful, as you just look at the sheer number of outlets that are doing this.”

“Just because I haven’t licensed it exclusively doesn’t mean it’s readily available. Unlike the music business where subscription services have very deep penetration into catalogues, in film and TV, a very very miniscule portion of the content is available on a subscription basis.”

“It’s about serving content directly to consumers – not just if you liked this movie, then you’ll like this movie – you need to add in things that can contextualize the viewing experience.”

“The challenge is in this world of abundance, new releases are not just competing with new releases but the entire breadth of film history, short form content etc.”

Hanny Patel

Vice President, Video Marketing, AT&T Entertainment Group

“The discovery of content is really important.  We’re in the middle of a whole menu redesign that makes it fresh and easier to go through – we’re looking at it from a curation perspective.”

“If we look at the overall home entertainment industry, the growth is coming from EST and we are banking on that as a company. That piece of the pie is what’s growing the business.”

Meyer Shwarzstein

President, Brainstorm Media     

“It’s always a question of expectations. We have to determine first who the consumer is – once we have that point of view we come up with the most effective way to release the film. Then we share with the filmmaker and see if they’re onboard with it.”

“There’s no one rule that we all live by. Ultimately if we find something that’s a good collaboration, that’s great. There’s not one right answer in terms of where you’ll find more money, I think it’s really about each film.”