I have attended NATPE in Miami on a number of occassions at the Fountainbleu Hotel. Very exciting and informative.
This year, NATPE Streaming, is happening to keep Film Industry (or I should say ‘Media Industry’) moving forward with informative on programming, ideas and strategies.
Michael Quigley said that they are:
•Marrying Internally with their recognized brands such as South Park, Sopranos, etc.,
•Cater to demographics like ”Little Fires Everywhere” – not a wide audience but a deep demographic.
Superperformers: Not really surprises for an anticipated major
•Big Bang Theory
•Fresh Prince of Bel-Air – much wider audience than expected
•South Park
Surprises Viewing
”Pretty Little Liars”
”Lovecraft Country” – a juggernaut
”Perry Mason” – did very well over the summer.
Cartoons and Animation are doing very well.
Max Originals – ”Lovelife”, ”Raised by Wolves”, ”An American Pickle”, ”Class Action Park”.
Documentary about the most dangerous amusement park in the world.
How can we serve up the Audience Desire for Broad Comedy?
•First 3 Seasons of ”Young Sheldon”
”Co-View” Strategy: shows which bring the family together as entertainment and a point of discussion.
”Impractical Joker” – 247 shows all brought in to the network.
Hybrid Approach – They saw the fans and got the old series and created a new series. The nostalgia and beloved nature of the original but tap into a new interest too. Exciting to use the old fan base but come up with a new turn on the show.
”Sesame Show” – workshops around the show in an original show; create spin off shows; merchandising and the new show.
Originals – they will have 36 Max Originals by later this month. They formed a great team with Comedy Central i.e. e.g. ”Awkwafina is Nora from Queens” Creating new seasons of ”Southside”. He remembers seeing Dave Chappelle and thinking that this guy needed a show. A lot of shows from Comedy Central.
DC Team – discussions, comics, create a user experience to enter this experience.
He could not talk about the Zack Snyder work but he’s excited.
”Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”
30th anniversary in 2020
Reunion special
The show does not feel dated, has serious themes that still hold up.
e.g. Two characters driving in a Mercedes to Palm Springs and get pulled over.
Still very relevant and that gives it an enduring and sustained following.
Michael’s Question:
”Pockets of Passion” – a well-rounded service insofar as a show may not be broad but have a strong unique niche which performs quite well. More niche but more deep engagement on shows. e.g. ”Pretty Little Liars”
PLUTO TV
FAST – ”Free Ad-Supported Television”
Tom Ryan
•Went against the conventional wisdom of paid subscriptions but his model was the TV was always free with ads and that would circle back.
PlutoTV was purchased by Viacom but has the largest FAST network in the world.
Content is key of course and we want an experience that is also a great discovery mechanism. The ”Death toss” of searching for new content and tossing it to your co-viewer to force a content pick.
We are now in 22 countries in this world helped by our Strategic Drivers. The unbridled advocacy by Bob a Backus (CEO of Viacom) has driven our position higher.
Extending their footprint with Viacom integrated across setup box, internet, mobile, etc., Concluded a deal with Sony Playstation.
Unique combinations of Quantity and Quality
e.g. the James Bond Channel
We are working in both Linear and VOD.
Linear is a great discovery tool because it’s a low cost exploration by the viewer.
They have a Push-Pull Strategy to go after Content and Audience, pivoting quickly when opportunity strikes. Data is a massive part of their strategic choices.
Data – marries programming expertise + marry with programming acquisitions team and then make a decision. Look at metrics of like channels, formats and content.
We drop the content into an Audience (this is the default) wants to go by topic into a channel. These are IP defined channels which is more important with the AVOD content development.