Here’s my personal take on the future of monetizing content:
Branding.
Eva Longloria’s producing brand – strong, Latina women in pro-social activism centric comedy-dramas – is more than just a flag for diversity, it’s a smart business decision: There’s nobody consuming more media today than Hispanics, and the biggest cord cutters of today are people of color.
Ben Spector supports this. “Everything about this business is about branding, it makes it much easier to sell things, because audiences can easily identify,” he says. The clearer the brand, the clearer the path to getting something made and monetized.
Take Derek Dressler’s Vimeo on demand example: A thousand people spending $15 on a TVOD film earns the creator more than a million views on YouTube. “Skim half of 5 million YouTube subscribers onto a paid platform,” Dressler states, “and you’re still doing way better with transactional revenue compared to the advertising breadshare.”
So strong branding is key: Keep it small, don’t go for the mass audience, and engage passionate viewers with niche content. High Maintenance is living proof of that: A strong brand and niche audience that translated into salability. Vimeo underwrote all production and marketing costs for season 2 based on the show’s existing audience. It’s also why Lindsey Doe can make $5000 a month now, way more than her CPM grade: Curated content by Hank Green’s Patreon all served to solidify her brand with a loyal viewership.
Loyal brand viewership also presents a bold opportunity: Filmmakers now have the advantage of selling everywhere like an independent studio like Sony would. Like Zach Van Amburg, creators can now get to say to networks, “Screw that. We’re not going to chase the 4% business anymore. We’ll pursue the promised land of Netflix or Vimeo on Demand.” CAA’s Nick Khan agrees. “You’re seeing more direct to consumer products. You know that pay per view model that takes 40-50%? We don’t want to do that anymore. We want all that money for ourselves,” says Khan. Hence the Glen Beck proprietary OTT networks of today. It’s empowering; we’re so used to begging networks to buy our stuff. Let’s have Vimeo or Amazon audition for us – take the power back for once.