MIPCancun Panel on New Digital Platforms

CANCUN: World Screen’s Anna Carugati moderated a MIPCancun panel centered on short-form content produced for YouTube channels, which is allowing new directors, writers, producers and aspiring actors to make inroads in the media market.

The session, titled MCN Superpanel: Incubators of New Talent and Scripted TV Projects, began with the panelists explaining what kinds of content the new digital platforms are offering. Charlie Echeverry, the chief revenue officer of Latino social-influencer hub MiTú, noted that “although we are a company vertically focused on seeing the world through Latino eyes, we are also a horizontal company because we cover all different kinds of categories such as comedy, crafts, content for the home, etc.” He added: “What we did was give a voice or a home to thousands of existing creators who weren’t seeing themselves reflected in the channels of Televisa, RCN, Caracol, Globo, etc. There are all kinds of content in the digital world, and MiTú helped these people develop content that is consistent with [our brand]. [There was an availability of] all kinds of content not found in more traditional platforms and which the consumer was looking for.”

Also on the panel was Reza Izad, the CEO of Collective Digital Studio, one of the pioneers of digital distribution of premium content for TV. The company is best known for producing the hit webseries Video Game High School, as well as the TV shows The Annoying Orange, Epic Meal Time and FRED. Izad commented that this kind of digital content is unique in the way it’s presented in the market. “Within the traditional content space you have to be broad and big in order to cover all the content that the audience is watching,” the executive said. “In this digital world, from the perspective of marketing, most of the work is done by the creators themselves, who essentially began in garages and from there, they began the process of building an audience. Once the content is out, you can begin tracking the consumer on the web. You’re making a bigger piece of content, you invest in your TV creator and it’s a very efficient way to reach the base through social networks.”

Steve Raymond, the CEO of Big Frame, said his strategy for creating content is to get up every morning and review portfolio after portfolio from thousands of talents he’s working with, in addition to checking out what the competition is doing. “When we work with brands and we upload something to the web, they know it’s working because their Twitter accounts explode and they see the conversations their content is generating,” he said. “This vitality is very difficult to achieve with a 30-second commercial.” Big Frame builds sustainable media brands around the most influential YouTube channels and connects advertisers with its widely engaged audience. The best YouTube channels pact with Big Frame to build professional careers by increasing their audiences and opening lucrative partnerships with advertisers.

Carugati then focused the conversation on how these new platforms are getting their revenues. Echeverry said MiTú relies on three main points: “First, we integrate the brands with the content experience, where we focus on marketing that content. Secondly, there’s the licensing of content, where there is great publicity going to linear channels and OTT players for the kind of on-screen content that resonates with Generation Z and Millennials. The third income stream is through what we call direct content to fans, which are offers like TVOD, but also through events and merchandise.”

Collective Digital Studio obtains its revenue through similar criteria. Izad also highlighted another way of achieving profits, which is by not licensing web content to television. “A completely different focus is needed, with very specific format guides that distinguish the [content for] television,” the executive said. “I don’t think the consumer is ready to view web content on television. Why would they do that if they can see it on the web?”

Big Frame’s Raymond said his company represents YouTube talent and that “many competitors are hitting the market and are asking for content in ways we never would have imagined. That’s a big part of our market.”

Before closing the panel, Collective Digital Studio’s Izad explained that these new companies exist because traditional content owners have a lot of complexity in their rights. “Our content can travel through each channel quickly and that’s what started attracting the attention of consumers who began using these new devices,” the executive said. “However, there was no content available there, so we are filling the spaces in these new devices found in everyone’s pockets, and our rights have very little complexity. We are partially [meeting] that need, but this trend began mainly due to the complexity inherent in traditional TV media.”