My unchanging editorial goals since launching my Documentary Business newsletter in 2011 are to: Capture in a few words how the ever-evolving unscripted ecosystem shapes opportunities for industry veterans and rookies alike, and Publish detailed Case Studies that reveal how productions that aren’t by award-winning A-listers are developed, funded and ultimately delivered to grateful audiences. …
Analysts LightShed Partners published a noteable pushback to the gloom surrounding Netflix‘s outlook. Remember that investors savaged Netflix, whose market cap has lost around two thirds of its its peak valuation. This tracker tells the story: Wall Street turned sour on Netflix for a cascade of factors including: Stalled subscriber growth. Questions about the quality …
Netflix Dominates: 85% of “Minutes Watched”. All Other Streamers: 15% Read More »
Queen Elizabeth‘s passing reminded me of our 2019 coverage of TRUE ROYALTY, the ‘mega-niche’ streamer for “the 150M people worldwide who are Royal super-fans.” TRUE ROYALTY now carries a library of “450+ constantly-refreshed quality titles about Royalty today, around the world and throughout history.” First published, October 2019 TRUE ROYALTY is a London-based subscription video …
How do you figure out what the streamers want? The volatility of the streaming ecosystem is hard to navigate. What was true a year ago has changed. You need to know how your film fits within the ever-evolving streaming world. WEBINAR I will be joining distribution expert, Show&Tell’s Keith Ochwat next Thursday for a special …
Ed Hersh is a veteran channel executive who spent years at A&E, Court TV, and Investigation Discovery as one of the architects of their True Crime programming. He is my fellow New York-based, senior consultant, and has his own company now, StoryCentric, which advises networks and producers on their development, pitching and storytelling strategies, with a …
With Worst Roommate Ever, we continue our coverage of the True Crime genre in Part 2 of Camran Shealy’s snapshots survey of 20+ recently announced or released projects. Read Part 1 here, including The Tinder Swindler and more. And here below is Part 2… My Podcast, Webinars + MIPCOM Workshop New Trends in True Crime: …
True Crime Boom: Recent Releases Highlight What Producers Need to Consider (Part 2) Read More »
There’s a mixed bag of stories revealed in the charts that caught my eye during this rather slow Summer month. Bottom line: The shift to streaming is gathering pace: consumers are putting a blowtorch to the “melting icecube” of legacy broadcast and cable media. The data asks a big question: Do Discovery, Peacock, Paramount, and …
Netflix & the Streamers Put a Blowtorch to the PayTV Model. What Do the Charts Say? Read More »
The True Crime genre earns ever more attention — and greenlights, from platforms worldwide. My editorial associate Camran Shealy surveyed recently announced or released True Crime projects, summarizing of 20+ of them here. Everyone’s doing it: commissioners include Netflix, Discovery+, Peacock, ARD Germany and hulu. Netflix dominates Camran’s selection, as expected given its nearly $20 …
True Crime Boom: Recent Releases Spotlight What Platforms Want (Part 1) Read More »