Did you know that you spend up to an entire movie time scrolling every month? There are so many options to choose from when deciding what to watch that even picking the platform can be a hassle.
Let’s say you’ve finally decided on a platform, now you have to pick something to watch from a wide array of selections. Are you looking for an action flick or something more romantic? Feeling more like watching a movie you haven’t seen yet or one of those classics that you’ve probably seen a hundred times before? You've finally thought of a movie to watch but it's not on that particular platform. Time to go back to scrolling until you find something new.
At this stage,four out of ten viewers give up on even watching anything. Have you ever realized how much hidden stress you endure before you get to enjoy a movie or a show? Further research saysmore than 1 million Dutch viewers waste on average 30 min of precious time scrolling.(Telecom Paper, 2021)
If time is of the essence, stop scrolling, get comfortable and start watching Film1.
Film1 eliminates the stress of endless scrolling by providing a good selection of movies suitable for every taste with its four linear channels - Film1 Premiere, Film1 Drama, Film1 Action, Film1 Family - as well as on its premium streaming service.
Basing our campaign on Telecom Paper's research, we used witty slogans of time-consuming activities to create a link to the time viewers waste searching for a movie. Our aim was to increase awareness among consumers and to connect with them by offering Film1 as the solution for a hassle-free entertainment experience. Your time is valuable and with four linear channels and a carefully curated on-demand service, you don't have to waste it by scrolling endlessly.
That's a wrap on NEM 2022 where a team of SPI executives led byBerk Uziyel, was among the attendees. Thank you for having coffee with us and joining Haymi Behar for his keynote session on the future of TV experience!
In his keynote session, Behar reflected on the convergence of the linear & digital viewing experiences and what this means for payTV platforms and streamers. He elaborated on the ways in which SPI tackles the challenges brought forth by the ever-changing audience demands. He emphasized the importance of quality curation in addressing decision fatigue that stems from platform inflation and content abundance. He also underlined SPI's position as a key partner to operators when building a great TV product.
Please stay tuned for the on-demand link.
We hope to meet you again next year at New Europe Market (NEM).
#WorkplaceChatis a series of bite-sized interviews with SPI International executives about their jobs, media industry trends, and their professional, SPI-related success stories.
Here's Jeroen Bergman, GM Film1 and FilmBox Netherlands.
1) The latest Film1 campaign positioned Film1 as the antidote to the precious time that many Dutch viewers waste by scrolling through the content on streaming services and the stress induced by that overall process. The campaign drew inspiration from research conducted by Telecompaper and was developed by the creative agency Superheroes. What are your key takeaways from this campaign and how do they translate to Film1's growth strategy moving forward?
Anecdotally, we all know that it can be frustrating to scroll through long menus of movie and series titles trying to figure out what is worth seeing. All the time spent searching and selecting can detract from the simple entertainment experience we look for which gets even worse if we end up watching something that then proves disappointing. It can be tempting to remember a time when we simply flipped through the channels until we saw something we liked.
We thought this would be something Dutch TV viewers would relate to and we have a simple solution to it in our Film1 proposition: we have a big line-up of SVOD movies, but we also have four curated thematic linear movie channels. So if you don't feel like 'wasting your time' scrolling through menus, you can simply zap through our four channels and see if there is anything you like. If you find it, you can easily restart that movie using the platform's replay functionality.
In order to make the Dutch audience aware of the frustration of endless scrolling and the solution of Film1's linear channels, we decided to use a combination of PR and marketing to amplify our marketing budget and to add credibility to the message. We asked a well-known media research agency to investigate how much time Dutch TV viewers spend searching for something to watch and how they experience this. Unsurprisingly, our suspicions were confirmed and we were able to get the research results publicized by many media outlets.
We then followed up with our marketing campaign which used images from the movies in Film1's line-up with campaign messages about various activities which required waiting (such as dressing up for a party, waiting for a bus etc) and saying "choosing a movie should not take as long as that".
Virtually all our sales in the Netherlands come from the TV operators carrying the service, so the key to success of our marketing activities is to energize our TV operator partners to maximize their sales efforts for Film1. We found that campaigning with this creative angle worked much better than earlier campaigns which were focused on specific movie titles as it stressed a USP that other SVOD providers are unable to match. For this reason, we will continue to use this USP going forward and will find new creative ways to communicate it in future campaigns.
2) The Film1 brand umbrella includes four linear channels - Film1 Premiere, Film1 Action, Film1 Drama and Film1 Family - and the Film1 digital service. What are your business goals in terms of Film1's digital strategy for 2022?
To be precise, our service incorporates access to movies on a linear basis - with the four thematic channels you list - and access on an SVOD basis. We provide this access via the electronic programme guides and VOD menus of our platform partners as well as with our own OTT app and, in some cases, with an app on the platform partners' set top boxes. We even include our content on some platform partners' apps.
This is an important year for our digital strategy as we migrated our app platform from the legacy provider to the new TV2Z platform that also hosts the FilmBox+ and Dizi apps. We have had some performance issues with the previous app suite and have made improvements on the new apps. We also expect with the new app to be able to include our app on the set top boxes of one of our key partners: KPN. In the longer term we would very much like to see download functionality added to the apps which would add a key functionality that competitive OTT providers offer.
3) Film1's four linear channels and a selection of on-demand content is available on Amazon Prime Video Channels in the Netherlands. What are some of the challenges and advantages of making linear channels available on digital-only platforms, such as Amazon and are there new digital partnerships for Film1 on the horizon?
The Amazon platform provides us with valuable insight into user behaviour of our subscribers on their platform and a key lesson learned is that the linear channels are responsible for a large proportion of total usage and a key retention reason for subscribers. This underlines the campaign USP we have focused on and means that we will aim to include the linear channels in any version of Film1 we offer in the market.
Film1 is available on all platforms active in the Dutch market. In the coming 12-18 months we anticipate ROKU will also launch here and we aim to once again be launching partners for this new platform.
4) The first Western European country to launch SPI's basic movie channel FilmBox is the Netherlands. In less than a year from the launch, the channel was already included in the offers of eight Dutch TV platforms, reaching 1 million viewers and counting (December, 2021). To what do you attribute this success and what are some of your future plans for the expansion of FilmBox?
Contrary to most Central European markets, there are no basic movie channels available in the Netherlands. Some were available in the past (such as AMC, MGM Channel, Universal Channel and 13th Street) but they have all given up on the market over time. The Dutch advertising market is quite crowded and the distribution market is quite concentrated so it is hard to secure sufficient advertising and distribution revenue for thematic channels. What makes FilmBox different is the synergies available from SPI existing FilmBox activities and Film1's existing content inventory. And the channel is very popular both with viewers and TV platforms as it is the only channel in the country that provides movies without advertising interruption. We will soon be launching with one of the main platforms in the country, Ziggo, and we hope to secure a distribution deal with KPN soon, as well.
5) An icebreaker question: How do you stay productive and motivated working virtually/remotely?
Virtual working has obvious disadvantages which flow from the lack of unplanned contact with colleagues, so it is important to seek out moments to get together without a fixed agenda to just see what comes up. In my team we use both Zoom sessions without pre-set agendas and we get together for lunch maybe once a month to neutralize these disadvantages.
But then, there are also real advantages. Firstly, I save a lot of time both in commuting but more importantly in the time between calls and meetings. I use that time to do more exercise than I could have afforded to before the pandemic, to be around the house when my son is more often than I could before and - this is the second key advantage - to have time to properly think through more strategic or more complex opportunities without the pressure of daily routines. That combination of a better work/life balance and the opportunity to be more creative and thorough is very motivating for me.
SPI’s streaming service FILMBOX+ which boasts a catalog of over five thousand titles and multiple linear channels was the go-to address for watching #GoodMovies this month for many viewers across the globe. Here’s a look at what’s popular in some of our key territories in May 2022.
FOOLPROOF - HUNGARY
This month, FilmBox+ subscribers in Hungary tuned into the action comedy Foolproof starring Ryan Reynolds and Kristin Booth as Kevin and Sam, founding members of a theoretical group which pulls off heists. When Leo, a gangster, blackmails them into pulling off a real multi-million dollar heist, events take a wild turn. Did you know? One of Reynolds’ earlier films, Foolproof, had a record-breaking marketing budget of $2 million. If you enjoy watching unexpected twists and Reynolds being his sardonic & witty self, you will like this movie!
THE VANISHED - TURKEY
Turkish FilmBox+ subscribers opted for a crime thriller this month, starring Anne Heche and Thomas Jane. The Vanished revolves around a husband and wife that will stop at nothing to find their missing daughter, who disappeared on a family camping trip. When the police don't catch any leads, the duo take over. Hollywood Reporter critic Justin Lowe called the movie, “wildly implausible and improbably entertaining.” Watch the movie on FilmBox+ to see if you agree!
THE CHARLEMAGNE CODE - POLAND
Polish subscribers of FilmBox+ traveled to Germany this month with the action/adventure flick The Charlemagne Code. Eik, Justus and Katharina embark on a spectacular hunt across Europe to find the biggest lost treasure in the world, a treasure which most people consider to be a myth - The treasure of the Nibelungen. The movie received four German Television Award nominations for Best Movie Made for Television, Best Actor, Best Music and Best Visual Effects in 2008.
TARGET NUMBER ONE aka MOST WANTED - ROMANIA
Crime/thriller genre was also popular in Romania this month, with one of the most watched titles being Target Number One, the based-on-a-true-story retelling of the events that unfolded when the Canadian journalist Victor Malarek (Josh Hartnett) started investigating the circumstances surrounding the suspicious arrest of Daniel Léger (Antoine Olivier Pilon), a heroin addict, imprisoned in a Thai jail in 1989. Barry Hertz of Globe and Mail describes the movie as, “a three-pronged narrative that inventively plays with structure and time, allowing the natural dramatic tension of Malarek's international chase to nicely dovetail with Léger's ugly experiences in the criminal justice system.” It is a pretty enticing review, if you ask me.
About FilmBox+
FilmBox+ combines the “lean-back” and on-demand viewing experiences by providing instant access to an extensive VOD catalog and live channels on any internet-connected device. FilmBox+’s well-curated selection of content from major global distributors features Hollywood blockbusters with world-famous stars, independent world cinema gems, TV series, documentaries, lifestyle programming, and much more. In addition to its vast VOD library, FilmBox+ also offers a variety of channels covering movies and thematic content that cater to all kinds of tastes to help viewers avoid the hassle of choosing what to watch. www.filmbox.com
Content and channel selection on FilmBox+ may vary depending on the region.
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