Free-to-Watch Online Documentary Content: The Top 15 Aggregators. What’s the Business Model?
The 30-year boom in unscripted content is being unsettled by several distant clouds. 1. Pay-TV sub fees have been the biggest driver of the factual TV boom. However, consumers are beginning to lose their loyalty to pay-TV as their #1 delivery system for video entertainment. Analysts estimate that US cab/sat distributors lost between 1.3 – 2.7 million [...]
An Aussie / ABBA Love Doc is a Case Study in ‘How Local Can Trump Global.’ PLUS: Screen Australia’s $15+ Million for Docs
“Australian viewers have gone local.” That was the big message from programmers at AIDC 2012. They want Aussie stories, Aussie characters and Aussie talent. By and large, imports just don’t hit the hot buttons any more. That’s all well and good. But there’s a commercial sweet spot for programs that appeal locally AND are exportable. What [...]
A highlight of the AIDC Conference in Adelaide was the ‘Big Chart’ presented by Nat Geo Channels CEO David Lyle in his keynote. His graphic addresses the evolving landscape of nonfiction television entertainment. It shows how formats and sub-genres are being forever blended and hybridized into new categories. When we caught up with David Lyle after [...]
The Intersecting World of Reality TV: 100+ Series Boiled Down to 10 Overlapping Categories
(Originally posted, July 10, 2012.) In his keynote at the AIDC Conference, Nat Geo Channels CEO David Lyle set up his original chart on the evolving unscripted landscape by sharing Vulture’s ‘The Intersecting World of Reality TV’, which we are reposting here. Reality TV is reduced to 10 categories by “Vulture” in an amusing but [...]
1. Planning: Unlike convict-stained Sydney, Adelaide was founded in the 1830’s as a planned colony, a utopia for English gentry in a distant land. You can feel those original vibes to this day: In Adelaide, and in Sydney! AIDC picked up on Adelaide’s ‘model planning’ theme. It was an excellently administered conference, with: Solid and [...]
Industry Leader Interviews, AIDC 2013
AIDC Bites are short interviews recorded on the fly by Sean Elliott at the 2013 Australian International Documentary Conference. AIDC Bites #1 – The Importance of Character Steve Burns, Rollercoaster Road Productions Suzi Taylor, Fingerprint Productions AIDC Bites #2 – The Perfect Pitch Pat Ferns, Ferns Productions AIDC Bites #3 – Trends in China Steven [...]
Discovery Canada: What do they want? How many hours? Who’s watching?
One of the most persuasive presentations I ever saw was by Discovery Canada founder Trina McQueen. The pitch was to the CRTC, the Canadian body that regulates cab/sat carriage and subscriber fees. Her lead-in was a hippie/cowboy character who brought a live cheetah to Ottawa. It snoozed on the conference room table as the cowboy [...]
This year, the Sundance Film Festival screened 119 feature-length films from 32 countries, including works from 51 first-time makers. These works were selected from: 12,146 submissions. Including 4,044 feature-length films. And 8,102 shorts. Digging deeper, of 2,350 narrative features: 1,227 were from the U.S. And 1,123 were international works. Documentaries A total of 1,694 feature documentaries [...]
