B2C Possibilities for AVOD and TVOD
Ten years ago, a hot topic for conversation was the prospect of screen content distribution evolving as a B2C (business to consumer) proposition. Content producers would put their content on either AVOD (advertiser supported) or TVOD (pay-per-view) platforms, and drive traffic to them–most often via social media.
This goes against norms that have been in place for over a hundred years. Traditionally, and with few exceptions, producers created screen content, distributors licensed the content to exhibitors (cinemas, tv stations, etc) and the public consumed it as ticket buyers or as viewers of commercials. The B2C model disrupts the B2B monopoly hold on reaching out to potential consumers.
My experience with the new model has not been successful. And, while my research has not been exhaustive, I have yet to find an example that has produced meaningful results.
Nonetheless, I see no fatal flaw to the B2C model. Here are the preconditions:
First, the content must feature a product, personality or idea (“hook”) that has a strong following that is not adequately served by current social and commercial media, but can be reached via social media and be pursuaded to visit a webpage where they can watch the content.
Second, the producer must upload the content onto a TVOD platform, such as YouTube or Vimeo, and set up the mechanism for payment. If the numbers rise to over fifty thousand, the availability of the content on AVOD would become more attractive to advertisers.
Third, the inclusion on the team of a social media specialist that can use the hook to attract potential viewers to the site is indispensable. This is all about B2C.
A few years ago, I conducted an experiment with an Australian client in Hong Kong. I was aware that there were over 220,000 domestic workers from the Philippines that were living in the city-state. The producer had a completed feature film that told the story of a Filipina domestic in Hong Kong who faces a number of daunting challenges. We broke it down into eight ten minute segments, uploaded it on to a YouTube channel and tried to drive traffic to it by handing out flyers where Filipina domestics congregate on Sundays and via social media. We had decent traffic, but were unable to attract advertisers. It was an education, but fruitless as a commercial enterprise.
Today, we would likely go the TVOD route.
In the commercial marketplace, enterprises will usually emerge to fill a need. In mid-2021, I have yet to see an entity that will pay a competitive CPM (cost per thousand) on ad placements. Anybody out there know anyone who does?
