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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 9, 2015 8:06:41 GMT -6
deadline.com/2015/04/lionsgate-comic-con-streaming-service-1201407197/Lionsgate To Launch Subscription Streaming Service For Comic-Con Fans For those who can’t get enough Comic-Con: Lionsgate says this morning that it has teamed with Comic-Con International to create a year-round, Netflix-like subscription VOD streaming service. It will feature “a broad portfolio of content…designed to appeal to the diverse interests of Comic-Con’s fan base” including original short-form material, plus films and TV series from Lionsgate and undisclosed other studios. No word yet on how much it will cost, or exactly when it will begin. This is Lionsgate’s third streaming service, following its Lionsgate Entertainment World (a partnership in China with Alibaba) and the planned Tribecca Shortlist. The companies note that 17 of last year’s 20 best-selling films domestically, as well as TV series such as The Walking Dead and American Horror Story, “had a presence” at the San Diego festival for fantasy fans. “The fan base for the kind of films and television series showcased at Comic-Con has grown exponentially, and a subscription video-on-demand service is the ideal platform to capture the magic excitement of the Comic-Con experience year-round as well as the perfect vehicle for Comic-Con fans to discover new content,” Lionsgate Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution President Jim Packer says.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 9, 2015 9:03:45 GMT -6
www.bleedingcool.com/2015/04/09/san-diego-comic-con-and-lionsgate-launch-digital-subscription-channel/San Diego Comic Con And Lionsgate Launch Digital Subscription Channel For April Fool’s day, Bleeding Cool ran a post for the fictitious Forever Comic Con, a comic convention that would be on every day of the year. We were so close. Lionsgate and the San Diego Comic-Con are together launching a digital channel, a subscription video-on-demand service later this year. It will contain new short-form videos created for subscribers as well as films and TB shows from Lionsgate and others, targeted to wards the Comic-Con demographic, and archive video from 45 years of shows. Remember that disclaimer when entering that people were allowed to video you? Well, here’s where that pays off! As part of this the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival will now be treated as an all-round-the-year online event as well. Check out the new website here to register your interest and the PR below.. comic-con.org/ondemand%20Names anyone? SDCCTV? “We’re thrilled that the biggest pop culture event of the year will become a year-round digital channel for Comic-Con fans and audiences around the world,” said Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution Jim Packer. “The fan base for the kind of films and television series showcased at Comic-Con has grown exponentially, and a subscription video-on-demand service is the ideal platform to capture the magic and excitement of the Comic-Con experience year-round as well as the perfect vehicle for Comic-Con fans to discover new content.” Reflecting the tremendous interest in the diverse roster of comics, films and television series showcased at Comic-Con International each year, the two companies plan to roll out the new service beginning with the U.S. later this year. “From the beginning of our discussions, nearly two years ago, we have been extremely impressed with Lionsgate’s embracing and understanding of fan culture,” said Comic-Con’s Director of Marketing and Public Relations David Glanzer. “Working with our Lionsgate partners has been an exciting exercise in finding great ways to expand our horizons to deliver the unique magic of Comic-Con and the celebration of comics and popular art to our fans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and around the world.” “As a next generation studio, Lionsgate has grown up with Comic-Con, and their fans are our audiences,” said Lionsgate President of Interactive Ventures & Games Peter Levin. “We’re excited by the opportunity to expand and enrich the world of Comic-Con for existing fans and extend it to a whole new global audience with a channel distinguished by its imaginative curation, depth and diversity of content and fierce loyalty to the Comic-Con brand.”
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 9, 2015 23:53:01 GMT -6
www.comicsbeat.com/comic-con-international-and-lionsgate-team-for-new-nerd-focused-vod-service/#comment-2420556Comic-Con International and Lionsgate team for new nerd-focused VOD service WonderCon isn’t the only part of the CCI empire that’s going “Hollywood.” CCI has just signed a deal with Lionsgate for a new subscription video-on-demand service that will launch later this year. Lionsgate—the studio known for The Hunger Games and the Divergent series among many others—and CCI—that’s Comic-Con International) the non-profit organization that runs the San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon—will team to present material deemed to be of interest to the Comic-Con fanbase. And yes, the channel will have original content, as well as studio fare from Lionsgate and other studios—and historical footage from past Comic-Cons. While a VOD service may seem a little out of character for CCI, it’s not really for those who’ve been watching closely. The new service will serve as an outgrowth of SDCC’s Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival (CCI-IFF), which is held at Comic-Con every year with various films of fan related-interest. The new VOD service will make this a “365-day-a-year online event.” As a studio, Lionsgate was an early adapter, exhibiting at Comic-Con to promote the low budget films that made its name long before every studio in town decided SDCC was the biggest marketing event of the year. This new CCI VOD will be the third streaming service they’ve announced: Lionsgate Entertainment World, a joint venture with the Chinese company Alibaba, recently launched; and this summer will see the debut of Tribeca Shortlist, a partnership with Tribeca Enterprises that presents firms for discerning film fans. In addition to blockbusters like The Hunger Games movies, Lionsgate has also beome a player in TV, producing and distributing shows like Mad Men and Orange is the New Black. VOD has become the hot place to cater to niche audiences and experiment with content; exploiting the “nerdcore” audience has been on a lot of radars. “The fan base for the kind of films and television series showcased at Comic-Con has grown exponentially, and a subscription video-on-demand service is the ideal platform to capture the magic and excitement of the Comic-Con experience year-round as well as the perfect vehicle for Comic-Con fans to discover new content,” said Lionsgate President of Worldwide Television & Digital Distribution Jim Packer. It’s also a way for CCI to branch out. The Comic-Con brand is now somewhere between the Super Bowl and the Puppy Bowl in terms of mega-awareness, and launching new ventures like this seem like a smart channel to expand it even further. According to CCI’s Director of Marketing and Public Relations David Glanzer, CCI and Lionsgate have been working on the deal for two years; it was Lionsgate’s knowledge of fan culture that sealed the deal to “deliver the unique magic of Comic-Con and the celebration of comics and popular art to our fans 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and around the world.” Frequent dealmaker Peter Levin (Nerdist, Deadline) was also involved. He’s now President of Interactive Ventures & Games at Lionsgate and expects to “expand and enrich the world of Comic-Con for existing fans and extend it to a whole new global audience with a channel distinguished by its imaginative curation, depth and diversity of content and fierce loyalty to the Comic-Con brand.” Sign up at the above link to find out more about the launch of this new service. Maybe it will show those two dueling nerdlebrity convention shows we told you about the other week.WonderCon isn’t the only part of the CCI empire that’s going “Hollywood.” CCI has just signed a deal with Lionsgate for a new subscription video-on-demand service that will launch later this year. Lionsgate—the studio known for The Hunger Games and the Divergent series among many others—and CCI—that’s Comic-Con International) the non-profit organization that runs the San Diego Comic-Con and WonderCon—will team to present material deemed to be of interest to the Comic-Con fanbase. And yes, the channel will have original content, as well as studio fare from Lionsgate and other studios—and historical footage from past Comic-Cons.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 10, 2015 11:19:49 GMT -6
Festivals Extra: The Beat On The CCI/Lionsgate Video Streaming Service Partnership
Heidi MacDonald at The Beat has a solid, thorough article up here on Comic-Con International and Lionsgate partnering on a subscription-based video streaming service.
I agree with MacDonald that seems like a solid partnership for Comic-Con International and an idea that's certainly worth exploring the way it seem they're going to explore it. There's no way to time this kind of thing, and the vast majority of factors that will make it thrive or grind to a halt will only come out in the doing -- if there's one thing we've learned from the distribution of content through digital media, and we may have only learned one thing, it's that.
It's also worth noting that this seems like something that might compete -- a significant amount depends on the execution here as well -- with Con TV. I imagine most articles moving forward might compare the two no matter how things shake out in terms of any real competition.
Three more things stuck out to me on an initial read. The first is that Lionsgate is an excellent partner for Comic-Con International. As MacDonald points out, Lionsgate was an early adapter of Comic-Con International as a PR and marketing opportunity, and they have plenty of background in putting together the kind of material that such a service might count on. Comics partnerships of the last 20 years have fared much better for the involvement of established names just generally it seems.
The second is I think this provides an opportunity for Comic-Con to put some muscle into its claims that what it provides is a formula uniquely their own as opposed to a generic take on conventions that can be utilized by anybody. It remains to be seen how aggressively they'll pursue that in the years to come, but I would think they might for now wish to have that option and doing something with what they've achieved over the years seems like it would be a solid foundation moving forward, if only in the imagination of their potential customer base.
The third is that this may be part of the answer to the longterm attendance problem: not simply making virtual attendees out of those denied physical access but pitching the whole affair as a prestige event not dependent on outright attendance numbers. As far as most of this is out of what I cover related to comics, I'm intrigued by the possibilities.
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