What is JTS.TV?
JTS.TV bills itself as a "Premium Independent TV Network" and is due to launch early January 2012. The site is likely to contain a slate of hand selected scripted narrative Web series and promises "No Ads, Just The Story". It will be available on a number of platforms including tablets, mobile and set top devices.
So, what makes JTS.TV different from any of the other Web series portals: Youtube, Koldcast, Blip, Daily Motion, My Dammed Channel etc.? JTS.TV has not revealed details of its financial plan or business model, but there have been indications that their site may lie behind a pay wall. Let's say they charge $2.99 per month ($36/year) then with 10,000 subscribers for their slate of Web series (some of which may be exclusive deals) they could net a cool $360,000 per year to be partially distributed, based on view count, among their slate of Web series. According to JTS.TV they will share revenue 50/50 with creators but so far they have not specified the source of that revenue.
Why a pay wall? Well according to Carter Mason and Matt Arevalo who appear to be two key drivers of the site, Web series need another financial model where the shows will be sustainable and views alone have largely failed to provide the revenue needed for many Web series to survive. They argue that the ad supported model encourages creators to make lower quality content in order to make money based on views alone. They claim that their new financial model will yield 100-200x more per view than ad based models and hence make Web series, which have largely failed to gain the type of view counts enjoyed by Youtubers, sustainable with more limited views.
The team also intends to launch a "support indie TV campaign" to draw new people into JTS.TV to watch what they describe as "quality" content. They claim that fans and creators will both benefit from their model because it will make their selected Web series sustainable for more than the short runs that have been common in the past. By sharing resources across their slate of shows the site hopes to avoid some of the issues experienced by single Web series such as Venice that have experimented with a pay wall. The site also proposes to employ a social media strategist to help their Web series creators engage with their fans more effectively.
JTS.TV has promised to reveal their slate of Web series at the IAWTV Awards being held at CES on January 12, 2012. The site will have a mix of new programming and old and, once accepted, there will be no censorship. JTS.TV may at some point fund their own Web series in which case they would of course provide development notes.
So what do you think? How much would you be willing to pay to see a slate of "quality" Web series?
@JTSTV
JTS.TV
Our initial slate will be announced in just 3 days. We can tell you now though, that we will have exclusive shows unavailable anywhere else!
https://twitter.com/#!/JTSTV/status/156448965464834048 
https://twitter.com/#!/JTSTV/status/157337214488023041
Web: http://www.jts.tv
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JTSTV
Facebook: http://facebook.com/JTSTV
Sources: Indie Intertube, Twitter and JTS.TV
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It's an interesting idea. It is applying a cable model to the intertube. Like HBO or other PPV networks, it will give viewers another option to watch quality and ad free web entertainment.
ReplyDeleteThis is a step in the right direction. There will continue to be free view web shows. I for one would definitely pay $36 a year to have access to higher quality shows.
I would like to see my show, Pyr8z!Online, move into something like this in the future.
Judging by the pay model, the "network" JTS.TV will get the lion's share of subscriptions at 50% of the whole. The other 50% will be meted out to other web shows based on view count.
Let's say they have $200 000 revenue and 10 shows with equal count. JTS.TV gets $100 000 and each of the shows get $10 000.
That allows JTS.TV to heavily market itself and draw in more and more viewers.
As a producer of the web show, I don't have to focus a lot of resources on finding viewers. I can focus on supporting the viewers that watch my show.
My web show would make revenue from merchandising, appearances, sponsorship and special events.
It would be nice to say to a sponsor: "I am on a web network that has an audience of 5500 people that pay monthly/yearly to view my program."
Here is the reason this is great:
If 200 000 people watch your youtube video, you might at best be able to get a conversion rate of 2% or 4000 people who would buy show merchandise or donate to your show. Ad revenue might bring you in $400. however, that is a big if as people that watch for free are not so quick to whip out the credit card.
However, if 5500 people have already paid to watch your show, that means you have a core audience that is used to paying for what they want, buy online and support online media. You have a better chance that most of that 5500 will donate to your show and purchase merchandise. And would promote your show through word of mouth.
My product placement or show sponsor would also look at that as a set amount of people that would buy their product.
So, if it costs me $80 000 a year to produce two seasons and I get $10 000 from membership, $27 500 from merchandising (assuming $10 profit on sales from 50% of my audience), $55 000 from exclusive events (assuming $20 profit on sales from 50% of my audience), then without show sponsorship I am making $92 500 or a profit of $12 500.
($80 000 production budget includes my producer's salary)
In short, this looks like a win-win-win for all involved!
Venice is currently the most successful PPV series in the space, (and they charge more than some of the speculated pricetags mentioned so far.) A big part of their success over the last 3 years has been their ability to land name soap actors that have an established audience. (Not unlike Sirius landing Howard Stern and gaining instant credibility by doing so. Before this the idea of "pay radio" was laughed at.) That is probably the best way to go if you're asking people to pay for an unproven product.
ReplyDeleteI agree this is a step in the right direction and even we would love to produce something for this kind of set-up some day. I would gladly pay for multiple networks if the shows appeal to me and can deliver content on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteVenice is the most successful show behind a pay wall right now (I would say the most successful one over all would be Sanctuary) but they are almost the only one currently using that model. There is a reason for this. The single show behind a pay wall has proven to have some serious drawbacks even with Venice. It has left Venice, while sustained so far through three seasons, with a relatively small audience and numbers that the show itself admits to having fallen consistently since season one. It also makes it nearly impossible to grow your audience in any significant way. They have done an admirable job but one has to wonder if they did not have all the name soap stars from the beginning as well as a hard core and devoted audience going in if they would have been as successful.
We will need to re-visit this topic after we get the official details of the financial model at CES.
ReplyDeleteHaving a name star attached does create an instant audience. But this also comes with many drawbacks.
ReplyDeleteAn independent series can produce excellent results with a talented cast of unknowns. It all comes down to marketing.
A web show is like a box of cereal. You might be the best or one of the best, but unless you get your brand and product out there, you're going to be beaten by more recognized brands.
A simple fact is that people hang out with people they know. They support within their community. So, unless you build a community around your show, you will ultimately fail.
Take The Guild for an example. As a web show on its own, it is average fair. Nothing particularly great to make it stand out against anything else based on production alone. What they did do was to create a culture and community around them. This generated fan donations and built a growing and loyal fan base.
Pay sites are only one part of the equation. New releases can certainly be released to a paying audience. Then, after a week or so, released for free to the general public. Now, you are building two audiences.
You just have to have a plan.
Well marketing is extremely important. But you have to start with the right product and that product needs to be one that will ultimately resonate with an audience. The Guild resonated with WOW players and also came on the tail of the lonelygirl15 experience on YouTube so the timing was good. It also had Felicia Day who is not only a known star but also a person who projects a Web friendly personality and as you point out built a really strong community around her show.
ReplyDeleteinitial slate will have exclusive shows
ReplyDeleteWell it's not $2.99 it's $3.99 and NOT worth it. The show they're promoting is "Contiuum". You get the whole series for free. Ha ha. It's a webisode so all 9 episodes together is about 15 or 20 minutes. Limited cast, two, poor acting, cheesy sets, and not much of a story line.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole a lot more promised than given. Basically a rip-off.
Thanks for the feedback.
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