DEG Roadshow – Amy Jo Smith
On Thursday May 11th, the Home Entertainment community met on global research provider Omdia’s stunning 19th floor for the 2023 DEG Roadshow in association with the BASE Screen Forum. The packed agenda addressed the future of screen entertainment to over 120 people from over 40 companies.
The day began with a welcome BASE Chair and VP – Commercial, Sony Pictures Entertainment Rob Marsh, followed by BASE & DEGI’s Head of Insights, Yasmin Nevard, and Omdia’s Senior Research Director, Media & Entertainment, Maria Rue Aguete.
This was followed by a global viewpoint from Amy Jo Smith (President and CEO, DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group). Jeremy Enos (SVP, Worldwide Market Intelligence & Strategic planning, Paramount Pictures) presented an insightful dive in to global market comparisons and differences. This was followed by a fireside Q&A hosted by Amy Jo, with Andrea Downing (President, PBS), and Bob Buchi (President, Worldwide Home Media, Paramount Pictures), all of whom had flown in for the roadshow from LA. Their discussion explored the ongoing experimentation with release strategies and windows, successful commercial transactional strategies, and broader growth strategies across the sector.
DEG Roadshow – US Fireside Chat
Amy Jo Smith, President and CEO at DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group said: “The theatrical pipeline is filling with more movies than in the past few years, with great benefit to come for transactional and other post-theatrical windows. But we continue to see challenges along with opportunity. Demand for content continues to grow around the world, with costs rising; investors in major media companies are demanding streaming profits, not just subscriber growth; and consumers are feeling the impacts of inflation. It has never been more important for the industry to come together, share learnings and work collaboratively to move forward in a similar direction.”
A massive thank you to our headline Sponsor, Letterboxd. David Larkin, Strategy and Business Development at Letterboxd captivated the audience as he spoke to the power and loyalty of the film community and fandom that is thriving at Letterboxd, as well as a deep dive in to the cross-entertainment purchase habits of the nine million global Letterboxd users.
Across the day, the audience enjoyed presentations and panels from global insights providers, retailers, distributors and producers. These included: Amazon Prime Video, BB Media, FutureSource, HMV, Kantar Worldpanel, Lansons, Letterboxd, Marlow Film Studios, Midia Research, NBCUniversal, Official Charts Company, Omdia, Paramount Pictures, PBS Distribution, Rakuten TV, Sky Store, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Triple Crown Consulting Ltd.
Rob Marsh, VP – Commercial, Sony Pictures Entertainment & BASE Chair said: “It was another fantastic day from BASE and DEGI, with such a variety of impressive speakers. What was clear to me at the start of the day was that consumer appetite for our content has not changed; we need to signpost our business effectively and clearly to audiences and collectively give them a reason to spend their time and money with us – and it was fantastic to see that sentiment and intention of collective action reiterated across the day from multiple speakers.”
Lydia Fairfax, Founder and Owner at Triple Crowd Consulting, moderated our first expert panel on emerging formats in the UK. The panel – which included Nike Pope, Head of Strategy at Amazon Prime Video; Vicky Campolongo, EU Business Development at BB Media; Joe Braman, SVP International Digital Account Manager at NBCUniversal and Irina Kornilova, Practice Leader, TV & Online Video at Omdia – discussed emerging formats, diving into FAST, PEW, AVOD and more.
DEG Roadshow – Expert Panel
Our second panel spoke to the opportunities available for physical and digital retailers, covering the promises and challenges of new formats. Moderated by Charlotte de Burgh-Holder, Chair at Official Charts Company, the panel also explored how to capitalise on the desire to collect titles among younger demographics while highlighting that the demand for physical is for more than just collectors. Panellists included: Anna Michalowska, Head of Content & Marketing Country Manager, Rakuten TV; Patrizia Leighton, Marketing & Commercial Director, HMV; Paul Newton, Head of Commercial, Sky Store.
DEG Roadshow – Retail Panel
Action for Children’s Gaby Attwood joined to remind everyone of the acute challenge of childhood poverty, the benefits for commercial partnerships and thanks for the significant support from the Home Entertainment industry and BASE Members over the years.
DEG Roadshow – Action for Children
Thank you to all our speakers:
- Amy Jo Smith, President & CEO, DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group
- Andrea Dowling, President, PBS Distribution
- Anna Michalowska, Head of Content & Marketing Country Manager, Rakuten TV;
- Bob Buchi, President Worldwide Home Media, Paramount Pictures
- Charlotte de Burgh-Holder, Chair, Official Charts Company
- Craig Armer, Global Strategic Insight Director (Entertainment on Demand and ComTech), Kantar Worldpanel
- David Larkin, VP – Strategy and Business Development, Letterboxd
- Gaby Attwood, Partnership Development Lead, Action For Children
- Irina Kornilova, Practice Leader, TV & Online Video, Omdia
- James Duvall, Principal Analyst – Head of Entertainment, FutureSource
- Jeremy Enos, SVP, Worldwide Market Intelligence & Strategic Planning, Paramount Pictures
- Joe Braman, SVP International Digital Account Management, NBCUniversal
- Louise Vaughan, Senior Campaigning Advisor, Lansons
- Lydia Fairfax, Founder & Owner, Triple Crown Consulting Ltd
- Maria Rue Aguete, Senior Research Director, Media & Entertainment, Omdia
- Max Signorelli, Consumer Research Lead, Media & Entertainment, Omdia
- Nick Pope, Head of Strategy, Amazon Prime Video
- Patrizia Leighton, Marketing & Commercial Director, HMV
- Paul Newton, Head of Commercial, Sky Store
- Robert Laycock, Marlow Film Studios
- Robert Marsh, VP – Commercial, Sony Pictures Entertainment & BASE Chair
- Tim Mulligan, EVP and Research Director, Midia Research
- Vicky Campolongo, EU Business Development, BB Media
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us and a massive thank you to our sponsor Letterboxd. We look forward to doing it all again next year!
For more informtaiton about joining BASE/DEGI please contact [email protected]
