02-06-2021

FNE Innovation: Embrace the Fans (EZF)

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    Film New Europe continues to invite leaders of innovative AV projects to share their projects directly with its readers. Today, our guests are Alan R. Milligan and Olivier Affre, who write about their project Embrace The Fans (EZF). This project, which was designed to transform peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming to a sustainable business model for films and series, was launched in November 2020, co-funded by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union.

    A New Opportunity for Empowering European Film Industry

    Embrace the Fans (EZF) is designed to transform peer-to-peer (P2P) streaming, the world’s largest marketplace for content and data, to a sustainable and professional business model for films and series. This allows competitive distribution of European cinema, ensures cultural diversity and independence from tech giants. With reasonable resources we can monetise hundreds of millions of P2P users for mainstream and independent European cinema.

    EZF will prove what independent studies claim: a majority of P2P streamers are willing to pay for content - all they want is easy access. Currently content is trapped between or inside OTT’s largely owned by American entities. Now European film producers can remain independent by allowing fans to pay for immediate access to our content wherever they choose to stream.

    Creating a Registry of Film Rights (RFR) on Blockchain

    EZF enables direct payment to rights holders via dApps (decentralised Apps) connected to a Registry of Film Rights (public good) secured on a Blockchain delivering micro transactions at scalable cost. Once a film is ready for distribution, content, ID and chain of title are integrated with a waterfall so connected dApps execute payments correctly. With rights owners permission, producers can easily connect dApps to films offering innovation in finance, production and distribution.

    RFR as a public good shifts power from big tech as masters of the film ecosystem to technology becoming a service provider for the film industry. In a few months the world has changed decades. New business models will emerge more quickly.

    The low cost P2P distribution and its billions of users perfectly serve the European film industry when systemised as public goods and commercial enterprise: protect IP for European rights holders; enable anyone to offer services for films via dApps; allow fans to consume from anywhere.

    Rather than copy the decade old content silos business model, Embrace the Fans advances the digital distribution model by a decade today, as a more efficient and leaner operation that effectively supports European cultural diversity with accelerated access and payment for our films.

    What’s Our Target Market?

    The billion plus p2p streamers that are willing to pay for easy access to content - and the rights holders needing better monetisation of IP and direct access to audiences.

    - 83% of p2p streamers searched legal alternatives for a film first

    - peer-to-peer (p2p) streams in 2019 represent 180 billion (2020 growth = 40%)

    - independent films have 5-10x more p2p audience than they do on streaming platforms

    Our business model promises more revenue to rights holders, from the world’s largest untapped market for revenue and data. White Rabbit makes films as easily accessible as music and books.

    About White Rabbit (WR)

    White Rabbit (WR) allows you to stream films anywhere and pay directly to the filmmakers. With our browser extension installed it recognises the film you watch and prompts you to pay - any film - anywhere - with two clicks of a button to pay and play for the films you’ve always been looking for.

    Even a single payment for a streamed film watched anywhere in the world, is split according to the film’s waterfall and received by rights holders in seconds. With credit card payments and blockchain transactions, rights holders are ensured complete financial transparency. As the world goes platformless and fully embraces viral, producers, distributors and sales agents can have fingertip access to marketing data with access to an endless influencer network.

    White Rabbit delivers unlimited choice of content for fans, and a sustainable film business model for the film industry.

    About Binge Media (BM)

    Binge Media (BM) carries the vision that combined Blockchain and AI will be instrumental to improve film IP protection, allow film industry to operate more transparently and attract more private financing, empower its independent producers ecosystem, and finally improve the audience of Indie films and the experience of people with a much larger and more efficient access to the Indie film legacy. BM is partner investor and growth accelerator for different Blockchain & AI start-up projects targeting digital transformation into Media & Entertainment industry worldwide. Beyond projects' management, BM accelerates their growth by activating tech synergies between them.

    Stream it all, without stealing at all

    white rabbit

    #responsiblerebels

    About the authors

    Alan R. MilliganAlan R. Milligan, tech Entrepreneur & Film Producer

    Alan's films won best film awards in Cannes (Un Certain Regard), Venice (Critic's Award), Gothenburg (Dragon Award) and were nominated in Berlin, Toronto and Busan. As a producer, coproducer and executive producer, the films have won more than 50 awards and nominations since 2014.

    Alan was formerly a software entrepreneur with MCIS, a database for safe transportation of chemicals at sea and an automated stowage system for chemical tankers.

    In White Rabbit Alan combines his two careers in offering a digital distribution alternative using peer-to-peer and Blockchain technology. Fans are able to watch content anywhere, as our browser plug-in recognises content they stream and enables payment directly to rights owners.

    Olivier AffreOlivier Affre, tech Media & Entertainment Executive

    Olivier is a European Tech Media & Entertainment Executive with 20 years’ experience as European CEO for different worldwide industry leaders like Technicolor, Panavision and Iron Mountain Entertainment Services.

    He has prepared, adapted and led those organisations along their business model transition and digital transformation.

    In 2018, Olivier created Binge Media to carry the vision that combined Blockchain and AI technologies will be instrumental to the film industry transformation.

    cofunded