Mark Rowland, head of London-based film and television rights and royalties specialist Compact Media discusses how data can be used to help producers and distributors manage their IP more effectively:-
Mark Rowland (MD)
“The audio-visual secondary rights (AVSR) landscape can be something of a Wild West for content owners, especially if they’re not accustomed to keeping track of the whereabouts of their IP in granular detail.
It’s an age-old, complex issue: how do you effectively monitor your IP and the number of broadcasts you have licensed for your show across multiple territories?
Over the years, many of us working in the TV industry have found our own ways of keeping tabs. But in today’s increasingly complex rights landscape, it’s hardly surprising that so much owed revenue from rights often slips through the net.
Often, out of no malice or intent whatsoever, this can be down to the broadcasters that simply forget how much time is left on a show’s licensed run, have put the wrong number of shows in the wrong time slot or are unaware that additional licence fees are due.
Clearly, there are a plethora of issues to stay on top of. But it remains imperative for IP owners to maximise their revenues as much as possible; if you’ve invested so much in your content, why would you not want to make sure you’re getting every penny you’re entitled to back?
This week, with the launch of MRIT, Compact Media’s first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence rights monitoring and broadcast tracking system, we’ve attempted to mitigate these problems by creating a service that gives content owners full clarity on their IP performance worldwide, helping to monitor their licences to global broadcasts and speed up their revenue pipelines via a state-of-the-art monitoring system – which, above all, uses data and puts it right in the hands of IP owners.
With MRIT’s launch in mind, below I’ve listed my top five tips on how content owners can stay on top of their IP and ensure they maximise their programmes’ commercial value.
Ask yourself if the channel has broadcast all of its runs. If it has, chase for a renewal. If it doesn’t want to, pitch to another channel/VoD service in the territory armed with statistics.
It is important to stay proactive at all times and check how many broadcasts they have actually made during your contract. For example, you might be two years into a five-year period and already the channel has used up all of its contracted transmissions because your programme was so popular. Don’t leave it to chance, get in contact. You might be able to get them to renew for another period. Try to shorten that amount of dead time. If none of this works, there will always be other broadcasters out there. Most contracts allow you to go elsewhere.Also ask if your series is still airing within the licensed time period. If not, contact the channel, as you will be entitled to an additional licence fee
As mentioned above, there are plenty of honest mistakes occurring in this business. Often a broadcaster can move a successful show up their schedule not understanding that the rights holder should benefit from this success.
Again, get in touch with the broadcaster and show the evidence. Has a broadcaster transmitted a show 11 times when it should have been 10? You will be owed some money. But remember, this situation does happen a lot. Hardly any broadcasters actually do this maliciously or knowingly, so it’s advisable not to go in all guns blazing.Distributors, do constantly check where and what channels your competitors are selling to. This will allow you to predict licence fee rentals and plan a marketing strategy
This is where using a rights tracking service like MRIT really comes into play. As the competition for distributors intensifies worldwide, early research into how your competitors are doing, what they are selling and who to, can be vital in formulating your future plans. If you know where similar shows are being transmitted and over what time periods, this can be of great commercial benefit to you company. For instance, if you see a show that is very similar to yours performing strongly on ZDF in Germany, selling your own similar product to a rival German broadcaster might work out well for you.
If you’re a buyer of catalogues, stay on top of transmissions left on each of your contracts
A key point. Sometimes, during catalogue negotiations between buyer and seller, there are numerous shows that make up said catalogue that might have remaining transmissions left – and that can affect the sale price. It’s worth tracking what show has what broadcasts left, simply because you don’t want to pay over the odds for something that doesn’t exist.Producers, check what shows are working well in different territories and timeslots and develop new programming to satisfy demand using business intelligence
If you are a TV producer, again, a little bit of market research can generate revenue assurance. As you look to develop your latest show, have a look at what’s out there, what’s selling where, what’s getting strong ratings on what time slot. All of this intelligence could help you land a commission, and having strong knowledge of the rights landscape for the genre your show sits in really could pay dividends.
Mark Rowland
Managing Director
Web: www.compact.media
Web: www.compact-data.com
For Further Information
For further information on AVSR rights check out ‘The Devil Is In The Detail: Secondary Rights’ (May 2021) session featuring Compact’s Mark Rowland (MD) and Jane Hyndman (General Counsel) as part of PACT’s virtual Regions & Nations roadshow.