WEBVTT - The 'Watch Party' Trend Sweeping the Video World Amid Lockdown 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:10.119 Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:12.360 which we talked with some of the brightest minds working 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:18.080 in media today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein, president of Variety Intelligence platform. 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.000 The pandemic has altered media habits and all kinds of 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.880 fascinating ways, perhaps none more interesting than what you might 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.680 call virtual co viewing. That's when people connect over live 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.440 stream video, not just with each other, but with a 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:36.360 TV show or movie that they watched simultaneously. There's many 0:00:36.400 --> 0:00:40.239 companies trying to crack that nut, including Senor, who's co 0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.720 founder and CEO, Joe Braidwood, is with me today to 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:48.000 discuss this trend. Hello Joe, Hi, Andrew, good to be here. 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:53.680 Thanks for coming. Virtually speaking, virtual co viewing is definitely 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:58.120 a trend with some serious heat. You're getting some record traffic. 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.640 We'll get to that, but I want for you to 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:07.200 explain first what exactly Senior is really described the product 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:10.000 so people get a sense of it exactly. We call 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:12.560 ourselves the virtual Movie Theater, and what we mean by 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:16.800 that is we are at an extension for Chrome, the 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.600 web browser, that enables you to synchronize your playback when 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.920 you're watching a movie or a show with friends UM 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.480 in other locations. So really it's sort of Zoom meets 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:31.280 Netflix kind of concept. Got it. And you and I 0:01:31.360 --> 0:01:34.760 met back in when you had first launched, and I 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:39.640 was excited about the product and I saw a potential 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:43.000 in it that I felt was never really realized when 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.160 what you might call social TV was a bigger trend 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:50.320 many years ago. So here you guys come, and here 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:55.120 the pandemic comes, and it really changed the reception in 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.600 the marketplace for your product, did it not? Yeah? Absolutely, 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:00.560 I think sort of prior to the ademic, a lot 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.480 of people predicted that this behavior would grow over time, 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.800 but it hadn't really become mainstream. Most people who are 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:09.960 doing it would be in long distance relationships or um, 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.359 you know, on a tour of duty or away from 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:15.560 home for a period of time. And obviously the social 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.200 lockdowns and the social distancing that have been very much 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.520 the main thrust of the last few weeks has really 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.480 changed that behavior set. People are craving social connectivity with 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:27.680 people that they love and that they care about, and 0:02:27.720 --> 0:02:30.240 they're finding new and creative ways to spend time together, 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:33.639 and co viewing is a great way to do that. So, 0:02:33.680 --> 0:02:36.920 I mean, you had mentioned some sort of extreme instances, 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:40.160 but nowadays in the pandemic give us a sense of 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:44.040 like what kind of coviewing experience, say, you know, a 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:48.280 group of teenagers might have or maybe a different demographic. Yeah, 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:50.840 it's interesting. We see a lot of emails come to 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:54.320 us from mother's planning birthday parties for their kids, which 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:59.120 is acute and sort of unanticipated development for us. Um. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.760 We see a lot of people who run movie clubs 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:04.800 or film clubs that are getting together on a Friday 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:08.000 night to to to watch an old classic. Um. And 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.360 you know, people who are usually spending time together on 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:13.040 a day to day basis where they if their coworkers 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:17.120 or students at a university, are doing this to just 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.200 stay connected to their to their peers. And it's a 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.760 really really great way to do it. So what is 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:24.040 the upside for something like this? I mean, do you 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:28.320 see this as being, you know, a very mainstream activity 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.839 in time? Does the pandemic accelerate perhaps that mainstreaming? Yeah, 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.120 a great, A great sort of example of this is 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.680 you know, delivery services. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:43.800 of food and grocery and other good delivery services, and 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:46.800 you know, we we see that that acceleration is just 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:49.880 changing behavior over time, and when the pandemic is no 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:52.240 longer so in focus, we still think people are going 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:54.640 to shop with instacot and get their food from uberiats. 0:03:55.040 --> 0:03:57.160 The same is true of co viewing. You know, it's 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.880 a really fun, very convenient way to spend time with 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.800 people that is engaging and um, you know, sort of 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.280 take some of the focus off of trying to constantly 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:08.560 entertain people, which you might have on a Zoom Happy 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.440 Hour or another video chat. And so that sort of 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:13.880 shared experience is something that we're all craving and we 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:17.200 think that you know, making it painless and fun is 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:19.720 going to be something that sort of continues for for 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:24.920 years to come. Now, you launched with the ability to 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:29.039 create this coviewing experience around just a few select services 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:34.479 like Netflix. More recently, you guys announced a partnership with HBO. 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.400 So what is that about. So as the pandemic was 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.360 setting setting in over the last sort of couple of months, 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:45.360 U some of the team in Seattle who work on 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:48.880 on uh the HBO digital direct consumer products, reached out 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.720 to us about, you know, a way to facilitate this 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:52.400 for their audience, so we work with them and bringing 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:55.240 support for HBO now and HBO go to the platform. 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:57.640 And that's great because it enables people to enjoy some 0:04:57.680 --> 0:05:01.120 of the best content out there through the alternative services. 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:03.039 And our users have written to us since and really 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.719 thanked us for doing that. You know. It really has 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:08.560 created a way to sort of explore back catalogs of 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.200 really great content with your friends in a way that 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:14.120 you couldn't before. And have you seen a difference in 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.880 the marketplace since the HBO deal kicked in? Is it 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:20.120 giving you a new level of visibility? Yeah? I think 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.440 you know, when you have prominent announcements with incredible brand 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:27.160 slate like there's it really sort of raises your profile. 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:30.360 And we've had an incredible response from users and partners 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:33.600 over the last few weeks. Um our usage has sort 0:05:33.640 --> 0:05:38.280 of multiplied several factors, uh, you know, and just the 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:40.520 that the fact that people have been talking about us 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:42.520 on social media in ways that they haven't before. We've 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.280 seen a couple of TikTok videos go viral about us. 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.040 It's been really an exciting time, uh. And I think 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.640 it's it's really a rising tide for all co viewing 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:53.720 services right now, Well, that's the thing. Let's let's give 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.960 a broader sense of what's going on here. I mean, frankly, 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.520 I think if there's any one service that's kind of 0:05:59.520 --> 0:06:02.960 broken out from this pack, it would be the Netflix Party, 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:07.640 which is also a Chrome. Addition, we've seen other services 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.640 like House Party kind of extend themselves into this space. Frankly, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:15.640 I'm surprised Zoom hasn't already done this. So, you know, 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:20.680 how crowded a marketplace are you operating in. We like 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.120 to think that what we're doing is very distinct because 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.720 we are, um you know, we're built from the ground 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.839 up to be respectful of content rights and we really 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.360 want to be a partner for the industry to think 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:35.400 about how they merchandise and build engagement around that the 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:38.560 most exciting pieces of content. And you know, that's quite 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.679 different to some of the other examples that you site, 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:43.960 where it's more just about hanging out or bootstrapping ways 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.600 to sort of synchronize playback. So, you know, the fact 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:48.919 that we're working with the industry and the fact that 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.680 we enable video chats synchronized with playback, those are two 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:54.760 unique traits to what we're doing, and we think that 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:57.440 it really Um, you know, it makes for a very 0:06:57.480 --> 0:07:02.080 interesting conversation about what the future of coviewing looks like. Well, 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:05.039 what's it been like in terms of your relationships with 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.800 Hollywood to get these copyrights in place? I mean, do 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:14.440 content do I P owners understand the coviewing trend even 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.040 a year ago? Do they take it seriously? Do they 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:21.600 see the potential? Yeah? I think that things are really 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:25.440 quickly sort of evolving. Um, just in terms of the 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:29.240 conversations we've been having since the announcement. Um, you know, 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:32.600 a few months ago, a lot of the marketing around 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.200 a big show or a big move in particular big 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.640 movie would be around the theatrical release. And we know 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.760 we've seen some very interesting stuff happen with um some 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.720 of these sort of premiere we can debuts a big 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:46.800 big big shows and big movies where you know, people 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.120 pay to watch it, um, you know, as as soon 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:55.040 as it comes out, rather than waiting for the theatrical runs. 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:56.920 And you know, so that is the beginning of what 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.600 we see as this sort of this very very new, 0:07:59.760 --> 0:08:04.239 very very exciting trend around creating really really engaging home 0:08:04.480 --> 0:08:08.400 entertainment experiences out of theatrical content. Um. And I think 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.440 you know, the other thing that is rapidly evolving is 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.640 the is the subscription video on demand landscape, and um, 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:18.120 you know, anything that can differentiate the experience of enjoying 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:22.360 shows and movies through these big esport services, you know, 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:24.920 it can be a very very powerful tool around sort 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:29.320 of engaging and retaining customers. So we're very excited about 0:08:29.480 --> 0:08:32.240 these changes. So, I mean, it's great that you've got 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.920 good relationships that allow you to get your hands on 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:38.640 this content. On the flip side, I have to ask myself, well, 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.560 why can't Netflix, for instance, just do this themselves. Do 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.280 you have any concern? I mean, you've got enough competitors 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.600 as as as it is big and small, But couldn't 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:54.800 the rights holders themselves start to roll out this technology too? Yeah, 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:59.000 it's it's it's it's conceivable that people who are building 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:03.040 these platforms could focus on this. Um. We haven't seen 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:05.240 that happen yet. And I think that's really for two reasons. 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.880 The primary reason is just staying competitive in terms of 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.439 the quality level of an spond service with buffering times 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:16.520 and with recommended content, and with all of the other 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:20.600 staples that really are required in order to be successful. 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.320 That's that's a ton of work that's very hard, and 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.560 you know, Netflix is really sort of trailblazing on that front, 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:30.320 and a lot of the other services have been focused 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.920 on how to sort of build features that stay competitive 0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:37.520 with Netflix. The second thing is around the psychographics of 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.080 of this behavior set. I think, you know, it's it's 0:09:41.120 --> 0:09:43.840 a lot easier for us, as a brand that's obsessed 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.640 with this problem to focus on building features for it 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.560 than it is for um, you know, a larger organization 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:52.439 that has to cater to all of their customers and 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.440 all of their use cases. So we can build something 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.240 that just works on Chrome, just on laptops, but building 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.800 credible tracks behind that, Whereas if you are thinking about 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.400 the sort of product roadmap at a larger organization like 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:08.520 an Amazon or Hulu or a Netflix, they have to 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:10.720 think about all of the devices, all of the markets, 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.600 and so it's it's just it's harder to really get 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:16.840 some momentum behind a breakout idea in that context, which 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:21.200 is why the startup ecosystem is so great for this. Well, 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.320 let's get back though to Netflix Party, which to me 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:27.640 seems to be before we should be clear, has no 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:31.760 affiliation with Netflix UM seems to be the one that's 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.679 sort of driving this trend, or would you even disagree 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:40.040 with that. I think Netflix Party is stow an incredible 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.440 wave of growth at the very beginning of the pandemic 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:48.360 because people were sort of desperate for new ways to 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:52.160 connect and UM, you know, when you punch in how 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.640 do I have a party on Netflix into Google, they 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:58.880 came up because of their their name UM, that I 0:10:58.920 --> 0:11:01.360 think is an important thing to recognize, and they've done 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.359 a great job a sort of capitalizing on that way. 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:07.240 The distinction though, is that it's actually just very, very 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:10.240 difficult to make a really great product in this space. 0:11:10.280 --> 0:11:14.079 There's so much technical UM sort of requirements around sort 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:19.480 of building a great synchronization algorithm, integrating great immersive experiences, 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:21.760 and we've really been focused on that from a sort 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:25.360 of quality level perspective of like building a product that 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:29.439 that scales really well, that enables these rich and engaging experiences. 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.440 So the thing that we just have started rolling out 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:35.480 this week is a feature set that enables many more 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:39.640 people to come into the same coviewing experience UM in 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.360 more of a sort of broadcast models. You can imagine 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.520 someone who worked on a movie, or someone who acted 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.920 in a show, or even someone who's just really funny 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.840 watching a great piece of content and bringing their audience 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.400 to that situation. And that's a very different take on 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:58.360 co viewing too, you know, pressing a button on the 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.440 tool bar to to send a link to your friends 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.600 to to sort of synchronize the playback, which is what 0:12:02.640 --> 0:12:05.400 Netflix Party does. So yeah, I think there's a lot 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.800 of space in this market for different creative ways to 0:12:08.800 --> 0:12:12.360 tackle the problem of what really the trend that we're 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.880 seeing here is this idea of hanging out virtually, it's 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.680 this idea of being together when you're a part and um, yeah, 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:22.679 we're very excited about our particular strategy on this. I 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:25.959 also wonder what the advertising play might be in all this. 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:31.080 Is that something I mean you're is there something to 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:35.040 how advertising might work in a co viewing experience that 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:39.160 might be different than traditional I think yeah that the 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.840 probably the best way to think about that is to 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:46.480 sort of consider what an AVOD platform like a Pluto 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:51.160 TV or inn IMDbTV, how they have fewer barriers to entry, 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.000 which is actually a great factor when you're thinking about 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:57.480 inviting friends and bringing them together you know, at the moment, 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.240 in order to enjoy some content on sena need a 0:13:00.280 --> 0:13:04.079 subscription to Netflix, Rhbo Now or something like that. And 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:07.000 what that means is there's this sort of a natural 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:09.760 friction if one of your friends doesn't have a subscription, 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:13.079 And so you know, looking at ad supportive video on 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.720 demand and thinking about how that reduces the barrier to 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.559 entry and how the biggest metrics for the team's working 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:23.240 on those products is eyeballs and engagement. We could be 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.120 a very natural partner in that context. The other thing 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:28.800 that we've been discussing with some some folks is this 0:13:28.880 --> 0:13:32.480 idea of being an influencer and having an audience and 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.920 all of the sort of classic ways that influences already 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.240 monetized that our audiences on other social platforms. So, you know, 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.400 product endorsements, podcast marketing has been a really interesting thing 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.480 for us to think about and and yeah, I think 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.800 there's a ton of opportunity there, But our primary objective 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:50.000 right now is just to deliver a great experience to 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.000 people viewing and to to grow. So um, we're sort 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:58.560 of not too immediately focused on the monetization piece. I 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.320 want to get back to the different use cases you 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:05.760 talked about a few minutes ago, because, as you said, 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:09.160 it's not necessarily just about a group of friends coming together. 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:12.520 This could be something. And again this goes with you know, 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.600 what is the strategy of a of a content rights 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:19.800 holder to take people that are involved in a production, 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:23.160 a star or director or writer or whatnot, and have 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:28.200 them have these kind of hosted experiences really not unlike 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:31.680 the content you might see in a DVD extra, but 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:36.600 in an interactive, live sense. Um. I mean, do you 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.640 have as big expectations for what that is as opposed 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:43.760 to the generic, you know friends model of this. Well, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:46.640 one of the most interesting things that we've seen over 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:48.840 the last few weeks is people reach out to us 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.280 to run events. Right, So it's not that you know, 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.720 the analogy of DVD commentary makes the most sense if 0:14:54.720 --> 0:14:56.760 you think about the conventional way that you would engage 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:00.000 with a director. But there's also incredible events that variety 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.160 tears running. There's incredible events like Comic Con that's been canceled. 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:07.360 There's all sorts of opportunities across the industry where you 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:10.280 might have an intimate audience with with someone that has 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.200 been involved in a piece of content, and people are 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.640 asking themselves, like, you know, Zoom doesn't really scale that 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:19.920 well for that use case, especially if you're screening a 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.560 premium piece of content. So maybe we could play a 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.680 role in that. And yes, that is exactly what we're 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.840 focused on right now. It's it's obviously always in our 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:31.520 interest to think about the consumer experience, but there is 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:34.840 also a very very significant opportunity to think about you know, 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.560 very very avid fans or prosumer sort of uh, you know, 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:41.920 takes on what an event or a screening or a 0:15:41.960 --> 0:15:44.920 premier may look like in the future. So it doesn't 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.480 sound like you have concerns that, as you know, some 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:51.840 have suggested, not necessarily specific to coviewing, that there will 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.400 be a particular set of behaviors that occur in this 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:59.400 unique pandemic period. But once things go back to normal, 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.520 who knows how much things returned to the way they were. 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:10.200 Any concerns that co viewing could be a very temporary trend, No, 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:12.600 And I think the best example of this is in 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.600 video games, right you know, Fortnite and a number of 0:16:15.600 --> 0:16:17.840 other video games have done a really great job at 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:22.000 integrating social features, and those have been sticky because people 0:16:22.040 --> 0:16:24.520 are inherently social, they want to spend time with others, 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.560 But we're also inherently constrained by what we can physically 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:29.280 accomplish in a day. So if you don't have to 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.840 move around, and if you can still have a great 0:16:31.880 --> 0:16:35.280 social experience, that's awesome. And we see this as the same. 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:38.480 You know, there is so much convenience and so much 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.520 social delight that comes from you know, kicking back with 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:43.600 a group of friends or being part of the big 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:47.280 fan experience around a piece of content. And we don't 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.200 think that that's going to change when people can return 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:54.600 to go into the more or to the workplace. How 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:57.680 much you know, we've talked about you've got a broad 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.520 range of competitors out there, big and so mall. Twitch 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:05.200 has been in this space, uh with some authorized content, 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.000 and they've also been sued from sports leaks. It didn't 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:12.439 like that their content was being transmitted with copyright infringement. 0:17:12.720 --> 0:17:15.840 How much illegal activity is going on here? Do you 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:17.840 get a sense of you know, there are a lot 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.960 of people who are just using Skype and and face 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:25.000 time to do this kind of group activity. Yeah, It's 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:27.480 it's difficult to know because the majority of that stuff 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:29.280 is peer to peer and you know, I think if 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:33.320 you think about what happened in the music industries is 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:35.520 a great example of what we are really focused on. 0:17:35.800 --> 0:17:42.280 We are enabling fully compliant, copyright friendly coviewing experiences in 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:44.640 the same way that Spotify would enable you to listen 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:49.800 to your favorite bands and music without infringing copyright, and 0:17:49.840 --> 0:17:53.160 that over time, that that charts to what people actually want, 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.119 because if people are passionate about content, and they're passionate 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.040 about movies, they want to they want to put their 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:00.439 dollars there, they want to be fans, they want to 0:18:00.480 --> 0:18:04.960 embrace that content, and so um. You know, of course, 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:07.240 every day we get emails from some some kids who 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.359 used to use Rabbit, which closed down because it was 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.399 struggling to scale because it was so so focused on 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:17.000 the piracy use case. And you know, they say, well, 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:19.760 this is this is weird. It didn't share my screen. Yeah, 0:18:19.800 --> 0:18:21.760 we're not. We're not in the industry of screen sharing 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:25.159 and we're in the industry of delivering premium entertainment and 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:27.200 bringing your friends along for the ride. And I think 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:31.000 that that's very exciting, and you know, we're focused on 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.280 the right long term strategy there. But is your product 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:38.800 a superior user experience from the illegal stuff, because as 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:42.520 we've seen in an earlier age of Hollywood, where streaming 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.720 copyright protected content wasn't really that much different in user 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:51.320 experience in the illegal piracy, which has certainly not gone away, 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:55.720 I think it was an even bigger headache. Yeah, absolutely. Um. 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:57.680 You know, you only have to be on a zoom 0:18:57.680 --> 0:19:00.200 with twenty people to realize that the quality level ball 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:03.640 of the video calls goes down significantly, and then if 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.840 someone shares some content on one of those feeds, it's 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:10.040 just not a good experience. And so we have worked 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:13.680 tirelessly to make sure that the way that Sena works 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.159 when you fire up the Chrome extension is it is 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:18.240 writing on top of the content delivery networks of the 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:20.760 services that you're watching that have been built from the 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.880 ground up to deliver premium viewing experiences. You still get 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:28.080 that same high resolution, beautiful content, um, you know, direct 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.120 from the source, and then you augment it with with 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.560 with the social layer, and so it works incredibly well 0:19:34.600 --> 0:19:38.000 and the experience is superior. The same is true for 0:19:38.040 --> 0:19:40.160 the audio. You know, you can manage and have full 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:42.800 control over the audio experience, so you can mute everyone 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.120 that's in the room and just focus on the movie 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.520 or show, or you can turn the movie or show 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.560 down and talk about it if it's a rerun. And 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:53.479 and you know, giving people the freedom to really create 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:58.320 their own experience. Here from a device perspective, you guys 0:19:58.560 --> 0:20:05.000 strictly work on a browser in a desktop scenario, not mobile, 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:09.240 not on the TV screen itself. Correct, Yeah, I mean 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:12.240 there are ways to leverage your laptop and plug it 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:14.560 into your TV, and you can even use sort of 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.400 Chrome casts. And we've had people right to us sort 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:19.800 of being evangelical about the fact that they figured that out. 0:20:20.400 --> 0:20:22.919 Um that we're at the beginning here. We've got a 0:20:22.920 --> 0:20:25.040 ton of work to do, and we're very hungry to 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:28.880 get it done. Around deeper integrations, and those could take 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:31.399 one of two forms. They could either be permissioned at 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:34.600 the platform level, so a row coup or Apple TV 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.600 or you know, a Visio or someone like that could 0:20:37.640 --> 0:20:40.680 could provide an API to allow us to know what 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:43.440 content is being viewed and to change the shuttle controls 0:20:43.440 --> 0:20:46.240 so that it's synchronized. Or we could partner directly with 0:20:46.280 --> 0:20:48.920 the content owners to to sort of bake this into 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:52.359 their proprietary apps and and both of those are on 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.040 the table. The beauty of Chrome as a platform is 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.560 it is such an amazing way to sort of integrate 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:01.359 deeply into these content experience too, in a way that 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.359 doesn't require the spoken permissions, and so that has allowed 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:06.400 us to prove that this is something that people want 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:10.960 without needing to persuade sort of very very senior bordering 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.000 folks that they need to change their strategy. Yeah. I 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.840 would imagine, particularly on the mobile front, when you crack 0:21:16.960 --> 0:21:20.240 that nut, that really is going to have a huge 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:24.800 effect for you. Yeah, exactly. And you know, mobile is 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.400 is a really interesting platform. It just so happens that 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:30.320 the pandemic has made it slightly less relevant, and so 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:33.560 we've been able to really sort of take that and 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:35.960 run with the fact that many people have access to 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.840 a laptop conveniently right now. Um, but as people start 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:41.919 to move around again and start to want to be 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:44.720 in these social environments, we've got a ton of ideas 0:21:44.760 --> 0:21:47.720 about how to extend that to mobile and that may 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:50.600 just be the that, you know, one example of that 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:52.720 may just be that if you're on mobile, you have 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:55.359 to manually synchronize your TV, but if you're on laptop 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:59.400 just magically happens for you, and you're okay with that 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:03.080 because you know that that's an alternative use case. Obviously, 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:06.280 we want to provide experiences that are really buttoned up, 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:08.120 and that worked very well for users who were also 0:22:08.119 --> 0:22:12.840