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Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in

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Speaker 1: which we speak with some of the brightest minds working

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Speaker 1: in the media business today. I'm Andrew Rollenstein, chief media

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Speaker 1: analyst with Variety Intelligence Platform. The Israeli TV show Stissel

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Speaker 1: found an international audience thanks to distribution on Netflix in

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Speaker 1: recent years, so when a Stistle prequel was announced, it

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Speaker 1: was quite a coup that the show ended up exclusively

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Speaker 1: on a relatively small new Israeli streamer called Izzy. For

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Speaker 1: Izy co founder Nati Dinar, the February twenty eighth premiere

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Speaker 1: of Kogel is a big moment for his venture, for

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Speaker 1: which success is defined by more than just commercial appeal.

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Speaker 1: It's about promoting positive images for his homeland. We'll be

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Speaker 1: back with him in just a moment, and we are

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Speaker 1: back with Nati Dinar, a veteran of the Israeli TV

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Speaker 1: business who was exporting the best of his country's TV

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Speaker 1: via Izzy all over the world. Nati, thanks for being.

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Speaker 2: With us, Thank you, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: So let's get the elevator pitch out of the way first.

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Speaker 1: For those who don't know, explain to us what is Izzy.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's a string platform it's just focused on Israeli content.

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Speaker 2: We want to bring Israeli content to the world, and

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Speaker 2: that'd be dependent on what is selected by other media platforms.

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Speaker 2: We want to enhance the world's relationship with Israel, get

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Speaker 2: them connected with the Israeli storytellers, get an outlet for

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Speaker 2: the Israeli storytellers to tell their story beyond the borders

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Speaker 2: of Israel, and grow that as much as we can

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Speaker 2: so Izzy will have an impact on the world.

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Speaker 1: And what kind of programming are we talking about here.

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Speaker 2: Well, we have almost everything on the platform. We're very

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Speaker 2: non selective for Israeli content. If something was produced for

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Speaker 2: Israeli audience, we believe that it's good content for the world.

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Speaker 2: So we have films, we have TV shows, we have documentaries,

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Speaker 2: we have some weekly podcast shows that we put on

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Speaker 2: with content that we think is relevant. We have short

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Speaker 2: films that we aggregated and brought to showcase them on

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Speaker 2: the platform. We have almost everything.

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Speaker 1: And how many countries are you in? Obviously you and

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Speaker 1: I are talking about the US market, but I understand

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Speaker 1: you're more than just there.

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Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately, we only have one country where we're not

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Speaker 2: showcasing this content, and that's Israel due to licensing agreements,

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Speaker 2: but we're available worldwide. Last time I checked, we had

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Speaker 2: subscribers from over one hundred and ten countries, some very big,

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Speaker 2: some very small.

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Speaker 1: And I assume the US is a key market. Are

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Speaker 1: there other markets where you are predominantly?

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Speaker 2: Yes, US is key. You know, I think almost sixty

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Speaker 2: percent of our subscribers come from the US, partly because

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Speaker 2: when we started, we were focused on English speaking countries

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Speaker 2: because we subtitled all the content to English. But in

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Speaker 2: about eight months ago we added Portuguese, Spanish and French

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Speaker 2: and put some marketing efforts into Latin America and we're

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Speaker 2: growing there very nicely. So it is you know, it

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Speaker 2: is not for us to work locally where we can

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Speaker 2: find audiences. We do start where where we can find

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Speaker 2: audience that have a passion for Israel. And that's why

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Speaker 2: US is a big market. And also you know Canada, Austraila,

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Speaker 2: UK where we grew at beginning.

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Speaker 1: And so who in those key markets is the market

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Speaker 1: for Izzy?

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Speaker 2: Is this?

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Speaker 1: You know? Uh? Israeli expats?

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Speaker 2: Is it?

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Speaker 1: You know, Jews who just have an affinity for Israeli programming.

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Speaker 2: So I think the majority, the big majority of our

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Speaker 2: audience is not Israeli. Israelis outside of Israel want to

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Speaker 2: stay connected to the here now. They want to watch news,

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Speaker 2: they want to watch sports, maybe watch reality shows that

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Speaker 2: the Israelis are talking about. That's not our audience. I

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Speaker 2: would assume that the big majority of our audience are Jewish.

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Speaker 2: We don't ask that, so we don't know, but I

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Speaker 2: believe that's the people who want to be connected with

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Speaker 2: Israel maybe watch shows in Hebrew to improve their Hebrew.

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Speaker 2: I believe that's the audience, or or you know, audiences

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Speaker 2: that have watched shows from Israel on Netflix, on Apple

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Speaker 2: and just want to see more of that culture. So

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Speaker 2: I think that's our audience. That's why I like to

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Speaker 2: define on people with a passion for israel I believe

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Speaker 2: they want some connection to this country.

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Speaker 1: I mean we should point out this is not a market.

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Speaker 1: You have to yourself. There are a number of other

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Speaker 1: streaming services that do this. What is your competitive edge?

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Speaker 1: How do you distinguish yourself?

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Speaker 2: Well, as I said, I think we're focused about Israel.

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Speaker 2: That's our mission. It's not only about growing a streaming service.

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Speaker 2: We don't license content that is not Israeli produced or

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Speaker 2: not Israeli oriented. We don't, so that's our focus. Our

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Speaker 2: focus is to get more of the Israeli storytelling out

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Speaker 2: there to the world. So I think if I look

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Speaker 2: at who else is operating in the space, that's not

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Speaker 2: their focus. So I think that differentiate us. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: there's there's other platforms that you know, kind of share

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Speaker 2: with us, not to say compete licensing Israeli content, but

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Speaker 2: I think, and I'll say this about ourselves, I started

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Speaker 2: easy with the idea that I'm not for exclusivity because

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Speaker 2: I want the content to be out there to as

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Speaker 2: many people as possible. If I license content exclusivity, I

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Speaker 2: kind of close it to just to my audiences. So

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Speaker 2: you will find that on the different platforms in the

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Speaker 2: space we share some of the content as well.

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Speaker 1: Well. That's all well and good and nice, but exclusivity

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Speaker 1: is the thing that distinguishes yourself in the marketplace. So

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Speaker 1: you know, if you don't have exclusivity, how do you

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Speaker 1: distinguish yourself?

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Speaker 2: Again, the content we bring, we don't cherry pick on

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Speaker 2: the content from Israel. We want every content that was made.

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Speaker 2: We bring old content to the platform because we think

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Speaker 2: it still resonates with audiences. So we might have stuff

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Speaker 2: that are exclusively on our platform even though we don't

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Speaker 2: have an exclusivity deal for licensing it, But that doesn't

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Speaker 2: mean that are the other players in the space would

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Speaker 2: pick up that content for their reasons. So that's true.

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Speaker 2: Having said that, you would imagine when we did the

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Speaker 2: Google deal, I did take it exclusively to make a difference.

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Speaker 2: So there will be occasions where we'll think exclusivity is right.

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Speaker 2: But with Coogle, I don't think that we are limiting

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Speaker 2: the audience that can see it. We're building such a

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Speaker 2: big campaign to such a big audience. They will find it,

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Speaker 2: and it will find it is the end they will

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Speaker 2: find Google.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's of course talk about that. Google is the

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Speaker 1: prequel to Stistle, which was a show that obviously was

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Speaker 1: big in Israel itself on the Yes network and then

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Speaker 1: Netflix put it on its air worldwide where it got

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Speaker 1: a great international audience. How on earth were you able

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Speaker 1: to get this? I mean, I know you now currently

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Speaker 1: have the rights to the previous three seasons of Stissel,

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Speaker 1: That in itself is impressive. How on earth did you

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Speaker 1: do this?

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Speaker 2: If I can take you through the long story, I

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Speaker 2: think the first time was when when I heard the

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Speaker 2: news that Netflix is not going to continue their deal

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Speaker 2: with Sticel after third year. I think it was somewhere

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two. The producer of Stil Abutamiri, who

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Speaker 2: are now a fre mental company. As a good friend

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Speaker 2: from the TV days, we worked a lot together and

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Speaker 2: and I called him right away and I said, they

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Speaker 2: can't stop this brand just by deciding they don't want

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Speaker 2: to continue. We need to continue this brand. Let's think,

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Speaker 2: you know, how do we continue this? How do we spinoff?

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Speaker 2: And his reply was like I have something in mind,

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Speaker 2: and that's where it ended, and I let it go jump.

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Speaker 2: I think two years later I saw a short video

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Speaker 2: that Yes put out with Sassong Gabay talking about Google,

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Speaker 2: the new spin off series that they're doing for Yes.

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Speaker 1: I think they did interrupt you explain who Sassoon is.

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Speaker 2: Oh Sassong Gabbai, who is the lead actor in Stisil

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Speaker 2: and one of the acclaimed actors in Israel. He they

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Speaker 2: made a clip with him talking in Hebrew that they're

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Speaker 2: making this spinoff. Verstle called Kogo and I said, well

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Speaker 2: it happened. I was, you know, I thought it was

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Speaker 2: just a conversation that died two years ago. So I

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Speaker 2: called up my friend again. I said, what is this?

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Speaker 2: He told me, yeah, we filled this, We filmed it

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Speaker 2: in Belgium. And I said, that's good. But who's going

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Speaker 2: to pick it up? If Netflix said no to the brand,

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Speaker 2: would they pick up that the spinoff? Would their competitors

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Speaker 2: do it? And this was twenty twenty four. We're, you know,

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Speaker 2: in the hardest year of Israel through October seventh, And

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Speaker 2: I said, and we felt that, you know, they're they're

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Speaker 2: picking up content from Israel these days is not a thing.

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Speaker 2: And I said, you know what, put me in touch

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Speaker 2: with for Mental because we have to get this brand

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Speaker 2: out there to the world. We have to get it

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Speaker 2: out there quickly, not to let it you know, a

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Speaker 2: two year deal from now ors whatever. And started a

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Speaker 2: conversation with frementto. They also looked at me the same

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Speaker 2: way you just asked this question, how why would why

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Speaker 2: would a small streaming platform from Israel pick up you know,

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Speaker 2: a brand that's super strong, maybe the strongest brand that

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Speaker 2: came out of Israel. But luckily through conversation it took

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Speaker 2: a while I convinced them we are the right way

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Speaker 2: to go for the brand. We'll do everything for it,

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Speaker 2: We care about it. It's it's it's not a we're

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Speaker 2: not checking a box saying we have something from Israel

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Speaker 2: and uh, and we made it happen.

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Speaker 1: That's amazing. But to be clear, though, are you suggesting

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Speaker 1: that the appetite for the Stitle or Google brands were

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Speaker 1: diminished because of the cloud that had sort of built

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Speaker 1: up over any sort of Israeli programming, that Netflix or

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Speaker 1: other streaming services were loath to go to even successful

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Speaker 1: content because of a sort of brand issue around Israeli.

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Speaker 2: Well, you will have to ask them that question. But

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Speaker 2: I tell you what we feel, and you know, I

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Speaker 2: talk with all the producers and storytellers here in Israel

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Speaker 2: and creators. It's hard. It was. It was a hard

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Speaker 2: year and it's still not easy, not easy for for

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Speaker 2: for international conversations. Even though when they do have the

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Speaker 2: conversation with the executives, Uh, they like the Israeli content

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Speaker 2: and they like the brands. It's just decision making. And

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Speaker 2: that's why I thought we have to step up, and

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Speaker 2: I talk with you know, my partners and investors, says

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Speaker 2: this is this is our time. We have to do

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Speaker 2: this and make sure that Google, which at the time,

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Speaker 2: I didn't even watch an episode. I just nut believe said,

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Speaker 2: this is probably as good as Tisils, so we have

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Speaker 2: to make it uh a worldwide success. Now having watched

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Speaker 2: the series, you know doesn't fall short of this, so

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Speaker 2: maybe even better at some point. So so I think

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Speaker 2: this is this is this is the times we are,

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Speaker 2: This is where we need to step up. Israel has

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Speaker 2: to take care of Israel, and if that means we

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Speaker 2: need to you know, expedite Easy's growth, that's what we're

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Speaker 2: gonna do. And and and you know, Google is the

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Speaker 2: first stepping stone, and it's a big one.

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Speaker 1: Well, and we'll get back to the implications for the

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Speaker 1: Israeli TV business in a moment, but to be clear,

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Speaker 1: this represents a big opportunity for Easy and its growth, right.

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Speaker 2: Yes, definitely. You know, when when I started exploring the

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Speaker 2: idea of you know, I was kind of dreaming, what

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Speaker 2: if I can get Google on Easy, I did a

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Speaker 2: small survey with our subscribers, not even you know, not

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Speaker 2: even telling anybody. I'll just send a question there and

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Speaker 2: we asked them a thousand subscribers, what did they if

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Speaker 2: they watched Kissel, if they watched it again on Eazy

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Speaker 2: would they watch a spin off if it was on

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Speaker 2: Easy And the results I got were like, you know this,

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Speaker 2: this is too good, this is we can't let this go.

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Speaker 2: And the funny thing is that the people Infrumental heard

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Speaker 2: about this questionnaire that I put out because I sent

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Speaker 2: it to subscribers, and probably some of the subscribers, you know,

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Speaker 2: our of our email list are here in Israel, and

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Speaker 2: the word got around and and the call I got was,

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Speaker 2: can you tell us the results of this survey that

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Speaker 2: you did? So they were very good. The results were

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Speaker 2: very good. So so I knew, you know, this is

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Speaker 2: this is a game changer. At least I felt it

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Speaker 2: could be a game changer. I believe, you know, even

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Speaker 2: though we don't know the numbers, we believe that over

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Speaker 2: a million people watched Netflix and watched Diesel on Netflix

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Speaker 2: all three seasons. We know they're diehard fans. You know,

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Speaker 2: there's two big series that they became big on on

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Speaker 2: on Netflix. It's Schiesel and Fouda. But we found the

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Speaker 2: connection the audience has with with Giesel. It is different.

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Speaker 2: I mean, I think they watch Fouda, but they feel sttl.

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Speaker 2: It's something about the storytelling. It's true that it's about

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Speaker 2: Orthodox Jews, but it's not. It's about family, it's about people,

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Speaker 2: and it's a very strong connection. So so it was

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Speaker 2: there that I thought, if we get it and start

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Speaker 2: telling people it's gonna be on Easy, we'll see they

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Speaker 2: they'll come. As they say, if you build it, they

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Speaker 2: will come. And and that's what happened. The minute, the

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Speaker 2: moment we started saying there's Google, It's it's the return

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Speaker 2: of the Thistles, it's gonna be on Easy, we started

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Speaker 2: to feel the hype, whether it's with people you know,

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Speaker 2: commenting on our advertising, signing up, you know, on the whole,

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Speaker 2: the whole range. But whatever you can expect with a.

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Speaker 1: Hit, got it. We'll be back in just a moment

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Speaker 1: with more with Nati Dinnar of Izzy. And we are

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Speaker 1: back with the co founder and CEO of the Israeli

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Speaker 1: streamer Izzy, Nati Dinnaru. Nati, I've read Izzy's mission statement,

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Speaker 1: which is to quote, enhance the world's relationship with Israel

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Speaker 1: through entertainment, help talent and find an audience in the

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Speaker 1: world end quote. So this is about more than just

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Speaker 1: you know, financial success. How do you go about fulfilling

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Speaker 1: such an ambitious mission?

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Speaker 2: That's a good question. I think the first step is

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Speaker 2: defining the mission and and it's exciting when it's a

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Speaker 2: very bold mission. H you know, she would pay us.

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Speaker 2: The late President of Israel I wrote a book called

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Speaker 2: There's no Room for Small Dreams. If you're going to

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Speaker 2: take on a mission, take a big mission. You know,

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Speaker 2: both it's the same work. But let's do something you know,

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Speaker 2: very big, successful. And I think this is very bald

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Speaker 2: to say this is what Israel needs. You know. Part

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Speaker 2: of my pitch is saying that if if Paris was alive,

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Speaker 2: we're alive today, this is probably what he would do

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Speaker 2: to make a change of how the world sees Israel.

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Speaker 2: You know, we feel that every day that that will

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Speaker 2: people see when they come here. It's not what they

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Speaker 2: see when they're not here, and and the only experience

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Speaker 2: they have to see Israel if they're not coming to

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Speaker 2: Israel is through media. It could be the internet, could

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Speaker 2: be news channels, it could be streaming. It's very hard

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Speaker 2: to compete in social and it's very hard to compete

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Speaker 2: in news. The whole world is you know, watching a Jazier.

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Speaker 2: It became a big success. Can we compete with that?

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Speaker 2: Can we you know through news try to tell a

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Speaker 2: different story. I believe that the best stories from Israel

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Speaker 2: coming in our our content creation, especially premium content. We

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Speaker 2: have great storytellers. It's been proven time and time again.

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Speaker 2: The only thing is we are dependent at this point

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Speaker 2: on you know, international platforms picking up content from us.

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Speaker 2: And I think if we're if we were independent in

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Speaker 2: its territory and say, you know, we have the platform,

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Speaker 2: let's just push all the content and then promote it

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Speaker 2: so people will come. You know, we have no no

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Speaker 2: barrier between us and the audience. And so I think

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Speaker 2: that's that's the ball mission I see in front of me.

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Speaker 2: But I always remind myself since I got out of

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Speaker 2: the you know, the Army, I had uh and and

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Speaker 2: playing a few years basketball professionally. When I started working

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Speaker 2: from Channel to in Israel, the commercial first commercial TV

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Speaker 2: station Israel, I was doing business. So that never I

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Speaker 2: never let that go. And I think when you challenge

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Speaker 2: yourself to do something important but make it a business

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Speaker 2: as well, that that's an exciting challenge. And I think

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Speaker 2: this is what we're doing with Izzy and and with

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Speaker 2: time I hope will make it, you know, successful and

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Speaker 2: prove that not only it fulfills the mission. It was fun,

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Speaker 2: you know, traveling this journey.

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Speaker 1: You're also fulfilling this mission through something called the Israel

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Speaker 1: Entertainment Fund. Tell us how that works.

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Speaker 2: Yes, well, probably early on when we started, as we said, okay, great,

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Speaker 2: we'll build this platform for Israeli content. But in order

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Speaker 2: to get the good content we want out there to

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Speaker 2: the world, we have to make sure that keeps going on.

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Speaker 2: And Israel in the past four years going through rough

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Speaker 2: times even before October seventh, of budgets being cut and

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Speaker 2: producing content. And when you cut the budget of a

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Speaker 2: TV show, usually the budget you cut is its chance

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Speaker 2: to compete globally. It's lowering the production value to a

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Speaker 2: level where it's hard for international executives to say I

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Speaker 2: want that, and for audience to feel they're watching, you know,

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Speaker 2: a feel competitive a TV show as they're watching from

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Speaker 2: other places in the world that the budgets are very high.

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Speaker 2: So the idea was, let's see if we can bring

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Speaker 2: support and bring money from people who care about Israel,

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Speaker 2: care about Israel storytelling, and set up a fund that

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Speaker 2: will co produce content. And that was the idea. It

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Speaker 2: took a long time until I managed to you know,

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Speaker 2: get the first funding for it, and that maybe did

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Speaker 2: change through October seventh, but but I did manage to

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Speaker 2: convince jennf you say to partner on this initiative and

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Speaker 2: commit to the first initial money. And we've already produced

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Speaker 2: one documentary series that we funded fifty and that's how

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Speaker 2: we fund the projects. The IF gives matches dollars a

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Speaker 2: dollar for Israelia TV stations or operators to fulfill their

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Speaker 2: goals and production. It's a documentary called Fighters. It follows

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Speaker 2: the soldiers who are wounded in the guy As a

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Speaker 2: war early on and follow their story, the rehabilitation and

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Speaker 2: how they are supported by their families and how resilience

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Speaker 2: they are about what they did and what they want

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Speaker 2: to do. Very very powerful. We're going to start distributing

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Speaker 2: this with a distribution company next month and hopefully get

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Speaker 2: it out there to the world. It is a different

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Speaker 2: point of view about the war that you will never see.

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Speaker 2: And we also got into a big drama again. It's

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Speaker 2: a five episode drama on October seventh about Israeli civilians

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Speaker 2: who saved lives in those twenty four to thirty hours

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Speaker 2: when the attack started. It's a very big production for

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Speaker 2: Israeli standards. Kesh It is one of the partners. We're

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Speaker 2: part of the funding with the Israel Entertainment Fund the

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Speaker 2: IF several investors from LA that are involved. Amongst them

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Speaker 2: is Laurence Bender, a big time film producer. So we're

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Speaker 2: very excited about that. Shooting is going to start this

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Speaker 2: March and with God's help, they'll be ready for October

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 1: So it sounds like you're getting some real success finding

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Speaker 1: outside funding. In terms though, of changing hearts and minds

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Speaker 1: within the existing entertainment industry. Is that a.

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Speaker 2: Challenge international industry?

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Speaker 1: I would say both internationally and in Hollywood.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think again, I don't know if we can

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Speaker 2: really make a change quickly. These things say take time.

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Speaker 2: We assume that's going to take about two or three

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Speaker 2: years until we're back to where we were before, which

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Speaker 2: was not you know, the best place in the world.

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Speaker 2: But we had success and and you know, Hollywood was

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Speaker 2: interested and Israeli storytelling and didn't shy away from that.

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Speaker 2: Now they kind of are things need to go back

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Speaker 2: or fall into place until things get back, That's why

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Speaker 2: we have an obligation to fulfill that void, at least

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Speaker 2: for these two three years. I see it as a

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Speaker 2: big opportunity for is It. But but that's something we

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Speaker 2: need to do and I can't tell you that there's

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Speaker 2: a change yet. I think Israel still feeling that people

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Speaker 2: are people are on the fence, and so it will

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Speaker 2: it will take time. And maybe you know, if we

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Speaker 2: do good work and bring more content there, that can

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Speaker 2: also speed up how quickly the Netflix, the Apple, et

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Speaker 2: cetera come back into the game, and you know showcase

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Speaker 2: Israeli content.

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Speaker 1: Well, I wish you luck with that. I wish you

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Speaker 1: luck as well with Kogel, which is obviously going to

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Speaker 1: be transformative for the Izzy business. Nati Dinar, thank you

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Speaker 1: for coming on Strictly Business.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Thank you for having me.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave us a review

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Speaker 1: at Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music. We love to hear

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Speaker 1: from listeners. Please go to Variety dot com and sign

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Speaker 1: up for the free weekly Strictly Business newsletter, and don't

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Speaker 1: Strictly Business.