Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in
Speaker 1: which we speak with some of the brightest minds working
Speaker 1: in the media business today. I'm Andrew Rollenstein, chief media
Speaker 1: analyst with Variety Intelligence Platform. The Israeli TV show Stissel
Speaker 1: found an international audience thanks to distribution on Netflix in
Speaker 1: recent years, so when a Stistle prequel was announced, it
Speaker 1: was quite a coup that the show ended up exclusively
Speaker 1: on a relatively small new Israeli streamer called Izzy. For
Speaker 1: Izy co founder Nati Dinar, the February twenty eighth premiere
Speaker 1: of Kogel is a big moment for his venture, for
Speaker 1: which success is defined by more than just commercial appeal.
Speaker 1: It's about promoting positive images for his homeland. We'll be
Speaker 1: back with him in just a moment, and we are
Speaker 1: back with Nati Dinar, a veteran of the Israeli TV
Speaker 1: business who was exporting the best of his country's TV
Speaker 1: via Izzy all over the world. Nati, thanks for being.
Speaker 2: With us, Thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: So let's get the elevator pitch out of the way first.
Speaker 1: For those who don't know, explain to us what is Izzy.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a string platform it's just focused on Israeli content.
Speaker 2: We want to bring Israeli content to the world, and
Speaker 2: that'd be dependent on what is selected by other media platforms.
Speaker 2: We want to enhance the world's relationship with Israel, get
Speaker 2: them connected with the Israeli storytellers, get an outlet for
Speaker 2: the Israeli storytellers to tell their story beyond the borders
Speaker 2: of Israel, and grow that as much as we can
Speaker 2: so Izzy will have an impact on the world.
Speaker 1: And what kind of programming are we talking about here.
Speaker 2: Well, we have almost everything on the platform. We're very
Speaker 2: non selective for Israeli content. If something was produced for
Speaker 2: Israeli audience, we believe that it's good content for the world.
Speaker 2: So we have films, we have TV shows, we have documentaries,
Speaker 2: we have some weekly podcast shows that we put on
Speaker 2: with content that we think is relevant. We have short
Speaker 2: films that we aggregated and brought to showcase them on
Speaker 2: the platform. We have almost everything.
Speaker 1: And how many countries are you in? Obviously you and
Speaker 1: I are talking about the US market, but I understand
Speaker 1: you're more than just there.
Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately, we only have one country where we're not
Speaker 2: showcasing this content, and that's Israel due to licensing agreements,
Speaker 2: but we're available worldwide. Last time I checked, we had
Speaker 2: subscribers from over one hundred and ten countries, some very big,
Speaker 2: some very small.
Speaker 1: And I assume the US is a key market. Are
Speaker 1: there other markets where you are predominantly?
Speaker 2: Yes, US is key. You know, I think almost sixty
Speaker 2: percent of our subscribers come from the US, partly because
Speaker 2: when we started, we were focused on English speaking countries
Speaker 2: because we subtitled all the content to English. But in
Speaker 2: about eight months ago we added Portuguese, Spanish and French
Speaker 2: and put some marketing efforts into Latin America and we're
Speaker 2: growing there very nicely. So it is you know, it
Speaker 2: is not for us to work locally where we can
Speaker 2: find audiences. We do start where where we can find
Speaker 2: audience that have a passion for Israel. And that's why
Speaker 2: US is a big market. And also you know Canada, Austraila,
Speaker 2: UK where we grew at beginning.
Speaker 1: And so who in those key markets is the market
Speaker 1: for Izzy?
Speaker 2: Is this?
Speaker 1: You know? Uh? Israeli expats?
Speaker 2: Is it?
Speaker 1: You know, Jews who just have an affinity for Israeli programming.
Speaker 2: So I think the majority, the big majority of our
Speaker 2: audience is not Israeli. Israelis outside of Israel want to
Speaker 2: stay connected to the here now. They want to watch news,
Speaker 2: they want to watch sports, maybe watch reality shows that
Speaker 2: the Israelis are talking about. That's not our audience. I
Speaker 2: would assume that the big majority of our audience are Jewish.
Speaker 2: We don't ask that, so we don't know, but I
Speaker 2: believe that's the people who want to be connected with
Speaker 2: Israel maybe watch shows in Hebrew to improve their Hebrew.
Speaker 2: I believe that's the audience, or or you know, audiences
Speaker 2: that have watched shows from Israel on Netflix, on Apple
Speaker 2: and just want to see more of that culture. So
Speaker 2: I think that's our audience. That's why I like to
Speaker 2: define on people with a passion for israel I believe
Speaker 2: they want some connection to this country.
Speaker 1: I mean we should point out this is not a market.
Speaker 1: You have to yourself. There are a number of other
Speaker 1: streaming services that do this. What is your competitive edge?
Speaker 1: How do you distinguish yourself?
Speaker 2: Well, as I said, I think we're focused about Israel.
Speaker 2: That's our mission. It's not only about growing a streaming service.
Speaker 2: We don't license content that is not Israeli produced or
Speaker 2: not Israeli oriented. We don't, so that's our focus. Our
Speaker 2: focus is to get more of the Israeli storytelling out
Speaker 2: there to the world. So I think if I look
Speaker 2: at who else is operating in the space, that's not
Speaker 2: their focus. So I think that differentiate us. But yeah,
Speaker 2: there's there's other platforms that you know, kind of share
Speaker 2: with us, not to say compete licensing Israeli content, but
Speaker 2: I think, and I'll say this about ourselves, I started
Speaker 2: easy with the idea that I'm not for exclusivity because
Speaker 2: I want the content to be out there to as
Speaker 2: many people as possible. If I license content exclusivity, I
Speaker 2: kind of close it to just to my audiences. So
Speaker 2: you will find that on the different platforms in the
Speaker 2: space we share some of the content as well.
Speaker 1: Well. That's all well and good and nice, but exclusivity
Speaker 1: is the thing that distinguishes yourself in the marketplace. So
Speaker 1: you know, if you don't have exclusivity, how do you
Speaker 1: distinguish yourself?
Speaker 2: Again, the content we bring, we don't cherry pick on
Speaker 2: the content from Israel. We want every content that was made.
Speaker 2: We bring old content to the platform because we think
Speaker 2: it still resonates with audiences. So we might have stuff
Speaker 2: that are exclusively on our platform even though we don't
Speaker 2: have an exclusivity deal for licensing it, But that doesn't
Speaker 2: mean that are the other players in the space would
Speaker 2: pick up that content for their reasons. So that's true.
Speaker 2: Having said that, you would imagine when we did the
Speaker 2: Google deal, I did take it exclusively to make a difference.
Speaker 2: So there will be occasions where we'll think exclusivity is right.
Speaker 2: But with Coogle, I don't think that we are limiting
Speaker 2: the audience that can see it. We're building such a
Speaker 2: big campaign to such a big audience. They will find it,
Speaker 2: and it will find it is the end they will
Speaker 2: find Google.
Speaker 1: Well, let's of course talk about that. Google is the
Speaker 1: prequel to Stistle, which was a show that obviously was
Speaker 1: big in Israel itself on the Yes network and then
Speaker 1: Netflix put it on its air worldwide where it got
Speaker 1: a great international audience. How on earth were you able
Speaker 1: to get this? I mean, I know you now currently
Speaker 1: have the rights to the previous three seasons of Stissel,
Speaker 1: That in itself is impressive. How on earth did you
Speaker 1: do this?
Speaker 2: If I can take you through the long story, I
Speaker 2: think the first time was when when I heard the
Speaker 2: news that Netflix is not going to continue their deal
Speaker 2: with Sticel after third year. I think it was somewhere
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two. The producer of Stil Abutamiri, who
Speaker 2: are now a fre mental company. As a good friend
Speaker 2: from the TV days, we worked a lot together and
Speaker 2: and I called him right away and I said, they
Speaker 2: can't stop this brand just by deciding they don't want
Speaker 2: to continue. We need to continue this brand. Let's think,
Speaker 2: you know, how do we continue this? How do we spinoff?
Speaker 2: And his reply was like I have something in mind,
Speaker 2: and that's where it ended, and I let it go jump.
Speaker 2: I think two years later I saw a short video
Speaker 2: that Yes put out with Sassong Gabay talking about Google,
Speaker 2: the new spin off series that they're doing for Yes.
Speaker 1: I think they did interrupt you explain who Sassoon is.
Speaker 2: Oh Sassong Gabbai, who is the lead actor in Stisil
Speaker 2: and one of the acclaimed actors in Israel. He they
Speaker 2: made a clip with him talking in Hebrew that they're
Speaker 2: making this spinoff. Verstle called Kogo and I said, well
Speaker 2: it happened. I was, you know, I thought it was
Speaker 2: just a conversation that died two years ago. So I
Speaker 2: called up my friend again. I said, what is this?
Speaker 2: He told me, yeah, we filled this, We filmed it
Speaker 2: in Belgium. And I said, that's good. But who's going
Speaker 2: to pick it up? If Netflix said no to the brand,
Speaker 2: would they pick up that the spinoff? Would their competitors
Speaker 2: do it? And this was twenty twenty four. We're, you know,
Speaker 2: in the hardest year of Israel through October seventh, And
Speaker 2: I said, and we felt that, you know, they're they're
Speaker 2: picking up content from Israel these days is not a thing.
Speaker 2: And I said, you know what, put me in touch
Speaker 2: with for Mental because we have to get this brand
Speaker 2: out there to the world. We have to get it
Speaker 2: out there quickly, not to let it you know, a
Speaker 2: two year deal from now ors whatever. And started a
Speaker 2: conversation with frementto. They also looked at me the same
Speaker 2: way you just asked this question, how why would why
Speaker 2: would a small streaming platform from Israel pick up you know,
Speaker 2: a brand that's super strong, maybe the strongest brand that
Speaker 2: came out of Israel. But luckily through conversation it took
Speaker 2: a while I convinced them we are the right way
Speaker 2: to go for the brand. We'll do everything for it,
Speaker 2: We care about it. It's it's it's not a we're
Speaker 2: not checking a box saying we have something from Israel
Speaker 2: and uh, and we made it happen.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. But to be clear, though, are you suggesting
Speaker 1: that the appetite for the Stitle or Google brands were
Speaker 1: diminished because of the cloud that had sort of built
Speaker 1: up over any sort of Israeli programming, that Netflix or
Speaker 1: other streaming services were loath to go to even successful
Speaker 1: content because of a sort of brand issue around Israeli.
Speaker 2: Well, you will have to ask them that question. But
Speaker 2: I tell you what we feel, and you know, I
Speaker 2: talk with all the producers and storytellers here in Israel
Speaker 2: and creators. It's hard. It was. It was a hard
Speaker 2: year and it's still not easy, not easy for for
Speaker 2: for international conversations. Even though when they do have the
Speaker 2: conversation with the executives, Uh, they like the Israeli content
Speaker 2: and they like the brands. It's just decision making. And
Speaker 2: that's why I thought we have to step up, and
Speaker 2: I talk with you know, my partners and investors, says
Speaker 2: this is this is our time. We have to do
Speaker 2: this and make sure that Google, which at the time,
Speaker 2: I didn't even watch an episode. I just nut believe said,
Speaker 2: this is probably as good as Tisils, so we have
Speaker 2: to make it uh a worldwide success. Now having watched
Speaker 2: the series, you know doesn't fall short of this, so
Speaker 2: maybe even better at some point. So so I think
Speaker 2: this is this is this is the times we are,
Speaker 2: This is where we need to step up. Israel has
Speaker 2: to take care of Israel, and if that means we
Speaker 2: need to you know, expedite Easy's growth, that's what we're
Speaker 2: gonna do. And and and you know, Google is the
Speaker 2: first stepping stone, and it's a big one.
Speaker 1: Well, and we'll get back to the implications for the
Speaker 1: Israeli TV business in a moment, but to be clear,
Speaker 1: this represents a big opportunity for Easy and its growth, right.
Speaker 2: Yes, definitely. You know, when when I started exploring the
Speaker 2: idea of you know, I was kind of dreaming, what
Speaker 2: if I can get Google on Easy, I did a
Speaker 2: small survey with our subscribers, not even you know, not
Speaker 2: even telling anybody. I'll just send a question there and
Speaker 2: we asked them a thousand subscribers, what did they if
Speaker 2: they watched Kissel, if they watched it again on Eazy
Speaker 2: would they watch a spin off if it was on
Speaker 2: Easy And the results I got were like, you know this,
Speaker 2: this is too good, this is we can't let this go.
Speaker 2: And the funny thing is that the people Infrumental heard
Speaker 2: about this questionnaire that I put out because I sent
Speaker 2: it to subscribers, and probably some of the subscribers, you know,
Speaker 2: our of our email list are here in Israel, and
Speaker 2: the word got around and and the call I got was,
Speaker 2: can you tell us the results of this survey that
Speaker 2: you did? So they were very good. The results were
Speaker 2: very good. So so I knew, you know, this is
Speaker 2: this is a game changer. At least I felt it
Speaker 2: could be a game changer. I believe, you know, even
Speaker 2: though we don't know the numbers, we believe that over
Speaker 2: a million people watched Netflix and watched Diesel on Netflix
Speaker 2: all three seasons. We know they're diehard fans. You know,
Speaker 2: there's two big series that they became big on on
Speaker 2: on Netflix. It's Schiesel and Fouda. But we found the
Speaker 2: connection the audience has with with Giesel. It is different.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think they watch Fouda, but they feel sttl.
Speaker 2: It's something about the storytelling. It's true that it's about
Speaker 2: Orthodox Jews, but it's not. It's about family, it's about people,
Speaker 2: and it's a very strong connection. So so it was
Speaker 2: there that I thought, if we get it and start
Speaker 2: telling people it's gonna be on Easy, we'll see they
Speaker 2: they'll come. As they say, if you build it, they
Speaker 2: will come. And and that's what happened. The minute, the
Speaker 2: moment we started saying there's Google, It's it's the return
Speaker 2: of the Thistles, it's gonna be on Easy, we started
Speaker 2: to feel the hype, whether it's with people you know,
Speaker 2: commenting on our advertising, signing up, you know, on the whole,
Speaker 2: the whole range. But whatever you can expect with a.
Speaker 1: Hit, got it. We'll be back in just a moment
Speaker 1: with more with Nati Dinnar of Izzy. And we are
Speaker 1: back with the co founder and CEO of the Israeli
Speaker 1: streamer Izzy, Nati Dinnaru. Nati, I've read Izzy's mission statement,
Speaker 1: which is to quote, enhance the world's relationship with Israel
Speaker 1: through entertainment, help talent and find an audience in the
Speaker 1: world end quote. So this is about more than just
Speaker 1: you know, financial success. How do you go about fulfilling
Speaker 1: such an ambitious mission?
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I think the first step is
Speaker 2: defining the mission and and it's exciting when it's a
Speaker 2: very bold mission. H you know, she would pay us.
Speaker 2: The late President of Israel I wrote a book called
Speaker 2: There's no Room for Small Dreams. If you're going to
Speaker 2: take on a mission, take a big mission. You know,
Speaker 2: both it's the same work. But let's do something you know,
Speaker 2: very big, successful. And I think this is very bald
Speaker 2: to say this is what Israel needs. You know. Part
Speaker 2: of my pitch is saying that if if Paris was alive,
Speaker 2: we're alive today, this is probably what he would do
Speaker 2: to make a change of how the world sees Israel.
Speaker 2: You know, we feel that every day that that will
Speaker 2: people see when they come here. It's not what they
Speaker 2: see when they're not here, and and the only experience
Speaker 2: they have to see Israel if they're not coming to
Speaker 2: Israel is through media. It could be the internet, could
Speaker 2: be news channels, it could be streaming. It's very hard
Speaker 2: to compete in social and it's very hard to compete
Speaker 2: in news. The whole world is you know, watching a Jazier.
Speaker 2: It became a big success. Can we compete with that?
Speaker 2: Can we you know through news try to tell a
Speaker 2: different story. I believe that the best stories from Israel
Speaker 2: coming in our our content creation, especially premium content. We
Speaker 2: have great storytellers. It's been proven time and time again.
Speaker 2: The only thing is we are dependent at this point
Speaker 2: on you know, international platforms picking up content from us.
Speaker 2: And I think if we're if we were independent in
Speaker 2: its territory and say, you know, we have the platform,
Speaker 2: let's just push all the content and then promote it
Speaker 2: so people will come. You know, we have no no
Speaker 2: barrier between us and the audience. And so I think
Speaker 2: that's that's the ball mission I see in front of me.
Speaker 2: But I always remind myself since I got out of
Speaker 2: the you know, the Army, I had uh and and
Speaker 2: playing a few years basketball professionally. When I started working
Speaker 2: from Channel to in Israel, the commercial first commercial TV
Speaker 2: station Israel, I was doing business. So that never I
Speaker 2: never let that go. And I think when you challenge
Speaker 2: yourself to do something important but make it a business
Speaker 2: as well, that that's an exciting challenge. And I think
Speaker 2: this is what we're doing with Izzy and and with
Speaker 2: time I hope will make it, you know, successful and
Speaker 2: prove that not only it fulfills the mission. It was fun,
Speaker 2: you know, traveling this journey.
Speaker 1: You're also fulfilling this mission through something called the Israel
Speaker 1: Entertainment Fund. Tell us how that works.
Speaker 2: Yes, well, probably early on when we started, as we said, okay, great,
Speaker 2: we'll build this platform for Israeli content. But in order
Speaker 2: to get the good content we want out there to
Speaker 2: the world, we have to make sure that keeps going on.
Speaker 2: And Israel in the past four years going through rough
Speaker 2: times even before October seventh, of budgets being cut and
Speaker 2: producing content. And when you cut the budget of a
Speaker 2: TV show, usually the budget you cut is its chance
Speaker 2: to compete globally. It's lowering the production value to a
Speaker 2: level where it's hard for international executives to say I
Speaker 2: want that, and for audience to feel they're watching, you know,
Speaker 2: a feel competitive a TV show as they're watching from
Speaker 2: other places in the world that the budgets are very high.
Speaker 2: So the idea was, let's see if we can bring
Speaker 2: support and bring money from people who care about Israel,
Speaker 2: care about Israel storytelling, and set up a fund that
Speaker 2: will co produce content. And that was the idea. It
Speaker 2: took a long time until I managed to you know,
Speaker 2: get the first funding for it, and that maybe did
Speaker 2: change through October seventh, but but I did manage to
Speaker 2: convince jennf you say to partner on this initiative and
Speaker 2: commit to the first initial money. And we've already produced
Speaker 2: one documentary series that we funded fifty and that's how
Speaker 2: we fund the projects. The IF gives matches dollars a
Speaker 2: dollar for Israelia TV stations or operators to fulfill their
Speaker 2: goals and production. It's a documentary called Fighters. It follows
Speaker 2: the soldiers who are wounded in the guy As a
Speaker 2: war early on and follow their story, the rehabilitation and
Speaker 2: how they are supported by their families and how resilience
Speaker 2: they are about what they did and what they want
Speaker 2: to do. Very very powerful. We're going to start distributing
Speaker 2: this with a distribution company next month and hopefully get
Speaker 2: it out there to the world. It is a different
Speaker 2: point of view about the war that you will never see.
Speaker 2: And we also got into a big drama again. It's
Speaker 2: a five episode drama on October seventh about Israeli civilians
Speaker 2: who saved lives in those twenty four to thirty hours
Speaker 2: when the attack started. It's a very big production for
Speaker 2: Israeli standards. Kesh It is one of the partners. We're
Speaker 2: part of the funding with the Israel Entertainment Fund the
Speaker 2: IF several investors from LA that are involved. Amongst them
Speaker 2: is Laurence Bender, a big time film producer. So we're
Speaker 2: very excited about that. Shooting is going to start this
Speaker 2: March and with God's help, they'll be ready for October
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like you're getting some real success finding
Speaker 1: outside funding. In terms though, of changing hearts and minds
Speaker 1: within the existing entertainment industry. Is that a.
Speaker 2: Challenge international industry?
Speaker 1: I would say both internationally and in Hollywood.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think again, I don't know if we can
Speaker 2: really make a change quickly. These things say take time.
Speaker 2: We assume that's going to take about two or three
Speaker 2: years until we're back to where we were before, which
Speaker 2: was not you know, the best place in the world.
Speaker 2: But we had success and and you know, Hollywood was
Speaker 2: interested and Israeli storytelling and didn't shy away from that.
Speaker 2: Now they kind of are things need to go back
Speaker 2: or fall into place until things get back, That's why
Speaker 2: we have an obligation to fulfill that void, at least
Speaker 2: for these two three years. I see it as a
Speaker 2: big opportunity for is It. But but that's something we
Speaker 2: need to do and I can't tell you that there's
Speaker 2: a change yet. I think Israel still feeling that people
Speaker 2: are people are on the fence, and so it will
Speaker 2: it will take time. And maybe you know, if we
Speaker 2: do good work and bring more content there, that can
Speaker 2: also speed up how quickly the Netflix, the Apple, et
Speaker 2: cetera come back into the game, and you know showcase
Speaker 2: Israeli content.
Speaker 1: Well, I wish you luck with that. I wish you
Speaker 1: luck as well with Kogel, which is obviously going to
Speaker 1: be transformative for the Izzy business. Nati Dinar, thank you
Speaker 1: for coming on Strictly Business.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Be sure to leave us a review
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