Evan Adlman, AMC Networks executive VP of commercial sales and revenue operations, sat for a fireside chat with B+C Multichannel News business editor Jon Lafayete to discuss his company’s FAST and AVOD strategies, and what is working on the newer media. He described the longtime cable programmer’s shift to streaming platforms as “more of an evolution than anything” as viewers’ consumption habits change.
“It is no longer delivering to one particular endpoint,” he said during a fireside chat at Tuesday's Next TV Summit, part of NYC TV Week.
Lafayette asked about AMC shows streaming on Max, both a competitor and a partner for AMC. Adlman said the strategy is to have AMC programming reach viewers and users on multiple platforms, so “they can access it on their own terms.”
“There’s a lot to learn,” Adlman added.
One perk of building FAST (free, ad-supported TV) channels is the abundance of user data one gets back, Adlman said.
Asked what he’s seeing in terms of the upfront, Adlman mentioned “a push from the buying community on transparency,” and noted that AMC Networks has “always been 100% transparent.”
There may be a glut of programming on streaming, but Adlman broke it down between premium content and “long-tail content” on FAST platforms. AMC programming, he added, falls in the premium bucket.
Adlman mentioned The Walking Dead: Dead City, which premiered earlier this year, debuting on a Sunday night, with the latest episode on FAST channels the next day along with messages about how to watch the next episode on subscription streaming service AMC Plus. That strategy “has been working for us,” he said, in terms of building subscriber numbers and show buzz.
Ad-supported AMC Plus premieres in October. Adlman said the company is excited about the launch. “We feel it’s another way for viewers to interact with us,” he said. “It allows our advertisers to reach a new set of viewers, and an incremental audience.”
