Acorn TV and DramaFever: Niche Video Thrives With Foreign Flavor
The company also spans the globe, or at least the Commonwealth, looking for new content. Canada’s "Murdoch Mysteries" is one of the service’s most popular shows, as is Australia’s "Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries."
“We fudge a little bit on the British,” Acorn’s Linck admits. “The way our acquisitions VP puts it, it’s sort of a British accent test: If we think it would work if it was set in the U.K. and if they have the queen on their money, then we can make it work.”
Acorn has begun branching out past those borders in its search for strong detective tales. It currently offers a French Agatha Christie series, "Les Petits Meurtres d’Agatha Christie," which it began streaming as a test to see if viewers would accept foreign language content. So far, the response has been positive. That’s good for Acorn’s company, which is the majority owners of the Agatha Christie estate. That series’ only problem is that it can be a bit racy.
“It has some mature content in it, so some of our more conservative customers have complained. But, for the most part, we’ve gotten some really great feedback,” Linck says. “Our customers love Agatha Christie, so it’s a great opportunity for them to see something that that they wouldn’t normally get that chance, because that’s probably not the kind of thing that’s going to get picked up by a broadcaster here, or even one of the other streaming services.”
Since Acorn TV competes against Netflix, which has several British series in its library, getting exclusive content is important. It’s not as critical as people might think, however. Linck says that she herself has sold rights to some Acorn content to Netflix. The increased distribution programs get on Netflix helps build interest and grows Acorn’s DVD business. Still, Acorn keeps dozens of titles for its viewers alone. They can easily be found in the “Only on Acorn TV” section of the online library.
Acorn’s library isn’t limited to British content; the service also features shows from Canada and Australia, such as the Australian TV series "Jack Irish."
DramaFever Breaks Down Borders
The bulk of DramaFever’s library is the Korean programming it built its audience on. But just as Acorn TV has done, DramaFever has added content from other countries over time. The site’s creators first looked to Japan, Taiwan, and China for programs that would please the same audience, then built up a sizable collection of Latin American content as well. Bak estimates that 20 percent of the site’s 14,000 hours of programming comes from non-Asian countries. How does that fit in and why does it satisfy the same audience?
“The majority of our audience is not who you think it is,” Bak explains. “Right now, for a site that’s primarily international content, the demo looks like this: It’s 40 percent white, 30 percent Latino, and the rest is split between black and Asian. We actually have more black people binge-watching Asian television shows than Asians. And it’s not because Asians don’t like Asian content; it’s just that if you look at the demo of this country, there’s a lot more diverse audiences out there.”
While DramaFever looks at first glance like it’s designed to satisfy an immigrant or expatriate audience, that isn’t the case. What interests Bak is finding quality content from around the world and making it available to mainstream viewers. People typically discover the site while looking for shows from one particular country, then stick around and sample shows from elsewhere.
“You may come to DramaFever initially to watch Korean content or something from Taiwan or various countries, but then we start seeing a whole bunch of cross-viewing,” Bak says. “It’s becoming a way for people to enjoy what they already like, but also discover things that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to find.”
The future looks strong for both Acorn TV and DramaFever, two services proving that on a global scale, even a niche audience can contain millions.
“A lot of people are focused on what Netflix and Hulu and HBO are doing,” Bak says, “but there’s this whole mid-tail opportunity of content that already exists and it’s wide open.”
This article appears in the May 2014 issue of Streaming Media magazine as "Niche Video Sites Thrive Serving Foreign Flavor."
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