We all know that home viewing habits are changing. Here’s something that’s about to really shake things up. 3doo is the global 3D market place and Video on Demand (VoD) platform that’s delivering 3D media and entertainment to a global audience while offering producers and rights owners the unique opportunity to distribute and monetize their content anywhere in the world, using a simple web interface.
John Sitilides
John Sitilides explains how his company is adding a whole new dimension to watching TV – and it’s at long last ready for prime time.
Tell us about the product or service.
3doo Inc., the world’s largest cloud-streaming VOD platform for 3D content today, is transforming the global distribution of 3D media by simply and quickly delivering 3D films and videos to millions of Smart TV viewers, enabling 3D filmmakers and content owners – from independent producers to Hollywood studios – to monetize their 3D content in new revenue streams.
How is it different?
3doo is the only global 3D media distribution platform, with access to 65 million Smart 3D TVs in 180 countries. The Player App is available for free, either pre-installed or downloadable, on all Samsung, LG and Panasonic 3D Smart TVs, comprising 60% of all such TVs worldwide. 3doo offers 3D filmmakers 70% of net revenue from 3D film and video rentals (and eventually to include purchases).
What market are you attacking and how big is it?
The global 3D media market is enormous, and continues to grow with the Internet of Things that will include billions of mobile devices.
To date, more than 100 million Smart 3D TV owners have been challenged to identify and access quality 3D content on their units. 3D TV manufacturers were frustrated by the lack of available 3D content to incentivize greater unit sales. 3D studios and filmmakers have been waiting for an effective content distribution mechanism.
3doo solves all three problems with its “Player App,” which was awarded a 2013 “Best New Product” award by the International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society. The Player App directly connects 3D TV owners with a growing library of premium 3D content, enabling 3D content owners to distribute the growing library of 3D content simply and quickly into the living room comfort of a global potential audience of tens of millions of 3D consumers.
3doo is growing its 3D content library to eventually include major Hollywood and Asian studio content, independent feature films, sporting events, theatrical productions, television series and live events, as well as 3D video gaming, 3D social media, virtual reality and educational programming.
What inspired you to start the company?
3doo’s founders closely and actively co-developed the seeds of the 3Dtechnology market in various facets since 1999. This includes software and hardware, as well as stereoscopic media production,which resulted in first 3DShutter Glasses for PCs, stereoscopic big-screen projections on Windows PCs, and in 3D stereoscopic media generated from 3D non-stereoscopic media.
Over the years, we had been repeatedly asked: “What 3D content will you be able show on our devices, and when will there be a 3D home theatre available for everybody?” At the same time, Google acquired YouTube, James Cameron’s “Avatar” inspired major studios to produce spectacular 3D feature films, and more theaters converted to 3D projection. These trends supported our vision that 3D content was becoming very influential and lucrative, but still needed an infrastructure for distribution into people’s homes and eventually onto mobile devices.
We devoted ourselves to creating a high-quality stereoscopic 3D media app that would eventually become part of the Smart Home entertainment system, beginning with televisions. Now that 3doo has solved the 3D industry’s content distribution, availability and user access problems, we are more inspired than ever in 3doo’s potential to transform global 3D and advanced imaging entertainment.
What is the business model?
At first, 3doo will generate revenue from its paid Video-on-Demand (VoD) platform, which is currently in beta phase, and will soon be formally launched globally. Content owners directly control and monetize their 3D content, setting the price for each viewing and deciding in which markets to showcase their content. Content owners receive 70% of net revenue of video rentals and purchases, after factoring data transmission and payment transaction costs and any applicable taxes. Another business model, which will be launched in the next couple of years, includes premium subscription packages for 3D social media which we call “My 3doo.” 3doo subscribers will be able to upload their personal 3D video clips to the 3doo platform and share them with others, anywhere in the world.
Before even launching a global marketing strategy, there have been more than five million viewings of 3D videos by 750,000 3doo users worldwide. Given 3doo’s reach into 180 countries, we project that the 3doo user audience will increase significantly as we acquire high-quality VoD content and increase 3D TV owner awareness of the simplicity and speed with which 3D content can now be viewed, using the 3doo Player App.
Our software development team, with seven currently pending U.S. patent applications and one pending international patent application, is now developing the Player App for glasses-free tablets and for Android mobile devices. 3doo will also be developing software for 3D social media and personal content sharing, anticipating significant growth in 3D camera and accorder sales and usage in the years ahead. Similarly, 3doo will be developing software to engage the mushrooming 3D video gaming and virtual reality sectors.
Why do you feel 3D TV is not a fad?
Thirteen of the top fifteen worldwide box office receipts for both 2013 and 2014 were for 3D feature films. In 2015, there will be forty more 3D films released, including “Jurassic World,”“Star Wars: The Force Awakens,”“Avengers: Age of Ultron” and “San Andreas.” In 2016, 3D will be even bigger, including “Kung Fu Panda 3,”“Lego Movie 2,”“The Jungle Book,”“Captain America: Civil War,”“Angry Birds,”“King Arthur” and “Tarzan.”
The major studios are seeking an alternative post-theatrical release model to the cumbersome and costly process of manufacturing, shrink-wrapping, shipping and retailing DVDs and Blue Rays. 3doo offers studios, large and small, the ability to upload date files at near-zero additional cost, fully control their content accounts, and geo-target their content availability by market and pricing.
The problems to date center on the promotion of 3D TVs prematurely, before an effective 3D content distribution infrastructure, such as the 3doo Player App, was developed, to offer interested 3D TV buyers a growing library of 3D content. Hollywood studios continue to produce dozens of high-quality 3D feature films, which will continue to utterly dominate the global box office. With the Player App and the new Video-on-Demand platform, 3doo effectively solves the studio’s post-theatrical release problem.
In addition, scores of independent and short 3D films deliver a spectacular immersive experience that has not yet been made conveniently available in the privacy of one’s home – until now, using the 3doo Player App.
Furthermore, the 3D Smart Home concept has not yet been introduced in China, where there is a globally unsurpassed appetite for 3D entertainment. China has more 3D theaters and more 3D releases than any other country in the world, and the $300 million box office in China alone for “Transformers” illustrates the strength of the Hollywood-China collaborative model, and also shows unrelenting audience demand for premium 3D content in China. 3doo is planning a strategic breakthrough into the China market in 2015, which will greatly accelerate global 3D consumer interest in available content.
As 3doo makes its growing library of 3D films and videos more simply and quickly available in North America, Europe, and Asia and especially in China, we are confident the 3D industry will become a permanent feature in the broader advanced imaging entertainment sector.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
3doo is focused on three near-term objectives: a) securing additional investment; b) expanding the 3D content library to include premium, independently-produced films and videos; and c) securing contractual agreements with additional 3D TV manufacturers around the world.
Our three strategic objectives are: a) partner with a Chinese investor to enter the vast China market; b) enter into feature film distribution agreements with all major Hollywood studios; and c) position 3doo for industry dominance when glasses-free 3D TVs and mobile devices are widely available
If you could be put in touch with one investor in the New York community who would it be and why?
Albert Wenger or Andy Weissman.
Why did you launch in New York?
3doo, Inc. was originally conceived in Germany, where the software development team continues to be located. The company was incorporated in New York in December 2010, in order to facilitate the initial rounds of angel investment from a close network of friends of 3doo’s founders. Company headquarters are now located in the same office complex as that of 3doo’s lead investor and board chairman, Peter J. Pappas, Sr.
What’s your favorite movie to watch in 3D that our audience must check out?
The 3doo team of board directors and software developers enjoy discussing the artistic and technical aspects of 3D imaging. Most of the team members admire the stunningly immersive 3D craft on display in “Gravity,” the groundbreaking promise of “Avatar,” as well as the wonderfully subtle story-telling conveyed in “Life of Pi,” all which we hope to eventually showcase on 3doo.