The seasoned Danish sales executive who describes herself as a techno enthusiast, started handling digital distribution next to traditional sales in 2011 to maximise rights across all platforms and different countries, surfing on the expanding VOD market.

She tells us about her aggregation business and how Covid-19 is affecting her company.

Could you describe how you run your aggregation business next to international sales?
Tine Klint: LevelK’s DNA is rights optimisation. As a sales agent we come in early to help producers secure the financing for their projects and find the best distributors, TV channels and platforms.

As an aggregator, we work with rights holders [producers, distributors] to optimise their rights across countries and platforms such as iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Amazon, Comcast, Blockbuster, SF Anytime and other local platforms. We’re particularly active as an aggregator in the Nordics and Europe, but also have many partners in Australia, South Africa and EMEA.

Our technical service for digital distribution is very efficient, with 24/7 access where distributors can track every title and follow everything we do.

Besides B2B, we’re handling B2C with marketing and PR, social media activity, using audience tracking to know how the audience responds and behaves. This is very efficient to help spend the right advertising and marketing budget, adjust and retarget if necessary.

How many distributors do you represent and how big is your catalogue?
TK: We represent around 60 distributors. As a sales agent we handle 20 titles a year, but have a catalogue of around 7,000 titles due to the aggregation.

As aggregator do you take a flat fee or a share of revenues?
TK: We work on a revenue sharing basis for aggregation. Our deals vary according to the country(ies) where we are releasing, volume of titles, work load and workflow. We work on both mainstream and arthouse titles.

What is the share of aggregation in your annual turnover?
TK: It’s pretty much 50/50 now between aggregation and traditional sales. We have two separate teams dedicated to each sector, including a few people involved in non-theatrical. Small arthouse films tend to do better on non-theatrical today. We would like to see a renaissance of those films in cinemas, although this is unlikely now, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Can you tell us about your recent venture into theatrical distribution in Scandinavia?
TK: We’re involved in event cinema distribution with local partners on smaller films or documentaries. For instance with the Danish documentary Fat Front, we organised seven events in Danish cinemas in October 2019, then the film went on VOD in February 2020. In Sweden, Doc Lounge handled the cinema events in February and March this year, and we worked together on getting the film on different platforms before the broadcast on SVT this fall. In Norway, the film is available now on EST and TVOD and will premiere on VGTV this fall. Internationally, it will be released digitally across platforms in unsold territories and highlighted on Comcast in the US in June.

Our next release will be the Danish horror movie Breeder. It was co-financed by Blockbuster in Denmark and was always meant for a cinema event and digital release.

You received distribution support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond for the release of Fat Front in Sweden. What did this allow you to do?
TK: The support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond helped us to do more and better in terms of marketing and sign media partnerships to reach a wider audience. We built on our knowledge from the Danish release and had time to adapt the materials for the Swedish campaign, using cross promotion and working with the Swedish star of the film.

How had Covid-19 impacted your aggregation activity?
TK: There is definitely an increase in streaming audience behaviour and interest for content from VOD platforms. For some smaller films that don’t have a huge local theatrical potential, it makes sense to go straight to VOD, but otherwise, I’m pro-holdback between theatrical and VOD.

What are the biggest challenges with aggregation and what would make your work easier as an intermediate between rights holders and big VOD platforms?
TK: The biggest challenge is visibility as there is so much content available. We have to work hand in hand with producers/local distributors on the promotion of their titles so that we all increase awareness and to make sure we’re continuously visible on the platforms front pages or via SoMe advertisement. For some territories like Russia, it’s more difficult as they work on different social media and different platforms than us. But with the Nordics, Australia, South Africa and EMEA, we have the tools that can support distributors so we can highlight the films and reach the right audience. Timing is also key. Often a platform asks us for content to be ready and delivered two-three months before the local theatrical release. That time frame is ideal as it allows the platforms to discuss and plan the promotion of a film. To highlight a film, most platforms - especially the bigger ones who work with up to 100 sub-channels, ask for a film to be delivered and ready.

Regarding traditional sales, how has that side of your business been affected by Covid-19?
TK: You have a mix of countries that are waiting to buy, others that don’t buy anything, and a third category that buys for VOD/TV. We have done interesting catalogue sales and are still selling from our Berlin line-up. In terms of day to day running of the business, it’s been more efficient in getting buyers to watch films as no one is disturbed by festival travels. We can concentrate better and things don’t pile up. It has also benefitted our staff as there is more cooperation and communication between the teams working on digital sales and traditional sales. We have also spent much more time on positioning and marketing materials.

How are you preparing for the online Cannes Market and what films will you highlight?
TK: With Europa International, we have taken part in discussions with Jérôme Paillard [head of the Cannes Marché du Film] on how to make their first online market take place in the best conditions possible for everyone. We will provide a lot of online material for our entire line up. We will bring a fresh promo, digital pitch and other material on the anticipated Finnish film Tove, about legendary writer/creator Tove Jansson, set to open in Finland in September. The genre film Breeder in post-production will be previewed to buyers at the Frontières Platform June 25. We will have a new announcement as well.