Welcome to another episode of Strictly Business, the podcast in which we speak with some of the brightest minds working in the media business today. I'm Andrew Wallenstein with Variety.
When a streaming service has a brand spelled c hai fl i cks, some might pronounce it as chai flex, which might be movies for I don't know lovers of flavored tea, but if you're Jewish, you're likely to pronounce the brand Kai flex, Kai being the Hebrew word for life, and today's guest breathed life into this streaming service for is rally and Jewish themed movies, TV shows and docs nearly three years ago. Now Hi Flix founder Neil Friedman is ready to embark on the next big step, the
brand's first original series. We'll be back with him after the break.
We are back with.
Neil Friedman, CEO and founder of the streaming service high Flix. So, Neil, for starters, I'd be remiss in not asking you about how the recent tragedy in Israel, how that colors this strategy for high Flicks going forward. Certainly it must cast quite a shadow over your streaming service and its place in the market right now.
It does in the short run, I think it's we had to readjust ourselves immediately to the advertising and social media that we're doing. We press pause right away. We didn't want to be taking advantage of, you know, the attention of what was going on. We wanted to be low key and be out of the way. We're storytelling service.
I will say that even without promoting and spending advertising or social media money, our subscribers sent a message to us by viewing almost in eighty ninety percent of their viewership was of the Israeli programming since the conflict started. But I just want to add one other thing to that is that you know, we still are a Jewish storytelling service for Jewish stories from all over from all
over the world, Israel included. And I think it's to be honest, to be frank, okay, our mission is more important now than ever because you know, Jewish culture, Jewish history is more precious as a result of this.
Conflict, I understand. And also so when and where did hi Flix get its start.
We started in the United States and Canada in August of twenty twenty with forty titles we had from our film distribution company. In February of twenty and twenty one we made a deal or arrangement with an Australian distribution company that became our partner in Australia and New Zealand. So we expanded from the US and Canada to Australia New Zealand, and three months ago we expanded into the UK. So we're in five of the English speaking territories around
the world. I guess. The only one that we're not included in that category of South Africa, which you know we probably will go back and do so.
And do you have plans beyond those five?
Yes, we do. We have plans to expand in Europe and Latin America as well.
And at this point, can you say how many subscribers you guys have.
We have had an amazing run over the last three years, Andrew, we have surpassed our goals on subscriber levels at every step of the way. We have been happily surprised about the excitement and the depth of interest in this channel. Part of the storyline of our growth and expanding into the UK, for instance, lately, has come from the interest from outside, not us seeking that territory, but getting emails and letters even from the UK asking us to expand
into the UK. We are very happy with our subscriber growth to date. We are a successful company and the future is really bright.
Okay, so I take it. I'm not going to get an exact number out of you, but let me ask you this, is there a Jewish market that you have sized up globally? Is there a target number you're going after.
I have been involved in the Jewish space for twenty years now from the film distribution company that I was involved in that I'm still involved with. This is not a new exploration for me to extend into the Jewish space. Over those twenty years, have developed expertise in the Jewish space. We've handled films not only for North America but for worldwide.
And this is what I focused on in my career since I since nineteen ninety eight when I started the start the film distribution company, I've focused on just one area, built up my expertise and therefore I'm walking into high Flix. When we started high Flix with a whole group, long
list of relationships, trust, expertise. Know how that is I think unique to us and what we had done over that period is released two hundred and fifty Jewish themed films, which is an incredible amount of films, and we built up that expertise from distribution of those films and during the course of that film distribution company's life prior to kay Flicks, we started to get into a TV series world because we were asked by an Israeli network to
release three TVs Israeli TV series through the Jewish Film
Festival circuit in North America. And that was dipping our toe in the in the series of the TV world when we in the past, so we were from that experience and that new area for us right then and there we decided that we were going to develop into a streaming service, and we had put together business plans after that experience, and we were ready to go, and then the pandemic happened, and then we decided that there's no reason to delay to a date later and we
went the first week of the pandemic. We were all set ready to go.
Makes sense. And so you're basically describing your background at Minemsha Films, and obviously clearly this experience establishes can't think of a better person to get into this marketplace given your background. But I still want to understand how big is this global market that we're talking about.
We're talking about the streaming world right so, and the world has changed. So we're not talking about distribution into North American cinemas, and we're not talking about out limited access. We're talking about home availability of programming. So there's a couple there's a lot to talk about here. First of all, there's an incredible amount of programming that's available that was
that we found, that's available, that has been untapped. And even though others had acquired other Jewish or Israeli series that people know about, we found out that there was ninety five percent of the terrific available programs were not acquired and not available. So we when we started, we started with forty minemsha titles that were Jewish theme. We had that advantage. That's how we that's how we're able to pivot right into the once the pandemic hit, the
start conflicts right away. But what we also did is once the pandemic started and we no long could distribute our film district Bausch And Companies films in theaters because theaters were closed and film festivals were closed, we spent that time immediately into pursuing more of the TV world and the other programming world of Israeli Jewish. I'm going to make that. I'm going to go over that again.
We are Jewish streaming service, and I want everybody to understand that much of the programming Israeli, but we are worldwide Jewish streaming service. So the first acquisition we made for Jewish streaming service is a show called The New Black or in Hebrew Shabbat ni Kim, which we now have two years, two series, two seasons on the channel, and it's one of the most successful series that we have. Yeah, and mine as well. And this is a series I
will say that could be on any streaming service. And I think when I was referring to our expertise that we grew over those twenty years of being a film distribution company, part of the reason that we ended up with a quality program like The New Black was based on that experience, and we've taken that experience and continued
to grow that experience. We quickly after acquiring The New Black, which was our first television series, which really got us going right away because everybody loved it, we made a three series deal with one of the premiere Israeli television networks called Yes Studios. So in the first eight to ten months of the company we already had. We were off to the races as far as TV was concerned,
and we've only expanded into other areas of programming. We now have thirty five TV series on the channel, not all Israeli. We have a wonderful Swiss series, we have a wonderful polar series, and you will see series from all over the world. But I want to emphasize something. There's something in the water in Israel. How So, the quality of the of the creative pool there is absolutely unique and specific to that country. Whatever way you want to analyze it, pound for pound, it is no question
the best talented TV pool in the world. Well it's clear.
I mean you look at the track record that that country has had in terms of exporting those shows, whether it's the shows themselves or the formats. I think people don't even in this country realize how some of not necessarily the biggest shows, but some very successful shows in this in the US are based on Israeli formats.
Israel revolutionized the television business because they exported formats. Yeah so, and many of this reel companies have Los Angeles offices now because they're really Hollywood players. So that just speaks to the ingenuity from the business side of what they were doing, but it also speaks to the exceptional quality of the programming that was created.
Now, what I would also think bodes well for your service.
I mean you.
Cited earlier, obviously the pandemic was probably a real accelerant for high Flix. You know, maybe the stuff the movies that people would have gone to theaters for now they were going to be willing to watch at home while they were sheltered at home. But what I would also argue was the success of shows like Fouda and Shtistle on Netflix probably really opened up the appetites for Israeli type shows for your service, would you say that was also a big factor.
No question about it. What I want to emphasize there is those shows are not just There's the viewership is not just Jewish, right, because of the quality of those shows, we see the world the same way. And the other thing that I want to emphasize here is those two shows that you just mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. How So, there are fifty shows of that quality that have been made in the Israeli television business.
We've been lucky enough to get a certain amount of those fifty and they've been very successful on our service, and we can continue to acquire and put those undiscovered gems, those hidden gems our on our channel. This is what we do. We're micro focused on the Jewish storytelling, and that gives us an advantage and a focus that other streamers don't have.
Sure, although you know, here's the thing though, when I there's obviously a vast world of so called niche streamers or specialty streamers out there.
But don't you think.
All so that when people think of the Netflixes of the world, the Amazons, the you know, the the big Kahunas out there, that because there's such a vast amount of programming on those services, that they've come to expect that the kind of libraries that a that a high Flix has could be on those premium services instead of on a niche player like yourself.
I don't think so, why, because I think that we're The whole idea behind high Flix is one stop shopping for a certain kind of subscriber, Okay, that core Jewish subscriber who who has a voracious and a very loyal attendance to viewing Jewish storytelling and what we've found with the series of successes that we've had, especially on the television side for us with Shabatanakeam, then with a series called Unchained, which w has become a big hit, and
very recently with a series called The Lesson that once these folks binge these series, they go out and look at the other eighteen hundred hours of programming that's available on high Flix and that's unique to high Flix. Now, eighteen hundred is just the begin is where we are. Now, We're going to grow and continue and build the quality programming on our channel and continue and continue and continue. This is a life pursuit. This is not a this
is not a pandemic pursuit on our part. We're building this channel for preservation of Jewish culture and the storytelling that we'll that will that registers in the audience, Jewish or otherwise, will register in the word of mouth that comes from people's viewing of this quality programming makes people want to watch more and come to high Flix more and tell others about the channel. We have tremendous word of mouth, tremendous, whether it's rabbis at synagogues, whether it's
Jewish federations, whether it's the press. And we're building a unique streaming service that, although it is Jewish storytelling, it will have it has a quality base and a spirit that can go beyond just the Jewish audience because it's the bad stories that everybody can relate to, not just Jewish folks.
We will be back to help Meil spread the word of mouth right after these messages, and we are back with Neil Freedman, CEO and founder of the streaming service hi Flix. So in terms of how people discover hi Flix, you know, I caught an interesting statistic. There was a firm called Antenna Research that studies specialty and niche streaming services.
Last month, they just said that two out of every three specialty streaming services are discovered through so called aggregators like Amazon Channels, compared to just nine percent of the so called premium you know, the big time streaming services. Is there any arrangement like that for your service or you aggregated elsewhere or how do we find you answer?
You asked a great question, and I'm really happy that you asked that question. We've had that decision to make from the very beginning whether to go and become a channel on Amazon or Roku, et cetera, et cetera. But there's something unique to our channel that's different than any other niche distributors. We have a world unto itself. People that are on our streaming service US have uncles in another part of the world, another part of North America.
They have friends, friends, they have university roommates. We believe that we do not need to be on a bigger channel in order to grow, and that's not that's been the case. We don't want to give over our channel to another platform. We want us We want to continue to go in the way that we have been successful from day one, which was starting with one subscriber all the way up to where we are today, where we're continuing every single day to add subscribers. That's the way
it's worked. It's worked on word of mouth, and then maybe it's unique to the Jewish space, okay, as opposed to other spaces, but we're going We're banking on that and what we and part of that is the experience have had at the film Distribution Company in the sense that our repation as that name Menemsha became a brand name in the in the Jewish world in North America
as big as Mirror Mex. Okay, you, when you narrow the world to the Jewish world, Menemsha is a big, big brand, and the ki Flix and when it's narrow to the Jewish world in the world, is a big, big brand, and we want that for ourselves.
Makes sense. And also you don't have to split revenue with the aggregator, which certainly helps your business. Of course, another thing that could help ky Flix is a nice breakout original hit of your own. So it sounds like you guys are now ready to talk about a first original program. Tell us what's what's coming for ki Flix on that front?
Okay? So we have, as I said to you, we now have eighteen hundred hours of programming. It's all fired programming, and it's not programming, it's third party acquisition programming. But we have I'm announcing now with you that we have our first original it's called Schmoozing and Cruising and it's a kosher food series. Okay, six episodes with a food subject matter as the essence of each thirty minute episode.
One episode is about barbecue, one is about doughnuts, one is about coffee, one is about Chinese And in each episode you will see three restaurants in different cities in the country who highlight who present that kind of food as a highlight of their menu. And we're in essence, this series is bringing the kosher food world again, something that not everybody knows about, not even the Jewish world. It's sort of underground to some extent, out into out above ground. And this is this is what our mo
O is with the channel. Overall, we're bringing great programming, whether it's from Israel, or whether it's from from uh Poland, or whether it's from Swiss Jewish programming out into the world for the Jewish and audience and and the larger audience.
We believe, okay, we believe that we're onto something that is only going to get bigger, and that in the same way that you talked about the format rights of of the of the Israeli programming being remade in the in the home countries, we believe that these stories that are that that are that the Jewish storytelling that that that we have on our channel are available to others in the in the sense that they they're about human experience, okay,
and that's why they're transferable beyond the Jewish audience.
So when are we going to start? When do we see a first episode hit the service.
Of the of the original Yeah, just before Thanksgiving?
Makes sense?
And is this going to be by the way, it's time to Thanksgiving because that's a food holiday.
As makes sense. And by the way, food is a savvy programming choice.
Nothing is more.
Universal in its jewishness than food, like I get it.
And what about kosher food that's even more Jewish?
Absolutely? Will this take place in international cities or is it just you as.
It's North America?
Okay?
And you know it will play in all five of the territories that Kiflix is on. And this is just our first foray, we're dipping our toe in this water, and we are going to rely on licensing third party series or from around the world, and we'll go step by step, including this original program in building the channel.
Now, what's the cruising element in this.
The idea is that you're going from city to city, okay, because every episode will take place in three cities, in three different restaurants, one restaurant in each city.
Okay, sound can can you preview what restaurants are going to make the cut in this first season.
There's one in you know, I don't know the name of the restaurants on the top of my head, but you know it's if there's one in the valley here, there's one in Cleveland, there's They're all every every part of the US.
I'm salivating already. Yeah, no, it sounds absolutely.
This is just part of what we do. I mean, the whole idea is that this is a repertoire. This is not this is one stop shopping. I want to keep emphasizing this right, one stop shopping, preserving Jewish culture. So where our ideas to go to a to z okay? In terms of kinds of programming, a subject matter of programming and sensibility of programming.
Now do you see this says the first in a I'll have to use a food metaphor menu of original could be?
Could be? Obviously you said it yourself. Food is makes sense that this would be the first original from a Jewish streaming service. Why not? Okay, it's too early to tell. I think this is this. You know, this could be something special. We just don't know yet.
Sure, sure, I also have to ask the most Jewish of questions, what does it cost per month or per year to access high Flex? And is that something that could change over time?
It's it's right now. It's seventy two dollars for an annual subscription and nine to ninety nine month.
And is that the same price in different regions or.
That's the same price in all five territories?
Okay?
And we want to make it affordable. Okay. We're not looking for an elite audience. We want it. We we we have a cultural function here. Remember I keep it. I want to hit this bell often as often as I can, preserving Jewish culture. We wanted it affordable. And what we're finding and what we know now is that people really love this channel and people watch and are voracious about it. And I'll tell you we sent out
a survey. I think it was about price, matter of fact, and we wanted to talk to our subscribers this and I would tell you, maybe not half, but a tremendously large percentage of our audience said when we asked them what about the price point, they said, we don't care what it costs, we just want the channel. So that was a complete surprise to us, and that made us think that we were onto something okay, And you know, how could you How can I not feel that way
because there is nothing out there like this. And you know, being Jewish, by the way, is not just being Jewish. It's not just being a secular Jew. There's other aspects that we think about in terms of being Jewish, whether that's takun olam, you know, changing the world, whether it's uh all these all these good traits of a human being that come from our our history that and you don't need to be Jewish to be that way. So maybe we'll have a whole section on social justice unrelated
to being Jewish. Me personally, when I see the refugee crisis going on in the world right now, how can I not think about World War two and and the and the Jews situation in Germany. So is that is that a Jewish subject matter that should be on the service? It's a social justice issue. I'm I'm open to expanding that way as well. Well.
That's interesting and it's commendable. But when you start getting down that road, I also think you could potentially slide down a slippery slope that could get divisive because obviously there's also nothing more Jewish than disagreeing on stances about social justice. And different kinds of Jews have different kinds of views. And then perhaps the audience starts to splinter because politics get in the way. Do you think about those kinds?
We're not political, okay, we're not political, okay, But I'll tell you there's two things that every Jew and this is what I've learned from my handling this subject area for twenty years. There's two things that every Jew cares about. The Holocaust in Israel, and I'm not when we you know, that's not the only program we have. Obviously, Coach of Food doesn't fit into any of those two categories, right, But we're not taking a position on any of those two issues.
Right.
This is what Jews are, every Jew thinks about, and these are and this the discussion is exactly what the channel is for, to share programming, for people to discuss it. May have different points of view on it.
Right.
And by the way, if you know there's going to be so much programming on the end, there already is. If you don't like one show for whatever reason, there's eighteen hundred other hours to watch.
Sure, but even when you say something like Israel that can be divisive, and you could put something in that one program about Israel that could offend someone to the point where they don't want to watch the other eighteen.
I don't think sellers. I disagree with you about that. And it's our job as a as a as a streamer preserving Jewish culture to present the panoply of points of view, and not everybody is going to agree with every point of view. And when I say point of view, I'm talking about a narrator of fiction show primarily, but if it's a documentary and somebody has a point of view, there's another documentary we will have a different point of view.
And that discussion, you know, you say two Jews, three synagogues, this is part of who we are and that dialogue is something that we want to encourage and we want It's like a library. If you and I, you and I went to the UCLA library and went into the Jewish section, You're going to pull out three books, and I'm going to pull out three other books, and then we're going to sit and discuss. That's what that's the basis of who we are.
That's certainly commendable and also you know there's different shows on your service. There are also other streaming services and channels out there servicing Jewish programming. Do you think much about the competition out there.
No, we're aware of it, but we are different than everybody else. Okay, nobody's released two hundred and fifty Jewish theme films over fifteen years that I have. Nobody has their relationships with film sellers, producers, sales companies, television companies
just in the Jewish space that we do. We've built this up over years and years, first from our film side and now since Hi Flicks started in two thousand and twenty, and people come to us because they want to be on our channel, because they want access to our audiences. We're getting solicited more and more from sellers, from producers, from sales agents for their programming to come
to Kiflis. Why because the past experience of other shows and other producers has been that people are completely ecstatic and happy and content with the experience of appreciation of
their shows. With our audience. We have an audience and nobody else has and this is the audience for that, and that's why people are now coming to us to bring their programming to us, and we have a certain way of dealing with these with programming which comes out of the film side, I think, and my sensitivity, every single show is a child, and we deal with it in a special and sensitive way. That's the only way
to be a film distributor. We're not a big company, we're not one of the we're not cut from the studio world. Uh. And and the big streaming world where it's just product product product. We're sensitive and I think that relates a little bit to my personality, to the truth to being to handling every every film, every program as if it's your the only child you have.
Well, uh, that is certainly an admirable approach, and I appreciate you schmoozing with me about the channel and look forward to seeing how you'll be cruising into twenty twenty four with ki Flix. Thank you, Neil for walking me through your fascinating venture.
Thank you great to be here.
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