Genvid is pleased to announce the hiring of a new Chief Marketing Officer and President of Entertainment: Andy Schneider. Andy has a considerable history of innovation and success in the field – 20+ years of working in direct-to-consumer entertainment fields has given him a wealth of experience, with executive roles at Flutter Entertainment (FOX Bet/PokerStars, FanDuel), Disney+, Sony Pictures Digital, and NBC, in addition to launching multiple startups in the video game space from infancy to acquisition.
In his previous role as Chief Marketing Officer for FOX Bet and PokerStars USA, he oversaw a global team shaping brand creative, developing talent, influencers and league relationships, driving growth and leading the many integration points with FOX’s media assets to competitively position the company’s products in a high-growth industry.
Here, he offers some brief insights into the success path for MILEs, what they can offer to a crowded media market and why brands should be excited by their growth.
What in your professional history makes you excited about the prospect of MILEs?
My experience has been centered on bringing new digital entertainment experiences to delight fans. MILEs represents a new and exciting form of interactive entertainment for consumers and I’m thrilled to help bring these experiences to the world.
What parallels are there with other innovations in the global entertainment industry? What can we learn most from?
MILEs live at the crossroads of television and video games and truly take advantage of technologies such as cloud computing and interactive broadcast streams. Many examples of innovation in entertainment are focused around distribution (Netflix, Spotify, etc.) but do not fundamentally change the form or format of the entertainment experience. MILEs achieve just that: a media experience tailor made for the medium.
What are the specific advantages of MILEs when used for marketing of brands or IP?
As a career marketer and entertainment executive I know how important engagement and retention is to a business, especially a direct-to-consumer business. The inherent interactivity and storytelling mechanics of a MILE drives a much deeper relationship between the consumer and brand/franchise than most other forms of media. Where else can a fan impact the canon of their favorite story/character/world?
What do you foresee being the key new revenue streams facilitated by MILEs?
Multiple revenue streams can be derived from MILES including (but not limited to) brand advertising/sponsorships, product/IP integration, microtransactions and even gated subscriptions.
What areas (demographic, geographic, industry etc.) do you see the MILEs marketplace developing towards in the next few years?
With the success of Genvid’s first MILE, Rival Peak, it’s clear that the format is exciting and engaging for consumers. This leads to a host of possibilities and partnerships for original interactive storytelling, brand-based storytelling, sports, celebrity and brand tie-ins.
Which new markets can you see being engaged by MILEs which weren’t reached by other interactive media? How will they grow the interactive media market as a whole?
While the core audience for MILES may be digital natives, the fact that you can sit back or lean in on different levels of interactivity helps to broaden the appeal to many demographic groups. One such group are lapsed gamers who enjoy a level of interactivity but perhaps don’t have as much time to game as they once did but want an adjacent experience.
What are the key potential pitfalls which we have to overcome to bring MILEs to fruition?
When introducing something as innovative as MILEs, it’s important to focus on the core audience, first turning the core audience into fans and then into evangelists. That’s how to move from classic early adopters to more mainstream audiences. Genvid is off to a great start with the success of both Rival Peak and Pac-Man Community in this regard.
