What's the big attraction?
"Evotum basically is a video streaming provider with DVD quality," explains Mara Epstein, the company's senior account director. "It allows studios that own their own content to offer it in their own video-on-demand theaters, instead of going through third-party applications. It gives them the opportunity to take charge of their content, while offering customers an experience that is easy and beautiful. It takes the online experience to the next level, because it's almost like watching regular TV. It's a seamless application with no buffering, and it goes through all firewalls. People can watch it anywhere at any time. All you need is a PC or a Mac and an Internet connection. It's the only platform I know of that works on both a PC and Mac. The system is perfect for adult, because it leaves no footprint."
The new technology in Evotum allows it to offer adult video through a fully integrated website solution to manage video content. It's built around a proprietary technology that offers wide-ranging capabilities, including full website development and deployment. Evotum streams full screen with high-definition quality, and according to Epstein, represents a chance for its users to stay a step ahead of everyone else on the Internet.
"I've seen the video surge, the laser disc experiment, and I was one of the first people in DVD distribution, so I've seen a lot of trends," Epstein says. "The Evotum product is the next generation.
"It's the cutting edge. I know it's really hard for the old brick-and-mortar people to understand the Internet, but they're really hurting their companies by not getting ready for this next generation of content delivery. My job is to go from studio to studio and educate them, with the hope that they'll understand how Evotum works and why they need to buy into it."
And there are several good reasons why content providers should, indeed, buy into the Evotum experiment. Firstly, the system is user friendly, requiring no downloading or online media players. Secondly, it leaves no record of itself on the user's computer.
"Say a guy is online, and he doesn't want his wife to know he's watching a porn movie," Epstein says. "He simply has to close it, and if she goes back to look at the browser, there's no record he ever was there. It doesn't even show up on the hard drive."
The third very important advantage to Evotum is that it prevents file sharing and pirating of content. The platform contains a top-rated Digital Rights Management (DRM) system, which prevents anyone from downloading material.
But perhaps the most important reason to use Evotum lies in the assurance that companies will make a lot more money off their content.
"The system allows companies with content to eliminate the third-party VOD providers," Epstein reveals. "Evotum allows them to offer their content directly to the customer. HotMovies and AEBN have created huge businesses, but with 17,000 movies on a platform, a studio's titles become just part of that huge number. Why not offer your firm's movies yourself? Why not keep 100 percent of the revenue you make on your online content, instead of doing revshare deals? I'm not advising companies to pull their titles off those VOD platforms, because I believe studios should sell their content wherever they can. But if you can sell product without revshare deals and keep all the money from sales, that's the best possible scenario.
"The big VOD businesses can offer traffic, of course, but it's time for the old brick-and-mortar people to understand the dynamics of the Internet and start building their own traffic to increase their profits. They need to keep in mind also that HotMovies and AEBN don't have a DRM in place."
In spite of all these advantages, companies continue to delay jumping on the Evotum bandwagon. In most cases, it has to do with cost as well as technophobia. But Epstein claims the cost of the system shouldn't be a concern.
"The money it takes to have your own Evotum platform is pennies in the big picture," she says. "To buy the Evotum platform costs roughly about the same as a good web design. The platform only costs about $15,000, which is about what you'd pay to a really good graphic designer to create a web presence for you. With Evotum, in addition to the website, you are getting the proprietary technology. The only other charge is for bandwidth, which is priced very competitively. It's a usage fee, which you pay every time you stream something. In the long run, companies will save money with our system, while also saving their content from pirating, which is a potential income windfall.
"Many content providers have the money, but won't spend it on this system. It's a matter of teaching an old dog new tricks. In the past, big content houses only wrote checks for production. Now they have to write checks for new delivery methods, and they're apprehensive because they want immediate results. They say their DVD sales are still good in certain niches, and I believe them. But I think they're selling to an older generation and missing out on the 18- to 25-year-old customers, who are much more Internet savvy. They want better viewing experiences, and the Evotum experience is so brilliant, it's like having that DVD in your library."
Those companies that already have made the Evotum plunge are raving about the system, according to Epstein. By June, KBeech and Wicked Pictures will be up and running on the platform, with Kick Ass Productions and SexZ Pictures soon to follow. To keep the ball rolling, Epstein, in an exclusive to XBIZ World, reveals that Evotum will initiate a special offer to any company interested in trying the new system.
"We will offer content houses a free trial to see how their content will look on our platform," she promises. "They only need to contact me, and we will encode their content and give them free demonstrations. We guarantee that their content will look better on our platform."
With enticement like that, it figures that Evotum will be signing a lot of new partners in the coming year.
