AMC Networks is “actively” exploring more pop-up deals in the same vein as the content group’s recent Max deal, its CEO has said.
That experimental deal saw the likes of Fear the Walking Dead, Killing Eve and A Discovery of Witches sit on Max as part of an AMC+ rail on the Warner Bros Discovery-owned streamer.
“We didn’t put current seasons on there but we got a lot of exposure for our content,” she said, citing how season 1 of Dark Winds had acted as strong promotion for season 2, which launched on on AMC and AMC+ a few days after the arrangement kicked in.
Speaking at Content London this morning, Dolan said that “at the height” of the pop-up period, AMC shows accounted for “seven of the top ten shows that were being streamed on Max.” The company is now exploring what the results of the “bigger shop window” are, and whether this has driven subscriptions to and engagement on its own streamer, AMC+.
“We expect to do a lot more of this and we are actively talking to pretty much everybody,” said Dolan. “Because we’re not vertically integrated by a broadcaster or owned by a distributor, we can dance with anyone that’s interested in dancing with us — and I say that in the most collegiate way.
“It does help us present on a larger stage and everything comes back to the quality and the value of the content we produce. If we can put ourselves put there, it lends us to more linear viewing and subscription.”
Quizzed on whether partnering with bigger content companies was a lowkey testbed for a potential acquisition, Dolan responded: “I don’t have any big announcements to make today but we are public in the U.S. — family-controlled but public — so we always operate in whatever is the best interests of shareholders.
“My role for the years I’m here is to optimize the business in every way possible so we’re positioned for partnership, future investment, acquisition or whatever comes our way.”
She noted her tasks included a plan to “federalize” the tech platforms undermining AMC’s various streaming services, which include Acorn TV, Shudder and AllBlk.
Dolan, the ex-wife of AMC Networks Executive Chairman James Dolan, comes from an ad tech and platforms background, having first joined AMC Network predecessor Rainbow Media Holdings in 1989 before working at companies such as Cablevision.
She has spent much of her time since being named CEO in February “applying operating, technology and data analytics efforts to what is traditionally a video and programming business.” This followed a turbulent time for the business in which 20% of the company and previous CEO Christina Spade was replaced after just three months.
“I’m not a content person but what I am good at is going in and fixing problems, tightening screws, pushing buttons and moving things around so I have spent a fair amount of the nine months I’ve been there optimizing the business — conscientious expense-cutting but more sophisticated approaches to marketing, technology and the use of data, and then looking at emphasising what content we have available and will do best for the many platforms we have under our belt.
AMC — famous as the network behind Breaking Bad, Mad Men and The Walking Dead franchise — has been gearing up to launch shows such as Parish, the Giancarlo Esposito-starring thriller series that’s based on Danny Brocklehurst and Jim Poyser’s BBC series The Driver from 2014. It has also been expanding the Walking Dead franchise with The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon and the much-anticipated The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, which will tell the story of lead character Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) after his exit from the main show.