Library Release - Telling Stories w/ Jason Wise, SOMM TV

XChateau Wine Podcast

From an outsider's perspective, Jason Wise, director of the SOMM movies and founder of SOMM TV, has been able to find stories in the world of wine that interest a broad audience. To control more of the content pipeline and how the shows are distributed, Jason founded SOMM TV. Using "Somm" as more of a curator, SOMM TV has wine at its core and covers food, travel, and other alcohol, making it appealing to a broad (and younger) audience. Learn more about the business of wine films in this episode of XChateau!

Detailed Show Notes:

SOMM movie (2012) - Genesis of the movie

• Made when he was fresh out of film school (where he didn't focus on documentaries)
• Met Brian McClintic, who asked him to watch their tasting practice
• Jason found the practice similar to a sporting event
• Met Ian Cauble and found his determination to become a Master Sommelier

The success of the film

• The obsessive personalities made the film
• Builds to an actual event (the MS exam)
• The wine industry was ready for something like the movie
• Not a "wine film," a different way of looking at wine
• Introduced a new group of people who can tell you what to drink (vs magazines)
• Documentaries became popular with Netflix
• Not made by wine people, the outsider perspective made it enjoyable for outsiders

Media business model

• Movies usually have a distributor
• Theaters are a big marketing arena for wine
• iTunes - make a % of revenue
• Netflix - pays the distributor a fixed fee; if put on the 1st page, it can reach millions of people. It often pays based on what it costs to make. They can own rights outright or rent the film
• Amazon - get paid 6+ months after it's up, get a tiny cut of incremental revenue
• YouTube - don't make any money on
• Created SommTV to control more steps in the business model - more control of content pipeline, partnerships, and a place to premiere new films (e.g., SOMM 4)
• Before Covid - events were a big part of the business

Media platforms

• Hulu - Jason's favorite, takes the biggest swings in content
• Stars - has the best movies
• Netflix - very careful; content is very similar to each other; often licenses something then makes their version if it works (e.g., Uncorked is a similar series to Somm)

Cost of making films

• Big range - SOMM 2 ~$100k vs ~$850k for another wine film made by someone else
• Documentaries - can be millions, when there's real music, at least $500k
• Do not pay people to be in the film

SommTV business model

• Employees on salary, which is unusual in film
• 90% original content
• It started with originals and, now, trying to license other content
• Focused on wine, food, and alcohol; food is going to be a big part
• It started the streaming service because it's an underserved audience, and wanted to super-serve them
• Content pipeline - they would ideally love to have new content every day
• Hundreds of thousands of subscribers (as of Jan 2022) - believes the potential audience is in the millions
• "Somm" is defined by Jason as someone who curates - wine at the center, but food, travel, etc…surrounding it
• Pricing - $6/month, $50/year
• Lower cost doesn't necessarily mean more subscribers
• Technology - a mix of own-developed and 3rd party apps; the goal is to bring the technology in-house

SommTV subscribers

• Younger, usually 24-37 years old (~70%), middle class
• Screenings/events - more varied audience
• 52% male, 48% female - women growing fast
• Key markets - US largest by far, UK, Brazil, Nordic countries (not allowed in Iran or China)

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