Blockchain-Fueled Entertainment Platform Ficto Launches Premium Interactive Streaming Network

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Ficto, a subscription-based fast fiction streaming service that offers interactive shows produced exclusively for mobile without a paywall, has launched its mobile app, available on both iOS and Android. The platform uses blockchain-based smart contracts for payment.

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Featuring a full slate of premium programming cultivated from both A-list Hollywood and emerging talent, Ficto offers shows and series ranging from original dramas and licensed film adaptations to comedies, docuseries, talk shows, game shows, news, and more. Ficto fairly compensates the producers of all content on the platform, from the big-name pros to the individual crew members at shoestring startups. 

“Ficto was built to empower creative freedom, with an interactive storytelling platform that reaches an array of audiences on the devices they use the most – mobile,” said Mike Esola, Ficto Co-Founder and CEO who spent 15 years as a Hollywood talent agent. “When you combine world-class storytelling technology with transparent revenue-share and ROI models for brands, you create a dynamic that is unmatched in streaming today.”

Unlike traditional, one-way static viewing of streaming movies and shows, Ficto enables viewers to immerse themselves in the action with fun, interactive features that are native to mobile, such as live-stream, viewer geo-location, live chat, instant polling, choice-based narratives, 360 viewings, augmented reality (AR) characters, click-through e-commerce, and more.

Ficto is launching with 30 shows, averaging 5 minutes per episode, and anywhere from 3-10 episodes in a season – with an additional 20 shows already in production, and more added to the content pipeline weekly. Designed to protect the creative intent of artists while accommodating consumers’ vertical viewing habits, Ficto developed a unique technology where editors retain the creative choice of their series in portrait mode frame-by-frame while also having the ability to stream horizontally. The result is a superior viewing experience that is native and optimized to mobile.

A Craving for Content

Ficto recognizes that consumers have an insatiable appetite for streaming and that mobile advertising spends are tracking double digital growth. This means that brands have a new premium opportunity to connect with mobile-first consumers using content and technology that drives business results. For consumers, this focus on brands means no paywall and free access to a platform that has a steadily growing library of shows – attracting over 30 new partnerships with celebrities, producers, athletes, and brands over the past few months, alone. This includes Ingress: The Series by Niantic, developer of mobile AR games Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, a narrative show that includes episodes interwoven with the real-world game.

“Storytelling is incredibly important at Niantic and we are always looking for interesting ways to expand on the narrative of our real-world mobile games,” explained Ingress: The Series director Spencer McCall. “Ficto is creating a platform that is a perfect fit for diving deeper into the mystery of Ingress, and we’re looking forward to creating fun and interactive episodes layered into the gameplay experience which players can enjoy on their mobile devices.”

A full roster of available shows can be found on Ficto’s shows page.

Featured content:

  • Represent – this docu-series follows the women who are ready to take the sport of surfing to the Olympic stage, even as the 2020 games experience a rare postponement.
  • East Of La Brea – Executive Produced by Paul Feig, this series tells the untold stories of LA through the lives of two very different Muslim women from working-class backgrounds. They realize making their dreams come true is more difficult than they could ever imagine.
  • Date & Switch – a modern dating show with live polling that lets the audience decide who the bachelor or bachelorette chooses.
  • Brothers From the Suburbs – a comedy series that chronicles the highs and lows of three African American teenagers’ coming of age in an affluent, suburban, white, private school community.
  • Nothingman -Otis Tremmel, a selfless, community-minded man with a complicated past, is now homeless and living on LA’s Skid Row.
  • Tom & Grant – refusing to be lumped in with the masses in the heartland, they seek a better way. Problem is, they’re idiots. All they’ve got is a car, a dream, and a very dumb idea: let someone else rob the bank, then they’ll steal the cash from the robbers. What could go wrong?
  • Real Artists – In the near future, a young animator is offered what should be her dream job. But when she discovers the truth of the modern “creative” process, she must make a hard choice about her passion for film.
  • Hermit – a comedic series that playfully explores the daily life of a woman who hasn’t left her apartment in six months. But don’t worry because she’s totally, completely, absolutely FINE!
  • Dakota – a musical comedy-drama feature film with an all-new original soundtrack by international pop-star Phoebe Ryan, who also plays the titular character.

New Revenue Model for Content Creators

Ficto was created to disrupt the traditional entertainment industry and is among the first streaming services to pay royalties, which today’s prevailing streaming sites have completely eliminated and propagated. Embracing its commitment to creators, Ficto utilizes blockchain-based smart contracts creating a radical new transparency payment layer for all parties involved in the production. Ficto automatically pays royalties in USD directly to artists based on how often their content is viewed. Because the formula is agreed upon upfront, everyone involved in a production is paid in a fair, consistent and timely manner.

Better Engagement & Measurement for Brands

At the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, the company launched Ficto Studio, designed to work with CMOs, brand marketers, and agencies to help them design immersive brand promotions that leverage Ficto’s full interactive capabilities – achieving a measurable return on investment. Ficto’s branded promotional options range from an exclusive title or category sponsorship of a series to custom augmented reality (AR), geo-location, click-to-purchase, product integration, launch events, creator collaborations, and more. Ficto Studio’s custom sponsor programs provide comprehensive performance metrics, including viewer engagement, interactions, social sharing and listening as well as interactive polling to drive instant, two-way dialogue with Ficto fans.

Based in Los Angeles, Ficto is a free streaming service that offers premium, interactive shows produced exclusively for mobile, available for viewing on iOS and Android. The Ficto platform offers adaptive vertical and horizontal formats putting viewers at the centre of the streaming experience. Ficto has pioneered an arsenal of interactive features that enable two-way engagement, which is more native to mobile viewing than any other streaming platform today. Ficto embraces independent and under-represented artists throughout the world, providing meaningful revenue share to creators and transparent performance metrics for brand sponsors.

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Also published on Medium.

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