MUMBAI: Facebook’s video-on-demand platform Screenburn Media, which invested around $5, 00,000 in Angel Investment, is currently building its own team and looking forward to improving its mobile products due to an increase mobile and tablet device viewing.
Screenburn founder and director Tom Raffe said, “We have already hired a new marketing manager who will be able to push each new release, so this is really positive. We will continue to build the team as the amount of content we release grows.”
This year Screenburn Media has planned to concentrate on bigger concert films and sports content. Raffe said, “This year is definitely about getting the right content on the platform and then beginning to scale the company according to what works well. Some of this content has in excess of 60million fans on Facebook so the opportunity here is really great.”
Raffe who is in a position to tell the world his story, wants to help other starts-ups think in the direction they usually miss. He also shared a few highlights of his investment journey. “It can take a very long time to get investment,” he said. “To put things in perspective, it took Screenburn six months to secure our first round of ?300k and even the landscape and industry you are working in can change in that time. During this period, I was really doing a lot of the networking.”
Their first release with Soda Pictures was in December 2012.
He also added when they started, Facebook algorithms were completely different.
Since its inception up until now, Screenburn Media has released films on Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones to Facebook audiences globally, and had 200 indie releases. Raffe said that they are working with major studios on releases similar to Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones.
He even has a little advice for start-ups. “The advice I would give is to stick with it. If you truly believe in your idea then word will get around and people should begin to buy into your enthusiasm.”
Keeping in mind a few places in London like TechHub, The Hub, and Innovation Warehouse, he said that one can meet lots of people in similar situations. “I spent a lot of time networking, I was introduced to our lead investor, who then made introductions to further investors,” he said. Crowd sourcing is also an option but one cannot really depend on it, he stated.