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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