She is 41 years old, has a 21-year career in the world of entertainment and is currently the communications director and ESG Director of Rakuten TV, the streaming service that offers the public free, rental or purchasable films and TV series as well as channels thematic TV and original productions.
Her name is Fabiana Cumia, she thinks that entertainment can and should have a great impact on society and her aim is to change things by offering increasingly inclusive productions on her streaming platform, attentive to the environment and capable of making the world a more sustainable, welcoming, kinder place.
The Rakuten TV button is on all our remote controls but in Italy this streaming platform is still little known, can you tell us about it? What does it offer the public?
“It is one of the main streaming platforms in Europe that combines multiple services: there are films just released at the cinema that you can buy or rent, free single-theme TV channels with advertising and also a large catalog of old films always free with advertising. In in this last category there are also our original productions such as documentaries, reality shows, talk shows, all content on the values of gender equality, mental health, diversity, inclusion and sustainability”.
What is today’s audience looking for from cinema and streaming?
“Today’s audience is society and today’s society is complex and cannot be represented only by those dominant models that we have seen, for years, in films or on TV. For example, we women grew up with Disney films that they made us believe that we could only be princesses or slaves of a man who would then save us but today it has become essential to correctly represent all the nuances of society, today we need models that are inclusive because if we continue to make series and films with models that create social exclusion we will only create this exclusion even in the society in which we ourselves live”.
What has been the biggest impact the advent of streaming has had on the world of entertainment?
“The world of entertainment has certainly changed a lot compared to the past. Once upon a time, budgets were all focused on the big screen and were much higher than those of today. With streaming, the way in which content is consumed has expanded and this has guaranteed a longer life for films. Previously, when a film was no longer in theaters, you could no longer see it anywhere, unless after three years on Rai or La7. month you can find a film on one platform. The moment we ensure that cinema minimizes the impact on the environment and maximizes the impact on society is a big step forward”.
And how do you make a film or TV series more sustainable?
“I don’t know if you know but the streaming industry is one of the most polluting in the world. We have discovered that most of our emissions come from streaming, therefore from the transmission of our signal. And this is where we need to act. We, in addition than talking about sustainability in the plots of the films and series in our catalogue, we have expanded sustainability in our structure but above all we have reduced our emissions by optimizing our data centers”. .
What will be the future of cinema?
“This question cannot be answered without talking about artificial intelligence but today’s market is absolutely not mature on this topic.”
And the future of streaming?
“As far as streaming is concerned, the scope of linear channels with advertising is growing more and more. People today tend to return to television viewing models like those of 10 years ago. It’s as if there had been a 10-year interlude in which people have become accustomed to buying films, renting them, paying subscriptions on streaming platforms and now the market is increasingly moving towards the use of linear channels on the platforms. These are thematic channels with advertising that offer series, films and documentaries only on a single theme such as “drama”, “science fiction”, “cooking”, etc.
And why are people searching for this now?
“The market says that people are looking for this because we got to a point where the offering in the streaming market was so numerous and confusing that people spent more time choosing a film than watching it. And we have reacted to this by offering more thematic channels. Today people need to put themselves in front of a schedule and not choose, they don’t want the worry of choosing. This is generally a market trend and streaming platforms have a way of acting on this “.