By: Staff Writer
June 29, 2021
A Caribbean streaming service provider places a “great deal of emphasis” on “high value content rather than the price,” as he woos more Caribbean creatives.
Vincent Lewis, chief executive of Caribbean Cyber Stream in Trinidad and Tobago, took time out of his busy schedule to tell us how the streaming business is going during the COVID-19 pandemic, said: “At the start of the pandemic business for us was quite slow with most events such as weddings, concerts, conferences cancelled their bookings. However as time progressed clients soon adjusted to the “new normal” and bookings started back.”
Most of the creative content comes from Trinidad and Tobago for the time being, but this is not stopping the creative dreams from manifesting.
Mr Lewis was involved in technology at the age of 16 where he was seen in the forefront of concerts, conferences, weddings, television advertisements etc. He also assisted in directing, producing and editing local music videos and movies.
Mr Lewis soon ventured off to pursue his qualifications in media with Institute of Broadcasting Careers (IBC), spending a year in Television Productions and Caribbean Digital Concepts (CDC) spending 6 months studying general Broadcasting. Upon being qualified, he soon opened his first registered business Crossroads Productions back in 2005 which focuses on primarily “Live” pre-recorded Gospel events (not Live Streaming).
He soon decided to take it up a notch and formed a Camera Crane company called Crossroads Cranes which is a company that strictly focuses on rental of 33 Feet camera Crane, gimbals, stedi cams and drones, with a host of other tools and equipment
The pandemic had its long term toll too, as he added: “Because of the pandemic and the nature of our business a lot of content creators reached out to monetize or simply to promote their craft, however most of the creators are from Trinidad & Tobago. We are still in the process of creating strong bonds with filmmakers, fete/concert promoters, musicians from other parts of the Caribbean. It’s a work in progress.”
CCS is an online streaming service that offers Free to View, Pay per View and Video on Demand services along with allowing content creators to be able to make money by monetizing their content on its platform.
“The goal was always to add more value to our clients, so the team went to work and decided to create a netflix type company (without the subscription) called Caribbean Cyber Stream back in, 2018 providing high end video production and streaming services but mostly focusing on monetizing contents for creatives…The journey now start, we got a lot of work to do and bridges to cross, mistakes to make, opportunities to meet,” he said.
Mr Lewis also said: “We at Caribbean Cyber Stream usually work with client’s budget and try to find ways to give back to clients by monetizing or suggesting ways that benefit them. We put a great deal of emphasis on selling high value content rather than selling based on price. We believe if clients can benefit in a huge way then price should not be a major issue.”
“The future looks bright,” said Mr Lewis as he forecasted the oncoming years for CCS, “There is tremendous growth in the Caribbean streaming business. The content is becoming more and more available and I think the stage is already set for Video On Demand and OTT (over the top) content.
“Youths of today want content on the go. However, I also believe Local TV and Cable still have its place and speak to a different crowd and can also attract local advertisers who want their product seen by a targeted audience. When a local movie or event is shown on local “TV” it still brings a level of excitement traditionally so I don’t think it will be eradicated entirely.”
Mr Lewis added: “We’ve got so much to accomplish, we are still learning every day about this industry and constantly making improvements. We would like to help filmmakers, event promoters, musicians, teachers, content creators primarily from the Caribbean earn capital by creating one central hub (something like Netflix but without the subscription) that attracts the world.
“We know how hard content creators work and to give it out for free on YouTube or Facebook just for likes, we believe is not ideal. There are so much still to be done.”