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Books Mon Apr 29 2013
Digital Distributor Debuts at C2E2
With the rise of digital distribution, it's no surprise that digital distributors were competing for attention with extravagant booths at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo over the weekend.
Alongside the established digital comics distributors at the expo like ComiXology, a new up-and-comer in the crowded digital distribution market, Rhovit, held its official launch. Rhovit features film, TV, music, books, video games and comics at the independent and commercial level, and CEO Matt McCullough hopes the site's business model will set it apart from competitors like Netflix and Hulu.
"What differentiates us from the other sites is that we give 100 percent of the profit back to the content provider, and we also ad share," said McCullough.
Content providers on Rhovit get all the revenue from consumer purchases -- excluding credit card fees and streaming costs -- and a cut of advertising revenue, of which Rhovit also collects a portion.
"Over the course of our closed beta, we've gone out to companies like Miramax, MGM, Fox, CBS, Universal Music and DC Entertainment," said McCullough.
Rhovit hopes to distribute content for big media companies as well as independent creators, much in the same way YouTube does. Digital comics sales across the industry hit $25 million in 2012, according to analysis by ICv2.