Can Israel become a world class leader in content creation?

While many ask (including myself) whether Israel can become a world leader in the internet business still lead by the US and soon Asian new powers, i think there is a bigger question that i have been thinking about lately. Beyond technology and consumer web services, can Israel create true powerful world class content and media companies?

I am referring to services where the success depends not on the technology but on the messages and the creation process itself. Historically Israel has been very weak in that space, out of Israel. There is an amazing activity of content creation here in Israel but that has poorly succeeded to export itself. It is too idiosyncratic and not enough universal. It is too specific to the israeli culture and system of references. Take music for example: i think you can count on 2 hands the number of artists that are massively successful beyond the Israeli borders, however you have a very intense activity of music creation in Israel: Shlomo Artzi, Matti Caspi, Yoni Rechter, Yehudit Ravitz, Ivri Lider, Ninette Tayeb...are very talented and famous artists in Israel. Never mentionned or referred to abroad.

This is changing, in the new generation of artists you can find talents born in Israel that are really taking off abroad, Like Yael Naim, Avishai cohen or my Friend Yaron Herman (Israeli jazz in one word). Curiously they are not very well known in Israel. You had historically Ofrah Hazah, the Yemenite singer that everybody knew, but this was a one off. In classical music you have Daniel Barenboim and Itzhak Perlman. Again a one off (and classical is not really creation, it is more interpretation). I think a trend is in place in Music.

Same goes on the movie/TV business. I was having a drink with a famous israeli producer 2 days ago discussing precisely this matter. Some movies made in Israel start to have strong success abroad and are even nominated in the best festivals: Beaufort, Waltz with Bashir... For the first time a TV series is adapted by HBO (BeTipul/ In Treatment). Some Israeli actors slowly are also moving to hollywood and Some documentaries are on the way to become world successes (like DieinJerusalem Nominated at the Emmy Awards). A TV game format, the Katzefet was created here and now can be found on US TV screens. The trend is happening, but most Israeli movies are staying in Israel. There is maybe a one-off in the past years: Haim Sabban, but his success is more attributed to his stunning sense of business than to the content he used from Japanese licenses.

So why is that only starting to happen now? Can it go further? I think the reason is simple. Content creation and culture in particular have never been priorities in Israel. It does not mean people are not interested in culture or content, but that as industries they were secondary. Security and Technology (and water of course) have always come first. For obvious reasons, mainly political and military. And this is why the VC business has had little opportunities to fund content projects and more tech oriented businesses. There was no real ecosystem in Israel for world class content creation. Now the new generation are less obsessed with war and terrorism (they still are but way less) and they are enjoying via the internet exposure to great content and are inspired by they peers abroad. Education infrastructures are now here open to the world like Betsalel institute or Rimon school of Jazz and many more.

I think there is another reason: Israel has been for many years a country-non-grata, and i believe that in the public opinion it was not a "good thing" to welcome something coming from Israel. I remember having seen stunning Israeli movies 7 years ago in Paris, but it had very little success outside the jewish community. And this remains a big mystery to me, because when you look outside Israel many jews have been successful at creating strong quality content: starting by the hollywood movie industry, but also on the artistic (book, theatres,...) and the video game industry also.

So can we go a step further and anticipate the rise of this Little country as a major force in the content industry? Israel is for me the perfect environnement for the creation of great content: because of the intensive melting pot, result of years of immigrations, there is no better place in the world to create things that can merge different cultures and points of views. There is a tremendous level of creativity and entrepreneurship and there are the funds and ressources. Israel today has a better image worldwide and i think we are witnessing a remarkable shift in the manner content is being produced.

On the web, little things have been done so far but a few promising projects are on the way. Aniboom, the youtube of animation created by Uri Shinar (founder of Keshet, the biggest Israeli TV broadcaster) is out there, trying to solve the value chain of content creation for specific formats. Oberon is one of the most successful games creators and distributor on the web. Kaltura is working on video creation too, and WeBook on the book content creation. I know of many more projects that are on the way from different startups.

Can the next Second-Life be created in Israel? Can the next World of Warcraft (of which one of the top execs was an Israeli now back in israel) be created in Israel? Can the next TechCrunch/The Onion be created in Israel? i DO believe it is already happening because all the conditions are here. Many investors do not believe in that part of the business, but i strongly do. Other too: a new fund managed by JP Morgan will be dedicated only to that.

Just open your eyes and your hears.

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