Roundtable: If You Don’t Own the Audience, You Don’t Own the Future

For years, documentary makers and production companies relied on broadcasters, streamers and platforms to reach audiences. But that model is changing fast. In a fragmented media landscape, owning a direct relationship with your audience is becoming as important as making the work itself. Led by Zandland founder Ben Zand, this roundtable will explore what it means to build an independent documentary company in the creator economy — one that can make premium work for major platforms while also growing its own audience through YouTube, social, newsletters, podcasts and live events. The discussion will ask whether true independence now means owning your distribution, how serious long-form storytelling can survive algorithm-led platforms, and what the next generation of media companies need to do to stay culturally relevant.