NewCo Toronto 2018

Transforming Hollywood with Data

This summer, Netflix’s YA film The Kissing Booth became one of the most popular movies on the planet. According to IMDB’s rankings, this sleeper-hit summer romance held its own in the top five movies in the world, alongside summer tent pole releases like The Avengers: Infinity War, Deadpool 2, and Solo: A Star Wars Story.

But before it streamed globally on Netflix, the story started in Canada on Wattpad. Writing from the UK, Welsh author Beth Reekles’ story blew up on Wattpad, with millions of reads. The story landed her a book deal, and then film deal, becoming the Netflix hit streaming now.

The Kissing Booth is just one example of how Wattpad is disrupting the entertainment ecosystem, using data from their 65 million user to find fresh new voices and identify trends.
Hear Allen Lau, CEO & co-founder of Wattpad discuss how, after building the world’s largest social storytelling site, he’s now transforming entertainment and bringing data-backed insights to Hollywood. Lau will discuss the company’s vision to entertain and connect the world through stories, and how Wattpad is recreating how publishing and entertainment companies around the world—from Germany, to France, Los Angeles, and Southeast Asia—do business.