Nati Dinnar is a man of no small ambition.
When the co-founder and CEO of Izzy was asked what he’d like the Israel-centric streaming platform to become, he answered, without missing a beat, “the Netflix of Israel.” While the fledgling platform — slogan: “Stream Israel” — has a long way to go before it garners Netflix-like numbers, Izzy is growing; it currently has subscribers from 60 countries. But unlike many tech executives, Dinnar is not a 20-something looking to disrupt an industry; he came to Izzy with 25 years’ experience in Israeli television, including leading teams at Channels 2 (Keshet) and 10, and helming Dinnar Productions, producing movies including “Sabena Hijacking,” “Rescue Bus 300” and “The Longest Night.”
“You’ve got to dream big,” Dinnar told the Journal by phone from Israel. “There’s no room for small dreams.” He created Izzy because he didn’t see anything that talks to what he called “all Israelites around the world,” which he estimates number 16 million. And given the often disputatious and widely spread Jewish Diaspora, you won’t find them “all reading this newspaper, watching that TV channel, going to this website … when you want to talk to all 16 million, it’s impossible.” But if there are that many, and they’re that connected, he thought, “why isn’t there one platform that reaches everybody?”
”There’s no reason that a good story coming out of Israel could not reach audiences that are wider than Israelites or people with a connection to Israel. If it’s great television, then it travels.” -Nati Dinnar
When Dinnar says “everybody,” he means everybody. “There’s no reason that a good story coming out of Israel could not reach audiences that are wider than Israelites or people with a connection to Israel. “If it’s great television,” he said, “then it travels.” If the storytelling and the production are good, “there’s no reason people will not watch it.” The research that Izzy has done, he said, shows “there are people out there who want to see Israeli content and they want to see it with English subtitles so they can understand.” But “nobody was doing that.”
And there’s “so much to tell,” he said, and Izzy will cover it all. “I don’t care if you are left or right; I don’t care if you are from the LGBT community or not. Religious or not, it doesn’t matter.” That’s the beauty of Israel, he said. “It’s so diverse and there’s so much storytelling.”
Dinnar’s story could make an interesting show. Born in Boston to Israeli parents (his father was attending Harvard), he grew up in Haifa. As a kid, his dream was to play professional basketball, but “I was under six feet,” he said. “So that’s where my basketball career ended.” Only 18, he switched interests and joined the IDF. “I said, ‘you know what? If there’s no basketball, at least I’ll try to be a combat soldier.’” He acquitted himself quite well in the army, rising to the rank of lieutenant.
He also rose to be six-foot-five, so four years later, his army service over, he decided to give basketball another try and went pro, playing in professional ball for Haifa and Tiberias. A guard when he was younger, but his height made him a natural center. “I was a very defensive player.” It was, he said, “like fulfilling a lifelong dream.” But he wasn’t making much money, and realized it was “not a lifelong career.” When a job became available in the marketing department at Keshet TV, he decided to make television his career. (His basketball dreams remain alive through his son, Roee, who plays NJCAA ball for the Carl Sandburg College Chargers.)
Now in his mid-50s, when asked his age, Dinnar joked he’s “pretty old, but feeling young,” because “running a start-up in Israel makes you feel young.” Izzy’s not the first time he’s midwifed a new media company. In 1993, he was part of the founding team at Keshet, launching Israel’s first commercial TV station. “I was pretty good,” he said, with a touch of pride. “And I got promoted quickly.” He then moved to start a competing station, Channel 10. He also was a VP of media at the Israeli office of the BBDO’s Israel office.
Dinnar speaks fluent English with a hint of an Israeli accent. He attended school in the States, and a memory from the ninth grade and living in Philadelphia, has stuck with him. “There were two kids in my class a little bit older than me,” he said. “They used to tease me and ask ‘Is the desert dry? Do you ride camels?’ … It was weird. Why would you ask me if I ride camels? I never even saw a camel in Israel.”
At the time, he didn’t realize that there’s “no real knowledge about what Israel is, besides what they get to see.” The situation isn’t much different today, he said. “The world sees Israel mostly through the news, the conflict, and religion.” That’s not Israel, he insisted. “Israel is art, Israel is music, Israel is food, Israel is history.” Izzy, he said is “a buffet of whatever stories are made in Israel.” The hope is someone will start looking, and be intrigued by the diverse offerings. Netflix, he said, “cherry-picks every stereotype they think Israel stands for.”
Watching Izzy, Dinnar said, means “you’re just a click away from Israel.” There are Israeli TV shows, including the hit soap opera “Shtisel,” and comedies such as “Where Do You Live?” and “Who Died?” But the most expansive part of Izzy’s catalog is their documentary programming. There are biographies of Ben-Gurion, Meir, Begin and Benjamin Netanyahu’s father, Ben Zion Netanyahu and series such as “Under the Iron Dome,” documenting the creation of Israel’s antimissile technology and “Heroes,” a five-part series recounting stories of Israelis who went above and beyond on Oct. 7. “I like heroic stories, especially Israeli heroic stories,” he explained. There are also uplifting shows, including “Light Unto All Nations,” a series of dialogues with people Dinnar called “visionaries,” and “Startup Confidential,” a look behind the scenes into the birth of new businesses.
But Dinnar is already looking into the future. He wants to see Izzy do some sports programming, including a docuseries about Israel’s achievements in international sports — “David and Goliath stories”— Israel beating France in soccer or winning gold medals in judo. He’s also in talks to present live events that directly connect the world with Israel.
It’s a “very, very big challenge,” he said. But Nati Dinnar has the confidence and the ideas to meet it.
The Izzy app can be downloaded for free on Roku, Amazon Fire, Google Play, Apple TV, Tizen, and Android, or on your computer at https://www.streamisrael.tv/. Subscriptions are available: $72 annually, $10 for three months, and $12 monthly; the entire site is free Feb. 1–8.
