MovieMaker Magazine has just released its 2014 Guide to Digital Distribution.

After a glossary of terms, they list seven destination platforms (who “trade on the power of their brand names to drive viewers toward a single source of a film”) and ten traveling platforms (who “use players that are embeddable into all manner of sites, bringing films to audiences instead of the other way around.”)

They discuss that one of filmmakers’ biggest issues remains connecting with their audiences.

“Brian Knappenberger (The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz) makes a case for prioritizing accessibility: “If you take the top 10 or 20 things that are challenges for indie documentary filmmakers, piracy is not in that list, but obscurity is number one.”

Luke Moody, film and distribution manager of nonprofit foundation BritDoc, shares a similar perspective. “The main problem we find with docs anywhere on any digital platform is discovering them and discovering the good ones. You’re among thousands, unless your platform has its own kind of curators.” The same can be said of shorts and, yes, narrative features.”

My take: It boils down to economics. One: supply and demand affect price. Two: markets are made for commerce. Three: know your audience and your product — what are you really selling? Twenty years into this experiment called the Internet, we’re still figuring this out!