Category Archives: The Mediascape

Annual Digital Distribution Guide Released

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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!

Netflix reveals some numbers

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Netflix subscribers continue to watch more and more, according to new research by The Diffusion Group. Up to seven billion hours in Q2!

Subscribers are watching Netflix an average of 92 minutes per day, computes the Los Angleles Times.

Regarding members, TDG says,

“In Q3-11, domestic Netflix subscribers represented 94% of the worldwide total. In Q2-14 the US share of total worldwide subscribers declined to 72%, a trend expected to continue as Netflix executes its international expansion strategy.”

With 50 million members, that means about 14 million are outside the U.S.

My take: After refusing to reveal Canadian subscriber numbers to the CRTC, it’s nice to get a glimpse into Netflix. In related news, Redbox Instant just shuttered operations last night.

New International Digital Media Co-Production Guide

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‘International Digital Media Co-Production, A Guide for Canadian Companies’ commissioned by Interactive Ontario, is now available on the CMF Trends web site.

The guide is a survey of current best practices with a focus on Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the European Union. It provides a detailed overview of the mediascape in each country and lists various funding sources.

The guide also suggests and discusses ten steps to finding an international partner for digital projects:

  1. Travel to Markets, Festivals and Conferences
  2. Develop Existing Relationships
  3. Look to potential U.S. partners
  4. Pursue distribution contacts
  5. Get help from the Embassies
  6. Don’t rush the relationship
  7. Research stakeholders
  8. Find the money first
  9. Meet producers when they come to Canada
  10. Think about more than money

My take: Thinking globally, acting locally makes sense in the digital realm. This guide illustrates some of the nitty gritty involved in making that a reality.

 

CMF releases study on doc audiences

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The Canada Media Fund recently redesigned its CMF Trends website. It’s an extremely valuable source for current information on the media scene in Canada. Don’t miss its excellent collection of Crowdfunding resources.

CMF Trends recently released ‘Learning from Documentary Audiences: A Market Research Study’ — 56 pages of data, analysis and insight.

Key findings:

  1. Documentary Viewing is Popular on All Platforms
  2. Participants are Socially Engaged and Keenly Interested in Viewing Documentaries on All Platforms
  3. Three Market Segments Identified: Connected Super Users, Discerning Documentary Lovers and Traditionals
  4. Greater Tools are Needed for Discovery and Promotion
  5. Greater Access to Content Online [Wanted]: curated choices, convenient access and interesting cinematic and social experiences

The research confirms Youtube as the primary source for free documentaries and Netflix as the top paid online source (and almost four times more popular than iTunes.)

One interesting takeaway is that 80% of respondents learn about new documentaries from reviews or articles, followed by word-of-mouth at 67%. Trailers come next at 48%. Just 28% learn of new documentaries on Facebook or Twitter. But:

“After seeing friends on Facebook “like” the page of a documentary, or post something about it on Twitter, 71 per cent of respondents said they search online for more information about the documentary. Sixty-seven per cent said they watch the film’s trailer. Fifty-two per cent said they visit the film’s Facebook page or follow it on Twitter.”

My take: this makes for fascinating reading. I wonder if the numbers are similar for Canadian narrative films?

The decline of the web series

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James Rawson writes in The Guardian that the web series is dying.

After recapping the successes of 2013 he laments:

“This year has seen no exciting steps forward for the medium, no breakthrough talents that have taken the web by storm, and no moneyed producers are making serious investments in the previously hyped new format. Apart from a few established talents and series that have managed to sustain themselves with a hard-won fan base, everyone else seems to have packed their bags and gone home.”

The reason why? The rise of Pro Streamers:

“With the rising popularity of Netflix and Amazon Prime, the distinction between online viewing and television has disappeared. Three years ago, if you were filming a drama to be streamed online, it’s likely that your main competition was going to be a home video of a cat with a French voiceover. Now, it’s Kevin Spacey in House of Cards, or a rebooted Arrested Development. The idea that low production values or a slightly unpolished script will be forgiven because a show is online no longer holds any sway. Combine that with the fact that advertising revenue simply isn’t reliable enough to guarantee creators will break even on their series, never mind make a profit, and the format seems increasingly unattractive.”

My take: On one hand, I was going to say, “The thing about the Internet is that it’s a huge desert and it can take hard work to find content that truly speaks to you. Pro Streamers and other content curators are building sustaining oases in that desert and operating lively bazaars there. They’re building markets. As an indie filmmaker, it’s very difficult or almost impossible to create that network effort by yourself.” On the other hand, yes, it’s tough and the competition is fierce. But never before have we had so many tools at hand. Have faith, work hard and believe the cream always rises to the top. Confession: I’d heard vaguely of The Guild but didn’t seek it out and watch it until I found it on Netflix.

 

 

Amazon buys Twitch for $1 Billion

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Beating out Google and Youtube, Amazon has bought Twitch for $1 billion.

Reported by the New York Times:

“Twitch specializes in live videos of people playing games, including regular Joes blasting away in Call of Duty, a popular shooting game, and elite players who earn million-dollar payouts at professional game tournaments. Twitch viewers typically see the screen of a broadcaster, featuring the game being played, along with a video feed of the player’s face and a chat window so they can communicate with the player and others watching the action.”

From Twitch:

“Twitch is the world’s leading video platform and community for gamers with more than 60 million visitors per month. We want to connect gamers around the world by allowing them to broadcast, watch, and chat from everywhere they play.”

According to The Economist:

“In July Twitch attracted 55m viewers, who collectively watched 15 billion minutes of video. That was enough to make it the biggest consumer of bandwidth in America after Netflix, Google and Apple. The typical Twitch viewer spends almost two hours a day on the site, far more than on sites like Netflix or YouTube. That delights advertisers, as does Twitch’s audience: mostly young men with plenty of disposable income.”

My take: Not content only playing online video games, gamers also spend time watching better players play. That’s a lot of eyeballs not watching TV or movies. TIME even reports of a mid-stream robbery foiled by online fans!

OTT revenue to surpass Theatrical this year

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A new report from Strategy Analytics claims OTT (over-the-top) revenue will double to over $18 billion by 2019.

“North American OTT video spending continues to grow as we go through an era where individuals address their viewing needs through on-demand services across multiple connected devices. Overall, the OTT video market was up 47 per cent totaling $8.9 billion in 2013.”

Fierce Online Video provides more detail:

“Consumer use of subscription video-on-demand services, such as Netflix and Hulu, will be the biggest driver in ‘over-the-top’ video revenues growing 21% this year in North America reaching $10.7 billion.”

Elsewhere, they display nice charts illustrating the dominance of Netflix and Youtube in the SVOD (subscription video) and ad-supported streaming segments.

IMDB quotes Screen Daily to give this some perspective.

“North America revenue from OTT (over the top) content is catching up with theatrical grosses as a study said projected numbers for 2014 will reach $10.7bn – a little under the record $10.9bn set by theatrical distributors in 2013.”

My take: I’m not sure this is evidence that people are turning away from the collective experience and embracing private viewing. Perhaps there’s more interesting stuff on Netflix. Perhaps a night out at the movies is too expensive. Or, is it both?

Don’t get lost on the Internet

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I love maps.

I love how they abstract the big picture into something tangible and packed with information.

Did you know there are maps of the Internet?

The internet is not a ‘cloud’ — it’s simply a series of networks that are interconnected. And one of the way internet traffic moves around are by cables under the oceans.

TeleGeography publishes an Interactive Submarine Cable Map and an Interactive Internet Exchange Map. Both are fascinating. So is their Global Internet Map.

What’s the connection with the new mediascape? If your project is digital and relies on the Internet for downloading or streaming, you might want to know where your server is located. If you know where your customers are, you might want to locate it closer to them. You want to be on the bigger pipes, if possible, to minimize the hops required to move your bits around.

My take: these maps help you understand traceroute, the somewhat geeky tool that lists the hops between your location and servers around the world.

Web-based Transmedia

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I came across ‘Loves of a Cyclops’ recently through No Film School.

The film is a quirky 25-minute narrative about vision by Nathan Punwar.

Just as interesting are the transmedia components Nathan and his collaborators have brought together at lovesofacyclops.com . United by subject, tone and execution the extra material can both tease or round out the main film, depending on whether you’ve seen it yet. There are photos, audio profiles, ‘science’ backgrounders, early movies, props, the soundtrack, a shop on VHX and outreach. There’s also a link to tumblr where you’re invited to contribute more material.

About transmedia, Nathan says at No Film School:

“It probably wouldn’t work to do this for every film, but for the right story it can draw strangers in, especially when your audience is online and not in a theater. It also gave us an opportunity to play with these odd characters in a first-­person way that the film doesn’t allow because it keeps pushing the story into new territory. That said, I think it’s most interesting when the extra content raises more questions than it provides answers. It only provokes more curiosity about the film. Because of the nature of making this film the way we did, it took nearly a year, so we had a lot of in­between time to kick these fun ideas around. The site isn’t just an expansion of the story. It’s a document of our lives for that year. Not everything contributes directly to the story, but it does come from our time spent telling it.”

My take: definitely worth exploring — a singular vision.

UPDATE: Lazer Team still breaking records!

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With less than a week to go, Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign continues to smash records.

They are closing in on $2,000,000 and 300% of their original goal.

This represents over 28,000 backers and an average contribution of approximately $68.

Of note, RT has raised over $142K from 23 people who have earned various producer credits in return.

My take: Rooster Teeth initially decided to make this a Flexible Funding campaign (9% fees,) rather than the riskier Fixed Funding gamble (0%.) No matter, now that they’ve surpassed their goal, the fee for both models is 4%, and Indiegogo stands to make $80K!