tv A Tv Network Just For Indie Film Maker

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N8TION

Hello IndieTalk.

My name is Dwight and I am the founder of an upcoming web based tv network for independent film makers.

I understand it is hard for the little man like my self to get our material out in the open for thousands and

even millions of people to see. I know there's Youtube and Vimeo but its really hard for a hand

full of people to see your content.... But what if there was a network that broadcasted your brand new

show or movie to millions of subscribers? And yes I wrote millions. What if instead of paying an

"aggregator" like Distribber 1500 bucks to "possibly" get your work on Netflix, you pay a fee of

$399.99 to receive not 60 not 70 but 80% of all royalties from pre-roll ads. I had a monetized video on

youtube last year were they would play pre roll ads before my video. In 2 months time I got 100,000 plus

views and did not receive a dime. I guess that's one of the reasons why I created this network. To have

nothing but independent film maker work presented to the masses and they walk away with royalties from

their projected doing well.

But anyway I got sidetracked. I just want to do a survey of people who love independent films and making them. Would Sign up for a service where you shows and movies can be presented directly to the masses? Even if you did not want to pay a fee of 399.99 to receive all royalties you could still submit your work to have it seen to a wide range of individuals.

What about you individuals that just love watching and supporting indie films? Would you pay a small fee from $4.99-$6.99 to have access to these movies and show? I've seen a lot of independent movies and films that are way more creative and interesting than the stuff on Netflix and Hulu.

Thank you guys for your opinion ahead of time!

Best Regards
 
But anyway I got sidetracked. I just want to do a survey of people who love independent films and making them. Would Sign up for a service where you shows and movies can be presented directly to the masses? Even if you did not want to pay a fee of 399.99 to receive all royalties you could still submit your work to have it seen to a wide range of individuals.
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If I were to put money in, I'd want to see a proven history of performing. Meaning, what numbers have already been done, achieved, returns etc.

What about you individuals that just love watching and supporting indie films? Would you pay a small fee from $4.99-$6.99 to have access to these movies and show? I've seen a lot of independent movies and films that are way more creative and interesting than the stuff on Netflix and Hulu.
Click to expand...

That's a similar monthly price tag to Netflix. Is it a once off fee for permanent access? If so, do I have to watch adverts etc?

It also depends on what's on your network.

You may be better off doing an "Independent movie channel" and a "Short Channel" and try to get them bundled in with other broadcasters packages.
 
N8TION said:
Would Sign up for a service where you shows and movies can be presented directly to the masses? Even if you did not want to pay a fee of 399.99 to receive all royalties you could still submit your work to have it seen to a wide range of individuals.
Click to expand...
I would sign up for a service that could reach millions of subscribers.
If that service could get me millions of views I'd be willing to pay the
$400.

N8TION said:
What about you individuals that just love watching and supporting indie films? Would you pay a small fee from $4.99-$6.99 to have access to these movies and show?
Click to expand...
If the service offered a wide range of really excellent, difficult to see
anywhere films I would pay a fee in that range.
 
As a subscriber I would not want to pay $5-7 a month for indie content and see ads.

As a creator I think $400 is way too high.

As a person with a minor in math and expereince in marketing, I find your numbers a sham.

I don't see you getting the same CPM as Hulu, but let's assume you do. So that is $30 per million views. Yup just $30 per million views advertisers are paying (hence why on Hulu you now have 5 or so commericals per break). Even then Hulu doesn't always charge that much and has empty slots.

You said creators make money off the pre-roll ads. Lets assume then only the pre-roll ads are revenu generation for the content creator.

Average of say 3 ads on the pre-roll. So that means $90 gross per million views. So then the creator makes $72 per million views.

To recoup the initial $399.99 would require the program to get over 16 million views. That is more than the premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D or the finale of Breaking Bad.

The math: 80% of $30 is $24. $24/million views * 16.625 million views = $399
So technically 16.625 million views means the creator loses 99 cents. Also none of this factors in things like ads blockers or unsold ad slots that push the required view count higher.

Netflix has around 29 million subscribers and they have been doing this for over 15 years. Wow in a few years there will be kids on the road that are younger than netfilx. I feel old. How do you expect to get enough people to make my investment pay off for me?

38 million people watched Hulu at least once in the past year. Only 4 million are hulu plus members. Only 9% of Hulu viewers watch movies on Hulu. That is only 3.42 million people. Is there even enough of a demand to make an online network for indie films viable?


How will you generate 16 million views on an unknown network of unknown content from unknown creators?
How will your promote the network and the content both internally and externally?
What is your rate card?
Are there ads beside the pre-roll? IF so why no revenu sharing of those?
What demographics are you targeting?
How are the analytics collected and calculated?
How can you garuntee anyone will watch a particular movie?
How will you account for ad blockers?
Will there be quality guidlines for films to meet?
How is content organized and accessed by the viewer?
How often if ever will creators get access to data about their show?
How much of the viewer's information is shared with content creators and advertisers?


The idea is nice, but the numbers just don't play out. Most online content doesn't even begin to make good ad rates until the views are in the millions. Even then, the rates are not that high. Not to forget that established sites have issues with filling every ad slot and getting advertisers.

As an advertiser I need to know what demos are watching what content on the site to know if there is even a chance for a ROI in advertising with you. I also need to know what kind of content my ad will be paired with.


I wish you luck, but what I'm seeing doesn't seem like it is going to add up to success.
 
Excellent breakdown of numbers, Jarrod.

It’s a harsh reality out there. I just don’t see 16 to 17 million
people watching my indie film. I don’t say that because I think
I didn’t make a good movie; I say that because I have a realistic
view of what people watch. Emmy Award winning “Breaking
Bad” beat all records for viewership of a drama on cable with 10.3
million viewers. Hugely popular, lots of publicity, marketing
everywhere, recent Emmy Awards and they couldn’t get 16
million people to watch.

So it seems unlikely that even over a two year period an excellent,
creative and interesting indie film will get 16 million views. And
with 16 million views I would actually lose money using a service
like this. As you point out, Dwight, after 15 years Netflix has
around 29 million subscribers. If a service like this matched that
in the first couple of years that would mean 55% of all subscribers
would have to watch my movie. According to “Variety” less than
that (about 35%) of Netflix subscribers watched at least one
episode of “House of Cards” - big names on both sides of the
camera and huge marketing budget. Just speculation, of course,
because Netflix does not officially release these numbers.

I wonder if a service like this could even get 16 million total
subscribers. The reality is there are very few really good,
creative, interesting indie films out there. I wonder how many
worthwhile films a service like this could even get.

But I love the idea and if there were a lot of really good indie films
available I would try it. A few pre-roll ads wouldn’t bother me since
I know the filmmaker would be seeing a piece of the action.
 
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