Feasibility Study of a Digital Platform for the delivery of UK ... - BFI

UK FILM COUNCIL
Based on a library of 500 films, the costs associated with creating digital masters suitably tagged and stored centrally would be £60,000
for initial creation of masters, tagging and encoding. On-going annual storage costs would be in the region of £25,000.
Enable marketing support (“digital P&A”) for on-demand distribution
In the traditional film outlets, independent and specialised products require as much marketing support as possible to bring them to the
attention of potential viewers in a crowded and ‘noisy’ marketplace. This is just as important in the digital space. One of the strengths of
on-demand platforms is their flexible virtual ‘shelf-space’ that could allow a wider choice of content to be available. The corollary of this is
that it can potentially be difficult for the consumer to find more specialised product when there is a large number of titles on offer.
Moreover, harsh business realities dictate that platform owners will generally still promote and ‘push’ mainstream films perceived to have
the strongest commercial appeal and will have little incentive to advertise the availability of more niche offerings. Promotion in this
context can mean anything from marketing materials included with a cable operator’s monthly bill to electronic measures that highlight
particular titles within a TV electronic programme guide (EPG) or on the home page of a particular website.
The point here is that it is not enough to simply make specialised films available on digital platforms; it is just as important to let people
know they are there. The concept of “digital P&A” could encompass both a ‘digital print’, in the sense of a digital master (as discussed
above), as well as a marketing support element. This latter component could be used, for example, to buy favourable positioning within
an EPG or to buy a strong ranking within particular Internet search engine results.
Indicative costs
Based on Web promotion of 500 titles, the costs of digital P&A would be around £3.7m. If creation of digital masters was included, this
would add an additional £10,000 for 500 titles.
Partner with one or a restricted number of distribution partners with access to a platform
There are a number of ways in which the UKFC could partner an existing UK distribution platform. One platform or a restricted number of
platforms could be charged with distributing a quota of independent UK and specialised films (perhaps on a franchise basis). The potential
advantages of this approach include the relative simplicity of dealing with one or a small number of players and the fact that a specially
chosen partner could be expected to put more effort into promoting the content in return for having some kind of exclusivity. The
downside of this option is that a limited partnership of this kind is unlikely to achieve the strategic objective of maximising exposure for
specialised films.
Feasibility Study for a Digital Platform for the delivery of Independent UK films and Specialised films to the Home
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