Business Models and Value Chains in Audiovisual ... - First Motion
Business Models and Value Chains in Audiovisual ... - First Motion
Business Models and Value Chains in Audiovisual ... - First Motion
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Bus<strong>in</strong>ess</strong> <strong>Models</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Value</strong> <strong>Cha<strong>in</strong>s</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Audiovisual</strong> Media<br />
Computer game, Studija Centrums, Build the Castle of Light<br />
the data of the European <strong>Audiovisual</strong> Observatory 2 , at the<br />
end of 2008 there were more than 700 providers of video<br />
on dem<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong> Europe, more than half of which used the<br />
Internet as a platform for provid<strong>in</strong>g the service. It should<br />
be taken <strong>in</strong>to account that there is even a greater number<br />
of providers of such services as the fast-grow<strong>in</strong>g market<br />
of view<strong>in</strong>g videos on mobile phones was not exam<strong>in</strong>ed<br />
<strong>in</strong> this research. So, for example, the Estonian mobile<br />
telephone operator, Elisa, offers a service Elisa Mobiil TV<br />
to its clients, allow<strong>in</strong>g the view<strong>in</strong>g of different TV shows,<br />
animated films <strong>and</strong> other audiovisual products. Other<br />
mobile telephone operators <strong>in</strong> the Baltic States also offer<br />
similar services.<br />
Film producers <strong>and</strong> studios are also engaged <strong>in</strong> film<br />
distribution, for example, a number of the films produced<br />
<strong>in</strong> Latvia <strong>and</strong> Lithuania are placed on the l<strong>in</strong>k ONLINE-<br />
FILM.org, where one can download films for a fee; the local<br />
sites of the l<strong>in</strong>k are operated by the studios, Eho Filma<br />
<strong>and</strong> Tremora.<br />
The site filmas.lv, provided by the National Film Centre<br />
<strong>and</strong> VA Kulturas <strong>in</strong>formacijas sistema will ensure accessibility<br />
to films <strong>in</strong> Latvia.<br />
Impact of Digital Technologies<br />
on Production <strong>and</strong> Distribution<br />
At the end of the 1990s <strong>and</strong> beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of the 2000s,<br />
digital technology <strong>and</strong> formats have atta<strong>in</strong>ed an even<br />
2<br />
See: http://www.obs.coe.<strong>in</strong>t/about/oea/pr/vod2009.html<br />
greater importance. Episode II of Star Wars, Attack of<br />
Clones, was the first big budget film which was made us<strong>in</strong>g<br />
digital video cameras. In 2009, the Academy Award<br />
for best c<strong>in</strong>ematography went to Slumdog Millionaire, a<br />
film which was largely made us<strong>in</strong>g digital video cameras.<br />
Consequently, it can be concluded that both the audiences<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>dustry professionals have accepted films<br />
made this way. As experience shows, by us<strong>in</strong>g digital<br />
technology the total production cost of films can be reduced<br />
by up to 10% 3 . Accessibility to digital cameras <strong>and</strong><br />
process<strong>in</strong>g programmes, as well as their low costs, has<br />
favoured the development of <strong>in</strong>dependent c<strong>in</strong>ema <strong>and</strong><br />
the number of small budget films has <strong>in</strong>creased drastically<br />
dur<strong>in</strong>g the last ten years.<br />
Also, digital format usage has made film distribution<br />
much convenient <strong>and</strong> effective; for example, the costs necessary<br />
for record<strong>in</strong>g films to distribute them on DVD <strong>and</strong><br />
other data carriers have decreased considerably. However,<br />
it has also prompted the illegal distribution of audiovisual<br />
products through the Internet, thus creat<strong>in</strong>g huge losses<br />
to the <strong>in</strong>dustry 4 . Thus, on one h<strong>and</strong>, the <strong>in</strong>troduction of<br />
digital technology has considerably decreased film production<br />
costs, but, on the other h<strong>and</strong>, distribution <strong>in</strong> digital<br />
formats considerably reduces the profits.<br />
3<br />
See: http://www.brightclub.com/multimedia/video/articles/78010.<br />
aspx#ixzz104HGsAHx<br />
4<br />
See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/echnology/8573162.stm<br />
14