What's Next For the Film Industry? The final chapter of "WINNING YOUR AUDIENCES" is out

The business of movies needs to innovate - and by business I mean specifically the processes of distribution. The process leads to marketing methodologies that are out of date with the way the audiences both learn about and engage with films, television shows, games and other forms of entertainment. Release windows are under increasing pressure and it is only a matter of time before they break. We should welcome and be ready for that.

New business paradigm brought by things like the rise of V.O.D. services, potential changes to distribution from the European Union and the ever present threat of piracy means that it’s time to look at overhauling the system of distribution and moving away from the archaic business practices. The key will be in improving the speed and transparency in rights management, content tracking as well as securing data from hackers.

On Wednesday September 13 we finally published our final chapter of the e-book ‘Winning Your Audiences’, in which we at the rise of Blockchain as a tool with the potential to solve many of the challenges faced by the entertainment industry.

We hope that ‘Winning Your Audiences’ sparks and contributes to the conversations to break the pattern of business as usual. Each year it gets harder to release a movie and make money from it. Our concern is at this rate the only buyers who will be left in the entertainment market will originate from Silicon Valley. Something that we feel will hurt the diversity and creativity of European film as well as the entire business of film globally.

Gruvi works with a range of independent and studio distributors and entertainment companies globally. Recognising the importance of data, we are currently working on a project to record and collect specific audiences for film, from both 1st party and 3rd party sources to further improve the results of engagement for our clients’ campaigns.

We take pride in what we do, are fascinated by the industry we work in and are inspired by the people we work with. Gruvi will continue to write and participate at major industry events and festivals and event to highlight the changes that we believe are necessary.

The new e-book is live now. And the chapter is also the basis of an op-ed piece published by The Drum. You can read the article here.

Excerpts from Winning Your Audiences:

Smashing The Box Office Windows

"Negotiations will continue to shrink the window between the end of the theatrical run and home entertainment to 30 days, then 20 days and so on and so forth. Along the way, there will be a lot of casualties, hopefully the cultural significance of film will not be one of them."

China: Hollywood's Silver Bullet?

"The future of Hollywood’s approach to China faces many questions and it looks like replicating the blockbuster model will continue to be fraught with risk. It is unlikely that China will be a panacea for the problems affecting the industry."

The Rise of the Video On Demand Leviathan

"A duopoly is not a democracy. The biases of the people who curate the experiences on these market-dominating services could dictate the shape of small-scale moviemaking for decades to come."

Piracy and Its Impact

"Today’s distribution and exhibition systems are inefficient at dealing with today’s audience demands, and the economic drivers and incentives for pirating are too powerful to be controlled by take-down orders and other punitive measures."

Blockchain

"Blockchain will reduce the noise and disruption of many of the transactional and legal responsibilities for rights management, licensing, and collecting and managing royalties, freeing up time for distributors and producers to spend more time finding and engaging their audiences."

Winning Your Audiences examines the state of the film industry and tackles the key challenges it is facing; changing audience viewing habits, archaic business models, piracy and ever-increasing competition from other forms of media and entertainment. Looking forward, the chapter predicts how these current challenges and disruptive strategies may develop and what new ones may emerge over the next 5 years.

Chapters 1 and 2 of Winning Your Audiences, launched earlier in 2017 where we explored what are the wider politics and economics that influence the current operation of film distribution, propose methodologies and tactics to maximise the ability to reach and engage audiences online and offer a step by step guide to preparing and launching online marketing campaigns.

About Gruvi

Gruvi is a technology based media agency that helps film distributors reach and engage online audiences. Our technology tracks everything from the initial contact with the online advertising through to the ticket purchase. We do this through a platform we built that streamlines the process of launching your campaigns online, reaching potential audiences on all platforms and integrating with the cinemas’ booking engines to allow your audiences to buy tickets. Gruvi’s client base includes HBO, Sony, Disney as well as several independent distribution companies globally. If you would like to learn more about Gruvi’s products and services, visit www.gruvi.tv and follow @ProjectGruvi.