Where does your audience receive information? How does your audience consume media? Plus next week’s webinar on filmmakers and the creator economy.
In Part 1 of 4 Essential Questions About Your Audience we addressed:
- Who is Your Audience?
- What Value Do You Provide Your Audience?
Today we will address:
- Where Does Your Audience Receive Information – in other words how will your audience find out about your film as the first step from potentially wanting to engage with it. And:
- How Does Your Audience Consume Media? Understanding this will help guide what channels of distribution are best suited for your film and your goals.
Let’s dive in:
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3. Where Does Your Audience Receive Information?
I am always looking for ways to make the process of connecting to audiences more manageable for filmmakers. So, here I am going to summarize four basic buckets of audience connection: Owned Media, Shared Media, Earned Media and Paid Media. I’ve written a bit more extensively about this here. And will be breaking these topics out in more detail in the future.
Owned Media: This is all the media that you own and more importantly, control. This includes but is not limited to:
- All traditional marketing materials – Key Art, trailer, trailer cut downs, key photos, press kit.
- Your email list (your personal one and the one for the film if those are separate). This is one of your most vital connections to your audience since you control this direct pathway to the audience.
- Website..
- All the extra content you potentially create to engage audiences – with your authentic self – see #2 above from the first post. This can be blog/substack posts, short diaries for social, BTS – your imagination is the only limit. This is also one of the key ways to be in touch with your audience between releases! This is what creators are creating all the time.
- Events that promote the film – as opposed to events that feature your film.
- Merchandise – this is also a distribution channel – see below – but it can also be an important tool for audience awareness.
Shared Media These are channels of connection you share with other entities – such as organizations, large social platforms, influencers. You don’t control this connection, these individuals/companies/organizations do – as anyone who has had their social feeds throttled will tell you.
Shared media includes but is not limited to accessing audiences through the following channels:
- Organic Social Media (or the audiences you can connect through social media platforms).
- Influencers who talk about you and your work without payment. See this post here.
- Organizations. See this post here.
- Companies.
Not every channel will matter to your audience. The keys are:
- To identify which ones make sense for your audience.
- Why should these entities/people share their audiences with you?
- Consider what is in it for them – more than what is in it for you.
- In general it is best to create authentic connections early, engaging them in the process.
Earned Media Where your film “earns” attention/media in the larger media landscape. There are three main channels for this:
- Publicity – Again your audience is an essential consideration here – is it better to hire a traditional film publicist (e.g. your audience are film lovers that read film reviews) and/or a niche publicist – such as a publicist who has connections with writers about politics, music, horses etc. Regional publicity fits here as well. as do influencers who review content.
- Audience reviews. These are becoming more and more essential and dare I say are eclipsing traditional publicity in importance, especially as traditional publicity gets harder and harder.
- Grab audience reviews at events on video – great “owned content”. You can use the text of these interviews for your website or social content.
- Incentivize your audience to write reviews on key review platforms – Letterboxd, IMDB etc.
Paid Media What kind of paid advertising makes sense for your budget and your audience. Including:
- Social advertising. Generally if your ad budget is below 20K probably most of your money is spent here. Meta is the problematic 1000 pound gorilla here for a variety of reasons. As a small example it can be difficult to advertise political films – especially those from the left (the same can be said for political organic social above).
- Letterboxd. If your audience is on Letterboxd – this can be a very effective, targetable place and a relatively affordable place to advertise. But with new ownership – this could change.
- Programatic advertising. The web equivalent of billbords but relatively traceable. Not as targetable as social advertising. Might be effective for certain audiences.
- Podcast – if there are certain podcasts that your audience is devoted to.
- Paid influencers. Micro influencers can be more effective than macro influencers – some campaigns have utilized this well.
- Email/Newsletter buys. For certain niches, there are newsletter/email campaigns that can be bought.
- Radio ads – for higher budgets -NPR can make sense if you have an NPR audience and the budget. Untraceable.
- Print ads – only if you have a super targeted niche publication and that is one of the only ways to reach a specific audience. Untraceable.
- Generally not for independents – expensive and untraceable: : TV, Billboards, bus stops etc.
4. How Does Your Audience Consume Media?
Where and how will audiences experience your film? Do they go to theaters? Watch on their phones? Binge on streaming platforms? Again – in the effort to help make this process more systematic for filmmakers – in Think Outside the Box Office, I reclassified film rights for independent filmmakers – I wrote about it more extensively here.
Event/Theatrical
The consumer experience here is about a shared cultural moment: a live communal experience unavailable anywhere else. To take advantage, filmmakers should create live events that create community and provide unique experiences.
The following methods of distribution share this type of audience experience – not everyone of these is right for your film or your goals – choose and plan wisely.
- Film festivals
- Traditional theatrical
- Non and Semi theatrical including all forms of community screenings – in person and virtual, including educationa, conferences corporate etc.
For many filmmakers, event/theatrical is how they want to engage audiences – to feel them in the room, hear their direct reactions. If these events are about creating a communal experience – how best to do that and motivate people out of their homes:
- Create scarcity with one night events. If people know it is only available one night – and you have made that night special – they are more inclined to go.
- Eventize. Q&As with filmmakers or subjects are still a great draw, panels with experts, partnerships with like-minded organizations, music, food, moving the audience to an offsite event for a deeper discussion. The value of these events is not necessarily revenue, although that’s possible, too. It’s community building, awareness, and an opportunity to even engage people in action.
Digital
The consumer experience here is about convenience: viewing how I want, when I want, where I want, in a way I want.
This has the obvious advantage of allowing your film to scale beyond physical screenings–reaching people where they otherwise cannot get to screenings and globally. Balancing the benefits of event/theatrical – with the wider accessibility of digital is a key element of creating a distribution strategy. Main components of what I classify as “digital” delivering the film in the form of 0s and 1s are:
- Pay 1 Windows – Either SVOD (Subscription VOD) or Broadcast/Cable, the latter of which has been eaten up by SVOD and government action – but there are still opportunities – even on PBS. License fee or in the case of MGs for AVOD – an advance paid against expected revenue. These can also form a generally non-exclusive 2nd Window as well after TVOD.
- PVOD – Premium VOD TVOD at a premium and usually in an earlier window including limited time “film drops”.
- TVOD – Transactional Video on Demand. Rentals or purchases of the film digitally. This has become more challenging with the advent of SVOD.
- AVOD – Ad Supported Video on Demand Where revenue is generated by advertising.
- FAST – Free Ad Supported Television – similar to television – you watch what is on the channel – no “on demand”. Lots of channels – not a ton of independent content. Ad supported.
- EVOD – Educational VOD e.g. Kanopy Alexander Street – the backend for these is either transactional or a per view SVOD
- FVOD – Free video on demand – where there are no ads and still on demand. You will see this in PBS contracts.
- MVOD – Member VOD – mainly for PBS members.
- Airlines/Hotels/Cruise ships – essentially a specialty FVOD and occasional TVOD
Merch
The consumer experience here is about identity: I want that object because it represents something about me. I want to remember it, display it, gift it.
Not all film audiences will engage in merch. And not all merch is for all audiences. This about what would appeal to your audience? Can you create compelling merch that your audience would want to purchase to remember the film, connect with the film or even gift part of the film or the film itself. Merch can serve several purposes extending the literal shelf-life of the film, creating additional revenue streams, and turning audiences into ambassadors.
Hybrid Merch/Digital: Even though DVD/BluRay and new forms of physical products such as FilmTrade and encrypted USB drives are considered “home video” I consider them merch since a large percentage of people are buying this less in order to watch the film and more to engage with the film on a collector level.
Educational
The consumer experience here is about information: how they can learn, build on, and share the tools or information coming from your film. This is a hybrid of the three other rights categories.
This audience engages through primarily educational institutions and libraries although some educational distribution deals will ask for corporate and community screenings and other non/semi-theatrical rights.
These rights primarily include:
- Public Performance Rights – allowing the institution to screen the film to the public and in classrooms – although you can narrow these rights to just classroom if you can negotiate that.
- Digital Site Licenses(DSLs)/DVDs – this allows the institution to have a digital or physical copy of the film in their libraries for viewers to watch outside the classroom. DSLs are more common these days.
Educational rights is primarily the domain of documentary – but all you have to do is look at Kanopy and see that it is not only documentary titles that are licensed in this way.
Final Thoughts
Event screenings create shared cultural moments. They transform a film into a gathering point for conversation, community, and discovery. Digital access allows the work to scale globally, reaching viewers whenever and wherever they choose to watch. Educational distribution enables a film to live inside institutions, where it can spark dialogue and learning long after its initial release. And merchandise gives audiences a way to carry the film into their lives, turning the viewing experience into identity and participation.
Think about how these channels reinforce and engage with each other. This will inform your windowing strategy (for a future post). A powerful event screening(s) can drive digital demand and/or merch sales. Educational engagement can sustain the cultural relevance of a film for years. Merchandise can deepen the connection between audiences and the film itself. It is best for filmmakers to stop thinking only about where a film and how a film is sold, and to think more deeply about where and how it is experienced.https://jonreiss.substack.com/p/4-essential-questions-about-your-511