Distribution : Some Distribution Numbers from an Indie Producer by Timo Puolitaipale

Timo Puolitaipale

Some Distribution Numbers from an Indie Producer

People sometimes ask me about the market performance of indie films so I thought I'd analyze the performance of one of our films, the award-winning Christmas/Halloween mash-up "Death Wish" (https://lnkd.in/dQHbAEq), and spend some time discussing the figures. This week let's compare revenue across platforms.

iTunes has been seen as the big man on the block for a long time, and that continues to be the case - Death Wish is no exception. With a 53% share of the revenue, no other platform comes close.

But there has been a shift recently, with Amazon picking up pace and other players joining the mix. For example, in the latest quarter, revenue from Amazon was on par with iTunes even though the historical comparison isn't even close, with Amazon hanging onto a 3% share vs. Apple's 53% share. What was surprising to us was Verizon's 16% share as well as Google's minuscule share of the pie. I would have expected more even though Android and Google have never been strong for sales of independent media.

As we begin a new chapter with our next narrative production, Mister Sandman, it'll be interesting to see if this shift continues or will Apple continue to be the 500 pound gorilla. I'm thinking it's gonna be the latter but nothing's forever.

I'm gonna slice and dice the numbers in different ways, and I'll try to get you a different breakdown next week. Maybe iTunes is worth a closer look, to see how things break down geographically... thoughts?

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Johnny K. Wu

Thank you

Artemus Cole

Excellent! THIS is the type of stuff I like to see. I have a short that I wrote/produced and directed that just got put up on Vimeo on demand yesterday.

Timo Puolitaipale

It's definitely the kind of thing I'd like people to share more. Knowledge is power, ain't it. :-)

Artemus Cole

Yes it is. You have to have an idea of where the money will or won't be made so you know what to do.

Sean Mannion

Great info! Thanks for sharing!

James Drago

Thank you for this share. It's eye opening. I'm sending you an invite.

Cherelynn Baker

Thanks for crunching the numbers - I have yet to put anything on iTunes -though you make a good case for it!

Don Diego

Timo, did you place your films on all those platforms yourself and if that is your case how much did you spend on that or you had a SA/Distributor who did it for you?

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