Distrify Blog

Distrify, the world leader in direct to audience video-on-demand, announces an exclusive deal with Butterfly Media which extends its reach offering for pay-per-view video content via Facebook to a network of 300 million users worldwide.

The deal, which will see Distrify’s cinematic content reach 10,000 pages, potentially reaching one in four of all Facebook users every month via the online social media platform, makes it the exclusive provider to Butterfly Media of films and other video content on a VOD pay-per-view basis.

Butterfly Media runs a global engagement network over Facebook with more than 300 million engaged users and millions of active story-tellers at all times. The new partnership with Distrify will now deliver the company’s VOD digital content and merchandise through to this huge network of highly active social media users. 

Andy Green, COO and Founder of Distrify, says, “The best movies segmented by page with use of Distrify data and Butterfly data delivered to this highly engaged audience - this is a very, very big offer, a real game changer.  Distrify already gives filmmakers and distributors the best opportunity on offer to maximise profits and this exclusive partnership will expand, focus and multiply their revenues.”

Butterfly Media offers a network of social media pages where network brands and advertisers can engage quality fans and create loyalty and buzz, as well as generate sales -leading to sustained social media attention, traffic and loyalty. Through the partnership with Butterfly Media, Distrify will place highly relevant films to targeted audiences through their likes, interests and activities. Up to 300 million users every month will see films directly through their news feed and be able to purchase them immediately.

Omri Dolev, CEO at Butterfly Media adds, “We founded Butterfly Media for the purpose of creating high user engagement and offering valuable content. We believe that matching video content to the relevant audience via the Butterfly Media network creates great awareness across social media platforms and user loyalty. We are very excited about this partnership and the opportunities it offers our business and our users worldwide.”

Kobi Shely, Head of Marketing Partnerships at Distrify says, “I’m very excited about our partnership with Butterfly Media.  We are the number one provider of films via Facebook and the highly engaged audience that Butterfly Media reaches is already sharing and buying our films around the world. This deal will massively increase the choice of films available to everyone.”

Distrify is the fast-growing online cinema with integrated viral marketing tools offering filmmakers and distributors the opportunity to reach audiences worldwide and the world leader in direct-to-fan transactional video on demand.

The company already works with the biggest players in the film industry and social media working including the BFI, Artificial Eye, The Guardian, worldwide music film distributor Omnivers, and Creative Scotland.

The Distrify model turns every trailer for a film into an instant VoD player allowing the customer on discovering a film to click ‘rent’ or ‘buy’.  Film fans are rewarded for sharing trailers with their contacts and film critics, online publishers and film fans are able to curate their favourite film collections and earn money for their efforts.  Not only does Distrify offer international distribution, but it also ensures that the majority of the revenue earned back by films is passed back to the filmmaker.

A few months ago, we told you about InkyBee, a clever service that helps you find bloggers and websites that could be interested in sharing your film. They have finally launched the service, and you can sign up today to kick-start a blogger outreach campaign for your film.

With InkyBee you enter a set of relevant keywords related to the subject matter, cast, location, etc. of your film. InkyBee buzzes around the web and brings you a list of all the potential blogs that discuss these topics. You can quickly identify which blogs are relevant, have the most reach, and have an engaged community of readers. 

You can then start reaching out to the influential bloggers that might want to embed your film and earn cash rewards for helping you promote it. It’s a great opportunity for both you and the bloggers.

If you’re new to blogger outreach, we also highly recommend watching InkyBee’s intro video and reading their outreach guide.

And sign up today to take advantage of their founder pricing which expires on 30 April.

Today we are excited to announce some big changes at Distrify. We have been helping filmmakers and distributors sell their films for nearly two years now. What started as a crazy idea for a new website for our production company has become a fully featured film sales and marketing toolset used by hundreds of rights holders for thousands of films available all over the world. 

We have been humbled by the feedback we’ve received and overwhelmed by the success of Distrify. A few of the highlights from the last couple years include:

• the event at Edinburgh International Film Festival day when we launched Phil Hawkins’s Being Sold - we didn’t really know if Distrify would work, but we set up a bell to ring every time someone purchased during the presentation - by the end of the hour the bell was ringing non-stop!
• sending thousands of dollars to filmmakers in Nigeria (who were some of the most impressed by our transparency)
• working closely to support innovative distribution and crowd-funding for our Indian friends (more on this in an upcoming blog post)
• watching films go viral on Twitter and Facebook, resulting in first-time filmmakers earning thousands of dollars in only a few hours
• receiving emails of gratitude from filmmakers who had previously never made money from their films but are now re-investing in equipment and future productions - thanks to regular income from Distrify
• having distributors tell us we are outselling iTunes
• selling in our 100th country and then only a few weeks later, the 150th!
• paying commissions to hundreds of fans who share and recommend films

Today we are introducing a new range of plans designed to optimise our toolset for both independents and distributors. We are also adjusting our pricing to give our successful sellers an opportunity to earn more from their films. For customers upgrading to our new premium plans, we are launching a variable fee structure based on your product type and price point. Our Indie plan has been streamlined to be the most cost-effective (FREE!) way to get started selling your first film online. 

The new plans make it easy for people who want to sell multiple films to quickly upgrade and start uploading your library of films. We’ve done away with our old per-film fee in favour of charges based on the amount of data you upload and store, and storage charges are automatically waived if you are making sales. There’s a calculator on our plans page that should help you understand how this works.

The overall result of our new pricing structure means we can provide better tools and greater revenue share to our top sellers. We are also launching a number of exciting new features that we’ve been testing over the last few months. Over the next few days we will announce these new tools and explain how to use them on our blog. 

Please head on over to our plans page and have a look at what’s on offer. If you’ve been itching for an upgrade, now’s your chance! If you have any general questions, feel free to post in the comments below, or email us with account-specific questions. 

—Peter & Andy

Under continuous pressure from cat film fans worldwide, we have finally introduced a fully translated version of the Distrify player in Lingua Feline. Lingua Feline the 9th language available on the Distrify service and extends Distrify’s unique direct-to-cat film marketing platform to 76 million new potential users who speak Lingua Feline as their native cat-tongue.

Cats are fiercely independent creatures and this innovation allows them to select and watch films without the help of their owners for the first time in history. 

“With the rising popularity of cat videos online, we realised we had to meet the demand and make our film rental service available in a language that our cat-fans could understand,” said Distrify’s CEO Peter Gerard.

Cats around the world are now able to paw at their tablets and start streaming classic films like Cat Ladies, Rent-a-Cat or The Tiger Next Door, all from the comfort of their own litter box or sofa. 

When asked for comment, Bali, a film aficionado from Barnet enthusiastically said, “Meow meow meow Distrify meow. Meow, meow, awards, meow, meow, Palm Dog, meow, discrimination, meow, puurrrrrrrrr.” Distrify’s COO Andy Green responded by stroking Bali and offering a piece of fish.

Distrify have curated a special collection of films in Lingua Feline including food-themed films and cat-horror films.

Curated collection features award-winning films from around the world

Distrify, the online leader in social cinema, announces an expanded partnership with The D-Word, the worldwide online community for documentary professionals. With a 10,000-strong membership including Oscar-winning documentary directors and producers, The D-Word is the most active online community dedicated to the art, craft and love of documentaries. The partnership makes films like Urbanized and War Photographer instantly available to documentary fans around the world.

Distrify has previously announced deals with Films Transit International, Story, Danish Documentary, and the British Film Institute. Documentaries from these companies, including award-winning films like The Monastery by Phie Ambo and Steve Jobs - the Lost Interview will form a part of The D-Word Collection.

The D-Word, founded by filmmaker Doug Block in 1999, has partnered with Distrify since June 2011, but will now run Distrify’s first official Curated Collection, as part of Muvies.com - Distrify’s new curated VOD platform launched this month with the support of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The D-Word has compiled a featured selection of films targeted at documentary professionals and enthusiasts alike.

Ben Kempas, a co-host of The D-Word and a producer at the Scottish Documentary Institute, says: “This is a brilliant way to share the films we like, not just our own documentaries but any film available through Distrify. They’ve made it really easy: you just click a ‘collect’ button, define a category, and it’s up there. We’re also going to curate a collection here at the Scottish Documentary Institute, where we really want to make use of the option to write personal reviews of the docs we love.”

The D-Word Collection includes categories focused on films made by members as well as featured strands chosen by editors. The D-Word earns a revenue share through Distrify’s unique automatic affiliate system, and viewers of The D-Word collection can quickly and easily join in – clicking to rent, buy, or share any film in the collection.

While the films may have different geo-restrictions, the Distrify collection is automatically filtered to only return search results that are available to each viewer, giving documentary fans a personal experience without disappointment. Viewers who subscribe as followers of The D-Word Collection will see newly reviewed films in their Distrify Dashboard on a regular basis.

“I have been a member of The D-Word since I made my first feature documentary in 2004 and love the true spirit of the community on d-word.com,” says Distrify co-founder Peter Gerard, who was also responsible for the redesign and rebuild of The D-Word’s unique community platform in 2007. “Many docs start as ideas here and are then nurtured through every phase of production and editing by the community. It’s great that thanks to Distrify, The D-Word is now a place to discover and watch docs as well.”

The D-Word collection is now available on d-word.com integrated next to the rest of the online community’s tools, including private and public discussions, member database, classifieds, and a members’ film marketplace. While members have been able to promote documentaries and provide links to purchase in the existing marketplace, the new Collection from the Distrify partnership will be their first curated platform for instant viewing of documentaries.

“This is only the beginning,” says Gerard. “Soon anyone, from a well-known critic to any film fan, will be making and promoting collections of their favourite films – with the ability for your followers to watch instantly and for you to earn a revenue share from your recommendations.”

Our friends at InkyBee have published an excellent free e-book about blogger outreach. We recommend working with bloggers to promote films and to encourage them to support your film as affiliates. But how do you go about contacting them? Here’s what InkyBee says:

Blogs provide a powerful way of getting your messages directly to a very targeted and engaged audience. But, you can’t just spam a blogger with your press release. Bloggers hate that! To help you through the process, we’ve written this free guide to give you all you need to reach out to bloggers effectively. We’ve taken great care to use techniques that bloggers actually like and that are proven to work. 

Download the free ebook now and try their blog discovery tool

Drafthouse Films, the film distribution arm of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, announced today their partnership with new innovative digital distribution platform Distrify, which allows audiences to view and share content via robust web integration and social networking. The platform allows consumers to share content with a direct point-of-purchase link transforming the Internet into a communal VOD platform. Sharers of the content are eligible  for Distrify’s affiliate revenue system which incentivize sharing from fans and online communities to maximize sales. Klown, the highly anticipated July 27th release from Drafthouse Films will be available for rent on the Distrify platform beginning day-and-date with the film’s release in theaters.

Celebrated maverick filmmaker Terry Gilliam (Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Brazil) utilized the Distrify platform to self-distribute his latest project The Wholly Family with monetized placement on mainstream online media outlets and shares from fans. The international hit comedy Klown, which was recently tapped for a 2013 US remake by Warner Brothers with Danny McBride (HBO’s Eastbound And Down) and Todd Phillips (The Hangover) attached, will be the first day and date release with a theatrical on the Distrify platform. Championed by The Village Voice and IFC.com as “the funniest movie of the year,” Klown follows two wildly inappropriate friends and one unsuspecting preteen as they embark on a canoe trip down the Danish countryside plowing through one unspeakable taboo to the next. 

“Distrify is the cutting edge of digital film distribution, and that’s where we want to be,” says Drafthouse Films COO James Emanuel Shapiro. “It’s exciting for us because it allows our partners and friends to host our films that we both love dearly and us all to profit in sharing these films. Websites who host the film can share in the revenue their site generates and the more films that are on the Distrify network, then the more the websites can feel like a curator themselves and really become part of the distribution landscape.”

“Audiences are excited by the connection to the film and its creators,” says Distrify founder/COO Andy Green adding, “monetizing this relationship fosters deeper trust and encourages ongoing participation from fans.” 

• See further coverage via IndieWire, Screen International, and VeryAware.

The last few weeks have been quite busy for Distrify. Here’s a run-down of recent press coverage.

Announcements from Cannes:

• Distrify powers the upcoming ScottishFilms.com for Creative Scotland
• Distrify partners with boutique distributor Cinéfile
• Distrify partners with The Film Collaborative and Peccadillo for LGBT film distribution

Some coverage of our exclusive partnership with the British Film Institute:

• Screen: Distrify pacts with BFI to make classics available online
• The Hollywood Reporter: Online movie service Distrify gets Alfred Hitchcock, Peter Greenaway films
• Indiewire: Distrify partners with the BFI
• Cineuropa: Distrify teams with BFI for online classics package
• RapidTVnews: Online cinema provider Distrify cuts landmark deal with the BFI

You can start watching a selection of the BFI films now - keep checking back as we add more classics to the BFI Collection.

And a few other recent headlines:

• Distrify, Glasgow Film Theatre and Edinburgh Filmhouse awarded £90k NESTA fund for day-and-date project
• Distrify is a finalist for Cinema Innovation Award
• Distrify powers innovative VOD platform for Wolfe Video