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Data ‘no substitute for quality’

MIPDOC: Crowdfunding platforms are helping to transform the way factual content is funded and distributed – but they are not an end in themselves and quality is still key, crowdfunding pioneer Andrew Green has warned.

Green, co-founder and chief operating officer of UK VoD platform Distrify, told delegates in Cannes that raising money for factual had never been easy but crowdfunding platforms were making it easier and the “data as currency” they create offers particular value.

The last five years have seen many examples of encouraging and empowering crowdfunding stories, particularly in niche markets, he added.

Distrify’s service offers a built-in crowdfunding platform, making it “e-commerce meets YouTube,” according to Green. Its digital tools and social media functions allow it to respond to changes in consumer behaviour and demand.

“The phrase we’re going to hear a lot more about, and it’s going to become the zeitgeist, is the value of data – data as currency, and how we own and collect data,” he said.

“If you were to crowdfund or distribute your film online, you are collecting data or someone else is taking data from you that you have collected. At Distrify, the deal we have is that it’s your data and you keep that information. It’s vital to have a real handle on the data you are creating and understand its value.”

But Green warned: “The data around something can provide evidence only for something that has intrinsic value. One of the mistakes we sometimes make is that we think the value is in the data and the platforms and so forth.”

Green said that online noise created by social media did not guarantee commercial success. He contrasted the success of the 2012 monologue Sea Wall, made with one camera for just £500 (US$830), with Terry Gilliam’s Wholly Family, which despite its budget, huge social media interest and media partnerships did not succeed commercially.

“Social media impact and data do not provide value in themselves,” he said. “The judgement still remains about quality. The reason Sea Wall was more successful was that it was a better film.”

“We cannot simply replace all the skills and experience of the arts industry just because we have new platforms for distribution. With crowdfunding, most of the films that I see should not be funded in any way. Just because the opportunity exists doesn’t mean it should be used. There’s almost a slush of films out there, and people should concentrate on making films of higher quality.

“The numbers have to be astronomical on social media to convert them into sales, and that’s true for crowdfunding as well.”

Green said that the industry was using crowdfunding platforms as much to assess interest in content as fund it. “Increasingly, we see that crowdfunding platforms are not used for raising money, they are used to gauge the interest from an audience in a particular product. This is not so much crowdfunding as crowd approval,” he said.

He added that crowdfunding had been particularly successful for funding niche market content such as lesbian and gay documentaries. “About 50% of all our sales come from lesbian and gay films, in particular lesbian dramas. When you discover a niche audience that is underserved, you are going to make sales,” he said.

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