Selling via Amazon VOD and Netflix

[Greg Quinn]

Has anyone here had experience of selling videos via the Amazon Video On Demand (VOD)? The process to sell DVD's through Amazon via CreateSpace seems straightforward enough (not withstanding issues of variable pricing), but I'm wondering if there are any gotcha's about the VOD process.

On a separate issue, has anyone had any luck with direct licensing to Netflix for either DVD or streaming access?

Thanks
Greg

[Lloyd Ubshura]

Wow, a 3 year old post that went unanswered that has my exact same question. Maybe these services have been around long enough now that hopefully some people can chime in here with experienced answers.

[Roger Van Duyn]

I don't know. But, if your talking about that series from your other post, most churches prefer to purchase DVDs.

And if it is that same series, self publication might be an excellent idea. Delivery won't be the big problem. Marketing will be. I've asked around about how our church gets information about educational materials to use in classes. The answer was, " from all over the place. Wherever I happen to see something that interests me." And even "wherever the Spirit leads me." By the way, she was serious about that, and she liked your videos. A whole lot!

I'd try to find a way to get some kind of email prospect list. Don't ask me how. I'm not an expert at marketing. But you'll probably run into one anyway, if you know what I mean.

How big is your FaceBook friends list? My list isn't very big. My church's list is bigger. Sometimes posting on Facebook generates quite a few views of my stuff. Relatively speaking. I'm no Spielberg. Also, just ask around. Ask anyone you run into that might know.

[Ryan Douthit]

Hi again Lloyd. I use Amazon VOD for a disc I did several years ago. So far we've sold about 1 a month for the past 2 years. Not exactly stellar. Then again, we did 0 promotion for it on Amazon and the disc contents were (are) already many other places.

As for Netflix, it's my understanding that uses the studio model for acquisition (through an agent), though I haven't really pursued it myself. So, your mileage may vary.

[Sareesh Sudhakaran]

I've used Amazon/Createspace and the process was quite smooth, except the people doing the encoding goofed up the VOD part - it plays the commentary track instead of the film soundtrack. I don't live in the U.S., and every time I have to ship a DVD to someone, I have to pay $50. I just gave up eventually.

For those who have no other options, I highly recommend Createspace. If you spend some money on promotion, you might break even, depending on your budget. There are others out there, but avoid them. No point confusing your customers with too many options.

Netflix isn't easy to get into, and neither is iTunes. You need a good distribution deal, or at least someone who regularly produces content for them, to get you in. In fact, iTunes won't even play your trailer unless you already have some heavy marketing and distribution. At least this was my experience.

My suggestion? Go with Createspace when all other options have failed. But until then, spend all your energy on landing a distributor and avoid the temptation to distribute yourselves.

[Kevin Spahr]

I just came across distrify.com for streaming content. It was free to host my first movie and their percentage is fair. The people running it has been very helpful to me. But once again they just provide the service - you have to provide the customers...