If the movement in online video is toward watching on mobile, then it would seem there’s a pretty good future ahead for IndieFlix, an online movie service that is, right now, even smaller than
many of the films it features.
IndieFlix was co-founded by Scilla Andreen (with Carlo Scandiuzzi), herself a Sundance-lauded filmmaker who also worked as a Emmy-nominated TV
sitcom costume and wardrobe designer for several network series in the '80s and '90s.
As its name suggests, IndieFlix shows films from small, independent filmmakers. One of its
central categories are short films, the kind mobile users might want to watch on the bus, or while at lunch.
“We’re really focusing on short films, though right now, 60%
of our library is feature length and 40% is short,” she said. “But that’s the reverse of our viewing.”
IndieFlix has
existed since 2005 as a DVD service, then a PPV online service which started in 2008, and last year began as a subscription service.
There’s a lot to like, especially if
you’re not particularly enamored by a lot of Hollywood big budget films, and conversely, interested in thoughtful/weird and/or foreign titles and topics and documentaries. (Though in fact,
Andreen says 70% of IndieFlix’s subscribers are Netflix subscribers, too.)
Subscribers pay either $5 a month (“It’s the price of a coffee at Starbucks,”
Andreen says) or $50 a year to access IndieFlix films. Soon, they'll be able to pass on a film to a non-subscribing friend to watch--a nice feature that creates a sharing opportunity without obliging
pals to pony up to pay for somebody else’s kind gesture.
If things go the way IndieFlix hopes, a big growth spurt is around the corner. With only 100,000 subscribers now, the
content provider is about to launch apps for Apple and Android phones, where all those short subjects could find a waiting audience.
At the same time, it’s also headed for
Amazon’s Fire platform and it's already on all Sony products that can accommodate streaming, and it’s already on Roku and Xbox consoles.
“Those new apps could be a
big leap for us,” Andreen says. “We want to be on every device that makes sense.”
An admirable aspect of the IndieFlix pay scheme is that part of its revenue goes
to the indiie filmmakers, who, of course, are not-so-proud card-carrying members of the starving artists club.
Through IndieFlix’s RPM program--that stands for Royalty
Pool Minutes--filmmakers make 7 cents to 9 cents for every minute IndieFlix films are watched and that rate is climbing with its popularity as a service. Fifteen cents, or even 30 cents could be
happening soon. The Web site brags: “We’re part champion, part curator.”
That feature is powered by Kaltura, which creates monetization and tracking tools for IndieFlix and
the filmmakers. It helps both ends of the business.
IndieFlix picks five to 25 films a day to add to an active library of 5,800 titles, and filmmakers get access to a dashboard
that lets them know who is watching. Andreen says some filmmakers, through that analytic tool, find where, in this country or around the world, moviegoers are reacting most strongly, allowing them to
try other marketing to feed that appetite.
The RPM concept, Andreen says, is a direct result of her own struggles to afford to make and market movies. So while the new apps and
Amazon presence obviously help IndieFlix, an expanded base of customers can helps filmmakers, too. “As we grow, it starts to get really exciting,” she says.
IndieFlix is
nearing the end of $2 million round of funding, and Andreen thinks there will be another one next year. She admits she’s a most unlikely Webcsite entrepreneur, but she adds: “I’m
starting to find the fun in fundraising.” In the meantime, she’s also touring the country with the IndieFlix-backed documentary, “The Empowerment Project,” which celebrates the
new face of women making their marks in a lot of businesses where they were once strangers on the outside looking in. Andreen’s been there.
pj@mediapost.com