ALTERNATIVE CONTENT IN CINEMAS - WILL IT EVER WORK?

13 years ago I pinned an article for Film Journal International entitled, "Theatres Become Viewing Venues" (September 1999) in which I stated that alternative content would (some day) be common place in cinemas and it would be delivered by various electronic means. In August of 2000, I wrote another piece for the Film Journal entitled "Broadcasting Sporting Events @ Theatres: A Digital Beta Test" whereby, Entertainment Equipment Corp. sponsored a demonstration where a Pittsburgh-area high school's football game (supplied by a local TV station) was projected via a conventional Panasonic video projector on a 40ft. wide cinema screen, and predicting that the day would come when cinemas would be used as venues for presenting relevant but local community content.  Needless to say, neither of these prognostications have yet come to be.

After 13 years it seems that the alternative content (AC) market may now be at the make of break stage.  What has been learned is that, as I predicted, the content has to have relevance to the local demographic to be successful.

The players in the alternative content field: NCM Fathom, Cinedigm, Emerging Pictures, BY Experience, and D&E are pushing hard but finding that delivery points that provide a consistent and loyal audience is difficult.

"Local marketing is where alternative content lives and dies," states D&E's Evan Saxon, "so the engagement of the exhibitor and the local audience is essential." 

What makes for success (just like TV or films) is a series (a franchise) - such as the opera or ballet.  One off showings are costly in terms of content and marketing and don't always pay off.  A series enables on-going marketing and more importantly time to build an audience. Consumers must view AC as not just a substitute for a movie, but relevant content that stands on its own.

Hollywood, for its part, hasn't really embraced AC, which is not surprising given the output of films (there will be well over 600 releases this year) and the non-predictability of the box office, coupled with the studios' preoccupation with the on-going challenge from the internet. Additionally, there are the alternative providers, such as Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, Google, just to name several that are providing ex-movie content of all sorts.  And unfortuneately, as some AC providers believe, 3D will not be their savior. YouTube already provides all of its HD downloads in 3D format.

From a Bruce Lee docu to the Nutcracker what matters most for AC providers is offering high quality content that is of relevance to a local audience - that scenario was proven 13 years ago and it still holds true today.

Best
Jim Lavorato