The Los Angeles Times is running a story about a partnership between Netflix and the Indepenent Feature Project to provide their 9,000 members free access to the films nominated for the Independent Spirit Awards.
The story provides some interesting statistics about Netflix and why they are a leader in independent film distribution:
Overall, Netflix controls only 8% to 9% of the DVD rental market. But the company accounts for one-third to one-half of all rentals of "indie" and low-budget movies. According to Sarandos, the Netflix executive, specialized films often outperform mainstream studio movies rented via the service.For example, 1 in 4 Netflix subscribers have rented "The House of Sand and Fog," the critically acclaimed drama that made little at the box office. The New Zealand film "Whale Rider," whose young star Keisha Castle-Hughes earned an Oscar nomination but whose ticket sales totaled about $20 million, has been rented on Netflix more than either "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" or "The Hulk."
Only the IFP members will have access to the movies:
But this year, IFP members will access the nominated films through a special page on Netflix's website, punching in a code to order DVDs free of charge. Netflix will pay to make DVDs of the films that have not yet been acquired by distributors — usually about 25% of the nominees. The company will pick up the cost of mailing those DVDs to IFP members.
Netflix is providing this service to IFP members for free, but can expect many to join Netflix. This should also help differentiate Netflix from the competition by increasing their exposure to influential movie viewers.
Thanks to Joe for sending this in.
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