Warner Bros. is about to try a new distribution model in South Korea. They will start releasing movies online two weeks before they are even available on DVD. This is a trial but if it proves successful it might get exported to China (the worlds largest market for home entertainment) and other countries. The move shows that Warner is the bravest and smartest Studio today - they've previously narrowed the release windows on DVD and VOD and today most movies are released the same day. The other Studios haven't made that ...Read More

Warner releasing digitally before physical

Finally someone from the film industry admits there's something wrong with DRM. Sony Pictures Television president John McMahon said a couple of days ago: DRM is one of the main reasons why people turn to file-sharing networks, instead of legal alternatives Great insight! I wonder how many are pissed off on this guy right now? Didn't expect this statement from a Studio, especially not from a company like Sony (which has a tradition of doing things their way and enforcing DRM on eh..everything). It kinda swept away the arguments for DRM. How can ...Read More

Sony admits: DRM increase piracy

The current hype regarding online video is around streaming and streaming services. Hulu was amongst the first to offer a broad range of content in good quality when it came earlier this year and now claim to serve millions of streams every day. Numbers are starting to come in and so far it looks like they attract a lot of consumers though studios say they have difficulties to monetize the free viewings. So exactly how well do free perform versus transactional viewings? I recently got some numbers from one company who trials both ...Read More

Free vs paid video on demand

Yesterday Timbuktu, one of Sweden's most popular artists, released the first single from his forthcoming sixth album in collaboration with The Pirate Bay. The torrent holds the song in mp3 and FLAC and a video in HD and Xvid. Timbuktu runs his own label, Juju Records, and has obviously understood the importance of attention and good will. The trend where established artists is using unconventional marketing tools on the internet continues. Read More

Beloved Swedish artist in collaboration with The Pirate Bay

Since the start of online video services there's been a fear that online services will cannibalize packaged media (DVD and Blu-ray). This fear is one of the reasons studios have been restrictive with licensing content and also why some still have a release window between DVD, downloads and video on demand (VOD). Not licensing content is part of the plan "not making the same mistakes as the music industry". I like to bust myths. This day it's time to kill the online-video-will-cannibalize-the-DVD-myth. It's true that the music industry made mistakes and was ...Read More

Video on demand increases DVD sales