Getting your film onto a streaming platform can feel like an achievement. Your film has distribution. There is a link. People can watch it.
But being available and being discoverable are two very different things.
One of the questions filmmakers should be asking when considering any distribution or streaming opportunity is not simply "Can you put my film on your platform?" but "Who is actually going to find it there?"
This is particularly important when looking at smaller independent and niche platforms. They can offer something the major streamers increasingly struggle with: specialist knowledge, curation, community and direct relationships with audiences. But being independent does not automatically mean a platform has solved the discoverability problem.
In fact, some platforms have exactly the same problem you have as an independent filmmaker. They are also trying to get noticed.
Look beyond the platform itself
A professional-looking website tells you surprisingly little about the size of a platform's audience.
Before licensing your film, spend some time looking at its wider presence.
How many people follow its social media accounts? More importantly, are those people engaging? Are posts receiving comments, shares and conversations, or does the platform appear to be broadcasting into an empty room?
Search for the platform outside its own channels. Are independent filmmakers talking about it? Are audiences recommending it? Is it being mentioned by publications, festivals, community organisations or other independent voices?
Look at how it talks about the films it already has. Does it actively promote individual titles, or does it mainly promote the platform itself?
Contact a film or two from the platform that are similar to yours and ask them if they receive regular reporting and any royalties. Don't just ask if they're happy as many filmmakers are simply happy to have their film available. But for your career and future films, proper distribution, reporting and revenue are very, very important.
You should also look at the size of the catalogue.
Having thousands of films sounds impressive, but a huge catalogue is not necessarily good for your film if there is a relatively small audience trying to navigate it. Equally, a platform with very few films may simply be new and highly curated, but it can also indicate that it has struggled to attract filmmakers, audiences or both.
There needs to be some proportionality between the size of the catalogue and the size of the customer base.
If a platform does not appear to have enough films to maintain an attractive service, it is worth asking whether it has enough customers to sustain the business either.
How often are they releasing new titles? For both SVOD (subscription) and AVOD (free with ads) regular weekly or fortnightly releasing is essential for sustainable business.
What is the actual business model?
This is one of the most important questions and one that filmmakers often overlook.
Someone has to pay.
If audiences are not paying, advertisers need to. If advertisers are not paying enough, somebody else has to fund the platform. If none of those things are happening at sufficient scale, there is very little money available to reach filmmakers.
That matters because a revenue share of 50%, 70% or even 100% means very little if there is almost no revenue to share.
AVOD is a scale business
Advertising-supported streaming can sound attractive because removing the paywall potentially gives your film a much larger audience.
The problem is that advertising revenue requires significant viewing volume.
For the largest global video platforms, AVOD can work because they operate at enormous scale and have sophisticated advertising infrastructure. For smaller independent services, the economics are considerably harder.
Advertising rates also fluctuate with the wider economy, advertiser demand, territory, audience demographics and the type of content being watched. A niche platform cannot simply replicate the economics of one of the world's largest advertising businesses.
So if a small platform is offering your film through AVOD, ask some basic questions.
How many active viewers does it have? How many hours are being watched? What advertising does it actually sell? What has it historically paid filmmakers?
The last question is particularly useful.
A theoretical business model is not the same as a proven one.
Subscription has its own challenges
Subscription platforms have different economics.
They need to convince somebody to subscribe, and then give them enough reasons to remain subscribed.
That means content needs to keep moving.
As a general principle, a specialist streaming platform should be introducing something new very regularly. At Lesflicks, we have learnt that a steady flow of new content is important because subscription businesses are constantly fighting churn. If audiences stop finding something new to watch, cancelling becomes very easy.
For a niche film platform, releasing around a title a week gives subscribers a continuing reason to return. That does not mean every platform must follow exactly that schedule, but long gaps between releases should prompt questions about how it retains subscribers.
Then look at the subscription price.
Filmmakers understandably like inexpensive services because they appear more accessible to audiences. But there is a point where cheap becomes economically questionable.
Streaming technology costs money. Storage and delivery cost money. Payment processing costs money. Subtitling, accessibility, marketing, staff, customer service, administration and licensing all cost money.
And filmmakers still need to be paid.
If a service charges very little, ask how all of those costs are being covered.
Free trials are not always the positive they appear
Free trials have become so normalised in subscription businesses that we rarely question them.
But filmmakers should.
A platform repeatedly offering long free trials, heavily discounted memberships or constant promotional offers may be successfully using them as part of a carefully tested acquisition strategy. It may also be struggling to convince people to pay.
The distinction matters.
Lifetime subscriptions deserve even greater scrutiny.
They generate cash today while creating a customer who may continue using the service for years without generating further subscription revenue.
For a business with ongoing streaming, technology and content costs, that can create a serious long-term liability. If lifetime subscriptions are being used extensively, it is reasonable to ask why the platform needs so much future customer revenue upfront.
Promotions are not automatically evidence that a platform is struggling. But they are something filmmakers should investigate rather than simply viewing them as evidence of audience growth.
Bigger does not automatically mean better either
None of this means that the answer is simply to choose the biggest platform available.
The streaming market itself is consolidating. Major media companies have increasingly looked towards combinations, bundles, partnerships and consolidation as the economics of running multiple competing streaming services have become more difficult.
Smaller independent platforms should be having similar conversations.
There are significant costs involved in building technology, acquiring customers, marketing content and retaining subscribers. Ten tiny platforms individually trying to build ten separate audiences, technology stacks and subscription businesses may not always make as much sense as collaboration
