SnagFilms, the advertising-supported site for documentaries online, announced today, on its second anniversary, a major expansion of its distribution infrastructure, bringing its library of 1,500 titles to a suite of new platforms. Among the new ventures: the creation of VOD offerings with Comcast, the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communication products; and with Verizon FiOS TV, the converged communications platform.
Founded by AOL Vice-Chair Emeritus and award-winning documentary producer Ted Leonsis (Nanking; Kicking It), SnagFilms has become the Web's largest and most broadly-distributed home for nonfiction films, with its library streamed free to consumers on 90,000 websites and webpages. "We started SnagFilms two years ago for four simple reasons," Leonsis said in a statement. "We wanted to use the scale and interactivity of the Web to bring great films to a broader audience. We wanted to create new tools and revenue opportunities for the entire indie ecosystem--filmmakers, festivals, film schools, non-profits, journalists and advertisers. We wanted to provide context and a community for film fans and the industry. And we wanted to deepen the reach of what we call ‘filmanthropy' by utilizing powerful films to catalyze discussion and lead to positive social change through individuals contributing what they could, whether it's their time, money, or even the pixels on their Facebook page on which they could open a virtual theater with a great documentary film they'd snagged from SnagFilms. Today we announce a series of advances toward all of these goals."
Here's a summary of SnagFilms' new initiatives:
- Launch pay VOD offerings, beginning with Comcast and FiOS. Offerings will include special selections from SnagFilms' library, and new titles that will be offered on a monthly basis.
- Increase purchase and viewing venues. Selections from SnagFilms library will be available for purchase on iTunes; for rental from YouTube's premium program; and both free and for purchase on the iPad.
- Distribute select films through mobile phone carriers worldwide (via A3 Media Network). Initial distribution on two major carriers with a reach of six million subscribers is set to expand to multiple carriers with an addressable audience of over 200 million mobile customers.
- Extend its library to Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players, gaming consoles and set-top boxes this fall.
- Commence its second annual SummerFest, beginning July 15, offering viewers screenings of six heralded documentaries headed to theaters or TV in the fall. SummerFest 2010 offers two-week sneak peeks of each of the festival favorites The Age of Stupid; Shooting Robert King; Disco and Atomic War; Videocracy and The Socalled Movie, as well as ESPN-bound A Fighting Chance. (More about SummerFest 2010here.)
- Launch SnagLearning, a special site that will be made available next month to educators in time for the new school year, with over 100 films slotted by education advisers for grade and subject, to which supplemental study materials will be added.
- Expand its distribution of the greatest documentary film libraries. SnagFilms will now offer films produced by leading indie studio Lionsgate; noted documentary aggregator New Video/Docurama; top student films from USC's School of Cinematic Arts; major selections from the National Film Board of Canada; an innovative Flip Cam film from the famed Disney Imagineers showing their creative process, and an array of extreme adventure and music films from the production arm of Red Bull.
"Our first two years were aimed at building our library and making those films widely available," said SnagFilms CEO Rick Allen in the statement. "Our 1,500 films are available on mainstream media sites like the Miami Herald, new media leaders like AOL, Hulu and Fancast, non-profit websites as varied as the USO's and Nature Conservancy's, and thousands of blogs, special interest sites and social network pages. We've brought a global audience to see films that may never have been shown in their local theaters, increased the engagement of audiences with powerful documentary films, and genuinely encourage philanthropic activity in support of causes important to passionate filmmakers. Two years in, we believe we are benefiting every aspect of the indie world, and define our success as a ‘double bottom line' business that does well by doing good."
For more about the expansion, here's an article in today's New York Times.