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Source: Netflix

‘The Crown’

The British Film Institute (BFI) has launched the UK Global Screen Fund Data Hub – a resource to provide the UK independent sector with valuable international video-on-demand (VoD) data and insights.

According to a statement from the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF), the data hub has been created “to provide international audience data, including VoD consumption patterns, with the aim of assisting UK content creators, distributors, sales agents and financiers to make better-informed decisions, devise data-driven strategies and enhance the global opportunities for UK content.”

The free-to-access online platform will provide monthly reports relating to international demand, powered by global data science company Parrot Analytics and presenting the global top 20 in-demand film, series and talent for the US, UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. In-demand is a measurement of how much more popular a TV show, movie or talent is compared to the market average. Parrot collects data from sources like search engines, rating sites and social media to quantify demand.

It will also provide monthly reports relating to international viewership, powered by Bristol-based software company Digital-i and presenting the top 20 most viewed films and series by service (Netflix and Amazon Prime Video), for UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. The average audience figures are listed for the top 20 – the definition of this being the total minutes viewed of a piece of content, divided by the total duration of the content in minutes, ie. the average total number of viewers per minute of content.

Many working across financing, production and distribution in the UK screen industries have been calling for greater transparency from US streamers with regards to their viewership data. The development and launch of the hub follows the commissioning of a research project during the fund’s pilot year, to investigate the types of market data that would be valuable to UK independent screen industries. The report, carried out by Damask Consulting, recommended the provision of data services, and, in particular, video-on-demand data, to bolster the UK screen sectors in building their reputations and doing business internationally.

Denitsa Yordanova, BFI head of the UK Global Screen Fund, said: “The launch of the new UK Global Screen Fund Data Hub allows UK screen businesses access to VoD consumption data for a number of key international markets, identified by our sector stakeholders as a key unmet industry need. It is fantastic to be working with Parrot Analytics and Digital-i on responding to this need by providing such valuable insights, both for improved knowledge sharing and to help inform decision-making.”

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