Message From the President
Time spent watching video online has been exploding over the past few years. Research shows1 that this is not a passing trend, but is in a spectacular growth trajectory. Digital services and conveniences have infiltrated many aspects of our lives and are now fundamental to the way in which we entertain ourselves. Canadians are well connected: 75% subscribe to internet services and have access to thousands of hours of videos on computers and mobile devices. “Videonautes” has entered our vocabulary to describe the heavy consumers of video online.
Videonautes download and stream huge amounts of television, films, clips and web series. According to Comscore Video Metrix2, 67% of Canadians watched over 5.1 million online videos, an average of 232 videos per person, in February 2011. According to CEFRIO3, nearly half of all Quebec adults watch videos on YouTube, Vimeo or Dailymotion, which makes online entertainment the most popular form of entertainment in Quebec. And, our cousins to the south are the same. According to a Pew Research study in 2013, 78% of Americans watch video online. In fact, according to a Nielsen4 report, Americans watch over five hours a week watching video on their computers.
How should we respond to this growing consumer demand? They are passionate connoisseurs, always seeking something new and unusual or series that they can “discover” or clever viral videos they can spread. By focusing on great story-telling and writing, by producing and marketing a large of number of high quality videos produced by our crews and talents, our web series will find their niche in cyberspace. The Independent Production Fund was very innovative in 2010 when it launched a new program to finance web series. Convinced of the potential for this new form of entertainment, the IPF has renewed this financing program indefinitely. There is no slow-down in interest as we annually receive over 160 applications for funding. Since 2010, 54 web series have received investments of $5.5 M. The IPF has also actively encouraged different models of creation, exploitation and distribution and share the lessons learned with the industry. There are still big challenges, but our productions are making their way to stand out amongst the massive amount of available content. The IPF will continue to maintain its support in this entertainment format that is proving to be more and more popular.
Charles Ohayon
President
1 Based on research from Statistics Canada, Comscore, Nielsen, Cefrio, Pew Research
2 http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations_and_Whitepapers/2011/The_Online_Video_Nation_in_Canada
3 http://www.cefrio.qc.ca/netendances/divertissement-ligne-webtele-place-foyers-quebecois/
4 http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/the-cross-platform-report-how-viewers-watch-time-shifted-programming.html
5 http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=fra&retrLang=fra&id=3580153&pattern=3580153&csid=