Screen Distribution and the New King Kongs of the Online World

Like music and the news media before it, the film and television business is now facing its time of digital disruption. Major changes are being brought about in global online distribution of film and television by new players, such as Google/YouTube, Apple, Amazon, Yahoo!, Facebook, Netflix and Hulu, some of whom massively outrank in size and growth the companies that run film and television today. Content, Hollywood has always asserted, is King. But the power and profitability in screen industries have always resided in distribution. Incumbents in the screen industries tried to control the emerging dynamics of online distribution, but failed. The new, born digital, globally focused, players are developing TV network-like strategies, including commissioning content that has widened the net of what counts as television. Content may be King, but these new players may become the King Kongs of the online world.

Stuart Cunningham is Distinguished Professor of Media and Communications, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. He is one of Australia's most prominent media scholars. His recent work includes Hidden innovation: Policy, Industry and the Creative Sector (2013); Digital disruption: Cinema Moves Online (edited, with Dina Iordanova, 2012); and Key Concepts in Creative Industries (with John Hartley, Jason Potts, Terry Flew, John Banks, and Michael Keane, 2013).

Jon Silver is Senior Lecturer in Film, Television and Digital Media, Queensland University of Technology, Australia. His research focuses on strategic issues facing screen content businesses, especially impacts of new technology on distribution and exhibition. He has worked in senior executive roles in film production, distribution and exhibition.

List of Tables
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Online Distribution: A backbone history
2. Online Distribution Globally
3. Lessons from History, the Future of Television?
4. The Players, Part One: YouTube/Google
5. The Players, Part Two: Rivals in Online Distribution
6. Does it matter? The content question, and conclusions