Appendix D — Home entertainment strategies

While the home entertainment market saw a dramatic fall in the number of releases in 2012, there are still substantially more titles available every week at home than in cinemas. Norwegian movies have not yet proven viable on these platforms, and so this additional volume is almost entirely made up of foreign titles. Some Norwegian TV shows do get DVD and/or TVOD/EST releases, but again this volume is small compared to the number of foreign TV shows released. The home entertainment market is therefore dominated by the high-resource foreign-led and foreign-dominated companies that acquire the rights for Hollywood movies.

All companies with a significant share of direct-to-video releases have reacted to the same trends in approximately the same manner – reducing the total number of titles, mainly by dropping re-releases. While the number of Norwegian TV shows and catalogue titles has fallen from its peak around 2010, most new Norwegian movies receive some kind of home entertainment release.

The home entertainment strategies have been analysed as a part of the overall distributor strategies. While there are clear indications that for some distributors this is the case, not all home entertainment decisions are taken by the distributor.

There are also examples where distributors have acquired home entertainment rights for older titles originally released by others. Although this has not been systematically examined, I have noticed such acquisitions by Nordisk Film Distribusjon and SF Studios. In many cases, it seems likely the home entertainment rights lay with a production company later acquired or made home entertainment deals with SF Studios or Nordisk Film Distribusjon.

One such example is that Nordisk Film Distribusjon seems to hold the rights to Elling (Me, My Friend and I, Næss 2001) and Mors Elling (Mother’s Elling, Isaksen 2003), which were produced by Maipo and originally distributed by UIP. These titles were regularly promoted as a part of the Nordisk Film+ streaming service. However, the final film in the trilogy, Elsk meg i morgen (Love me tomorrow, Næss 2005), was not, suggesting that those rights might not have been acquired.

Most of the low-resource distributors do not release home entertainment titles themselves but use specialist distributors. Euforia and Mer Filmdistribusjon release only their own cinema titles, while Star Media and Another World Entertainment are home entertainment specialists that release far more home entertainment than cinema titles. This includes both foreign and local titles originally distributed by other low-resource cinema distributors.

Success in the home entertainment market does still largely depend on success in the cinemas – distributors measure the relative success in the home entertainment markets as conversion rate, thus linking performance in the second market to the first. With that said, only limited sales numbers in the physical home entertainment markets were publicly shared, and no digital sales are shared at all, which limits data available on an individual company basis.

Reports on the top 10 best-selling DVD titles annually from 2006 to 2012 show the average conversion rate hovering just around 50% at the height of DVD sales volume. In 2012, the conversion rate fell to 36%; as sales volume dropped, sales figures were no longer shared.

D.0.0.1 Window length

Window length has been a point of contention for a few years. Cinemas have increasingly felt threatened by a shortened cinematic window, and as the home entertainment market has lost value, distributors increasingly want to draw attention from cinema releases into the home entertainment markets.

While the data on DVD release dates is limited, it does not suggest any major changes in cinematic windows for Norwegian movies in the period under discussion. However, we once again find the high- vs. low-resource pattern in this distribution channel. With the exception of Another World, whose seven non-Christmas titles were released an average of 98 days after the cinema premiere, the low-resource distributors have significantly longer windows than the high-resource distributors.

Among the smaller distributors, the long DVD windows might be the result of late decisions to release a DVD at all. Mer Filmdistribusjon’s Hoggeren (The Tree Feller, Syversen 2017) and Fra Balkongen (From the Balcony, Giæver 2017) were both released almost two years after their cinema premieres, and Mot naturen (In Natura, Giæver and Vold 2014) almost five years after its cinema premiere. All three had, however, been released digitally earlier, and the decision to release these titles on DVD coincided with the release of the very successful Hva vil folk si (What will people say, Haq 2017), 164 days after its cinema premiere.

The very shortest windows seem to be reserved for movies expected to have short cinema runs. Both SF Studios and Nordisk Film Distribusjon released documentaries on DVD just 45 days after the cinema premiere and Another World Entertainment released VampyrVidar (Vidar the Vampire, Berg 2017), a low-budget title that sold less than 2000 tickets, after 45 days.

In 2019 Hjelperytteren failed at the box office and also saw a 45-day window. This was significantly shorter than Norsk Filmdistribusjon’s other titles the same year, which all had 129-day windows. In 2019, the high- vs. low-resource pattern was not evident in the length of the cinematic windows. While Selmer’s Brillebjørn på ferie had a 120+ day window, titles from Storytelling, Arthaus and Mer Filmdistribusjon all stayed below 100 days.

A high- vs. low-resource pattern was slightly more evident in the structure of the home entertainment releases. In 2019 Nordisk Film Distribusjon consistently released titles in an EST-exclusive window followed by DVD/Blu-rays, creating a sales exclusive window before the titles were available on TVOD. SF Studios followed the same pattern, with the exception of Operasjon Mumie, which was released digitally and physically at the same time. This release, and the long EST window for Amundsen, were connected to physical campaigns and are discussed in the next chapter.

Among low-resource distributors, only Arthaus and Mer Filmdistribusjon chose similar release patterns. None of the others had EST exclusive windows, although Psychobitch had a short physical exclusive window. Hjelperytteren did not receive a physical release, and Brillebjørn på ferie had a short window where it was only available on DVD and EST, before TVOD. Astrup - Flammen over Jølster and Villmarksbarna - En eventyrlig reise were available on TVOD the same day as both EST and physical releases.

Villmarksbarna also saw a very short TVOD window, as it was broadcast by NRK and made available on the national broadcaster’s player only 28 days after the TVOD release and just 87 days after the cinema premiere. Finally, Kamel and Jeg ser deg did not see traditional home entertainment releases at all.

Only two 2019 titles, Swingers and De dødes tjern, had “dark windows” in which they were no longer in cinemas and not available as home entertainment. Both were distributed by SF Studios. However, almost all titles had made well over 90% of their total admissions by the time they were available in the home entertainment markets.

D.0.0.2 Formats

As Figure 22 shows, almost all Norwegian movies get some kind of home entertainment release. Most of these also get a physical release, and some get both DVD and Blu-ray releases[^87]. The formats in which titles are released are mainly based on expected sales, although smaller companies seem to have a higher threshold for committing to DVD and Blu-ray releases than bigger companies. The exception is the more specialised distributors, which often release Blu-rays even of poorly selling titles, and some of the smaller distributors, which forego physical releases entirely.

Another World and Arthaus have released Blu-rays of titles with less than 2000 and 8,000 admissions respectively, and only one of Another World’s 10 releases is not physically available at the time of writing.

Mer Filmdistribusjon, through Star Media, has never released a Blu-ray, not even of Hva vil folk si despite it selling more than 100,000 tickets[^88]. By contrast, high-resource distributors Nordisk Film Distribusjon and SF Studios have released Blu-rays for titles selling about 40,000 and 30,000 tickets respectively. Many of the smaller companies have most likely not released any Blu-ray titles, and some children’s movies selling more than 200,000 cinema tickets have only been released on DVD.

In 2019, SF Studios and Nordisk Film Distribusjon released all their titles on Blu-ray. With the exception of Barn, released by Arthaus, none of the low-resource distributors’ released Blu-rays.

D.0.0.3 Pricing

Unlike movie tickets, the cost of renting or purchasing a movie in the home entertainment market varies on a per title basis. The price of DVDs and Blu-rays varies slightly, though generally on the basis of how new the film is (and in some cases extra is charged for special or limited editions). No historical data is available for VOD, but there is clear evidence that new films enter the market at significantly different price points, and that pricing changes at different intervals for different titles.

The 2017 title Hva vil folk si still sells at NOK 139 on iTunes, while most 2018 titles sell at NOK 79. This difference is particularly significant as it indicates the perceived quality of titles can be linked to price – Hva vil folk si received significant critical acclaim, in addition to selling more than 100,000 tickets. Hoggeren, another 2017 release from Mer Filmdistribusjon, is at the time of writing priced at NOK 99. While Hoggeren also received critical accolades, neither the praise nor the much lower ticket sales – 15,000 – were comparable to Hva vil folk si, suggesting Mer Filmdistribusjon considers the latter a better value proposition and priced it accordingly.

D.0.0.3.0.1 Table 31: Price points for local 2019 releases

Title	Distributor	Initial EST price point	Min Est price	Max Est after a year[^89]
Amundsen	SF Studios	139	49	79
Ut og stjæle hester	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	139	49	79
Askeladden - I Soria Moria slott	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	139	49	79
Kaptein Sabeltann og Den Magiske Diamant	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	139	49	79
Swingers	SF Studios	139	69	89
Spionen	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	139	49	79
Operasjon Mumie	SF Studios	139	49	79
De dødes tjern	SF Studios	139	79	79
Snekker Andersen og Julenissen: Den vesle bygda som glømte at det var jul	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	139	99	99
Håp	SF Studios	139	79	79
Tunnelen	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	139	49	139
Born2Drive	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	99	79	99
Kamel	Tour de Force	0		0
Jeg ser deg	Europafilm	0		0
Hjelperyttereren	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	99	99	99
Barn	Arthaus	99	79	79
Astrup - Flammen over Jølster	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	99	99	99
Villmarksbarna - En eventyrlig reise	Storytelling	99	99	99
Disco	Mer	99	99	99
Brillebjørn på ferie	Selmer	99	99	99
Benjamin Falck og Dødsdolkene	Star Media Entertainment	79	79	79
Psychobitch	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	99	79	99

When examining pricing strategies in 2019, we once again find a high- vs. low-resource pattern. SF Studios and Nordisk Film Distribusjon’s pricing strategies are far more active than those of the low-resource distributors, starting higher, but adjust more quickly.

D.0.0.4 Streaming

Using data from three spot-checks undertaken by NFI from 2014 to 2016, we again see a distinct difference between the high-resource distributors and the low-resource distributors. SF Studios and Norsk Filmdistribusjon had far better access to streaming services, especially Netflix and HBO. Most low-resource distributors had no titles on streaming services, however, Tour de Force released documentaries to Norwegian broadcasters, and Norsk Filmdistribusjon had some of its titles on TV2 and Scandinavian streamers. The exception among the low-resource companies is Euforia, which had nine recent titles on Netflix in 2014 as well as titles on C More and TV 2.

Streaming releases for local 2019 titles once again follow the pattern seen in other categories. With the exception of De dødes tjern, all of SF Studios’ and Nordisk Film Distribusjon’s titles went to paid SVOD services about a year after release. Barn had a similar SVOD release, unlike the other low-resource distributors whose titles went to broadcasters first.

D.0.0.4.0.1 Table 32: Streaming releases for local 2019 titles, days after theatrical

Title	Distributor	1st SVOD	Second SVOD	Free-to-air/streaming
Psychobitch	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	Amazon Prime		743 (NRK)
Born2Drive	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	424 (Dplay)		428 (TVNorge)
Amundsen	SF Studios	368 (C More)	1096 (HBO)	806 (NRK)
Kamel	Tour de Force			625 (NRK)
Ut og stjæle hester	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	376 (Viaplay)	? (TV2 Play)	764 (NRK)
Jeg ser deg	Europafilm
Askeladden - I Soria Moria slott	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	402 (Viaplay)	472 (TV2 Play)
Hjelperytteren	Norsk Filmdistribusjon			547 (NRK)
Barn	Arthaus	374 (C More)		825 (NRK) (Filmoteket)
Kaptein Sabeltann og Den magiske diamant	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	444 (Viaplay)		923 (NRK)
Astrup - Flammen over Jølster	Norsk Filmdistribusjon			450 (NRK)
Villmarksbarna - En eventyrlig reise	Storytelling	472 (Get)		87 (NRK) (Filmoteket)
Disco	Mer Filmdistribusjon			424 (NRK) (Filmoteket)
Brillebjørn på ferie	Selmer			436 (NRK) (Filmoteket)
Swingers	SF Studios	367 (C More)	(Viaplay)
Spionen	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	400 (Viaplay)		765 (NRK)
Operasjon Mumie	SF Studios	367 (C More)		533 (NRK) (Filmoteket)
De dødes tjern	SF Studios	Shudder (US Only)
Snekker Andersen og Julenissen: Den vesle bygda som glømte at det var jul	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	395 (Viaplay)		770 (NRK)
Håp	SF Studios	409 (Viaplay)		756 (NRK) (Filmoteket)
Tunnelen	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	376 (Viaplay)	732 (TV2 Play)

D.0.0.5 Prominence in the home entertainment market

In general, Nordisk Film Distribusjon titles were on the iTunes front page longer than SF Studios titles, and SF Studios movies were on the front page longer than those from other distributors. Only titles from SF Studios and Nordisk Film Distribusjon remained on the iTunes front page longer than they played in cinemas.

This is most evident when looking at the children’s titles. Nordisk Film Distribusjons’ Askeladden i Soria Moria Slott and Kaptein Sabeltann og den magiske diamant not only stayed on the iTunes front page for more than a year after release, but both were visible in the Top Pre-Releases section for two months before release. SF Studios’ Operasjon Mumie did not have the same prerelease visibility, but stayed on the iTunes front page for a year.

Of the two children’s movies released by other distributors, only Brillebjørn på ferie made the iTunes front page and only for five weeks. In cinemas, however, Brillebjørn på ferie played for 32 weeks, Operasjon Mumie for 27 weeks, Askeladden - I Soria Moria slott for 36 weeks and Kaptein Sabeltann og Den magiske diamant for 49 weeks. Villmarksbarna - En eventyrlig reise had the shortest cinema run of all titles yet stayed in the Top 200 for four weeks, as long as Brillebjørn på ferie, despite Villmarksbarna - En eventyrlig reise not reaching the front page.

However, the persistent top performance of SF Studios and Nordisk Film Distribusjons’ titles did not extend to the company’s artistic path titles. Disco and Barn remained on front pages longer than SF Studio’s Håp, despite the artistic title’s higher admissions. Ut og stjæle hester stayed on the iTunes front page slightly longer and also had significantly higher admissions. Spionen was the only artistic path title to stay longer on iTunes than in cinemas.

The home entertainment performance of SF Studios and Nordisk Film Distribusjon’s local 2019 titles is further discussed in chapter 5, as is the performance of Barn.

D.0.0.5.0.1 Table 33: Weeks in cinemas and weeks on iTunes front page for Norwegian 2019 releases

Title	Distributor	Weeks in cinemas	Weeks on iTunes front page	Weeks in iTunes Top 200 Chart
Amundsen	SF Studios	29	11	16
Ut og stjæle hester	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	28	13	12
Askeladden - I Soria Moria slott	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	36	60	39
Kaptein Sabeltann og Den magiske diamant	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	49	61	42
Swingers	SF Studios	11	14	16
Spionen	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	21	22	17
Operasjon Mumie	SF Studios	27	53	30
De dødes tjern	SF Studios	10	9	5
Snekker Andersen og Julenissen: Den vesle bygda som glømte at det var jul	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	15	22	9
Håp	SF Studios	26	6	5
Tunnelen	Nordisk Film Distribusjon	33	47	38
Born2Drive	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	18	1	7
Hjelperyttereren	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	8	0	0
Barn	Arthaus	29	12	10
Astrup - Flammen over Jølster	Norsk Filmdistribusjon	25	0	0
Villmarksbarna - En eventyrlig reise	Storytelling	21	0	4
Disco	Mer	25	8	13
Brillebjørn på ferie	Selmer	32	5	4
Benjamin Falck og dødsdolken	Star Media Entertainment	0	2	1

As Table 35 shows, SF Studios and Nordisk Film Distribusjon’s catalogue titles clock impressions far above those of other distributors. There are likely several reasons for this. Among these, Nordisk Film Distribusjon’s deals with TV2 and Viaplay boosted the prominence of their titles, as did Euforia’s deal with Get/Teliaplay.

The effect of using price to achieve prominence is evident with Pornopung (Crack, Back & Sack, Kaos 2013), which represents half of Norsk Filmdistribusjon’s impressions on iTunes, also demonstrates the impact of using price to achieve ranking prominence. Pornopung rental is consistently priced at NOK 9 and the movie regularly shows up in the 9 KR Rental section on iTunes. However, as the only Norsk Filmdistribusjon title with this pricing strategy, it seems likely the decision was made by its producers, not distributors.

D.0.0.5.0.2 Table 34: Corporate structure of Norwegian distributors

Distributor	Location	Parent Company/Major Stockholder	Parent Company Type	Selected integrations
United International Pictures	Oslo	Universal & Paramount	Hollywood Majors	Paramount+ is available in Norway, and the service will be relaunched as SkyShowtime and include NBCUniversal. Neither has any other Norwegian presence.
Twentieth Century Fox Norway	Oslo	The Walt Disney Company	Hollywood Major	Run as a local office owned by Twentieth Century Fox until 2020.
The Walt Disney Company Nordic	Oslo	The Walt Disney Company	Hollywood Major	The Norwegian office is registered as a local branch of a foreign company. Disney has no other company level presence in Norway, but Disney+ and several Disney channels are available.
Nordisk Film Distribusjon	Oslo	Egmont	Danish Publishing Conglomerate	Production companies: Maipo, Friland, Nordisk Film Production. Cinemas: The Nordisk Film Kino chain and Drammen Kino, ticket sales portal Filmweb and cinema advertising company Media Direct Norge. Television: TV2 with several production companies and TV distributor RiksTV. Publishing: Cappelen Damm, Story House, Egmont Kids. Similar structure in Denmark and Sweden, which includes international sales agent Trust Nordisk.
SF Studios	Oslo	Bonnier	Swedish Publishing Conglomerate	Production companies: Filmkameratene, Paradox, Motion Blur. SF Studios has similar structures in Sweden and Finland and Bonnier is a major publisher in Sweden.
Sandrew Metronome	Oslo	Schibsted	Norwegian Media Conglomerate	When Schibsted owned Norsk Filmdistribusjon it operated as Sandrew Metronome and included cinema ownership in Sweden and Finland. Sandrew Metronome remains active in Denmark and in the Norwegian home entertainment market.
Norsk Filmdistribusjon	Oslo	SHOLDING	Norwegian cultural industries holding company	SHOLDING also owns VOD-portal Nettkino and cultural industries promotion agency Kulturmeglerene.
Distributor	Location	Parent Company/Major Stockholder	Parent Company Type	Selected integrations
Scanbox	Oslo	Scanbox	Danish film distribution company	No longer active in the Norwegian cinema market, but remains in the home entertainment market
Euforia	Oslo	Storm Group AS	Norwegian property developer	Storm Group also owns the production company Storm Films AS and Storm Studios AS
Arthaus	Oslo	None	Norwegian non-profit foundation	Co-owner in and co-located with arthouse cinema and theatre Vega Scene.
Mer Filmdistribusjon	Oslo	Mer Film	Norwegian production company	Mer Film is a production company. While Mer Film is located in Bergen and Tromsø, Mer Filmdistribusjon is located in Oslo
Another World Entertainment	Oslo	VME	Norwegian Record company	Has a Danish sister company, Another World Entertainment Denmark, founded by VME
Storytelling Media	Trondheim	Trondheim Municipality	Norwegian Municipality	Storytelling is owned Trondheim Kino, a municipally owned cinema.
Europafilm	Oslo	Evil Doghouse Studios	Norwegian production company	Evil Doghouse also runs several small production offices.
Tour de Force	Bergen	None
Fidalgo Filmdistribusjon	Kristiansand	None
Bollywood - Green Chili	Oslo	None
KontxtFilm	Oslo	None
Selmer Media	Oslo	None

D.0.0.5.0.3 Figure 8: Average yearly admissions for foreign titles

D.0.0.5.0.4 Figure 9: Number of local movies released 2011 – 2015 by path

D.0.0.5.0.5 Figure 10: Number of average yearly releases

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D.0.0.5.0.7 Figure 11: Number of average yearly releases vs. median yearly releases[^90]

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D.0.0.5.0.11 Figure 13: Number of local titles with screenplays based on known sources or original stories

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Figure 14: Share of admissions from local titles with screenplays based known sources or original stories

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D.0.0.5.0.16

D.0.0.5.0.17 Figure 18: Total foreign releases by month from 2008 - 2018[^91]

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D.0.0.5.0.19 Figure 19: Total Norwegian released by month from 2008 - 2018

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D.0.0.5.0.22 Figure 21: Average number of home entertainment releases 2008 – 2018[^92]

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D.0.0.5.0.27 Figure 23: Average conversion rate of top selling DVDs

D.0.0.5.0.28

D.0.0.5.0.29 Figure 24.: Average DVD window length, Norwegian 2008-2018 titles[^93]

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D.0.0.5.0.31 Figure 25: Window lengths of Norwegian 2019 titles[^94]

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D.0.0.5.0.37 Figure 28: Number of titles in streaming services

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D.0.0.5.0.39

D.0.0.5.0.40 Table 35: Prominence of catalogue titles[^96]

Distributor	No. Norwegian movies	iTunes	Altibox	Get/Teliaplay	Google Play	Blockbuster	Viaplay Store	TV2	Viaplay	Total
SF Studios	59	1,03	3,10	2,58	1,31	0,00	9,17	5,25	0,44	22,88
Nordisk Film Distribusjon	75	0,95	1,31	5,88	1,39	0,00	5,48	12,59	4,35	31,93
Euforia	27	0,04	0,00	11,30	0,07	0,00	0,00	0,15	0,00	11,56
Norsk Filmdistribusjon	42	1,19	0,00	0,19	0,21	0,02	0,00	0,90	0,00	2,52
Independent distribution	25	0,00	0,00	0,32	0,32	0,00	0,64	0,00	0,00	1,28
ActionFilm	5	0,60	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,60
Sharing	4	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	1,25	2,50	0,00	3,75
The Walt Disney Company Nordic	2	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	4,50	0,00	4,50
Storytelling Media	8	0,00	0,00	0,25	0,13	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,38
Another World Entertainment	10	0,00	0,00	0,10	0,00	0,00	0,00	2,90	0,00	3,00
KontxtFilm	1	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00
Arthaus	3	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00
Tour de Force	16	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00
Beacon Isle Distribusjon	2	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00
Europafilm	9	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00
Mer Filmdistribusjon	5	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00
Scanbox	8	0,00	0,25	0,00	0,00	0,00	1,25	1,63	3,38	6,50
Selmer Media	1	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00
Tour de Force	16