2018 Documentary Audience Research

Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ontario Creates, Telefilm Canada, the National Film Board of Canada, the Government of Ontario, or the Government of Canada. [...] We wanted to understand the people who were in the market Coupled with these commercial booms was a deepening movement to use documentaries to foster social for documentaries, to get to the bottom of how they discovered, shared, rented, purchased, and ultimately impact. [...] Yes, it likely has something to Movie theatres and film festivals, for example, are losing ground to the myriad ways one can easily – and do with the fact that the profile and marketing of documentary films has increased, but it’s also likely relatively cheaply – stream an ever-growing amount of documentary content from the comfort of one’s home. [...] Film trailers also play an important role in the selection process, say 76% of respondents, and when forced to rank the relative importance of various things that influence their decision to watch a particular documentary, the film’s trailer ends up ranking within the top five influences, ranking behind things like recommendations (both personal and professional) and trusted curators of the film. [...] REASONS FOR WATChING A dOC ONLINE OR dOWLOAdING ONE FROM ThE INTERNET (Documentary watchers n=3586) 95% INSTANT AVAILABILITY (NET) 61% It is available when and where I want to watch it 97% 54% I missed it on TV or at the theatre Any (Net) 53% I wish to watch it at home 52% The film is not available to me at the theatre or on TV 41% It’s the easiest way to see it 95% INSTANT AVAILABILITY (NET) 20%