in-depth analysis of other crowdfunding platforms
In our industry, it's not uncommon for people to make bold claims. They claim that their film will make a fortune, that they will win an Oscar, and that their new project is better than anything else on the market.
I have not done an in-depth analysis of other crowdfunding platforms, but we can look at what other sites claim.
I don't usually make a big deal out of these exaggerations, but occasionally I demand proof. Few of them answer, and even fewer of them can back up their claims. Today's article is about a company that can defend its bold claims.
https://seedandspark.com/user/vitiligo-treatment/
Seed & Spark is a crowdfunding platform for the film industry that
claims to have “the highest success rate in the crowdfunding industry."
As regular readers know, I've been involved in the world of film
crowdfunding for some time and have done extensive research on all film
projects on Kickstarter over the past five years, so I wanted to check
out this claim.
I emailed Seed & Spark for information, and
surprisingly, they provided me with a detailed breakdown of all their
projects. This is unusual. Few companies are so open and transparent.
https://seedandspark.com/user/case-sticker-pack/
I looked at Seed & Spark's data and found the following: A brief description of Seed & Spark
Seed & Spark was founded in 2012 by CEO Emily Best and to date has raised just over $7 million for film projects.
To
date, 744 projects have been submitted to the site, 46% of which are
short films, 35% feature films, 16% series, and the rest film festivals,
companies, platforms, parties, and VR experiences.
Seed & Spark's success rate.
https://about.me/notenheft-musik-a4
We take a look at Seed & Spark's claim that it has "the highest
success rate in the crowdfunding industry." After looking at all the
projects so far, I can confirm that Seed & Spark has a 75% success
rate.
Compare that to the largest crowdfunding website in the
industry, Kickstarter. My research on Kickstarter found that the
overall success rate for film projects is 43%.
Note: Kickstarter data is for the third quarter of 2015 only, as that is when I conducted my research.
Ulule claims a 72% success rate for its film and video projects.
Pozible claims a 57% success rate, but that number is for the entire site, not just film projects.
According to Wired, Tubestart (a film and video project management system) has a 32% success rate.
I spoke with Marc Hofstatter, creative director of IndieGoGo. Although
the company doesn't release data, he said the success rate for film
projects is "about 30%."
https://seedandspark.com/user/fidget-pack
The Wired study cited found that 13% of RocketHub projects were successful.
Based
on this somewhat inconsistent and fragmented data, Seed & Spark
appears to be the most successful platform for filmmakers. My initial
cynicism has since subsided.
Seed & Spark projects
Before
concluding this topic, I'd like to discuss the Seed and Spark projects
in a bit more detail. First, the genre. All projects are split between
one or two genres (45% between one and 55% between two), with drama
being the most common genre with 42% of projects. Other popular genres
include comedies (27%), documentaries (18%), thrillers (8%), and horror
(6%).
The following table shows the number of successful and
unsuccessful projects in each genre, as well as the success rate.
Romantic comedies, experimental films, and thrillers are the most
successful, but the number of these projects is small, so the average
success rate may change significantly as more projects are added.
https://seedandspark.com/user/squishmallow-plush/
So far, the average donation has been $113, but the amount fluctuates
significantly from month to month depending on which projects are
featured on the site.
Seed & Spark's five most successful film projects:
Ordinary Women - Goal: $200,000, Viewership: 4,152, Genre: Animation,
Story. This animated series tells the stories of women who have "defied
history," with each short animated in a style that defines the woman's
story.
Greatest Hits - Target Amount: $150,100, Number of Fans:
128, Genre: Documentary. A documentary about music photographer Chris
Cuffaro and the famous musicians he photographed.
Money and rape
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