With Netflix reporting close to 45 million US subscribers, 450 hours of original programming, with plans to launch over 600 hours of new content in 2016 in the 2015 shareholders report, tech companies are finding new ways to draw viewers to their platform.
Scottsdale-based Pure Flix, an on-demand, faith-based entertainment and distribution company, is using their online niche platform to attract viewers who are looking for quality content with a spiritual message.
In 2005, Pure Flix co-founder Michael Scott, left his photography career in the entertainment and media world to build an online platform that blends film and quality faith-based content. “It always came back to, how can I take my media side and combine it with my faith,” he said.
In 2011, Scott started ramping up Pure Flix as the shift for on-demand entertainment accelerated, more consumers starting cutting the chord, and he recognized that larger population of “people are hungry for the faith-based type of content.” In response, the company began to produce theatrical movies for their platform.
Today, Pure Flix has over 3,000 titles, have streamed over 500,000 hours of content, have 5 million page view per month, are producing five films per year, and acquiring as many movies and distributing them world-wide.
Scott said the platform currently offers drama, comedy, kids and action films and TV that have a “faith-based message in them.” In the future, he said they plan to add music videos, and spiritual growth and short-form content.
The company’s recent successful theatrical releases include God’s Not Dead, which grossed $61M, Do You Believe and WoodLawn, a true story about a “spiritual awakening that captured the heart of Woodlawn High School football team in Birmingham, Alabama during the 1970’s as they fight against racial prejudice and hatred.”
“This is good content, a safe place where parents don’t have to worry about what [the kids] are watching,” Scott said.
Pure Flix announced they entered into a long-term, multi-year distribution services agreement with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (UPHE) where UPHE will manage the distribution services for the Blu-ray, DVD, Electronic Sell-through and Video-on-Demand platforms of Pure Flix new release films as well as for its diverse catalog of titles across the U.S.
“Pure Flix is the premier leader in faith-based entertainment as evidenced by its decade-long success in the category,” John Morici, Managing Director U.S. & Canada, UPHE said in a statement. “Combining Universal’s world-class home entertainment distribution operation with Pure Flix’s robust catalog and ever-growing pipeline of high quality, specialty fare perfectly positions us for success in this well-defined market.”
While 4K TV technology is gaining ground with consumers, Scott said they do produce their new content in 4K and will offer 4K streaming on the platform when demand increases. Pure Flix will be the first Christian studio to film in 4K starting with the sequel to God’s Not Dead.
Pure Flix costs $7.99 a month with unlimited users and is available on iOS, Android and web. Users can stream via Chromecast, Roku, FireStick and more. Users have the ability to rate the content and soon the engine will be able to offer suggestions to customers. Pure Flix also has an office in Los Angeles.
“The most exciting thing at Pure Flix, we are doing the theatrical releases, but now people can engage with the platform all the time. All the theatrical releases we do will be exclusive on the platform and we are also acquiring other’s content that fits in to the faith-based arena,” Scott said.
Graphics provided by Pure Flix
