Distribution : BITMAX vs. FILMHUB by Eric Hawkins

Do you have any more information Eric Hawkins?

Both are aggregators who submit your film to several platforms such as amazon, apple tv, tubi etc.

Eric Hawkins, I meant about your feature. :)

I never recommend FilmHub, especeially since the beginning of 2023. Contact me direct, I may have some ideas for you to consider.

New to network.....How do I contact directly?

Check Indie Rights with Linda Nelson. They take the same cut as Filmhub but they have all of their filmmakers review their peers films to help with that algorithm game

Send a person a network request (the Add button under their picture on their profile), Eric Hawkins. After they accept your request, you can send them a direct message (the green envelope button under their picture).

FilmHub is free. Go that route. You are in full control.

FilmHub is free but you lose 20% of your gross as a service fee. Just an FYI

So Filmhub takes 20 percent of gross.....Bitmax charges I believe $1500...wondering if that's a 1 time fee and I keep the remaining split from Tubi

You may pay an extra couple hundred for added platforms and they might take a very small stake (5% or less) for some AVOD platforms. Because they may have changed their policies, I'd just call their LA Office and asks for their terms of agreement.

We went with Bitmax and then put our title on Filmhub ourself after just to get on other platforms Bitmax didn't offer. But this way, we get to keep our Tubi revenue and not give 20% away.

Don't know about Bitmax, I have never dealt with them. But as I operate and deal with streamers, I can tell you that FilmHub does not audit or verify any statements from the various platforms, and because of your relationship with them, you have no ability to do so either. I don't know that FilmHub even shows you the actual statements they receive in a timely manner or at all (ie. so that even if you could question the numbers, contracts deem them correct because certain time has passed). Some of the producers I speak with have seen a sudden and precipitous drop in revenues from FilmHub starting earlier in 2023, that they observe does not reflect their own marketing efforts or the visibility of their films. Like the defunct Distribber and Tag, FilmHub seems to have become a bit of a one-trick pony in that it tends to rely on Tubi. But when Tubi was bought by Fox, the writing was on the wall that actual independent films would start to fade into the background in favor of mainstream produced films (albeit older ones). If you have been paying attention to the Tubi timeline, you can see how things are slowly changing in that direction. Further, my behind the scenes contacts say Tubi is now doing a pruning of indie films. This may explain the lower success FilmHub has been experiencing and it seems to be reflected by what people are saying.

Shadow Dragu-Mihai, Esq., Ipg - I agree with you wholeheartedly. However, Filmhub is free, where Bitmax charges. Also, I've read case studies and spoke with independent producers who made a few hundred bucks, to a decent five figures per month on titles. From my understanding, it boils down to how much money you sink in marketing, which can be rather affordable with Facebook ads, etc.

Regarding transparency, yes there are a lot of small fish on FilmHub, and they aren't paying crap. But, I've yet to find one Sales Agent / Distribution company that are fully transparent and 100% honest. My two....maybe three cents.

Hearing both you gentlemen out, lot of solid points. I personally don't think filmhub should even be CONSIDERED until you talk with Linda from Indie Rights. Marketing does not exist with filmhub. It's a website we all have access to. There is no prerequisite for competition other than being able to upload the right size jpeg. It's nice to have as an option but shouldn't be anyone's first option.

And I think transparency is tough these days personally because of the Distribber fiasco where they robbed tons of indie filmmakers. It's hard not to be on edge these days when you have minimal control or contact with people that are managing "your baby." I had to reach out to filmhub to finally get some analytics that were way past due. Wish I didn't have to track them down, but they responded promptly and I haven't had any issues since.

Bitmax has been punctual with all of our VOD/TVOD metrics. I will say, as soon as we released our movie (Movers Ultimate, go watch it) on Tubi, we haven't gotten any metrics from them. This was on March 1. It took some time getting someone on the phone over there, but they were very apologetic and said we should hear something July 1. That passed and after reaching out again I heard mid July. Not sure if you're looking at the time but it's August in a couple days which means we will not have any streaming data for the first 5 months (minimum) our movie has been on AVOD. They initially reported the standard waiting time for your first month of Tubi would be 3 months, followed by monthly reports.

Now that I'm done being a buzzkill, the facts are we only paid $2K to this company which isn't enough to get you a personal assistant over there and I still take them over filmhub. Wanna know how many movies get released every year? I can't even count that high. This is just the nature of the beast we are living in today. We're fortunate to have options. One wild miracle I have to mention is that Linda over at Indie Rights was quick to schedule a meeting with me when we first started having issues getting transparency. And Indie Rights manages a lot of movies. And her clients lover her.

So, no matter who you end up going with, I think the moral of the story is to know that your journey doesn't stop there. It's going to require continued endurance to make sure you're getting what you signed up for, because these are just businesses we're working with, and businesses are run by people. And people make mistakes. If you're still here, thanks for your time. And go see Sound of Freedom.

Ben Rood, thank you for posting. Excellent points.

@Eric Hawkins here’s a link to the Bitmax website. They also have a podcast that has interviews with filmmakers. Well worth a listen…

https://www.bitmax.net/why-us/

Filmhub? Well maybe you get what you pay for, or in this case, don’t!

Well, for me, Filmhub is a place for movie and series retirement, when you've used all other options available. We have a documentary who does some bucks each month. However, I never tried Bitmax nor Indie Rights, so it's the next step!