The timing could not have been better. We launched our Daily e-mail newsletter in January, and what followed was one of the most eventful and newsworthy years in memory. What with Alliance Atlantis in play, the CRTC striking down key parts of CTVglobemedia’s deal to acquire CHUM, the CTF under siege, a strike by actors, and the seemingly unstoppable dollar, the value of such a resource was immediately apparent.

When news develops as quickly as a lightning strike, the ability to deliver headlines to readers’ digital devices is a very exciting prospect, and we’ve been very excited often this year.

Overnight, our website numbers doubled. Today we boast 70,000 unique visitors and over 300,000 page views a month – a drop in the bucket by MySpace standards, but stellar results for a B2B website. We are, in fact, beating many Canadian consumer sites.

Meanwhile, with all that turmoil and gathering questions around the state of the film and TV business in Canada, we started to wonder aloud to stakeholders whether there wasn’t an online tool that we could create to help business operators operate.

This is what we heard from several: ‘Why not create a Canadian version of IMDbPro?’

Why not, indeed.

And so, in the spring we put together a budget and began to develop a new online product. We started by compiling the various lists we already publish, including our annual Independent Prodco List, Investment and Finance, Studios and Services, Schools and Training, and In Production Listing.

From there, we created a simple searchable database that would allow users to cross-reference from various categories. If you want to find all studios and funding sources and recently produced feature films in Manitoba, the information will be just a click away.

It’s the next step in a process that will ultimately make PlaybackOnline.ca an extraordinary research tool for every professional working in the film and TV business.

We envision a day in the near-future when users will be able to search for a show and drill down from virtually every point of reference, finding contact information on each person involved – from actors to the production manager to the broadcast programmer – see what public funds were accessed, and read about the various locations where the show was shot.

Of course, all this development comes with a significant cost, as does chasing daily news stories. And so, much of what you find at PlaybackOnline.ca requires a paid subscription. What you get is access to all Playback Daily and print articles, a digital edition of the magazine, and the productions database. The decision to start charging readers was not taken lightly, and one that we battled with for months.

And yes, we know that we are bucking a trend that has seen Variety, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, among other news services, tear down their walls and build revenue through advertising rather than subscription fees.

We know that after careful analysis, these media outlets concluded that there are millions of dollars to be gained by boosting usage and charging advertisers on a ‘cost-per-thousand’ basis. These are businesses, after all. They are not doing it out of love for their readers (although we certainly do love our readers); they are doing it to make money.

Here in Canada, the market is not yet there; certainly it is not yet there for our business. Advertiser buy-in has been slow, despite our stellar traffic numbers, which is not unusual in the B2B world. Someday soon this will change. And when it does, be assured that we will revisit our business model.

In the meantime, we will continue to update the database on a daily basis, as we endeavor to create the most comprehensive and useful research tool available to the country’s film and television industry.

At the same time, we are enhancing our careers portal so that, in the coming weeks, you will be able to fill out a salary survey and see where you rank among your peers. The site will also contain an ask-the-expert feature and advice columns.

We’re very excited about this new phase, and expect this will be a great tool for users.

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Establishing Shot appears in the Playback Annual 2007 insert. Playback next publishes on Jan. 7, 2008.

Our team wishes you all the best for the holiday season, and a happy and prosperous new year.