Investigating Cinephile SVoD Catalogues with Small-Scale and Cobbled Together Methods

This article considers strategies and tools (qualitative methods, web scraping, and small-scale data visualization) that can be used to study cinephile video-on-demand (VoD) services, such as BFI Player, Fandor, Filmatique, FilmStruck, LaCinetek, Mubi, Sundance Now, Tënk, and The Criterion Channel. It argues that these cinephile VoD services have characteristics that require a distinctive approach to data collection and analysis. The metaphor of cobbling, which emphasizes the heterogeneity of borrowings from both academic and nonacademic practices, is developed throughout the article. The goal is not so much to present a streamlined methodology as to reflect on the choices and adjustments made to create a unique set of analytical strategies. The article begins by describing the steps taken to achieve a multimodal analysis of the catalogs’ websites and the circulation of content and subscribers through them, before moving on to consider the development of specific methods for collecting and visualizing data on title selection.