Short films #2 - How are short films consumed?

Thanks to the widely available use of digital technology, short films can be easily watched in a number of ways. First of all, films can be viewed by anyone on free video sites such as Youtube and Vimeo, on a wide range of devices such as laptops, netbooks, tablets and smartphones. Secondly, short films can be viewed on subscription-based services such as Amazon Prime and Sky Box Office. As well as this, short films can usually be viewed on the television on channels like Film4 and sometimes E4 and Channel 4. In addition to this, short films are often advertised on these channels and in the last few months the 'Short shorts' page has been advertised on Channel 4 and E4 channels, persuading viewers to go online and view hundreds of short films free of charge. The final way, and maybe the most common way in which short films are consumed (apart from online viewing), is the method of large conglomerate media companies releasing short films on an extra disc in the DVD releases of films. An example of this includes the time when Disney included a short film called: 'Toy Story Toons - Hawaiian Vacation' on all DVD/Blu-ray releases of Cars 2 in 2011. Below are some images of Disney/Pixar short film releases: