The largest market for non-theatrical distribution is probably the airlines, followed by film societies.

However, it was not seen in commercial theatres in the US until 1974, when New Line Cinema acquired the rights for limited theatrical and non-theatrical distribution.

Non-theatrical distribution is generally handled by companies that specialise in this market, of which Filmbank [1] is Britain's largest, representing the major Hollywood studios.

Helen de Mouilpied (later the wife of Denis Forman), the deputy head of non-theatrical distribution for the Ministry of Information, recalled:

Although many of these documentaries were for non-theatrical distribution, under Beddington's tenure, the Crown Film Unit produced such feature-length documentaries as Target for Tonight, Desert Victory and Western Approaches.

Blackhill had disappeared from the British Film Institutes's non-theatrical distribution catalogue by the late 1960s, and was in effect a lost film until its rediscovery and restoration by the Northern Region Film and Television Archive in 2004.