How The Substance and prDOOH combined to drive interest for Mubi
The Media Plan
At the start of 2024, arthouse film distributor Mubi was facing a challenge: how to reach audiences in a flexible way, in multiple markets, as it looked to promote some of its biggest films.
Across a year-long partnership with AI-powered programmatic ad platform StackAdapt, Mubi, which also offers an over-the-top streaming service, worked with different teams to raise its profile as well as the profile of some theatrical releases.
In the UK, that included the use of programmatic digital OOH (prDOOH) inventory around a Mubi event hosted at the Hoxton Hotel in London.
“Mubi understands that their brand is one of their biggest assets, so aligning their creative strategy with their media strategy is paramount,” said Andrew Rose, vice-president, EMEA, at StackAdapt. “They are intentional with the titles they distribute and produce, and their media strategy should also reflect this.”
Developing a relationship with programmatic
The partnership utilised a combination of connected TV (CTV), online video and display campaigns to promote a variety of Mubi’s theatrical releases across 14 markets and drive additional subscribers to the streaming platform.
Marquee films Mubi looked to market last year included Priscilla, Aftersun and, more recently, The Substance. In particular, Mubi looked to capitalise on the latter following Demi Moore’s recent Golden Globe win to drive additional audiences.
“The primary focus was the significant time and effort invested in cultivating the client relationship, which can be challenging to quantify but is crucial for long-term success,” explained Rose.
“Building trust often requires prioritising the intangible moments that strengthen the partnership, even if it results in fluctuations in spending. Ultimately, this approach fosters a more robust and enduring relationship that benefits both parties.”
Working towards subscription growth
The Mubi team worked with StackAdapt to create audience segments from their first-party data. StackAdapt then developed exclusion segments as well as lookalike segments for brand awareness campaigns, the latter of which sought to increase reach by targeting like-minded audiences.
“We have been heavily invested in using our display channel for their buys,” said Rose. “Over the last year, we have expanded this channel mix to include CTV, then DOOH and finally online video. We also utilise StackAdapt’s ability to ‘whitelist’ desirable sites that we were able to scale the entirety of our campaigns across.”
StackAdapt optimised towards subscription registration as the key goal in order to both measure tangible business outcomes for Mubi and gain more proprietary data on the demographics and browsing behaviours of Mubi users.
The Mubi team, meanwhile, had its own internal brand-lift metrics that aimed to track brand activity in different markets.
“The most rewarding element has been developing a great working relationship with the Mubi team,” concluded Rose. “We are open and transparent with our goals and challenge each other’s assumptions of the media landscapes and strategies.”