Mubi

In the world of massive streaming companies with billion dollars overheads and tumultuous competition between services to be the last left standing, Mubi is a unique one among the rest. Founded in 2007 before the streaming trend had really picked up, Mubi earns about 55.1 million in annual revenue.

The Mubi model works because it is much more collaborative with the filmmakers themselves. In addition to purchasing rights to stream Mubi splits the revenue generated from streams over a 30-day period 50/50 with its films creators. The typical licensing period for films is two years and non-exclusive.  Making a great way for creators to get exposure and if Mubi benefits, these creators will as well.

Part of the appeal seems to be the lack of quantity and focus on curation. Mubi has 30 films a month with each film getting a designated appearance as the film of the day. Instead of promising everything, Mubi promises a glimpse and a unique curated experience. It feels more inspired, since all it’s being hand-selected and isn’t algorithm based.

Because of this curation model and offering a consistent product throughout the course of Mubi has been able to maintain stable continuous growth as well as a very loyal subscription base. Something that the bigger subscription models constantly struggle with maintaining resulting in spending more and more on new content to keep their ravenous audience subscribed. Mubi functions as an online film festival and its appeal is that its subscribers are interested in the gamble. They know that they won’t like every film offered but they are paying for the process of discovering what they do like.

“MUBI CEO Efe Cakarel told me at Disrupt Berlin that the company will be cash-flow positive this quarter, and that its revenue has grown at a rate of 72% year-over-year for the past three years running.”