MUBI looks to rekindle PVR partnership as theatres open up

In conversation with Svetlana Naudiyal, the Asia Programming Director at MUBI over content, partnerships, and pricing.

After a lull in the cinema and theatres space thanks to the COVID pandemic, MUBI wants viewers to step out and watch its films in PVR theatres. As an OTT platform, MUBI is dedicated to niche, non-mainstream cinema, and as a website - MUBI is home to a host of written content that analyses the different aspects of these movies.

It was founded in 2007 by Efe Çakarel, a Turkish entrepreneur who was trying to watch a movie while sitting at a cafe in Tokyo. Çakarel was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs who was trying to watch ‘In The Mood for Love’ - but couldn’t find it anywhere. This led him to understand that there is an audience who are seeking out these films and have no place to watch them; and he founded MUBI to fill that gap in the market.

MUBI is currently present in over 109 countries and was launched in India in 2019. When it was initially launched, it also launched MUBI Go - an initiative, in association with PVR Cinemas. Every week, a handpicked film from the MUBI catalogue would play in theatres and MUBI subscribers get tickets for free.

Screengrab from Mubi's website

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Over call, Svetlana Naudiyal, the programming director - Asia for MUBI tells us that MUBI Go had been paused during the pandemic, but as theatres open up again across the country, the company intends to partner up with multiplexes for this initiative again. “As much as we want people to come to the platform - we also want people to experience cinema the way it should be experienced. No matter what language, films will connect with people as long as the sentiment they express is universal,” she says.

In addition to this - MUBI also has a partnership with Amazon’s OTT platform - Amazon Prime Video. In September 2021, Amazon announced the launch of Prime Video Channels in India. It is a marketplace through which rivalling video-on-demand streaming platforms can distribute their content and bill customers. Prime Video Channels is a value-added service within the prime video app. Subscribers can access content from partnering platforms within the same interface.

MUBI on Amazon Prime Video

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Some of the available Amazon Prime Video Channels will have content from discovery+ (Rs 299/year), Docubay (Rs 499/year), Eros Now (Rs 299/year), hoichoi (Rs. 599/ year) Lionsgate Play (Rs 699/year), Manorama Max (Rs. 699/year), MUBI (Rs 1999/year), Shorts TV (Rs 299/year) available on the platform.

“We want the movies on MUBI to reach as many people as possible. We have a partnership with Prime Video for a feature they have called Prime Video channels. That way, Prime Members can subscribe and watch content on MUBI’s platform. It’s like a sub-subscription as opposed to regular subscription but you can still get access to the titles on MUBI,” explains Naudiyal.

Naudiyal tells us that the intent behind this move is reach and visibility. “The Prime Video membership isn’t confined only to India, it is also in other countries. A lot of subscribers knew about MUBI even before it launched in India. I was among those people who wished MUBI would come to India - since I’ve been interested in cinema since 2015.”

Svetlana Naudiyal

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MUBI’s pricing is also slightly higher than the rates that other OTT platforms charge. Netflix has pricing plans that start at Rs. 149 (for mobile devices), Amazon Prime Video charges Rs.999 on a yearly basis (or 129 a month.) Disney+ Hotstar memberships are available at Rs. 1499 a year. Zee5 charges Rs. 499 a year and Sony LIV costs 999 a year. Currently, MUBI membership is available for Rs.1999 a year (at a discounted rate - full price, the membership costs Rs. 3500).

“When it comes to pricing, we decide on it keeping in mind some of the films we present on the platform, the kind of audience we have and the kind of movies we are going to bring on to the platform in the future as well. That’s the place we’re coming from - we are bringing international cinema and digging out and finding older Indian films from every corner of the country. We’re trying to bring together an eclectic pool of films from everywhere,” she adds.

Naudiyal also tells us that the company attempts to balance out the rates with offers and discounts on pricing of annual subscriptions.

While most OTT platforms have an algorithm that recommends viewers content that might interest them - MUBI’s OTT platform doesn’t have an algorithm like that as such no algorithm Naudiyal tells us that MUBI is a database as well as a streaming service. “Sometimes you’ll find a film’s page on MUBI and you’ll see a note on the bottom which says that this movie is not currently streaming on MUBI, but these others are. We’re focussed on the handpicked quality of our curation. We focus on human creation and MUBI has a section called film of the day on the home page.”

She reveals that when designing a calendar for a month, the team usually picks a general global theme which is influenced by what film festival is happening in which country (for example - Berlin Film Festival). Every month’s calendar caters to global themes or sometimes it can be region specific events too.

“If you go on MUBI and see one a film by a particular director it’ll probably show you other films by the same director. Thats the level of recommendations we have,” she says.

The kind of films we show, the demand is very consistent. Owing to the pandemic, we did see tremendous growth in viewership and subscription and engagement with our platform. We have a streamlined way of presenting films its very standard.

Earlier, when it was launched in India, MUBI followed a 30 day model. At any given time, there would be 30 films available for viewing but it would only be available on the platform for 30 days.

“Earlier it was about creating a narrow framework of viewing for the consumer. People used to like that model as well because it reduces the chaos of choices. That was the style that worked for us - we changed it only after the pandemic. During the pandemic, we saw viewership change, and we decided to open up our film library. We still have one new film that we release on the platform but after its 30 day run, it goes into MUBI’s library instead of leaving the platform.”