How AT&T’s DirecTV Is Using Analytics to Boost Independent Films

Left behind by studios focused on big-budget tentpoles, independent films need a champion.

AT&T-owned DirecTV agreed on a partnership with indie A24 in 2013 that turned into its Cinema Exclusives program, where select independent films are premiered on DirecTV for a short period of time, usually 30 days, before they hit theaters.

Hanny Patel, Vice President of Video Marketing for AT&T Entertainment Group and one of the creators of the Cinema Exclusives program, told TheWrap that the program wasn’t intended to drive revenue on its own, rather to enhance the value proposition of DirecTV, but it’s outperformed financially so far.

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One, independent films occupying a sort of budgetary middle ground had become much less valuable to studios banking on global blockbusters.

[...] those that did get made were often restricted to a handful of theaters in cities like Los Angeles and New York, leaving potential fans in the rest of the country out of luck until they hit places like Netflix many months after the fact.

Since launching the program in 2013, DirecTV has shown more than 55 movies to its subscribers before their theatrical release through its Cinema Exclusives program.

“Morris from America” star Craig Robinson recently got nominated for a Gotham Award – the first nomination for a DirecTV Cinema Exclusives film.

Patel said the program came about from brainstorming sessions and meeting with studio partners, where they came up with the idea of premiering a movie on DirecTV exclusively for 30 days before its makes it to theaters – and in many cases, not to cinemas near where the bulk of DirecTV subscribers live.

DirecTV commits a seven-figure marketing budget to each film in the program, which gives them heightened awareness both on the satellite platform and in theaters.

“One of the really nice unintended consequences is that we’re building awareness for that film pre-theatrical and it kind of helps that film succeed throughout its life cycle,” she said.