The Boxoffice Network is harnessing short-form video to drive movie ticket sales, online rentals, and VOD purchases across international markets. With an approach that brings in 35 billion yearly views across platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Snapchat, the Los Angeles-based distributor is defying widely held assumptions about media consumption and bringing value to its studio partners.
Though its headquarters are in California, The Boxoffice Network is part of Webedia Group, the Paris-based digital media company that owns theatrical vendor The Boxoffice Company. To bring more traffic to its services — including VOD sales, rentals, and ticketing hubs on platforms like Google, IMDb, Bing, and TikTok — The Boxoffice Company established its eponymous Network, which includes more than 100 original channels in languages like English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.
On YouTube and Facebook, film-focused content is nothing new; outlets like Movieclips have accrued billions of views by distributing memorable scenes and trailers for upcoming releases. Some Boxoffice Network channels employ similar strategies. ONE Media is a go-to destination for teasers and trailers, while AdoroCinema lets Spanish speakers relive some of their favorite film moments. Analytics firm Tubular ranks The Boxoffice Network as Facebook’s biggest provider of Hollywood-based movie content.
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A freshly inked deal is leveraging the power of those long-form videos. The Boxoffice Network has teamed up with New Rockstars to distribute pop culture content across its owned-and-operated channels. Viewers across The Boxoffice Network will start seeing videos like the Dune clip embedded below, and they can look out for upcoming original content collabs between the two companies as well.
“This week we launched a New Rockstars video breaking down all the scenes from Dune: Part Two, explaining easter eggs and details you may have missed,” Boxoffice Network President Stan Ruszkowski told Tubefilter. “With more than 4 million subscribers, we believe that New Rockstars videos like these encourage repeat viewings in the theater so that fans can seek out deeper meanings and take another look at those scenes in context.”
The idea of providing context and deeper understanding is key to The Boxoffice Network’s relationship with studios. To distribute its library of clips, it must enter into unique licensing deals with major rights holders, and those agreements usually require careful thought when it comes to scene selection.
“Our specialists carefully identify key scenes that resonate with the target audience, considering factors such as cultural relevance, genre preferences, and platform dynamics. Additionally, the length of clips is often constrained by the licensing rights and promotional use, with a focus on optimizing for monetization,” Ruszkowski said. “For instance, we prioritize clips that exceed three minutes in length to maximize engagement and revenue potential (and because film fans prefer the longer clips), while also adapting content for each platform’s requirements to ensure optimal performance.”
The results of that meticulous process are not always obvious. Ruszkowski told Tubefilter that Boxoffice Network viewers have flocked to a few older IPs, including the Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick Hard Target. With those insights, The Boxoffice Network and its partners can locate franchises that have “potential for revitalization or further exploration.”
The recent shift to short-form, vertical formats has complicated the process of digital film clip distribution while also presenting golden opportunities to the companies in that space. Last year, TikTok was overrun with a wave of unlicensed uploads that covered entire movies in sequential, short-form chunks. That trend underscored the difficulties Hollywood rights holders face in the short-form landscape, but it also showed brands like The Boxoffice Network that vertical video viewers are hungry for silver-screen content.
The Boxoffice Network has taken advantage of the shift to short-form, particularly on Snapchat. That’s where Ruszkowski and his team worked alongside the app to innovate a vertical format that piques interest in blockbuster movies a few seconds at a time.
“Our Snapchat format, designed exclusively for this platform, offers an immersive experience within a 9×16 frame with multi-dynamic frames,” Ruszkowski said. “By leveraging this format, we can craft visually compelling stories that capture attention and drive meaningful interactions, making Snapchat an ideal platform for connecting with our viewers in an impactful way.”
The end result might seem ironic to the Chicken Littles who bandy about that old canard about the death of cinema. The Boxoffice Network doesn’t see Snapchat and TikTok as forces that will destroy Hollywood movie magic. Instead, those short-form hubs can reinvigorate interest in film among an influence that holds great sway over pop culture paradigms.
Ruszkowski told Tubefilter that short-form clips can increase movie ticket purchase intent in a number of ways. Viewers might go watch a full movie to understand a particular scene they saw, or they might head online to relive the most memorable moments from their favorite flicks.
“The Boxoffice Network and its partner studios recognize there is always the challenge of finding the right scene that sparks interest and drives intent to purchase. You always want to avoid giving away critical scenes from movies that might affect viewers’ interest in watching the full films,” Ruszkowski said. “We want viewers to say, ‘show me more,’ driving them to the next logical step: seeing the whole film.”
That discussion is continuing to evolve as the film industry prepares for the return of the Academy Awards on March 10. The Oscars always come with questions about youth engagement in cinema, but this year, digital platforms are taking the awards circuit to Gen Z. TikTok, for example, is turning to members of its #FilmTok community to provide red carpet access for viewers.
The Boxoffice Network is another piece of that puzzle. Its multiformat array of digital clips is a tool that could quiet ‘is cinema dying’ crowd. “While the availability of film clips online presents new challenges, it also underscores the importance of promoting the unique value propositions of cinemas,” Ruszkowski said. “By fostering a culture of cinematic appreciation, reminding fans of the immersive experiences they’ve been missing, and adapting to evolving audience preferences, we believe these movie scenes help spark interest in cinemas in the digital age.”
