The archive · Business Models · Strategic decision · 2007–2020
Mubi streams 30 curated films at a time, adding one a day — scarcity is the offer
Founded in 2007, Mubi keeps only 30 arthouse films at a time, adding one and removing one daily — curation and a 30-day deadline instead of a giant catalog.
MUBI
What it had to solve
Efe Cakarel founded the service in 2007 (as The Auteurs) for cinephiles, then faced Netflix and Amazon's 'all-you-can-eat' model. With no budget for giant libraries, Mubi bet on a small catalog of confirmed quality.
How it works
In 2007, Efe Cakarel founded The Auteurs, later MUBI, as a social network for cinephiles that grew into a streaming service. Its catalog deliberately stays tiny: about 30 hand-picked arthouse, classic and festival films at any moment.
Every day one film is added and another disappears, and each title stays for roughly 30 days. Facing Netflix and Amazon's 'all-you-can-eat' model, Cakarel bet on confirmed quality instead of quantity, signing short, country-specific licensing deals a small company could afford.
The rotation creates urgency and ritual: subscribers check daily, watch before the window closes, and trust the editorial pick. By 2017 the service had around 100,000 users worldwide, and it later added themed seasons, rentals, Mubi Go — one free cinema ticket a week — and theatrical releases.
The constrained catalog turned a disadvantage into identity: Mubi could not match the giants' libraries, so it made not having a giant library the point.
Why it lands
- Thirty films at a time means every selection carries editorial weight; the platform is a curator, not a warehouse.
- The daily one-in-one-out mechanic creates a deadline that makes watching feel urgent and habitual.
- Short, country-specific licensing windows keep costs low enough for a small company.
- Scarcity differentiates Mubi from 'all-you-can-eat' giants without ever out-spending them.
What it did
The model let a tiny platform survive a decade against streaming giants — around 100,000 users worldwide by 2017 — and grow into a distributor that put acquired films into cinemas. The one-in-one-out rotation became Mubi's signature and a case study in curation as a business model.
What you can take
When you can't compete on scale, make the constraint the offer: a small, constantly rotating selection creates trust, urgency and a daily reason to come back — curation becomes the brand.
Since then
Mubi grew beyond streaming into distribution: it acquired films at festivals, released them theatrically — five were showing in UK cinemas by 2017 — and on its own platform, and ran Mubi Go in several countries. In 2020 it added a wider library on top of the curated 30-day rotation, and the one-film-a-day mechanic remained its signature.
Sources
- New distribution strategies for Mubi, the VoD service for the arthouse cinema
- MUBI UK: What's showing and how it works
- Mubi, the curated online cinema club
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card