In the post-pandemic world, on-demand video reigns king with 19.8 million UK households reporting to have at least one paid video streaming subscription, and this number continues to grow. When the British Film Institute (BFI) approached Arke with the task of expanding audiences for its own streaming service, BFI Player, beyond its current demographic, we were ready to get the cameras rolling. Our objective? To bring hand-picked cinema to untapped markets, leveraging the growing demand for quality streaming content, particularly cult, classic and independent cinema.

Ready to take on the challenge, we outlined the following goals for the campaign:

• Increase in new users by 10% compared to previous period
• Increase in average monthly trialist by 10% 
• Trial to paid conversion rate of 50%
• Paid subscribers churn below 7%

THE CHALLENGE

BFI Player was competing in a saturated on-demand streaming space and despite the complexities of modernising an esteemed brand, Arke quickly raised the creative limitations of existing BFI Player assets and recommended a revamp of assets across six channels, using unified messaging to attract a diverse audience.

As diverse as the audiences, the films available on BFI Player have an immense range: dramatic, cinematic, cult, independent, and classic. Arke worked to capture these qualities through brand-new creative materials, ensuring they reflected BFI’s evolving brand identity, enabling us to use them strategically and cohesively through a multi-channel approach.

The mission was to develop a strong brand presence across various ad formats and platforms, especially with frequent new releases and updates to BFI’s homepage and Player design, drawing in a more diverse range of users.

THE STRATEGY

Our critical focus was enhancing BFI Player’s brand awareness as a streaming service. To do this, we combined targeted video and static ad campaigns that featured BFI Player branding, optimised search advertising and rounded off with robust retargeting to reach our target audience effectively.

Our sights were set on 25 – 55-year-olds of all genders, namely, those interested in non-mainstream films and TV, including international and indie films. We aimed to broaden BFI Player’s audience beyond its core demographic, targeting younger viewers, film enthusiasts, and diverse audiences across the UK including the LGBTQ+ audience.

A key focus point for us was BFI Player’s 14-day free trial. Working closely with BFI’s creative department, the 14-day free trial messaging was split-tested amongst audiences within the creative to understand if this versus the £4.99 per month price point led to more trialists becoming long-term subscribers and which message should dominate on the landing pages. Using this data, Arke created and templated optimised assets for the BFI team to utilise for the subsequent releases based on the top-performing formats, messages and pricing strategies.

The extensive media plan encompassed an “Always-on” approach for search and socials, splitting into priority releases, back-catalogue, and brand-supported campaigns with flighted campaigns at key periods across the year. Due to the streaming service now available via Amazon, Amazon DSP Ads was our chosen programmatic provider.

Then, we took the creative assets to the next level. Not only did we design brand new creatives for the many different films BFI Player was featuring, we also created templates utilising Smart Objects designed to vastly improve the efficiency of asset creation for the BFI Creative Studio team, aimed at increasing their capacity to work on other projects. Additionally, we used Smart Objects and fine-tuned templates to automate the scaling and positioning of film stills, enabling quick and consistent rollouts across platforms.

Our approach consisted of using 12 different tactics across three different mediums and our ads needed to work across all of these. This required significant flexibility in design while ensuring consistent branding and messaging. The final product had it all: it was a unified visual identity that enhanced campaign cohesion. By combining a new BFI Showreel and static ads effectively, the subscription benefits were clearly conveyed, capturing audience attention across every segment.

IMPLEMENTATION

With our extensive and exciting creative collection in hand, it was time to say ‘action’! We began by prospecting where lookalike audiences were activated, based on current long-term subscribers of their safe audiences. Focusing on the younger age range with further layered targeting, we created three new segments: the “cult film lovers”, streamers and streams and finally, parents. 

By utilising the power of YouTube, SkyAdSmart, and Meta, we began increasing awareness of BFI within targeted audiences. Once a targeting pool was collected, we expanded our efforts by building qualified video-viewer retargeting pools. 

It was then time to drive new customer engagement and direct traffic to BFI Player via Amazon Prime, so we extended our use of Amazon DSP, TikTok and Meta. As a multi-pronged approach, we then used Google Search, Google PMax, Google Display, Google Demand Gen, and Meta to cost-effectively drive trial starts and subscriptions. We optimised this by engaging a maximum volume of audiences with a target CPA while employing retargeting strategies.

Once we had eyes on, we deployed a granular Google Search campaign targeting high-intent audiences actively seeking similar streaming services, using specific genres, nations, and popular film titles, solidifying those most interested audience members.

THE RESULTS

Our campaign was Oscar-worthy – all results surpassed campaign targets! Free trials exceeded the monthly goal by 25%, and paid subscribers churn achieved target of <7%. We also unlocked more web traffic from new segments, including a 32% increase in users aged 25-34. Existing segments also grew, with users aged 55-64 up by 21% by Q1’s end.

Achieved:

• Paid Search resulted in a 22.11% increase in new users and 20.99% increase in sessions
• Paid Social resulted in a 45.54% increase in both new users and sessions
• An increase of 20.19% in average trialists per month (10% over target)
• Trial to Paid conversion rate of 60% (10% over target)
• Paid churn remained below 7% target

New markets:

• UK 25-34 increase in users by 31.61%
• UK 45-54 increase in users by 12.46%
• UK 18-24 increase in users by 11.47%

Existing markets:

• UK 55-64 increase in users by 21.03%

A STANDING OVATION

In a crowded streaming market dominated by streaming giants such as Netflix, MUBI and Amazon Prime, we faced the challenge of reaching a UK audience with diminished disposable income due to the cost of living crisis. However, our strategic integrated campaigns and collaboration saw the BFI Player campaign excel through strong relationship-building, adaptability, and a deep understanding of our client’s needs. This collaboration modernised creatives, evolved brand positioning, attracted new audiences, and increased trial subscriptions, showcasing our ability to thrive in a competitive landscape. We also helped to future-proof the BFI with innovative tools and templates for sustainable, in-house asset production.

Our hard work and detailed strategy are being recognised: we are proud that this campaign is a finalist in the UK Agency Awards for the Best Integrated Campaign category! Check back later this year to find out if Arke and BFI take the title home!