5 ms·

Whoah, it's awesome to see this posted here in my native habitat! I've spent the last 8 years of my life building MUBI as Co-Founder and CTO (even longer than I

Whoah, it's awesome to see this posted here in my native habitat! I've spent the last 8 years of my life building MUBI as Co-Founder and CTO (even longer than I've been on HN!). Please AMA.

ohbleek 11y ago
I love the site and found it through filmspotting. Any plans for adding support for kodi? (there's an addon already but it isn't updated regularly)
- dasil003 11y ago
  We've put a hold on new platform development for most of this year in order to move towards a standardized API and tighten up our QA process, so no plans for this year. I can share that the top two platforms which we are seeing interest in are Roku and the new Apple TV.
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    Yes Roku please. Also does "Android" support include direct (not tab-cast) chromecast support, or is that another thing entirely? (I'm not home now so I haven't tried this myself.)
  - ssmoot 11y ago
    Never heard of MUBI before this post. Browsing some lists, it makes a ton of sense. I'd probably sign up right now if it were available on AppleTV. I don't really want to add another device to my entertainment center and not interested in watching anywhere but the TV (except on the iPad when traveling). We've got AppleTVs and a PS4. Tossed the Rokus. Not expecting you guys are hurting all that bad for my $40. But figured another vote/story couldn't hurt.
    - dasil003 11y ago
      We have a PS4 app, it's just not launched in the US yet due to the administrative and policy distance between SCEE and SCEA. It will be coming soon, but in the meantime, if you can get yourself a UK or EU-based PSN account, you can download the app through that and it will work fine anywhere in the world (provided you purchase a subscription through the web, the PSN store integration is a bit flaky and I don't want to promise that would work from US shores).
  - theflork 11y ago
    +1 on roku!
redpola 11y ago
I don't have a question, but I'd like to thank you. I've been a MUBI subscriber for a month or two now and love it. You've a subscriber for life here. My best experience was when I fired up my MUBI app in my holiday home (different country in Europe) expecting nothing (like with Netflix and Amazon film), only to find another excellent selection of films. Discovering that rather than punish me for trying to use MUBI in two countries, you actually gave me twice as much content, was a beautiful surprise to say the least. Thank you.
- dasil003 11y ago
  Thanks for your comment, I've shared it with the team.
spiraldancing 11y ago
Hi. I just now learned about MUBI, through this HN post. First and foremost, it looks great, and I will almost definitely be signing up tonight when I get home. Here's my gripe ... am I doing something wrong, or do I have to create an account just to find out the subscription prices? If it's not just my user-stupidity, don't make me register just to see the prices.
- fatboy 11y ago
  I see the price at the bottom on this page: https://mubi.com/films/showing https://mubi.com/films/showing €4,99 per month where I am.
  - spiraldancing 11y ago
    PEBCAK ... Nevermind
davidovitch 11y ago
Only discovered MUBI today via HN. Looks great! There is one annoyance (which I also have with Netflix): I live in Denmark, but I am not fluent in Danish. Not all your movies have English subtitles though, so how can I watch anything else except the three languages I master (English, French and Dutch)? Are licensing issues preventing you from offering English subtitles on all your movies as a default?
- dasil003 11y ago
  In short, yes. Language/subtitle licensing is a mine field. Often times the small local distributors we deal with don't acquire anything but the local language rights, so it becomes almost impossible to go upstream and get the remaining rights even though we may well have the assets for use in other countries. We are doing what we can to move the ball forward on this issue industry-wide, but historical rights arrangements are working against us here.
  - crucialfelix 11y ago
    This is also our major issue with MUBI. We love the film selection, but we live in Germany. When we want to watch a French film, its overdubbed in German. Netflix is also odd about this but usually we can get German subtitles for any film and choose the audio with original language. Ideally we should be able to select any language that there are available subtitles for. Why restrict it by region ?
    - NolF 11y ago
      The producers likely have distribution agreements on a by-country basis. So, for example WB cannot distribute <movie> in Germany because GEMA has the rights. But GEMA didn't buy the rights for the English subtitles. I imagine technically WB could then sell subtitles rights for <movie> in Germany but it would be a pain because maybe those subtitles were done by <subcompany> for licence in America and Oceania... etc.
      - crucialfelix 11y ago
gjkood 11y ago
I have to say, your sign up process (including payments) was one of the simplest/smoothest I have ever experienced. And I especially loved the welcome email that felt so personal (I know this is an automated form letter. I specialize in CRM systems). This is a fine example of great customer service. I am sure the content will be as discerning.
- dasil003 11y ago
  Thank you! We are still fine-tuning, but it's been a lot of effort to get to this point.
hyperion2010 11y ago
It seems that the major focus of MUBI is rapid and ongoing curation. Do you guys have a defined process for how you do this so that you achieve a desired distribution of films or is it more down the the individual curators? One other thing I wonder about curation of media in general is whether you think your customer base is willing to try new things because they trust you rather than simply trying to find something that is known to be similar to what they liked in the past? Do you think trust based recommendation system overcome the bubble effect that similarity based systems fall in to? Thanks!
- dasil003 11y ago
  This isn't my department, so I can't comment on the details of processes, but there are teams working on content acquisitions, and there are individual curators, and there is also an algorithm for non-curated countries. We definitely look at the data for analytics on the past programmings to understand what worked or didn't, but it's more as a guideline for the curators who have significant latitude to program things in a culturally relevant or timely fashion (eg. programming The Iron Lady the day after Margaret Thatcher died). As I mentioned in another thread, we did try the data-driven recommendation engine approach and did not achieve great results. We definitely believe that the human element of our editorial voice leads to a greater level of trust with our subscribers, and enables us to introduce hidden gems and lesser-known films to a wider audience.
sequence7 11y ago
First off this looks amazing, congratulations on building something I'd love to use and good luck. I have two questions. 1) Is MUBI available in the UK? 2) Do you support or are you planning support Plex?
- gjkood 11y ago
  The article says that MUBI is a London based company. Does that mean it is available in the UK? I would guess that is highly probable.
- dasil003 11y ago
  UK is our biggest territory and best film selection, however we do stream globally, so if you subscribe you can take MUBI with you wherever you go, albeit with a different selection in each country. Plex is currently not on our roadmap (though I do run a plex server at home).
rs232 11y ago
Tried to sign up with a 100 long password, was told max length is 32. What is the reason for this limit?
- dasil003 11y ago
  Embarassing! This is for historical reasons, but rest assured the password is salted and hashed internally. I've put in a ticket to fix this.
Keyframe 11y ago
First time I hear about MUBI and I'm in film and tv business. I've heard about Fandor. I have a question - what do you see your (MUBI) future like? Still independent or as an integrated 'thing' in netflix, IPTVs (as a channel), etc..?
- dasil003 11y ago
  This is a great question and one that probably merits a long-form discussion. One thing I'm certain of is that aggregation of content directly in a way as to provide the holy grail of streaming everything is simply never going to happen because rightsholders are unwilling to cede control of distribution to a powerful entity like Netflix or iTunes (hence Netflix's pivot to focus on production and exclusives so they can control their own destiny). But it's also clearly not viable for the majority of rightsholders to do their own distribution, at least not yet. As much as streaming technology is commoditizing and device manufacturers outside of Apple/Android are converging on web-based platforms, it's still a massive effort to build a good UX and make it available everywhere that counts. There is clearly huge opportunity for platform makers like Apple to capture value by enabling distribution like they did with the iTunes Store and App Store. There is also opportunity for new middleman strategies like white-label apps, or transparent aggregation that would be something akin to channels-within-an-app type of setup At the moment there's so much churn happening and so many different strategies that it's very hard to predict what the landscape will look like in 5-10 years. The only constant is that cable companies are being rapidly disintermediated, because they were overly reliant on their monopoly status, and have no talent in either production or UX design so I don't see much chance for them to survive. If I had to sum my thoughts up it is that the apps of today are replacing the channels of yesterday. The most successful channels are themselves becoming apps (eg. HBO). In the past channels were distributed either as broadcast or as cable, but there is not such a clear distribution pattern for apps. Already apps are available on numerous devices, all with their own idiosyncrasies, sometimes overlapping with other platforms and sometimes not. Platforms that were relevant just a few years ago (Boxee) are completely gone, and new platforms are launching every day. I agree wholeheartedly with Tim Cook's assertion that the future of TV is apps, but I don't have a clue what the platforms will look like in a few years. MUBI will continue to be one of those apps, mostly independent (although we rely on platforms so there's always a degree of cooperation involved), certainly not integrated exclusively into a larger offering ala Netflix or IPTV.
6stringmerc 11y ago
How do you feel about your ability to reach your target audience? Furthermore, what assumptions are you comfortable sharing about your business model's target audience as financially viable in the short/long term? Just a quick FYI, you might benefit from some outreach to sites like The AV Club, as the top voted comment was essentially a joke picking on your lack of exposure to certain groups: http://www.avclub.com/article/paul-thomas-andersons-music-documentary-debut-excl-225835 http://www.avclub.com/article/paul-thomas-andersons-music-do...
- dasil003 11y ago
  Our ability to reach our audience is strong, just not in the US because we don't do marketing here yet. If you are in the UK there is a much greater chance you've heard of us. This is commensurate with the quality of our library in the UK where we've signed much more significant content deals. In the US our library is not where we want it to be yet, so it's a slow burn while we improve the core product and get the deals in place. One mistake we didn't do that you often see with video/music startups was to raise $10M and blow it on content licensing before we had the audience. We're ratcheting up step by step, and we're lining things up for a bigger US presence very soon.
  - 6stringmerc 11y ago
    Thank you for the explanation, and distinction regarding your approach. The release of the Paul Thomas Anderson film (and getting publicity) definitely tracks with what you state herein. My hunch is your strategy really did avoid "putting the cart before the horse" by way of prioritizing. I sincerely wish you well in pursuit of audience and content licensing in the most effective ways possible.
intopieces 11y ago
Why do you no longer parter with Criterion/Janus? Was it just more profitable for them to move to Hulu? I signed for The Auteurs a few years back but didn't follow through with t.
- dasil003 11y ago
  Essentially that's correct. We partnered with them early before we had a user base, and they were just trying to dip their feet into streaming. From our end we were not able to provide the audience to monetize their films, and from their end the economics of streaming were a completely different world from what they do with DVD, even for a company with the content and reputation of Criterion. We are still close with them, and hopefully we can do something again in the future.
yabatopia 11y ago
Why exactly a 30 day rotation schedule? To me it puts a lot of pressure on the subscriber to view a particular movie within that timeframe. Sometimes you're too busy or on vacation and you don't have enough time to view all the movies you're interested in. How about a hybrid model that combines the 30 day streaming service with a 3 month VOD service? Or a plus version of the regular subscription that offers a 90 day window for a slightly higher monthly fee? On Android you can download a movie and view it offline for 7 days. What are the obstacles to offer something similar on other platforms?
- dasil003 11y ago
  30 films fits nicely on one large screen or scrollable list. It's also worked out quite nicely for licensing as it allows us to squeeze stuff in to short licensing windows, and just generally softens the negotiations a bit. We definitely have a million other ideas about how to expand this model in many different directions, but I won't comment on any of those yet as its all speculative at this point. For now we are trying to get people familiar with the model and improve the design because it is a bit unintuitive at first. As far as downloads, we only offer them on Android and iOS for the time being because those are the two platforms that it was feasible to implement easily. We are always looking at the possibility of bringing it to other devices and even the web, but so far it's too much effort for our small engineering team.
swagswag 11y ago
what are your yearly profits like the last couple of years?
- dasil003 11y ago
  I'm not authorized to discuss financials publicly.
MichaelGG 11y ago
Neat site. I might consider signing up for it as I'm rather sick of Netflix and don't use it much anymore. Having a short list would certainly help the endless flicking through crap on Netflix. OTOH, it's still competing with every other film out there, as they're one click away off a Torrent site. One complaint on the homepage that'd usually have me close right away, if this wasn't on HN: Why do you ignore the user's language presence and send them a language based on a guess from their IP? My OS is English, my browser is in English and only ends en-US and en in the Accept-Language field. Yet because I'm traveling in Central America, I get content in a language I'm not keen on. With no obvious way to change back to the correct language. Changing back to my US IP, it still continues to show stuff in Spanish. I've gotta clear history for it to reset. This is a really annoying thing to do. Did this actually test well? That is, do users often send the wrong Accept-Language header and appreciate the site second guessing them? And those users, do they not like having a quick option to change the language back to the one they requested? Otherwise, really interesting looking service. Kudos.

Whoah, it's awesome to see this posted here in my native habitat! I've spent the last 8 years of my life building MUBI as Co-Founder and CTO (even longer than I've been on HN!). Please AMA.

ohbleek 11y ago

I love the site and found it through filmspotting. Any plans for adding support for kodi? (there's an addon already but it isn't updated regularly)

dasil003 11y ago
We've put a hold on new platform development for most of this year in order to move towards a standardized API and tighten up our QA process, so no plans for this year. I can share that the top two platforms which we are seeing interest in are Roku and the new Apple TV.
- jessaustin 11y ago
  Yes Roku please. Also does "Android" support include direct (not tab-cast) chromecast support, or is that another thing entirely? (I'm not home now so I haven't tried this myself.)
- ssmoot 11y ago
  Never heard of MUBI before this post. Browsing some lists, it makes a ton of sense. I'd probably sign up right now if it were available on AppleTV. I don't really want to add another device to my entertainment center and not interested in watching anywhere but the TV (except on the iPad when traveling). We've got AppleTVs and a PS4. Tossed the Rokus. Not expecting you guys are hurting all that bad for my $40. But figured another vote/story couldn't hurt.
  - dasil003 11y ago
    We have a PS4 app, it's just not launched in the US yet due to the administrative and policy distance between SCEE and SCEA. It will be coming soon, but in the meantime, if you can get yourself a UK or EU-based PSN account, you can download the app through that and it will work fine anywhere in the world (provided you purchase a subscription through the web, the PSN store integration is a bit flaky and I don't want to promise that would work from US shores).
- theflork 11y ago
  +1 on roku!

redpola 11y ago

I don't have a question, but I'd like to thank you. I've been a MUBI subscriber for a month or two now and love it. You've a subscriber for life here. My best experience was when I fired up my MUBI app in my holiday home (different country in Europe) expecting nothing (like with Netflix and Amazon film), only to find another excellent selection of films. Discovering that rather than punish me for trying to use MUBI in two countries, you actually gave me twice as much content, was a beautiful surprise to say the least. Thank you.

dasil003 11y ago
Thanks for your comment, I've shared it with the team.

spiraldancing 11y ago

Hi. I just now learned about MUBI, through this HN post. First and foremost, it looks great, and I will almost definitely be signing up tonight when I get home. Here's my gripe ... am I doing something wrong, or do I have to create an account just to find out the subscription prices? If it's not just my user-stupidity, don't make me register just to see the prices.

fatboy 11y ago
I see the price at the bottom on this page: https://mubi.com/films/showing https://mubi.com/films/showing €4,99 per month where I am.
- spiraldancing 11y ago
  PEBCAK ... Nevermind

davidovitch 11y ago

Only discovered MUBI today via HN. Looks great! There is one annoyance (which I also have with Netflix): I live in Denmark, but I am not fluent in Danish. Not all your movies have English subtitles though, so how can I watch anything else except the three languages I master (English, French and Dutch)? Are licensing issues preventing you from offering English subtitles on all your movies as a default?

dasil003 11y ago
In short, yes. Language/subtitle licensing is a mine field. Often times the small local distributors we deal with don't acquire anything but the local language rights, so it becomes almost impossible to go upstream and get the remaining rights even though we may well have the assets for use in other countries. We are doing what we can to move the ball forward on this issue industry-wide, but historical rights arrangements are working against us here.
- crucialfelix 11y ago
  This is also our major issue with MUBI. We love the film selection, but we live in Germany. When we want to watch a French film, its overdubbed in German. Netflix is also odd about this but usually we can get German subtitles for any film and choose the audio with original language. Ideally we should be able to select any language that there are available subtitles for. Why restrict it by region ?
  - NolF 11y ago
    The producers likely have distribution agreements on a by-country basis. So, for example WB cannot distribute <movie> in Germany because GEMA has the rights. But GEMA didn't buy the rights for the English subtitles. I imagine technically WB could then sell subtitles rights for <movie> in Germany but it would be a pain because maybe those subtitles were done by <subcompany> for licence in America and Oceania... etc.
    - crucialfelix 11y ago

gjkood 11y ago

I have to say, your sign up process (including payments) was one of the simplest/smoothest I have ever experienced. And I especially loved the welcome email that felt so personal (I know this is an automated form letter. I specialize in CRM systems). This is a fine example of great customer service. I am sure the content will be as discerning.

dasil003 11y ago
Thank you! We are still fine-tuning, but it's been a lot of effort to get to this point.

hyperion2010 11y ago

It seems that the major focus of MUBI is rapid and ongoing curation. Do you guys have a defined process for how you do this so that you achieve a desired distribution of films or is it more down the the individual curators? One other thing I wonder about curation of media in general is whether you think your customer base is willing to try new things because they trust you rather than simply trying to find something that is known to be similar to what they liked in the past? Do you think trust based recommendation system overcome the bubble effect that similarity based systems fall in to? Thanks!

dasil003 11y ago
This isn't my department, so I can't comment on the details of processes, but there are teams working on content acquisitions, and there are individual curators, and there is also an algorithm for non-curated countries. We definitely look at the data for analytics on the past programmings to understand what worked or didn't, but it's more as a guideline for the curators who have significant latitude to program things in a culturally relevant or timely fashion (eg. programming The Iron Lady the day after Margaret Thatcher died). As I mentioned in another thread, we did try the data-driven recommendation engine approach and did not achieve great results. We definitely believe that the human element of our editorial voice leads to a greater level of trust with our subscribers, and enables us to introduce hidden gems and lesser-known films to a wider audience.

sequence7 11y ago

First off this looks amazing, congratulations on building something I'd love to use and good luck. I have two questions. 1) Is MUBI available in the UK? 2) Do you support or are you planning support Plex?

gjkood 11y ago
The article says that MUBI is a London based company. Does that mean it is available in the UK? I would guess that is highly probable.
dasil003 11y ago
UK is our biggest territory and best film selection, however we do stream globally, so if you subscribe you can take MUBI with you wherever you go, albeit with a different selection in each country. Plex is currently not on our roadmap (though I do run a plex server at home).

rs232 11y ago

Tried to sign up with a 100 long password, was told max length is 32. What is the reason for this limit?

dasil003 11y ago
Embarassing! This is for historical reasons, but rest assured the password is salted and hashed internally. I've put in a ticket to fix this.

Keyframe 11y ago

First time I hear about MUBI and I'm in film and tv business. I've heard about Fandor. I have a question - what do you see your (MUBI) future like? Still independent or as an integrated 'thing' in netflix, IPTVs (as a channel), etc..?

dasil003 11y ago
This is a great question and one that probably merits a long-form discussion. One thing I'm certain of is that aggregation of content directly in a way as to provide the holy grail of streaming everything is simply never going to happen because rightsholders are unwilling to cede control of distribution to a powerful entity like Netflix or iTunes (hence Netflix's pivot to focus on production and exclusives so they can control their own destiny). But it's also clearly not viable for the majority of rightsholders to do their own distribution, at least not yet. As much as streaming technology is commoditizing and device manufacturers outside of Apple/Android are converging on web-based platforms, it's still a massive effort to build a good UX and make it available everywhere that counts. There is clearly huge opportunity for platform makers like Apple to capture value by enabling distribution like they did with the iTunes Store and App Store. There is also opportunity for new middleman strategies like white-label apps, or transparent aggregation that would be something akin to channels-within-an-app type of setup At the moment there's so much churn happening and so many different strategies that it's very hard to predict what the landscape will look like in 5-10 years. The only constant is that cable companies are being rapidly disintermediated, because they were overly reliant on their monopoly status, and have no talent in either production or UX design so I don't see much chance for them to survive. If I had to sum my thoughts up it is that the apps of today are replacing the channels of yesterday. The most successful channels are themselves becoming apps (eg. HBO). In the past channels were distributed either as broadcast or as cable, but there is not such a clear distribution pattern for apps. Already apps are available on numerous devices, all with their own idiosyncrasies, sometimes overlapping with other platforms and sometimes not. Platforms that were relevant just a few years ago (Boxee) are completely gone, and new platforms are launching every day. I agree wholeheartedly with Tim Cook's assertion that the future of TV is apps, but I don't have a clue what the platforms will look like in a few years. MUBI will continue to be one of those apps, mostly independent (although we rely on platforms so there's always a degree of cooperation involved), certainly not integrated exclusively into a larger offering ala Netflix or IPTV.

6stringmerc 11y ago

How do you feel about your ability to reach your target audience? Furthermore, what assumptions are you comfortable sharing about your business model's target audience as financially viable in the short/long term? Just a quick FYI, you might benefit from some outreach to sites like The AV Club, as the top voted comment was essentially a joke picking on your lack of exposure to certain groups: http://www.avclub.com/article/paul-thomas-andersons-music-documentary-debut-excl-225835 http://www.avclub.com/article/paul-thomas-andersons-music-do...

dasil003 11y ago
Our ability to reach our audience is strong, just not in the US because we don't do marketing here yet. If you are in the UK there is a much greater chance you've heard of us. This is commensurate with the quality of our library in the UK where we've signed much more significant content deals. In the US our library is not where we want it to be yet, so it's a slow burn while we improve the core product and get the deals in place. One mistake we didn't do that you often see with video/music startups was to raise $10M and blow it on content licensing before we had the audience. We're ratcheting up step by step, and we're lining things up for a bigger US presence very soon.
- 6stringmerc 11y ago
  Thank you for the explanation, and distinction regarding your approach. The release of the Paul Thomas Anderson film (and getting publicity) definitely tracks with what you state herein. My hunch is your strategy really did avoid "putting the cart before the horse" by way of prioritizing. I sincerely wish you well in pursuit of audience and content licensing in the most effective ways possible.

intopieces 11y ago

Why do you no longer parter with Criterion/Janus? Was it just more profitable for them to move to Hulu? I signed for The Auteurs a few years back but didn't follow through with t.

dasil003 11y ago
Essentially that's correct. We partnered with them early before we had a user base, and they were just trying to dip their feet into streaming. From our end we were not able to provide the audience to monetize their films, and from their end the economics of streaming were a completely different world from what they do with DVD, even for a company with the content and reputation of Criterion. We are still close with them, and hopefully we can do something again in the future.

yabatopia 11y ago

Why exactly a 30 day rotation schedule? To me it puts a lot of pressure on the subscriber to view a particular movie within that timeframe. Sometimes you're too busy or on vacation and you don't have enough time to view all the movies you're interested in. How about a hybrid model that combines the 30 day streaming service with a 3 month VOD service? Or a plus version of the regular subscription that offers a 90 day window for a slightly higher monthly fee? On Android you can download a movie and view it offline for 7 days. What are the obstacles to offer something similar on other platforms?

dasil003 11y ago
30 films fits nicely on one large screen or scrollable list. It's also worked out quite nicely for licensing as it allows us to squeeze stuff in to short licensing windows, and just generally softens the negotiations a bit. We definitely have a million other ideas about how to expand this model in many different directions, but I won't comment on any of those yet as its all speculative at this point. For now we are trying to get people familiar with the model and improve the design because it is a bit unintuitive at first. As far as downloads, we only offer them on Android and iOS for the time being because those are the two platforms that it was feasible to implement easily. We are always looking at the possibility of bringing it to other devices and even the web, but so far it's too much effort for our small engineering team.

swagswag 11y ago

what are your yearly profits like the last couple of years?

dasil003 11y ago
I'm not authorized to discuss financials publicly.

MichaelGG 11y ago

Neat site. I might consider signing up for it as I'm rather sick of Netflix and don't use it much anymore. Having a short list would certainly help the endless flicking through crap on Netflix. OTOH, it's still competing with every other film out there, as they're one click away off a Torrent site. One complaint on the homepage that'd usually have me close right away, if this wasn't on HN: Why do you ignore the user's language presence and send them a language based on a guess from their IP? My OS is English, my browser is in English and only ends en-US and en in the Accept-Language field. Yet because I'm traveling in Central America, I get content in a language I'm not keen on. With no obvious way to change back to the correct language. Changing back to my US IP, it still continues to show stuff in Spanish. I've gotta clear history for it to reset. This is a really annoying thing to do. Did this actually test well? That is, do users often send the wrong Accept-Language header and appreciate the site second guessing them? And those users, do they not like having a quick option to change the language back to the one they requested? Otherwise, really interesting looking service. Kudos.