KNOW HOW THE ADVERTISING BUDGET FOR YOUR PVOD RELEASE GENERATES SALES IN REAL TIME.

Marketing Campaign of Documentary Feature “White Noise” by Gruvi
Nick Adams
Updated on 29/11/2023

Gruvi worked with The Atlantic to expand the audience for their first VOD release. We were given one simple caveat: the ongoing budget for our digital ad campaign would only be approved if the client saw a Return On Investment in terms of actual sales.
In this case study we highlight how using a Behavioural Audience Data strategy and real-time sales results can help producers and distributors make the most of their online film releases.

INTRODUCTION

Gruvi was employed by The Atlantic to promote their first documentary feature “White Noise” (about alt-right activists) by running a campaign that focused on generating sales across two major streaming platforms, Amazon and iTunes.
This project was undertaken with a very clear brief from the client: the ongoing media spend would ONLY continue to be approved if Gruvi could demonstrate the campaign was generating actual sales on Apple and Amazon, via our real-time tracking and sales reporting systems.

CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW

The film was released in the US via Gruvi’s partner, content aggregator ODMedia, and was made available digitally from Apple, AmazonVimeo and Google Play.
“White Noise” premiered on October 21st and at that time was promoted exclusively by The Atlantic, who targeted their organic audience via social media posts, email newsletters, etc.
Gruvi’s campaign began on October 30th, with the objective of expanding the reach of the film’s potential audience beyond The Atlantic’s own followers, with clear tracking on reported sales and The Atlantic’s subsequent R.O.I.
We used our own bespoke Behavioural Audience Data resource The Audience Programme (TAP) to identify & target the following key audience groups:
1. Those that had purchased similar genre films in the previous six months
2. ‘Lookalike’ groups modeled on those TAP audiences
3. ‘Lookalike’ groups modeled on users that had interacted with The Atlantic website and Facebook page
4. Consumers with a proven interest in politics/right-wing news/documentaries.

film advertising budget

Sample Facebook ad
The campaign ran over three distinct phases:
1. From its October 30th launch until the end of November
2. In early January, following the riot at The Capitol Building
3. In late January/early February, to raise awareness of the film prior to the announcement of The Oscars nominations shortlist

CAMPAIGN RESULTS

Average Cost Per Click: $0.3

Average Cost Per Audience Reach: $0.02

Average Conversion Rate: 4%

The graph below clearly demonstrates the impact of the campaign: during the period of time when no ads were running (Jan 17-27) there was a significant drop in sales.

movie distribution budget

CAMPAIGN SUMMARY - KEY FINDINGS

At a time when every film’s marketing budget needs to work as hard & cost-effectively as possible, Gruvi can reach & convert genuinely interested audiences at a remarkably cost-effective price.
Targeting by behavior is effective and can help expand the audience reach beyond interest-based or big-brand-following.
Tracking sales in real-time in order to understand the Return On Investment is essential to a PVOD release: partnering with an aggregator such as ODMedia that can provide producers and distributors with that transparency is key.

What your audience DOES is more important than who they ARE.

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Marketing Campaign of Documentary Feature “White Noise” by Gruvi
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