The battle for the next entertainment habit is moving into an unexpected venue: the multiplex.
National CineMedia, the country’s largest cinema advertising network, has struck a partnership with Los Angeles-based startup aTwist that will introduce vertical microdrama series to moviegoers before feature presentations, marking another sign that Hollywood’s fastest-growing digital format is looking well beyond smartphones for its next audience.
Beginning later this summer, aTwist promotions will become part of NCM’s familiar Noovie preshow, reaching audiences across more than 18,500 screens in over 1,650 theaters nationwide. The campaign will include previews of original microseries, branded storylines created with advertisers and QR codes designed to drive theatergoers directly to the company’s mobile platform after the lights come up.
The agreement gives the newly launched studio access to one of the country’s largest captive entertainment audiences while offering National CineMedia another way to refresh a preshow experience that has increasingly evolved beyond traditional advertising.
“Movie theaters have always been where people go to lose themselves in storytelling,” NCM chief revenue officer Mike Rosen said in announcing the partnership. “This collaboration introduces new forms of entertainment into the pre-show experience while creating more authentic opportunities for brands to connect with audiences.”
The Hollywood Reporter first reported news of the agreement.
For aTwist, the theater campaign arrives as competition intensifies across the rapidly expanding microdrama business.
The Los Angeles company was founded by former television executives Jana Winograde, Susan Rovner and Lloyd Braun, all veterans of traditional Hollywood who are now betting that premium storytelling can thrive in episodes measured in minutes rather than hours. The company is expected to launch its platform later this summer.
Microdramas first exploded in China before spreading rapidly into the United States, where companies including ReelShort and DramaBox have built sizable audiences around serialized, vertically formatted stories optimized for mobile viewing. Equal parts soap opera, romance novel and social media binge, the format has become one of the industry’s fastest-growing content categories.
Research from media consultancy Owl & Co. projects the global vertical video market will generate roughly $150 billion in revenue this year, attracting both investors and established entertainment companies eager to participate in the category’s explosive growth.
Brands have also embraced the format. Companies including Marc Jacobs and Crocs have already incorporated scripted microdramas into marketing campaigns, using serialized storytelling as an alternative to conventional advertising while reaching younger consumers who increasingly spend more time on mobile platforms than traditional television.
The partnership with National CineMedia represents a different strategy.
Rather than competing exclusively inside crowded app stores and social media feeds, aTwist is attempting to introduce its programming in a premium entertainment setting where audiences have already demonstrated a willingness to engage with filmed storytelling.
“We built aTwist around the belief that great storytelling should meet audiences wherever they are,” CEO Jana Winograde said in a statement. “There is no better partner than National CineMedia to introduce microseries to moviegoers and bring our storytelling into one of the most immersive entertainment environments.”
Whether moviegoers ultimately embrace phone-first storytelling on a theater screen remains an open question. But the partnership underscores how quickly Hollywood’s newest format is moving into the mainstream, as studios, advertisers and exhibitors search for fresh ways to capture audiences whose viewing habits continue to evolve.
For National CineMedia, the move expands what audiences can expect before the feature presentation. For aTwist, it offers something increasingly valuable in a crowded marketplace: visibility at the very place where people have long gathered to watch stories unfold.
