How Independent Films Get on Tubi, and How Filmmakers Actually Get Paid

Independent titles reach Tubi and the other major ad supported platforms through approved distributors and content partners, rather than through individual filmmaker submissions. The distributor licenses the film, prepares it to platform specification, delivers it, and then collects and reports what it earns. This page covers how that process runs, what the platforms require, how long it takes, and how the money is actually calculated, which is impressions multiplied by CPM rather than a flat rate per view.

Can you upload your movie to Tubi yourself?

For feature films the route is not a self serve upload. Content is acquired through licensing agreements with distributors and content partners who already hold delivery accounts and reporting relationships, so a finished film reaches the platform through that channel. The practical consequence is simple: the decision in front of you is not how to upload your film, it is who you want representing it.

How does an independent film actually get onto Tubi?

The path from finished film to live title follows the same sequence at every ad supported platform. Mann Robinson Distribution runs it as follows.

• Review. We watch the film, look at the genre, the runtime, the cast and the artwork, and assess where it fits across the platforms we deliver to.
• Agreement. Terms are set in writing before anything moves. Fee, term, territories and platforms are all named in the document.
• Deliverables and quality control. Your master, captions, trailer and artwork are checked against platform specification and corrected where needed. This is the stage where technical problems surface, and where they get resolved before delivery.
• Metadata. Title, synopsis, genre, cast, credits, rating guidance and keywords are written for discovery, not just for the record. Metadata drives whether the platform surfaces your film to a viewer who would watch it.
• Delivery and scheduling. The package is delivered to the platform, reviewed on their side, and given a live date.
• Go live and reporting. The film publishes, performance begins accruing, and the numbers appear in your filmmaker portal.

What is AVOD, and how does it differ from SVOD and TVOD?

AVOD means advertising video on demand. The viewer watches free and advertisers pay for the ad slots inside the film, so revenue is generated by advertising rather than by a subscription or a purchase. SVOD is subscription video on demand, where the platform pays a license fee out of subscriber revenue. TVOD is transactional video on demand, where the viewer rents or buys the title individually. Tubi is an AVOD service, and AVOD gives an independent film a route to an audience with no price barrier between your film and a viewer who has never heard of it.

How do filmmakers actually earn on ad supported platforms?

You earn on advertising impressions, not on views. An impression is one advertisement served to one viewer. CPM is the rate advertisers pay per one thousand impressions. A title's gross for a period is, in plain terms, the impressions it generated divided by one thousand, multiplied by the effective CPM for that platform and period.

Why per view math misleads filmmakers

A feature carries several ad breaks, so one complete watch can generate multiple impressions, while a viewer who leaves after ten minutes generates far fewer. That is why a single "pay per view" figure cannot describe AVOD earnings honestly. Two films with identical view counts can earn very different amounts if one holds its audience through the back half and the other does not.

What moves the number

• Watch time. Longer viewing means more ad breaks served, so completion rate has a direct and compounding effect on what a title earns.
• CPM. Advertiser demand moves by season, by genre and by audience, so the same film can earn at different rates in different quarters.
• Placement and artwork. Key art and metadata determine how often the platform puts your film in front of someone, which sets the ceiling on everything else.
• Catalog breadth. The same master, delivered to more platforms, earns across more inventory.

What do the platforms require from your film?

Titles stall at the delivery stage when the technical package does not meet specification. The core requirements are consistent across services.

• A clean video master at full delivery resolution, correctly encoded, with properly mastered audio.
• Closed captions, which are mandatory rather than optional.
• Key art in each required aspect ratio, including portrait poster and landscape background art.
• A trailer, cut to length and cleared for public use.
• Complete metadata, including cast, credits, synopsis and genre.
• Chain of title and clearances, covering rights, music licensing and any third party material in the film.

How long does it take to go live?

Typical time from signing to a live title is about 90 days. That window covers quality control, deliverable corrections, metadata preparation, platform side review and scheduling. Films that arrive with clean masters, finished captions and clear chain of title move through it faster than films that need work at the delivery stage.

What are the terms at Mann Robinson Distribution?

• Fee. The standard distribution fee is 20 percent of gross. Some deals differ by agreement, and whatever applies to your film is written into your contract.
• Payment. Filmmakers are paid quarterly.
• Term. A two year exclusive term.
• Ownership. You keep ownership of your film. We license it, we do not buy it.
• Reporting. Every filmmaker gets a portal showing impressions, CPM and earnings broken out by platform.

What does the reporting actually show?

The portal reports the same numbers your earnings are built from. You see impressions and CPM per platform, earnings per platform, and how those figures move over time, alongside your quarterly statements. Understanding how AVOD revenue is calculated is only useful if you can also see the inputs for your own film, which is the reason the portal exists.

How do I submit my film?

Mann Robinson Distribution is an independent film and television distribution company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with presence in Detroit and Los Angeles. We distribute films, television shows, sitcoms and reality series to major streaming platforms and networks, including Tubi.

If your film is finished, contact us at distribution@mannrobinsonstudios.com, or start at mannrobinsondistribution.com. Tell us the title, the runtime, the genre and where the film stands on deliverables, and we will tell you what the path to live looks like for your title.

Submit your film

If your film is finished, submit it at mannrobinsondistribution.com/submit. Tell us the title, the runtime, the genre and where the film has played so far. You can also reach us at distribution@mannrobinsonstudios.com.