At Stream TV, David Bloom sits down with Sara Burns, SVP of Partnerships and Strategy at Cineverse, to unpack how the streaming company turns cult horror into commercial success. With properties like Terrifier III, Cineverse leaned into every owned platform—from horror site Bloody Disgusting to their FAST and SVOD channel Screambox—creating a surround-sound marketing approach that drove fans from social media to theaters and streaming. The result? A $19 million box office win on a $2 million film.
Looking ahead, Burns teases a packed horror slate: Toxic Avenger hits theaters this August, followed by Silent Night, Deadly Night, Return to Silent Hill, and Wolf Creek. But Cineverse isn’t just about big releases—it’s about building brands. With a portfolio of FAST channels like Dove, RetroCrush, and Midnight Pulp, the company tailors content and experiences to match fan expectations. “Come for the tent poles, stay for the catalog,” says Burns. With a strategic blend of niche fandom, smart programming, and engagement-first distribution, Cineverse aims to dominate the genre space—across every platform.
David Bloom:
Hi everybody. I'm David Bloom with Next TMT. I'm here with Sara Burns, who is the SVP of partnerships and strategy for Cineverse. One of the most interesting companies, I think in the streaming space here at the Stream TV show. So Sara, you are basically the content queen for Cineverse, which has a whole bunch of different little streaming channels and networks that it does. It has stuff that's not even a streaming channel, but it's like a very important horror website for instance. You have a big social media presence as well. All of that, for instance, turned into really a profitable opportunity with the Terrifier III last fall, and now you have an opportunity to do some really interesting stuff with that same playbook going forward. So talk a little bit about how you all are leveraging your different touch points with your consumers.
Sara Burns:
Yeah. And we want to meet our consumers wherever they are. And so that's why we're in Fast, we're in SFOD, we're in Theatrical. We want to follow the viewer throughout the whole lifecycle. So my expertise is on the channel side, but Cineverse as a whole really is focused on optimizing content everywhere. So as far as Terrifier III goes, we've talked about it a lot and it was really such a special moment for an audience that's so hungry. They really... It's a fandom. It's a fandom brand.
David Bloom:
Killer Clowns, apparently an Evergreen, who knew.
Sara Burns:
Exactly.
David Bloom:
But you guys found it. It was already out there. You found it, you leveraged it, and it won the weekend.
Sara Burns:
Definitely did.
David Bloom:
19 million on a $2 million movie.
Sara Burns:
And it all started with actually releasing of Terrifier II previously. And so once we saw the success with Terrifier II, we knew we had something special with Terrifier III. So we were all in and we leveraged every asset we had from our website, Bloody Disgusting to all of our Fast channels and then our advertising platforms, and 360. We were able to get the word out, tons of social viral marketing that really the fans dug into.
David Bloom:
It really helped that you all have not just Bloody Disgusting, a website that focuses on the horror community, but Scream Box.
Sara Burns:
Exactly.
David Bloom:
And that's a horror-focused SFOD, correct?
Sara Burns:
Exactly. Yep. And that's where Terrifier II lives now, Terrifier III. And yeah, it's a great opportunity. We're picking up, we want to play that forward. Our next big release is the Toxic Avenger.
David Bloom:
Which I remember interviewing Lloyd Kaufman in Troma Films a long time ago with Toxie. I look forward to seeing what you guys are doing there. Is Troma still involved or did you guys buy... Okay, so you're going to take it. They are trusting you guys to take it big.
Sara Burns:
Yes. So it's going to get released in theaters at the end of August, and then we'll take it through the whole life cycle. So it will go to transactional and then channels and every step of the way. We are engaging the fans. The trailer comes out soon, so it's an exciting time. And then from there, we have a really big slate coming in the horror space. We have Silent Night, Deadly Night in December. Return to Silent Hill early next year, and then Wolf Creek as well. So there is touch points, tent poles. When I think like a program, I think you got to have the mix of tent poles and catalog content. That's what makes a brand, and that's what we want to deliver to our community. So come for the tent poles, stay for the catalog.
David Bloom:
I will take that with me to my grave, I think. Come for the tent poles, stay for the catalog. Interestingly though, you all also have a bunch of Fast channels. This is a really fascinating time for Fast Channels. There's a lot of them out there. 4,000 the last I looked on a bunch of different platforms. I think there's some understanding that we've got too many. How do you all navigate this shifting sands of not just throw everything up there and see what sticks, but you got to prove your worth now, right?
Sara Burns:
Yeah. Quality matters. Look, I come from cable and Fast sprung up so fast. It was like throw everything out there. When I came to Cineverse a little over a year ago, it was like, let's optimize these brands, let's grow them up. You don't have to put everything on the channel, but you have to put what people want. And that will go a long way. And then you have to have grown up interstitials, you have to have lower thirds, you have to pay attention. So when the audience comes, they come for the brand and they understand what it is. And so Cineverse runs, we have partner channels like Bob Ross and Dog Whisperer, and we have our own, oh no channels. Again, Screen Box is not just a [inaudible 00:04:57] service, but it's also a fast service. And we have a women's entertainment channel called Dove and an anime channel called Retro Crush. And we have film-based channels like Midnight Pulp. So we really have the broad spectrum and we optimize it. We pay attention, we talk to the fans directly.
David Bloom:
Is there a challenge with the different... I mean, though it feels like basic cable, in fact, Fast is different on the beats when the advertising needs to arrive. Do you have to sort of rethink how it's configured and be sensitive to that? For instance, on a show that maybe originally ran on TV, for instance, on traditional TV?
Sara Burns:
Yeah, I mean, we like to... Look, there's not a lot of new content on Fast. So it's all about how you package it. And we like to have fun and the platforms want us to have fun too. So we do all kinds of stuff. When it's back to school time in August, we'll do anime 101 or when it's the summertime, we have Bob Ross paints all the summerscapes. You've got to lean into and have fun with your brands. So yeah, you package that up. The ad sales team can also sell that just like they would in traditional cable. There's no reason why they can't package that up and also sell it.
David Bloom:
So come for the tent poles, stay for the library, but have fun.
Sara Burns:
Have so much fun. You want to be part of those [inaudible 00:06:29]. That's how people are going to discover your content.
David Bloom:
Absolutely. Well, with that, we probably should wrap this up. Thank you, Sara Burns from Cineverse. I'm David Bloom with XTMT here at the Stream TV Live Stream TV show.