Conceptual collage of a cinema tour alongside an online viewing window.
Conceptual illustration: Cinemas in Action
Explore/Practical ideaObservedWhat this means

Pair a city festival tour with an overlapping online window

Stagger local cinema dates while offering a selected programme online nationally. Measure who each route reaches and who uses both.

Published 2 November 2026

Operator Briefing

The idea

Give a specialist programme local occasions and an additional geographically accessible viewing route, with distinct rights and availability for each.

Evidence

The festival lists Palace cinema programmes in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra, with opening-night parties. Its city dates are staggered between 8 October and 9 November. A selected online programme is offered across Australia through ACMI Cinema 3 from 8 October to 15 November. The online window begins with the first city and continues beyond the final one.

Operator takeaway

Different access routes may serve different audiences. The design invites people to attend locally, watch online or use both, but the schedule alone cannot establish additional audience reach.

Try this

For a small specialist season, negotiate cinema and online rights separately. Give each city a clear local programme and landing page. Explain exactly which titles can be watched online, where, and until when. Test partner promotion outside the cinema catchment and agree who handles online customer support.

Measure

Separate cinema admissions, online purchases and actual viewing where available. Use permissioned matching or a short survey to estimate channel overlap. Compare the additional audience and contribution with rights, platform, marketing and support costs.

Watch out for

Do not imply that every cinema title is available online, that online access is worldwide, or that it begins after the tour. Audience overlap, incremental demand, rights costs and net contribution are not reported on the inspected page.

Operator and timing

Irish Film Festival Australia, with Palace cinemas in five cities and ACMI Cinema 3 online. Cinema dates 8 October to 9 November 2026; online selection 8 October to 15 November 2026. These periods overlap. Sources reviewed 2 November 2026.

About the source

The festival’s own homepage. Programme dates are stated; the page publication date is not shown.

Resources

Rights agreements, venue partners, an online platform, clear availability information and consistent reporting definitions.

Sources

Next ideaBuild a local film season with partners and audience choice →Coordinating a season with partners.

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