Archive notice: This article was originally published on March 3, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Indian film production companies have discovered the Internet’s marketing potential, according to pressetext. While Hollywood studios have further intensified their marketing strategies in recent years and adapted them to current technological conditions, their Indian counterparts have so far lagged well behind in this respect.
But this is set to change soon. Bollywood studios are currently stepping up their efforts to make use of every opportunity to promote their film productions, following the US example. The Internet in particular is playing an increasingly important role in this context.
“In Hollywood, around 30 to 40 percent of the public attention generated for a film comes through the Internet,” explains Carlton D’Silva, Creative Director of the Indian Bollywood web portal Bollywoodhungama. In Bollywood, by contrast, the comparable figure is between 15 and 20 percent.
A film’s own Internet presence in particular is becoming increasingly important for successful marketing today. “Most of the major Hollywood studios use this opportunity to provide people with an exclusive trailer before a film actually opens”; D’Silva explains. Around 60 percent of the US audience would no longer see a film at the cinema without having seen the corresponding trailer, D’Silva says.
“Film productions cannot get anywhere without marketing today,” states Daniela Wolf of film production company MPC Film in response to an enquiry from pressetext. The use of the Internet for marketing purposes has also become standard practice. “But the specific marketing measures taken also depend heavily on the individual film,” Wolf emphasises.
The Internet naturally offers a wide range of possibilities in this respect. “In addition to a dedicated homepage, clips are also often posted on YouTube, for example, to make films known to the broadest possible audience,” Wolf explains. Hollywood certainly plays a pioneering role in exploiting these possibilities. “Personally, though, I now find Hollywood’s aggressive marketing too excessive,” Wolf says.
A film’s own Internet presence is now indispensable, particularly for cinema releases. Almost all new releases in this field use the web to distribute images, film clips, mobile phone ringtones, making-of features or similar material more widely. Hollywood is already going a step further, however, offering merchandise for a particular film over the Internet in addition to traditional content. Items that come directly from a film set are also frequently auctioned online.
Further information:
- Bollywood portal
MPC Film
