NEW MARKETING METHODS IN THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY
The motion picture industry is one of the largest and most profitable in the United States’ economy. Successful movie franchises like Spider-Man and Twilight have become cultural phenomenons and have grossed hundreds of millions of dollars. Film studios employ ad agencies to promote their products to consumers in an attempt to find the next big hit. With the changes in technology and society’s use of it over the years, advertisers have had to find new ways of reaching their consumer base. The internet has presented a new medium for movie studios to use in promoting their films. Over the past two decades, as the popularity and access of the web has expanded, studio executives have decided to appropriate larger portions of their advertising budget to the internet.
As stated in Gentile (2007), “movie marketing is big business, with studios spending about $3.5 billion each year to advertise and promote films.” Movie studios have begun to shift a large portion of their advertising budgets to the internet, and recently to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. This change has even resulted in the need to recognize successful and innovative internet marketing campaigns. The Key Art Awards, which honor advertisers, “have expanded in recent years to recognize the increasing reliance on Internet advertising to reach potential moviegoers.” (Gentile, 2007).
The Essay on Kevin Smith Movie Budget Film
Kevin Smith Kevin Smith is a prime example of the kind of person in my industry that I aspire to be like. His humor is intelligent, but he walks the fine line between funny and outright offensive. I admire him for his ability to tell a story using people, instead of effects and a huge budget. Kevin's first movie, Clerks, had a budget of around $27, 000 (Kevin Smith). The entire film was black and ...
The awards added a new category, “Special Recognition Internet,” which honors achievements in successful internet advertising. This addition is just a small indicator that times have changed, and movie distributors are now relying more on the internet to the point that their efforts are being recognized on a larger scale.
One specific and interesting way that movie studios have begun to advertise movies on the internet is with the use of search engines. Google, the most popular search engine on the internet, accounts for 65% of US queries. (Womack, 2009) Movie studios have started to advertise on Google by having video advertisements come back as results of Google searches. Previously, a user would have to click to visit a different website that would host the movie trailer. Now, Google has an implemented video player that allows the user to view the content without having to visit a different site. Google receives revenue based upon the amount of time that the user views the video on their site. David Hallerman, an analyst with Emarketer Inc. said in Womack (2009), “Video is becoming more and more a common language. The marketers want to be able to place marketing videos in front of an interested audience.” This is just one way that movie marketing has changed based upon the increasing popularity of the internet.
There are other ways that movie studios have been forced to change their marketing strategies with increased internet presence. Leigh (2009)details the new trend of television and movie producers musing video ads to market to not only market their products, but to specifically market internet streams of their available content. With new websites, like Hulu, users can stream television and movies for free. This offers a new revenue stream for these companies by making their content available to users after it has already aired on television or left the movie theaters. Advertisers pay the movie companies and Hulu to insert short video ads that play before viewing the desired content.
As movie marketing transitions from using Television, Radio and Print advertising into internet ads, companies have been forced to alter their philosophy as to when they can best capture their target audience. Traditionally, television ads for movies were shown heavily on Thursdays to wet the appetites of potential moviegoers the day before movies are released to theaters, on Fridays. Waikit Lau, in his article “Movie Marketing: TV Trend Don’t Translate to Web” found that Thursdays are not good days for marketing movies on the internet. As it turns out, “If you want to promote a movie release in the online-video medium, Friday, Saturday and Sunday rule from a reach and ad-response standpoint, and Thursday is by far the worst day to spend ad dollars.” Users are more likely to click on ads and view video content on the weekends. This could be a result of most people having more recreational time on the weekends as opposed to during the week.
The Term Paper on Current Trends in Internet Marketing
It is said that Internet marketing first began in the beginning of 1990 with just text-based websites which offered product information. With growth in internet, it is not just selling products alone, but in addition to this, information about products, advertising space, software programs, auctions, stock trading and matchmaking. A few companies have revolutionized the way, internet can be used ...
Another interesting way that movie studios have adjusted their advertising budgets away from traditional media and towards the web is in the listing of ads and movie times in newspapers. Traditionally, moviegoers would reference their local newspaper to view movie show times for theaters in the area. Twiddy (2009) explains that two of the top movie theater chains, Regal and AMC, have begun to reduce or completely eliminate advertising movie times in local newspapers. These chains have begun to direct their customers to movie websites like, Fandango and Moviefone, which not only list show times for theaters, but also provide trailers and other advertisement content from the movie studios. The move away from print advertising is not limited to the theater chains, but also includes the actual movie production companies. National movie advertising in newspapers has decreased 51 percent over the last five years. (Twiddy, 2009)
In conclusion, it is clear that the Internet has greatly affected the marketing of motion pictures in the United States. Movie studios has found new and interesting ways to advertise their content. Advertisers have had to change their strategies in order to acclimate to the new medium of the internet. These new trends will have a negative impact on traditional media such as newspapers, as advertisers pull their dollars from them. As technology improves, the movie industry will find more exciting ways to promote its films to an ever-changing consumer base.
The Essay on Internet marketing
With the Internet growth moving so fast, there is a lot to be desired by companies. My cousin’s company should adopt the strategies that are used for marketing; this will go down well with them given the fact that they are doing well in making candles and they are respected in this fields nationally (Brian, 1997). It is due to this fact that they should use the latest technologies so that they ...
References
Gentile, Gary. (May 19, 2007).
Internet ads make inroads on movie marketing awards. The Associated Press. Retrieved from http://www.allbusiness.com/marketing-advertising/marketing-advertising/12218480-1.html
Lau, Waikit. (August 31, 2009).
Movie Marketing: TV Trends Don’t Translate to Web. Advertising Age. Retrieved from http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=138660
Leigh, Phil. (May 26, 2009).
Advertising on Internet TV Shows and Movies. Inside Digital Media. Retrieved from
Twiddy, David. (August 21, 2009).
Movie theaters cut print show times as Web gains. The Associated Press. Retrieved from http://www.physorg.com/news170073640.html
Womack, Brian. (August 14, 2009).
Google Puts Movie Previews Into Internet-Search Ads. Bloomberg. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aAyy2sgBzsNs
