The Main Determinants of Bollywood Movie Box Office Sales

ABSTRACT

The Indian film industry produces more movies and sells more tickets than any other movie industry, with revenues second only to those of the U.S. film industry. We employ a two-by-two research design to investigate the main determinants of Indian movie sales overseas using two measures of movie performance for two countries of destination. By examining data and testing our hypotheses on a sample of 330 films, we identify effects related to brand, product, distribution, and consumers during opening week as well as total box office sales both individually and collectively. Results show that the groups of variables affecting Bollywood opening week sales for both countries of destination are identical in sequence and importance (distribution, product, brand, consumer variables). For total box office sales, they are similar, with the exception of the first group. For the United Kingdom, consumer-related variables predominate while distribution-related variables predominate in the United States, followed then for both countries by product- and brand-related variables. Results underscore previous findings for Hollywood movies, indicating that movie success factors are global rather than regional or national.     

Effectiveness of brand placement: New insights about viewers

Since traditional media have become saturated, the technique of product placement has been attracting growing interest. This research explores new insights concerning viewers' reactions during a second viewing of a movie. A sample of 3532 French viewers of DVDs has been used to link the way the movie was chosen, viewed and appreciated (or not) with a spontaneous brand placement recall, the day after the film was watched at home. Results make a contribution to strengthening professionals' interest in the technique, and to adding to academic knowledge of the topic. A first viewing of the movie at the cinema improves brand placement recall, as does watching the movie at home on a large home cinema screen. Such an improvement also occurs when a DVD movie is chosen either because of the movie director or when the viewer likes the movie.     

Advertising via the Box Office

Product placement in motion pictures is a practice that has grown tremendously in recent years. However, as with many alternative mediums, there is very little empirical research regarding the effectiveness of this practice. An experimental study was con- ducted to assess the communications effects of product placement among audience members viewing an entire movie, not just film clips. Results indicate that over 25% of the 39 brands placed within a movie were significantly more salient among a treatment group than among a control group, but there were no significant differences between the two groups with regard to attitudes lowards 15 brands studied.     

When Product Placement Is NOT Product Placement

Abstract

The development of product placement in films and television shows can be readily observed by anyone who has devoted a significant part of their lives going to the movies. The first product placements were generic and fictitious and were hardly noticed by the movie-going public. But, as the placement of real products became more prevalent, it became apparent to the serious film buff that the presence of a fictitious or clearly disguised product became more of a distraction than the use of actual products. The attempt to make serious realistic films is sometimes sidetracked by a clearly fake product that strikes at the suspension of disbelief of movie goers, particularly when they have some familiarity with the product NOT being placed.     

基于回归分析的中国电影票房影响因素研究

本文通过对国外文献的阅读和整理,并结合中国现实情况,选取了影响电影票房的四个因素,即电影类型、电影评分、演员号召力和电影产地。以从2003年至2012年(截止至4月8日)十年间中国电影票房年度排行榜上排名前十名的影片票房为因变量,以电影类型、电影评分、演员号召力和电影产地为自变量,通过逐步回归分析构建了影响电影票房因素的多元回归模型,并对回归结果予以分析和解释,以期对国内相对较为缺乏的电影产业实证研究有所助益,并就未来研究方向提出设想。     

Consumer evaluations of movies on the basis of critics' judgments

Moviegoers commonly use film critics as information sources. This article proposes that consumers engage in a causal analysis of the reasons behind critics' judgments and recommendations about new movies before making their own evaluations. An experimental study was conducted where critic's style, critic's predisposition toward the film director, degree of agreement between the critic's judgment and that of other critics, reputation of the critic, reputation of the film director, and critic's judgment direction were manipulated in a mixed within‐subjects factorial design. A summary movie review was constructed for each condition of the factorial design. Viewer's movie evaluations were assessed with the use of four evaluative bipolar scales. Three of the five research hypotheses were fully supported. Consistent with the predictions of attribution theory, it was found that consumers' evaluations of a new movie are more likely to follow the judgment of a film critic when this judgment does not conform to the critic's style (H1), when the judgment is inconsistent with the critic's predisposition toward the film director (H2) and when other critics' judgments show favorable consensus (H3). The other two research hypotheses were partially supported. The impact of the film director's reputation on consumer evaluations (H5) was significant only when the movie reviews were positive, whereas the impact of the critic's reputation (H4) was significant only in the case of negative reviews. The results are interpreted within the framework of attribution theory. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

More effective assessment of market performance in later stages of the product development process: The case of the motion picture industry

A key challenge for companies engaging in new product development (NPD) is to reduce uncertainty by accurately forecasting demand. In this study, we focus on whether later-stage NPD market performance assessments are more accurate than early-stage assessments. Although the literature supports this, we suggest four factors (escalating commitment, information-processing limitations, emergence of new uncertainties, and interdependencies) why this may not be so. Using data from the movie industry, we find that the price film distributors pay to producers for a nearly or fully completed but not yet launched film (the so-called minimum guarantee) mediates the effect of production budget, the main predictor of revenues at the early stage of NPD, consistent with the hypothesis that later-stage assessments are more accurate than earlier ones. However, despite the external validity of this market-based measure, the amount of uncertainty reduction is limited. The implications for NPD uncertainty management are discussed.     

Movies

ABSTRACT

The movie has been with us in a variety of forms for over a century. During that time the movie as an artefact has played a number of roles from pure entertainment to political propaganda to a way in which we preserve or pass down memories. The movie moves. Getting its name from the innovation of having moving pictures, with the first film showing a horse galloping as the camera recorded a series of stills in quick succession; the movie is about physical motion, but also about emotional provocation and films have always been implicated in the market, in creating market demand and marketing ideology. So, movies show moving pictures and they serve to move us emotionally. This paper reflects on the development of the movie as a storytelling device, the role that they play in our lives, and why the movies can be viewed as a marketplace icon.     

Naming strategies as a tool for communication: application to movie titles

Abstract

Product naming is regarded as one of the most important communication decisions for firms to deliver information on their new products, particularly in the case of products with unobservable attributes, such as motion pictures, music, books, and games. Despite its importance, there has been little research on “how to name a product” as a communication decision. Hence, we propose a conceptual framework to describe naming decisions as two-stage strategic decisions. The first-stage decision involves “what kind of information to be communicated via product names,” which we call the “information choice” strategy. The second-stage decision is how to express this information through product names, which we call the “expression” strategy. We applied a two-level hierarchical Bayesian model to a data set consisting of opening weekend box-office sales, names, and release dates for 393 movies released in seven countries. Our empirical study provides useful findings on movie naming. First, the information choice for movie titles significantly impacts movies’ viewership. Second, the effects of “what to choose” depend on “how to express”. Third, significant interaction effects occur between information choice strategies and product characteristics, which implies that naming strategies depend on the product’s characteristics. One particularly noteworthy finding in this study is that although it is common sense to avoid negative wording in product names in most industries, negative content in movie titles positively impacts box-office sales.     

The effectiveness of post-release movie advertising

Frequent new product introductions and short product life cycles lead to unusually high levels of advertising in the movie industry. We study the effectiveness of television advertisements aired after the theatrical opening of a motion picture (‘post-release advertising’). We estimate an instrumental variables, lagged effects model using a novel dataset constructed to obviate simultaneity concerns and temporal aggregation biases. We find that post-release movie advertising exhibits a high degree of heterogeneity across films, but generates substantial returns for some movies. Our findings suggest that studios may find it beneficial to experiment with higher post-release advertising budgets. Further, exhibitors may benefit from extended movie life cycles if they share post-release advertising responsibility with studios.     

Buzz marketing for movies

In today's dynamic entertainment environment, movies are struggling to stay afloat and remain profitable. Challenges such as piracy, digital theft, competition, overlapping movie campaigns, media fragmentation, and audience saturation are forcing marketers to stretch their film budgets and make every dollar as effective as possible. With more and more entertainment options crowding peoples' lives, marketers must search for innovative ways to reach movie audiences. By breaking through the daily clutter and noise, and capturing peoples' attention to the point that talking about a movie becomes an enjoyable experience to share, buzz marketing is one such promotional posture that drives audiences to theaters. In order to achieve success with buzz marketing, however, marketers must recognize the role it plays in the context of movie differentiation strategies to support the company's overall approach. To that end, this article analyzes buzz marketing as it pertains to six movie differentiation strategies (differentiation with cosmetic movie features, differentiation to reach market segments, growing a movie segment, positioning to support the movie image, positioning to extend the movie image, and differentiation via non-traditional channels) and offers steps for its successful implementation.     

Reviewing the reviewers: The impact of individual film critics on box office performance

Critics and their opinions or critical reviews play a major role in many markets. Marketing research on how critics impact product performance has so far examined an aggregate critic effect. An obstacle in studies examining the relationship of aggregate critical opinion and product sales is the close association between the intrinsic quality of a product and the aggregate opinion regarding the product. Our analysis parses out these two effects, allowing us to distinguish individual critics who are simply good at identifying products with popular appeal from those who act as opinion leaders and engender early product sales. The role of critics is especially prominent in the film business, in which one finds multiple expert opinions about each movie and where critics’ endorsements are used in advertising. In the context of the motion picture industry, our research investigates the impact of individual film critics on the market performance of movies, where specific key critics and reviewers may serve as market gatekeepers, and where various critics may have different types of impacts on product performance.

Can good marketing carry a bad product? Evidence from the motion picture industry

We examine the relative roles of marketing actions and product quality in determining commercial success. Using the motion picture context, in which product quality is difficult for consumers to anticipate and information on product success is available for different points in time, we model the effects of studio actions and movie quality on a movie’s sales during different phases of its theatrical run. For a sample of 331 recent motion pictures, structural equation modeling demonstrates that studio actions primarily influence early box office results, whereas movie quality influences both short- and long-term theatrical outcomes. The core results are robust across moderating conditions. We identify two data segments with follow-up latent class regressions and explore the degree of studio actions needed to “save” movies of varying quality. We finally offer some implications for research and management.     

Placing snacks in children's movies: cognitive,evaluative, and conative effects of product placements with character product interaction

ABSTRACT

Type of placement integration has been shown to influence placement effects in adults. However, no studies have explored the role of character product interaction (CPI) for product placement effects on children. We also lack knowledge about the moderating role of age in this context. We therefore exposed N = 363 children aged 6–15 years to a movie containing no placement, a static placement, or a CPI placement. The presence of placements affected cognitive and conative brand outcomes. However, children's product memory and consumption were higher for CPI placements compared to static placements. As a relevant implication for product placement research, we found that brand outcomes were independent of the children's ages and prior movie familiarity. This suggests that children's developmental stage concerning age does not mitigate product placement effects. Implications for educators and consumer advocates are discussed.     

The Behavioral Effects of Negative Product Placements in Movies

No previous studies have examined how negative brand placements influence consumer behavior. According to this study's theoretical framework and empirical results, the effectiveness of these placements varies with the type of negativity—that is, either intrinsically or extrinsically connected to the brand. Based on the elaboration likelihood model, an intrinsically (extrinsically) negative placement will be very (barely) relevant to the viewers who, having (lacking) enough motivation, will process the information through the central (peripheral) route of persuasion. Under the central route, a careful consideration of the intrinsically negative information will discourage the viewers from consuming the brand, especially when they perceive the movie content as being realistic. Under the peripheral route, the extrinsically negative information will not be strong enough to discourage the brand users from consuming the product but will stimulate the brand nonusers to consume it, especially when these people like the movie and have a positive attitude to advertising. The hypothesized effects were confirmed in an experiment with 1103 moviegoers that viewed the film Good Bye, Lenin! under natural conditions in Santiago, Chile. To isolate the influence of two brand placements (Burger King with intrinsic negativity and Coca‐Cola with extrinsic negativity), the participants were randomly assigned to two groups, each one of which viewed the movie with only one of the two placements (the other had been removed).     

Substitution or Promotion? The Impact of Price Discounts on Cross-Channel Sales of Digital Movies

Technology is transforming the marketing function in many ways, and this transformation is particularly apparent for information goods such as movies where digital technologies provide marketers with new distribution channels, which in turn create new opportunities for cross-channel effects. However, these digital channels also provide researchers with new opportunities to measure micro-level customer behavior to understand the impact of cross-channel effects in real-world settings.In this paper, we study cross-channel effects between movies sold in digital purchase (commonly known as Electronic Sell Through or EST) and digital rental (commonly known as Video-On-Demand or VOD) markets. We do this using a unique sales dataset from a major digital movie retailer provided by a major movie studio. Our analysis takes advantage of a 14-week field experiment that allows us to measure the impact of price discounts on own- and cross-channel sales. We use this experiment to estimate own and cross price elasticities, whether price discounts cannibalize future sales, and most importantly whether price discounts in one channel affect sales for the same product in a presumably competing channel.Our analysis indicates that digital movie consumers are highly sensitive to price promotions. However, we also find that, contrary to expectations, price promotions in a digital sales channel for a movie do not seem to cannibalize digital rentals. Indeed, our results suggest that, if anything, price promotions for digital movie sales can increase digital rentals. We explore a variety of explanations for this counterintuitive result, including the possibility that the ease of information transmission online through third-party websites, blogs, and online discussion areas may create information spillovers such that price discounts in one channel may increase product awareness in other competing sales channels. From a managerial perspective, our results suggest that cross-channel cannibalization can be reduced or even reversed in the presence of information spillovers, and that there are many new opportunities for marketers to directly measure these cross-channel effects using experimental data from online platforms.     

论明星品牌与华语电影产业的对接

明星是电影产业中最为重要的创意人才之一,明星凭借其广受赞誉的演技、为观众所喜爱的性格特征,吸引众多注意力,从而具有很高的商业价值。为加速实现华语电影产业振兴与文化繁荣的双重发展目标,华语电影产业开始在明星品牌定位、明星品牌如何介入电影产品的生产、明星品牌的价值评估等三个层面积极采取有效的品牌化运作,以进一步满足电影受众／消费者的需求而获得电影市场优势,进而满足电影生产者的利益。     

The dynamics of the Chinese film industry: factors affecting Chinese audiences’ intentions to see movies

This study attempts to understand the dynamics of the rapidly growing Chinese film industry by relying on a revised reason action model that uses a data-mining approach with aggregated data to examine the determinants of people’s intentions to see movies. The results show that attitude towards seeing movies indicated by online film ratings, collective norms represented by box-office performance and Academy Award win(s) significantly predict intentions to see movies. In addition, a movie’s year of release, star power, country of origin, adaptation from a novel and status as a sequel were significant predictors of aggregated intentions.     

Trade barriers and trade flows with product heterogeneity: An application to US motion picture exports

We extend Melitz (2003) to allow for both global and bilateral fixed export costs. If global (bilateral) export costs dominate, the average sales ratio (import sales per product variety/domestic sales per variety), decreases (increases) in variable (fixed) trade barriers, due to adjustment along the intensive (extensive) margin of trade. Using novel data on bilateral US movie exports we find that (i) variation in box-office revenues per movie is much larger than in the number of movies exported, and (ii) the average sales ratio decreases in geographic and linguistic distance. These findings suggest that global fixed export costs dominate.     

Business,Cinema and Sin

In less than fifteen years after the inventionof the movie camera in 1895 movies in theUnited States became very popular and haveenjoyed that popularity for almost a century.Films are big business, but also an art formand tension between film as business and filmas art was present at the beginning andcontinues today. A philosophy of art and aphilosophy of beauty with a direct reference toGod as Absolute Beauty reveals the enormouspower of film to influence and shape ourconsciences. Movies tell stories and exposureto stories help us to become who we are.Beautiful stories have the power to help us bemoral.