Facebook Bats For Hindi Movie Marketing

An Ormax Media study has found that Facebook is one of the top three mediums driving buzz and appeal for a film campaign, with Facebook and Instagram together accounting for nearly 40% contribution to a Hindi film’s first day box office collections.

- Venkata Susmita Biswas

There’s a movie releasing this Friday. Chances are that you would have heard about it first from the actors of the film themselves, who shared live updates on Facebook or Instagram. Later, your social media timeline would have been flooded with posts of trailers, Facebook Live posts and in some cases, Facebook messenger chat bots. Movie marketing is changing. Unless you live outside the digital realm, you hear about a movie release months ahead online, not in newspapers or theatres.

Social media networking site Facebook is establishing itself as a premier medium for movie marketing in India. A study by Ormax Media has found that Facebook and YouTube together contribute to nearly 40% of the first day collections, while television and in-theatre contribute to only 13% and 9% of the total first day box office collections, respectively.

Historically, movie marketing in India has been led by trailer and song launches on television and interviews and gossip columns about the film stars in newspapers. Over time, however, YouTube has grabbed a piece of the movie marketing pie, becoming any fan’s go-to medium to watch everything movie-related and listen to the latest tracks on loop. Armed with an array of products to amplify the reach, engagement and conversions, Facebook and Instagram have also now become key parts of the movie marketing journey.