4 weeks ago, Netflix dropped their trailer for a new film directed by Michael Bay and starring Ryan Reynolds and many other famous actors called “6 Underground.” The trailer has sparked a lot of conversation in the entertainment industry amongst film studios, exhibitioners, and marketers. Since Netflix and streaming became very popular a couple of years ago, many in traditional Hollywood, particularly TV studios, have been competing directly with the platform for audiences. Now, there are many streaming platforms such as Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and many more soon to debut that not only stream many Hollywood films after they’ve left the box office but also are creating their own content. With film, content creation on these platforms has generally paled in comparison to Hollywood films. However, the “6 Underground” trailer shocked the industry, because the trailer’s production quality was very high. Therefore, the current mediascape where streaming is on the rise and content creation more easily accessible. This trend raises a new problem for Hollywood, and in particular Distribution and Exhibition sectors of the industry. Getting audiences to theaters has progressively gotten more and more difficult in recent years, especially with the rise of franchise films, the dominance of IP based films, and event opening weekends. The question becomes: how do film marketers advertise films and get audiences into the cinema while competing in this new mediascape?
The article below has 4 suggestions to address box office sales through marketing: https://www.conversantmedia.com/blog/getting-people-to-the-theater-4-takeaways-for-movie-marketers-to-sell-more-tickets
- Use data to identify frequent movie goers
- Target ads towards the right audiences
- Deliver messages at optimal times for readers
- Extend campaigns beyond opening weekend
Matt Weisbecker’s suggestions in this article do not give any specific ideas in terms of campaigns. His main points center around using data to studio marketer’s advantage. I agree that using data can vastly affect how movie marketing works. However, I think a lot of conversations around this topic could benefit from focusing not just on the Marketing side from the studio but also from the Exhibition side. Theaters have a lot of power in their own marketing and in their physical locations to influence audience’s experiences. I think that further integrating these two sides of the industry and focusing more on the theatre side of the problem, because the theater experience is what differentiates Hollywood from streaming.