These days, a trip to the cinema is essentially a trip to the living room, but that hasn’t made the experience any less desirable, judging from industry reactions and adaptations to increasingly engaged digital media viewers. And with movie theaters raring to deliver a Rocky-style last round comeback, Hollywood’s preparing to recover its previous glory while recapturing the thoughts and hearts of virtual viewers everywhere. From black mirrors to silver screens, movies are on everyone’s minds, and entertainment marketers will be presented with a bevy of new insights as digital crowds engage with their favorite films.
You could say streaming was responsible for the first knock-down punch that put the film industry on the canvas for the slow-motion count. Some saw Warner Bros. and HBO Max’s year-end alignment as adding fuel to the fire, further devastating already-troubled theater chains. The deal was indeed fruitful for HBO Max, with releases like Wonder Woman 1984 helping the streaming provider gain 10 million subscribers in Q4, arriving at their goal 2 years earlier than planned.
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And we’re seeing streaming’s continual commitment to film studios, particularly with CBS All Access’s relaunch as Paramount Plus. The rebranded streaming provider puts an emphasis on the prestige of the legendary production house while leveraging its preexisting subscriber base and platform, positioning it to compete more directly with streaming’s heavy hitters. While it’s yet to be seen how much their programming focuses on the film studio’s legacy, the considerable expansion of their prior offerings gives new viewers reason enough to join, and its ad-supported tier gives digital marketers yet another un-walled streaming provider to target viewers directly.
Only months ago, things looked especially dire for movie theater chains, particularly the largest, AMC. But with a deus ex machina in the form of $917 million, the mega chain overcame the odds, not only avoiding bankruptcy but topping off the tank for a long ride into 2021. It’s clear to see the box office industry isn’t close to being dead—the stage is already set for a grand return in 2021. And accompanying the upcoming resurgence in theatergoing is a solid and evolved digital distribution system, with the streaming wars and pandemic encouraging rapid evolution in the virtual viewing space.
If this is your kind of conversation, we would like to remind you, as we see movie watchers increase across both physical and digital mediums, entertainment marketers can leverage film fandom through social media to understand more about the wants and needs of film-going audiences. Knowing the habits and behaviors of movie fans—where they go, what they like, what other celebs/genres they enjoy—can propel strategic decisions and provide a compass for targeting and media outreach. Social insights tools like FanFinder360º can build bridges between departments, giving each team the data necessary to boost performance and answer important questions.
Movie fans are everywhere, literally. The recent success of movie-centric streaming apps, coupled with the upcoming resurgence of the theater, has put movies at the forefront of everyone’s minds again, and as more movie fans interact within social media, greater guiding insights become attainable. FanFinder360º provides the key to understanding entertainment consumers, compiling insights from the largest social footprint to reveal more about fan behavior—the brands they love, the genres they’re obsessed with, the places they frequent, the people they follow. Schedule a demo and discover how easy it is to gain unparalleled insights into movie fans.
