Back in May of this year, research was published that suggested a films success at the box office could be predicted by analysing the number of tweets about that particular film. This was then followed by another study suggesting that Wikipedia was instead the key to understanding box office success.
So it’s perhaps not surprising that another study, this time by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, suggests that blogging has a big part to play in movie success.
The researchers analysed the pre and post-release performance of 75 films released in 204 across 208 geographic markets within the United States. They were testing for nationwide consumer- generated blog volume; blog “valence”—a positive or negative sentiment written by a blogger—and studio advertising.
They found that blogs are especially influential in the younger demographic groups. They found that blog readers tend to be young, so the local readership will likely mimic the area’s demographics. If the population skews older, blogs will have less impact on moviegoers’ behaviour.
Gender also played a part, with regions with a higher proportion of women lowering box office performance, especially with regards to blog influence. More women equated to less sensitivity to blog sentiment, but also less sensitive to mainstream advertising. Younger people by contrast tended to produce a lot of blog content, but it wasn’t as influential, whereas high income markets were less responsive to both blogs and advertising.
So the moral seems to be that spending money advertising a film was not very effective in regions with high income, a lot of women and/or young people. Fertile areas for advertising however were markets with large white populations.
There were also some geographic trends noticed. For instance, markets with high responsiveness to advertising were concentrated in the Midwest, with the East Coast much more immune to the persuasive powers of an advert.
The areas most responsive to blogger buzz however included Denver, Los Angeles and Chicago.These rankings can provide studios with information on how to target release markets, especially if a movie is in limited release. For instance, if a studio wanted to generate pre-release buzz by having special events around a movie, Chicago and Denver would be smart markets to choose. And if a studio wants to market its advertising more judiciously, cities like Charlottesville, Virginia, or Marquette, Wisconsin, are smart bets.
Social networks are so pertinent these days. It's amazing how many people of different age groups are participating. I can definitely see that preteens and teenagers are heavily influenced by sites like Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter. They practically live on them. So, influencing them through these mediums is smart. I recall back in 1999 when "The Blair Witch Project" was released. It was hyped so much on TV and via a website. People began to believe it was factual, even though it isn't. This definitely built anticipation, and allowed the film to pull in a fortune at the box office. Other than advertising, hype seems to be very effective as well.
It makes me wonder how in the world we ever existed without it. Sometimes it's an asset but sometimes I miss the way it used to be before cell phones and computers.
Well, blogger opinions tend to reflect the actual view of other individuals on a movie, and a significant predictor o a movie value. I do tend to read blogs about movies when I'm considering viewing them: Are they worth an evening out or are they worth a rotten tomato?
Some individual blogs tend to present a fairer and more obijective view than corporate media sponsored news.
I would trust a lot the view of a blogger who shows competence in a subject.
"So it’s perhaps not surprising that another study, this time by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, suggests that blogging has a big part to play in movie success. "
As the VP of Bloggin' Mamas ( a network of Bloggers) this truly comes as no surprise. Besides blogging, what also has generated impressions in the millions have been Twitter parties, of which we've been fortunate to host . The TMNT Movie was over 17 million impressions, one of our very popular campaigns. The blogging must go with the tweeting, for in businesses as in life, it's never just one factor, but combinations that bring success.
Traditional advertising isn't dead, but it does need to work in conjunction with the power of social media.
Actually I read that many of the Indian films predict success by the tweets the main hero of the film gets on twitter. Therefore the findings of the study are not surprising.
It’s amazing how many people of different age groups are participating. I can definitely see that preteens and teenagers are heavily influenced by sites like Tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter.
Blogging is a very powerful form to build success now and days because of the leverage it has with traffic. Also great to use sites like Facebook, Twitter, IG for more add on.
In my Greek blog I review movies to see if they’re appropriate for kids, and if kids will like them and try to warn parents about profanity, sexual, violent and generally inappropriate content. I find that although movies are subjective more and more people are relying to a blogger to see if a movie is OK for their child.
Thats all well and good, but not everyone has the same pattern on social media…
Since 2007 and until now, I could see that blogging is still one of the most powerful way to drive traffic.