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Forward-Thinking Marketers Know That More Viewing Options Means Happier Movie Fans

It’s summer in the U.S.—historically, the hottest box-office season of the year. Though grosses for major franchise films have been encouraging, one study shows that only one in two adults say they feel comfortable returning to theaters right now.

Audiences and studios have pivoted, and some exhibitors are experimenting with new revenue streams to offset losses. In the mobile age, decision-making no longer follows a straight line. Even before the pandemic, people saw ads, watched trailers, read reviews and used social media to evaluate movies before heading to the theater.

Once theaters closed, people spent more time streaming. And studios responded by making big theatrical releases available to view at home.

More viewing options, more potential viewers

Post-reopening, studios have the chance to reach more people by catering viewing options to each film’s unique audience.

Because big, effects-driven movies are successfully attracting people back to theaters, they play an important role in restarting a return to moviegoing for everyone. But many are still willing to pay premium fees to watch films at home, signaling a new opportunity to reach more viewers by combining release touchpoints. “Antenna data indicates the greatest increases to a given SVOD service’s average daily sign-ups often occur around (a) major content releases, (b) promotional offers or (c) service launches—which have typically been accompanied by some combination of A and B,” explains Rameez Tase, co-founder and CEO of Antenna. Multiple distribution points can be profitable—for studios, it’s all about finding the media mix that drives the most value for each film.

According to a recent online study commissioned by Facebook in January 2021, the Facebook family of apps is an important source of content discovery right now, in addition to traditional TV and streaming services, further highlighting nonlinear paths to viewing.

Campaigns can be multifaceted, just like media consumption

By rethinking the direct-funnel approach to marketing, advertisers have the ability to reach consumers at different stages of the conversion journey.

On Facebook’s apps, innovative marketers have seen success with campaigns that combine always-on brand marketing with conversion strategies, generating strong, consistent awareness upfront, while also promoting ticket and streaming conversions across the full release cycle.

To celebrate F9 alongside the entire Fast & Furious franchise, Universal Pictures partnered with Messenger and Facebook to develop a unique, second-screen chat experience that answers fan questions and shares behind-the-scenes details for each film in the series, in real time. Franchise fans that aren’t ready to hit the multiplex can still participate in the excitement by paying to stream or own the films at home and watching along.

“The opening weekend success of F9 speaks to film fans’ desire to see a big effects film on the big screen. In designing our campaign, we also wanted to keep the franchise top of mind for Fast Saga fans and build anticipation with a unique second-screen experience for all the previous Fast films and new messaging tools on both Messenger and Instagram,” shares Alex Sanger, EVP digital marketing strategy at Universal Pictures.

Shared insights help business units succeed together

Studio marketers are now tasked with launching campaigns that promote ticket sales, home viewing and streaming subscriptions at the same time. The complexity demands close collaboration across all business units—with potentially game-changing results.

Imagine having the ability to understand which media mix will drive the most business value for a specific title, and then being able to share that across the company. Or measuring the halo effect from upfront theatrical marketing for on-demand and subscription conversions downstream.

At Facebook, we’ve been working on new tools to power shared business insights. This includes innovative media mix solutions, polling and lift tools informing consumer touchpoints and vast targeting opportunities generated by machine learning, across multiple marketing objectives via real-time conversion signals. Privacy is top of mind, so we have built in privacy features to help keep your data privacy safe.

By making key investments in people and data now, studios can take advantage of ever-evolving measurement solutions to find strategies that drive value for every business unit.

At home or in the theater, movies are here to stay

Quick shifts can be jarring, but they often anticipate an inflection point. At Facebook, we’re committed to working closely with our studio partners to explore the latest innovations in distribution and marketing. Studios have a chance to revolutionize how they market and distribute films long-term, by developing unique rollouts for each title and leveraging connected marketing to drive value for every viewer.