Data analytics: Changing the face of movie promotion in Bollywood
Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana, Rajkummar Rao and Kriti Kharbanda's latest release, is arguably Bollywood's first film to use data analytics for online promotion and successfully so. Bollywood filmmakers are infamous for spending oodles of moolah to market their movies. Big banners can afford such expenses, but what about small, obscure films? How do they ensure visibility? Can data analytics be the cost-effective answer?
Generously used by digital platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, data analytics helps businesses make strategies based on the preferences of their users. It deconstructs seemingly improbable patterns in a user's online behavior and hits them up with products, services and experiences that it thinks are relevant to them, thus optimizing brand marketing and customer experience.
Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana's trailer got a million views within five days of its release, thanks to data analytics. Akash Bhatia, co-founder of Infinite Analytics, told the Economic Times that had the filmmakers used traditional methods, they would have had to spend about Rs. 20 lakh to get such a response, but they did it in just Rs. 30,000 using data analytics.
Though it has just debuted in Bollywood, data analytics is already being widely used in India across varied sectors such as defense and businesses. There are reportedly over 200 firms providing such services across the country. Since it's yielding impressive results at low cost, several film studios are switching to data analytics, which many say is the future of promoting small-budget films.
