Print contributed 7% of marketing spends on Indian films in 2018; total spent Rs 606-crore

In India, marketing spends on movies has always been high. At one time, print was a biggest beneficiary of this, with film posters and billboards dotting the skylines. With the coming to television, followed by digital, the amount has shrunk considerably in the recent year. According to the second Showbiz Report by GroupM ESP, print contributed 7% and outdoor 6% of marketing spends on Indian films in 2018.

31 May 2019 | By PrintWeek India

According to the report, marketing spends around Indian films reached Rs 606-crore in 2018. Of this, television marketing claimed 47% (Rs 285-crore). Digital marketing spends for films was at Rs 170-crore (28%).

Of the Rs 285-crore spent on television, Hindi cinema contributed 79% of the spends, followed by English films at 18%.

The year saw 1,087 films release of which 823 were regional. While the total number of films released during the year increased, Bollywood films released in the year were less compared to 2017 (down to 118 from 134).  

English films preferred cricket as an advertising genre wherein they spent around 11% of their marketing spends as compared to 3% by their Hindi counterparts on the sport.   

The movies that were most successful and collected Rs 40-crore or more in the opening weekend, had spent about Rs 6.33-crore for an average on-air time of 460,000 seconds on TV.

Films that didn't spend Rs 6.33-crore and yet collected more than Rs 40-crore on the opening weekend were Badhaai Ho, Gold, Simmba 2.0, Baaghi 2, Avengers Infinity War, Padman and Padmaavat.  

Vinit Karnik, business head, ESP Properties, said, “Be it the advent of digital fuelling the propensity of content consumption or the rise of content over celebrated star cast, be it Bollywood stars wanting a bite of the digital pie or the investments by the brands, be it the change in the marketing mix of production houses or the growth of new digital celebrities, 2018, in the hindsight, has been nothing short of revolutionary.”  

Estimated media spend by OTT platforms like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hotstar, Zee5, Sony LIV, Voot, Eros Now and ALTBalaji grew at 207% from 2017 to 2018.  

Celebrity endorsement too increased in 2018 to reach close to the Rs 1,000-crore milestone. The top 10 celebrities’ endorsement value grew by 20% over 2017 to reach Rs 605-crore.  

(Courtesy campaignindia.in)