digital What has caused the death of single screen theatres? Unlike in the past when were they were the only platform for watching feature films, today a variety of alternative media are readily available. The technological wave has effectively ensured that the spectator isn’t required to travel any distance at all to watch their desired film. Additionally, they may do so at a very minimal cost and as per their convenience.
Piracy too has a terrible impact on film business. Crores are being spent on making films, but leakage of original footage during post-production or preview screening or festival screening results in the availability of high-quality footage for audiences at a minimum cost or without any cost at all. This drastically minimizes footfalls at theatre and ruins the possibility of recovery of investment.
The third problem relates to the quality of the viewing experience. Lack of maintenance of the projection system, the seating areas, and the cooling system in the old single halls drove audiences toward the newly developed, properly-maintained multiplexes where they could live the movie experience on a screen with crystal clear images and Dolby digital 5.1/ 7.1 sound while lounging lazily in a recliner. At Kolkata, most of the single screen theatres had an average capacity of 800 seats and it was getting rather difficult to sell even five percent of the hall capacity on weekdays. Since costs such as electricity, maintenance, and manpower resource remained the same, the recovery of daily operational costs posed a major problem for the exhibitionists, and in the last half decade, most were compelled to permanently shut down. Currently, there are only four—yes, only four—single screen theatres in the whole of Kolkata.
In earlier times, people were habituated to celebrate any occasion by watching movies at the theatre, but in today’s fast-paced world, the joint family concept is obsolete. And almost every individual in the city has the power in their hands—the smart phone, in which most any movie is just a click away. As family get-togethers are rare, bulk booking of seats in theatres too is now rare. To add to this, television has captured the evening life of housewives so strongly that they have little wish to venture out of the comfort of their homes and their favourite daily soaps. On the occasions that they do, on the weekends, their first priority is for content similar to that of their daily soaps. This is why the weekend business of single screen theatres such as Navina, Star, Priya are successful. These single cinema halls have their own geographical benefit too as they are equipped with all modern facilities like their rival multiplexes.
Riding on the regular footfall of college students and corporate professionals especially on the weekends, multiplexes such as Inox, PVR, and Cinepolis used to enjoy good business in Kolkata. Comfortable and world-class experience of watching cinema is the main reason for this. However, there has been a drastic decline in recent times — before the pandemic made things even worse — primarily due to the hiking of ticket prices as well as those of food and water. After a survey, it was found that around INR 1,000 is spent for watching a movie at a multiplex, by a family or a couple who are working in a corporate setup; and that 1.5 times of the ticket was spent on food items and water. Many first timers prefer not to be repeat customers, and are opting instead to watch films on digital platforms such as Netflix, Zee5, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, and Hoichoi.
India experienced an internet revolution around half a decade ago. The launch of the mobile network ‘Jio’ drastically altered the distribution platform of content, especially films. It opened the doors for audiences to a theatre full of films on their Smartphone and Smart TV. Many young working professionals who used to be regulars at multiplexes are now loyal customers of digital streaming platforms. They are now required to pay only a relatively trifle sum, as monthly or yearly subscription fees. 2K and 4K Smart TV with home theatre offers them theatre-like experience at home, there is no need for them to wait for show time, and they are allowed too to pause at any point of time during the streaming.
It is thus boom time at the moment for digital platforms. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee5, and Hotstar are busy acquiring digital rights before the theatrical release of films. And satellite channels have their own digital platforms — Hotstar is part of Star, Zee5 is the digital platform of Zee, and Voot is a platform of Colors (Viacom18). Channel owners are even uploading episodes of daily soaps on the net before they are telecast on their own channels. There is no need now for one to wait for the telecast of a favourite show or feature film on TV. The early availability of content as well as the option to watch content at any point of time makes digital platforms highly popular. This also puts a much-needed check on piracy in the digital market.
It would be very difficult to bring back the aura that the episodes of Ramayana and Mahabharat once had. The days when people wouldn’t dare miss an episode and/or its repeat screening as there was no other option of watching them ever again is long gone. Some might even argue that it would be impossible for theatres to ever again pull crowds the way films such as Sholay and Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge once did. This of course isn’t entirely true. For, even though everybody knows that all such content would be available on alternative platforms within weeks, if not days, the thrill of watching films on the huge screen in a huge hall with a huge crowd is an altogether different experience.
But yes, perhaps that day is not too far off when the single screen theatre would be as rare as the tram or the yellow taxi in Kolkata.
[note note_color=”#f79125″ text_color=”#151113″ radius=”3″]The author’s film Andar Kahini has received innumerable awards at a variety of international film festivals, and is now set to release in West Bengal cinema halls. If you would like to be a part of it, check out https://www.wishberry.in/campaign/andarkahini-self-exile[/note]
The cinema market of Kolkata/West Bengal has primarily been dominated by Bengali cinema since the last 5 years. The market leader is Venkatesh Films, a company with huge production & distribution networks. The company produces both critically acclaimed art as well as blockbuster commercial films. Additionally, it produces fiction and non-fiction reality shows for Bengali GEC channels such as Star Jalsha, Rupashi Bangla and Mahuaa Bangla; has a very strong distribution chain with total control of over 200 theatres of WB (films such as Raavan and 3 Idiots were released on WB. through their network); and has created superstars in the cinema of Bengali who involve themselves in promoting the company’s films all through the year.
Almost all the stars in Kolkata, from directors such as Raj Chakraborty, Srijit Mukherjee, Ravi Kinagi, Sujit Mondal, and Rajeev Kumar; actors such as Dev, Jeet, Soham, Koel, Subhosree, Shravanty, and Payel; music directors such as Jeet Ganguly, Anupam Roy, and Debojyoti Mishra; editors such as Rabiranjan Moitra; to art directors such as Tanmoy Chakraborty, and Asish Adhikari are discoveries of Venkatesh Films. A majority of them are, naturally, loyal to their company and as a rule do not work for other producers.
Among the young generation of Bengali cinema audience, Dev has an extremely large fanbase and well before the release of each of his films, his fans tend to go into a frenzy and there is frequently a scarcity of tickets. Furthermore, Venkatesh Films creates a huge publicity buzz before each of its film’s releases, so much so that time even good Hindi or English films releasing in the same week are literally compelled to pray for footfalls.
Dominated by VENKATESH followed by Eskay Films & Surinder Films Strong control on Exhibitors
Bookers also has very strong network but traditional
Urban films confined to Metro & Suburbs only
Mainstream film can give the width
Monopoly & long relationship with the exhibitors
Emerging distributor PIYALI FILMS with strong system support
EXHIBITION
Universe is 515 – 37 A+ halls & 53 A halls
106 halls have UFO facilities. CUBE digital launched in bengal & 135 cube installed already.
Some 209 halls closed completely
Average ticket price is 40/- to 70/- in urban to 10/- to 25/- in suburbs
Can achieve 1 Cr. easily if its full show for a week with 60% occupancy.
Venkatesh trying to get 107 sick halls, got already 47 halls leased by him.
Piyali Films are growing heavily in strategising their entertainment wing to a diversified revenue source apart from their traditional business.
WAY FORWARD PRODUCTION & CONTENT
Priority on new stories, new stars & new directors
At least 6 movies is getting signed by each & every producers
Genre is contemporary based on Love, Masala
Buying stories which is rich & best sellers
Signing good & new directors on contracts
Banking on new actors & actress
Doing R&D for public domain
Remake of Tamil, Telegu, Oriya & Hindi Blockbusters i.e. only in Mainstream
WAY FORWARD DISTRIBUTION
High dependency on digitals
Penetration initial 2 weeks with max no of theatres
Some guys like Piyali Films adopted system very strongly Producer- Distributor planned year’s release well in advanceBig brothers started creating own chain
Multiplex creating troubles for show timing
Still no space for Mainstream in Multiplexes
WAY FORWARD MARKETING
Taken a big leap beyond KOLKATA
NEW STARS exploited more in all activities.
IN FILM is on high focus which adding 20% revenues
Media Buying are essentially combined with tie up
Radio & Website has opened a phenomenal information inflow Hyped programme opens for release platform
Corporates investing money for Outdoor Media
FOOD JOINT is being targeted as a key zone for Youth.
BRANDING & TIE UP
FESTIVALS are being targeted for a big budget movie
Corporate Co- branding is happening
Alliances are giving enormous mileage
Local Companies are highly pitching on movies
Barter deal is saving a substantial planned cost
College & Campus creating platforms for certain kind of films REGIONAL ICONS are placed in promoting the films in Premiere.
Objective of the Project
An audience research study is conducted to identify the habit & preference of the cinema-going audiences.
The objective of this project also involves reason behind less watch or not watch of English movie.
Research Methodology
This research methodology was developed after considering the research objectives and the purpose of the project seriously.
The Market Research Process
The market research process consists of six steps. These include:
Problem definition
Development of an approach
Research Design Formulation
Field Work
Data Interpretation and Analysis
Report Preparation.
Research Design
Keeping the research objectives in mind, a research design was developed for conducting the study and collecting the required data.
Research Instrument: A questionnaire was formulated. Most of the questions were closed-ended & a very few were open-ended.
Nature of Data: All the data used for this project were primary in nature.
Source of Data: The data collection method was that of Survey research,which in terms of marketing is defined as a ‘Systemic Collection of Information directly from the respondents.’
Sampling Plan: The sample unit or target group is the cinema-going audience of Kolkata. They are of age group between 18 to 35 yr. and fall into various segments on the basis of gender, education, profession & locality.
Sample Size: Total number of consumers surveyed was 138.
Area Covered: At first single screen theaters & multiplexes were divided into various parts according to their geographic position & profile of audiences.
Theatres covered for this survey:
INOX (SWABHUMI / CITY CENTRE / FORUM)
FAME (SOUTH CITY / HIGHLAND PARK)
CINEMAX (MANI SQUARE)
LONDON PARIS (MUKTI WORLD)
HDIL BROADWAY BIOSCOPE
NEW EMPIRE STAR
PARADISE ROXY
AJANTA PRACHI PRIYA NAVINA JAYA NANDAN INDIRA
Contact Method: Data was collected by field survey via direct interview by the investigator to the respondents.
Constraints of the Project
Time Constraint: One of the main shortfalls of the research study was that the survey period was limited. Hence, because of this time constraint, more number of respondents could not be covered.
Variation of movie: Actually to understand the taste & preference of audience is a long time process, audience profile varies from season to season, ie. During festivals a wide variety of audience go theatre to enjoy movie, who may be laggards. Their taste & preference is also important to bring them at theatre.
Although care has been taken in putting across the observations meticulously, yet these constraints of information tend to cause some minor aberrations in the final analysis.
Design of the Questionnaire
A questionnaire contains a formalized set of questions for obtaining information from respondents. Typically a questionnaire is one element in data collection package that might also include
· Field work procedures such as instruction for selecting, approaching and questioning respondents.
· Some reward, gift or payment offered to respondents. Any questionnaire has three specific objectives:First, it must translate the information needed into set of specific questions that the respondents can and will answer. Developing questions that respondents cannot answer may render the collection of information difficult.
Second, a questionnaire must uplift, motivate and encourage the respondents to co-operate and to complete the interview. Incomplete questionnaires have limited usefulness. The questionnaire must be so designed that it minimizesthe respondent’s fatigue and boredom. A well-designed questionnaire can motivate the respondents and increase the response rate.
Third, a questionnaire should minimize the response error.
Hence, the questionnaire for this project is designed keeping these information in mind.
Interviewing Method
An appreciation of how the type of interviewing method influences questionnaire design can be obtained by considering how the questionnaire will be administered under each method. In personal interview, the respondents see the questionnaire and interact fact-to-face with the interviewer. Thus various questions can be asked. In case of indirect interviewing method like through Email or mail, the questionnaire should be brief and easily understandable. Hence, for this project we have used mostly all primary data.
In case of my project, the survey has been conducted by myself where I have personally visited theatres of Kolkata and interviewed the respondents. In this regard, I have tried my level best to keep the questionnaire respondent-friendly.
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Questionnaire: AUDIENCE RESPONSE SHEET
Objective: To understand the habits & preferences of Bengali cinema-going audiences
Part
Name:
Gender
Age:
Locality
Profession
Education
Contact no. &/or E-mail id
Sub-Objective 1: How genre of film varies from segment to segment
Sub-Objective 2: Who are the target audience of ART of COMMERCIAL movie?
Sub-Objective 3: Which is/are the preferred language(s) in which audience enjoys a movie?
Sub-Objective 4: What combination of ingredients, the audience would like to watch a movie?
Sub-Objective 5: What is the preferred Showtime
Sub-Objective 6: What is the preferred mode to purchase movie tickets?
Sub-Objective 7: When audience prefers to visit theatre after release of a movie
Sub-Objective 8: What are the sources of information about a movie?
AUDIENCE RESPONSE SHEET
· Where do you watch films – Theatres, TV, CD/DVD
· Why do you watch the films in this format (put some thought into this)?
· Do you watch TV?
What channels do you watch?
Which programs?
Which language?
Technique and Theory for Data Analysis
Some mathematical and statistical tools were used for the analysis of different objectives of the project. The Statistical techniques used are as follows.
Percentage Distribution: Where the number in each category is expressed as a percentage of the total.
Bar Diagram: Pictorial representation of equidistant rectangular bars, one for each category is used to represent the data.
Pie Chart: A pictorial representation where circle is used to represent the total area and is divided proportionally among the different components by converting the proportional values into proportional segments of the circle.
Thurston technique of ranking: An analysis which helps in ranking different attributes according to their importance and also the distance between their levels of importance.
[box title=”Thurston Scale” style=”default” box_color=”#333333″ title_color=”#FFFFFF” radius=”3″]In psychology, the Thurston scale was the first formal technique for measuring an attitude. It was developed by Louis Leon Thurston in 1928 as a means of measuring attitudes towards religion. It is made up of statements about a particular issue, and each statement has a numerical value indicating how favorable or unfavorable it is judged to be. People check each of the statements to which they agree, and a mean score is computed, indicating their attitude. Thurston’s Method of Paired Comparisons can be considered a prototype of anormal distribution-based method for scaling-dominance matrices.[/box]
Research Analysis
Ranking by audience about their preference regarding genre of movie
Genre of films is divided into: Romantic, Drama, Action, Thriller, Comedy, and Experimental. In below audiences are segmented into various parts & how preferences of genre of film varies from segment to segment, that was measured.
RANKING BY AUDIENCE ABOUT THEIR PREFERENCE REGARDING GENRE OF MOVIE
In the below
R’ stands for ROMANTIC
‘D’ stands for DRAMA
‘A’ stands for ACTION
‘T’ stands for THRILLER
‘C’ stands for COMEDY
‘E’ stands for EXPERIMENTAL
Overall Ranking
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that overall preference of cinema-going audience of Kolkata regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie & closely followed by Comedy movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
GENDER-WISE RANKING
[A]FEMALE RANKING
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that overall preference of female cinema-going audience of Kolkata regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie & followed by Comedy movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
[B] MALE RANKING:
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of male cinema-going audience of Kolkata regarding genre of movie is Action movie, followed by Comedy movie. The market position of Romantic & Thriller movie is same. Drama is least preferred by them.
AGE-WISE RANKING
[A] LESS THAN 22 yr.
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going audience of age group less than 22yr. regarding genre of movie is Comedy movie & closely followed by Romantic movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
[B] UPTO LESS THAN 23 yr.
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that l preference of cinema- going audience of age group less than 23yr., regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie & closely followed by Comedy movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
[C] 22yr. to less than 28 yr.
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going audience of Kolkata regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie & closely followed by Comedy movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
[D] 28 yr. To 35 yr.
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going audience of age group between 28 to 35yr., regarding genre of movie is comedy movie, followed by romantic & experimental movie. Overall market position of romantic & experimental movie is same. Drama is least preferred by them.
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going audience of south kolkata regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie & followed by Comedy movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going audience of North Kolkata regarding genre of movie is Comedy movie & closely followed by Romantic movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
[C] PART of NORTH 24PGS,HOWRAH, HOOGLY ATTACHED TO KOLKATA
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going audience of attached part of Kolkata, regarding genre of movie is Comedy movie & very closely followed by Romantic movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
PROFESSION-WISE RANKING
[A] Working professionals:
Thurston Measure Scale
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going audience of service professionals, regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie & followed by Comedy movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
[B] STUDENT
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going students, regarding genre of movie is Comedy movie, closely followed by Romantic &Thriller movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
EDUCATION-WISE RANKING
[A] GRADUATE OR UNDERGRADUATE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going graduate or undergraduate audience regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie , closely followed by Comedy movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
[B] POST-GRADUATE OR STUDENT OF POST-GRADUATE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of cinema- going post-graduate audience regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie &Comedy movie. Both have same ranking. Drama is least preferred by them.
ONLY ART FILM AUDIENCE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of art film audience regarding genre of movie is Comedy movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
ONLY COMMERCIAL FILM AUDIENCE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of only commercial movie audience regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie, closely followed by Comedy movie. Experimental movie is least preferred by them.
GENERALLY ART FILMS, SOMETIMES COMMERCIAL FILM AUDIENCE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of this segment of movie audience regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie, closely followed by Action, Comedy & Thriller movie. Drama is least preferred by them.
GENERALLY COMMERCIAL FILM AUDIENCE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of this segment of movie audience regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie, followed by Comedy & Thriller movie.
ENGLISH & HINDI MOVIE AUDIENCE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of this segment of movie audience regarding genre of movie is Comedy movie, closely followed by Thriller movie.
HINDI & BENGALI MOVIE AUDIENCE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of this segment of movie audience regarding genre of movie is Romantic movie, followed by Comedy & Thriller movie.
ENGLISH, HINDI & BENGALI MOVIE AUDIENCE
Thurston Scale Measure
INFERENCE: From above analysis it can be said that preference of this segment of movie audience regarding genre of movie is Romantic & comedy movie, overall preference of this segment of audience regarding Romantic & comedy movie is same. Drama is least preferred by them.
MARKET OF ART & COMMERCIAL MOVIE
Movies are broadly divided into 2 types: art film & commercial film. For this survey, audiences were asked which kind of film(s) is/are watched by them to know their preferences. The options were as following:
[A] Audience of Only ART / INTELLECTUAL films which is expressed as A in chart below.
[B] Audience of Only COMMERCIAL films which is expressed as B in chart below.
[C] Audience of Generally ART / INTELLECTUAL films & sometimes COMMERCIAL films which is expressed as C in chart below.
[D] Audience of Generally COMMERCIAL films & sometimes ART / INTELLECTUAL films which is expressed as D in chart below.
People watch or like to watch art or commercial movie according to their taste & preferences.
PREFERENCE OF AUDIENCE TOWARDS LANGUAGE OR COMBINATIONS OF LANGUAGES
In Kolkata, mainly 3 languages of films run at theatres: English, Hindi, and Bengali. Apart from that Tamil & Bhojpuri films also have a very small market. During survey, audiences were asked about various combinations of languages of film, which they generally watch or prefer to watch.
The total scenario is represented below, in chart form.
MOST PREFERRED COMBINATION OF A MOVIE
To understand the preference of the audience, they were asked that if a cinema will be made according to their choice, then what would be their preferred combination. The ingredients were romance, action, comedy & drama and audience had to response their choice as % against each ingredient.
The main ingredients of a film: Romance, Action, Comedy & Drama may be at any of the following 3 states, i.e. high (0 to < 20%), medium (20 to <60%), low (60 to 100%).High state is decoded as 1, medium state is decoded as 2 & low state is decoded as 3.
Outcome from service professionals:
Outcome from students:
Market viable outcomes:
Total sample size for this question: 100 (Student: 63 & Service: 37):
Preferences about show time:
Preferences about mode of purchase of movie ticket
How movie ticket are purchased
Online
Advance
Current
By friends or family members
The group of audiences who purchase ticket through friends or family members; they are not decision maker regarding purchase of movie tickets.
ROGERS ADOPTION-INNOVATION MODEL
Adopter categories
Rogers defines an adopter category as a classification of individuals within a social system on the basis of innovativeness. In the book Diffusion of Innovations, Rogers suggests a total of five categories of adopters in order to standardize the usage of adopter categories in diffusion research. The adoption of an innovation follows an S curve when plotted over a length of time. The categories of adopters are: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards.
Adopter category Definition
[A]Innovators: Innovators are the first individuals to adopt an innovation. Innovators are willing to take risks, youngest in age, have the highest social class, have great financial lucidity, very social and have closest contact to scientific sources and interaction with other innovators. Risk tolerance has them adopting technologies which may ultimately fail. Financial resources help absorb these failures.
[B] Early Adopters: This is the second fastest category of individuals who adopt an innovation. These individuals have the highest degree of opinion leadership among the other adopter categories. Early adopters are typically younger in age, have a higher social status, have more financial lucidity, advanced education, and are more socially forward than late adopters. More discrete in adoption choices than innovators. Realize judicious choice of adoption will help them maintain central communication position.
[C] Early Majority: Individuals in this category adopt an innovation after a varying degree of time. This time of adoption is significantly longer than the innovators and early adopters. Early Majority tend to be slower in the adoption process, have above average social status, contact with early adopters, and seldom hold positions of opinion leadership in a system.
[D] Late Majority : Individuals in this category will adopt an innovation after the average member of the society. These individuals approach an innovation with a high degree of skepticism and after the majority of society has adopted the innovation. Late Majority are typically skeptical about an innovation, have below average social status, very little financial lucidity, in contact with others in late majority and early majority, very little opinion leadership.
[E] Laggards: Individuals in this category are the last to adopt an innovation. Unlike some of the previous categories, individuals in this category show little to no opinion leadership. These individuals typically have an aversion to change-agents and tend to be advanced in age. Laggards typically tend to befocused on “traditions”, likely to have lowest social status, lowest financial fluidity, be oldest of all other adopters, in contact with only family and close friends, very little to no opinion leadership.
Rogers model is utilized to segment the audiences as innovator, Early adopter, early majority, late majority, laggards. Among Cinema going audience there are some people, who always try to watch movie at the early days of release. There are also some people, who watch movie after a long time of release . Cinema going audience can be classified as per Rogers model.
In a 4 week life span of cinema the audience can be divided as follow:
INNOVATORS
EARLY ADOPTERS
EARLY MAJORITY
LATE MAJORITY
LAGGARDS
The audience were asked, when they go to watch a film after release? The options were as follows:
Always try to watch movie 1st day 1st show
Try to watch movie within 1st 3days of release
Try to watch movie within 1st week of release
Watch movie at 2nd to 3rd week, after recommendation by friends
Watch movie after long time of release, when reviews & feedback become good
SOURCES OF INFORMATION REGARDING A MOVIE
Audiences were asked about the sources of information regarding a movie. This was an open-ended question & feedback was plotted in pie-chart form below.
PRINT MEDIA
TV CHANNELS
FM CHANNELS
MISC. SOURCES
WHAT IS THE REASON TO WATCH MOVIE AT A THEATRE OR ON TV OR CD/DVD?
During the survey this question was asked to the audience. This was an open- ended question & feedbacks is as noted below.
REASON TO WATCH MOVIE AT THEATRE
Good picture & sound quality at theatre.
Likes to enjoy movie with friends or loved ones which cant possible athome.
It’s possible to forget all the external pressure during that time.
It’s easy to be familiar with characters at big screen.
It’s a part of outing or get together.
Likes to watch film when it release.
Fewer disturbances.
REASON TO WATCH MOVIE ON TV
No investment of money.
No need to travel anywhere.
Movies can be enjoyed at favourable time.
REASON TO WATCH MOVIE ON CD/DVD
Less investment of money.
Can see a movie at favourable time.
Can pause or stop at any time.
Not too much shout like local theatres.
Repeat watch is possible.
A person can enjoy 5 movies only for Rs.25, then why will he invest Rs. 100 for a movie.
All family members can enjoy a pirated movie DVD at cost of less than Rs. 1 to watch a movie (assumed that, no. Of family members: 5 & DVD contains 5 movies at Rs. 25), so why price-sensitive people will invest Rs. 100 per head for a movie?
REASON FOR LESS WATCH OR NOT WATCH OF ENGLISH MOVIE
People were asked why they don’t watch or less watch English movie. This was an open-ended question & feedback regarding this question is noted below:
Cannot associate with characters or story
Use of too much technology cannot touch heart.
Language problem
Basic taste & preference is developed from childhood & till then peopleused to watch regional language film with guardians.
Social structure, culture is different in Bengal.
Less no. of theatres show English movie
No such promotional events like Bengali or Hindi movie
Frequency of publicity is very less.
Late release of English movie at India or Bengal: as a result pirated CD/DVD becomes available in market & due to this delay of interest toward the film falls down
Very good quality of Bengali films
Strong distribution chain of Bengali film producers
Films under banner of Venkatesh/ Surinder films release at more than200 theatres in WB
Venkatesh/ Surinder Films have built up their own distribution channel & made a strong rapport with theatre owners.
Piyali Films has also strong distribution chain with their loyal followers of theatre owners
Producers of Bengali movie are doing strong campaigning for Bengali movie in a regular way, which is destroying the market of Hindi/English movie.
Venkatesh / Surinder Films release their movie with their strong chain once after another with an avg. Life span of 3 months. Other producers cannot enter those theatres.
Producers of Bengali movie also produce serials in Bengali GEC channels & they use their channels for promotional purposes before release of the film.
Too much involvement into the fictional or non-fictional reality shows of TV. Even young generation is also watching Bengali GEC channels too much now a day. The TV industry is almost changed over 2.5 years after introduction of Star Jalsha.
In West Bengal there are 6 Bengali GEC (General Entertainment Category) channels:
Star Jalsha
ZEEBangla
E-TVBangla
Ruposhi Bangla
MohuaaBangla
Akash Bangla
(Arranged as highest rating to lowest rating, as per TAM report)
Name of some TV shows with outstanding TRP (TELEVISION RATING POINT):
Preference of channels by audiences regarding shows:
The young generation of multiplex cinema-going audience of Kolkata also follow Hindi GEC channels such as Star One and Colors.
Recommendations
This research project indicates that most of the respondents’ preference goes for Romantic movie & Comedy movie. Both genre are highly preferred by each & every segment and as well as overall market. Remembering this fact, to release Comedy or Romantic film in Kolkata market may be a wise decision.
Media plays a big role to promote a movie. Selection of proper media is highly recommended to promote a movie before its release at Kolkata.
Kolkata cinema market has a potential customer-base of English movie. To develop the market regular PR activity, organising of events before film release, press meet, interview of actors of movie is highly required. This will help to make a loyal English movie audience. It is highly recommended to target young audience of Kolkata & positioning of English movie among them. This may be a wise decision for future aspect, because basic taste & preference regarding movie develops during their school or college life.
Kolkata film market has a huge opportunity/ possibility for English movie. As there is no other corporate houses (i.e. Warner Brothers, Paramount, Disney) promoting English movie in Kolkata market, so there is big opportunity for SPE to capture the market. If this becomes possible, then SPE can enjoy first movers’ advantage.
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Cover pic credit: Anirban Mukherjee. At the extreme left is the author, seated along with the audience at the screening of his film Andar Kahini.
TV CHANNELS
The young generation of multiplex cinema-going audience of Kolkata also follow Hindi GEC channels such as Star One and Colors.