M.R. and Bollywood

I came across a very interesting story which linked Market research and Bollywood. It was quite fascinating to know how market research is finding new avenues with its all-known importance. It has always been a tradition in film production houses to invite friends and family for a preview of a film. This enabled producer and director to guage the film's impact and helped in tweaking the film wherever required. This informal setup is gradually changing into a formal one with production houses getting help of market research tools to get a better idea of viewer's choice. Productions team are indeed using the MR tools right from initial raw reels to final theatre ready film.

All this is typically done with a focus group audience classified as per the requirements of production house with respect to age, gender and film genre. These focus groups then get a test screening of the film and their reactions are recorded. (Groups' audio visuals of facial expressions and reaction to film sceanes). Also the group is asked to fill out a responce sheet with several questions guaging their rection to certain aspects of the film. This data is made available to the film unit. Many of recent hit flicks including 3 Idiots and Ghajini have tweaked the sceanes in the movie after getting response from test audience. Response from test viewers can also help production houses decide their marketing strategy. For example, getting marketing slots with daily sops on television if film appeals to women.

Many research companies such as Synovate India, Hansa Research and Ormax Media Pvt. Ltd. are getting assignments from production houses to help them develop better movies. Film makers are also finding the importance of market research to help them understand audience's choice.

But the flip side of this business is also important because focus groups screening can actually lead to leaking of film's plot through the way of social networking sites such as 'facebook updates' and 'tweets' on "Tweeter". Therefore informal screening within friends and family is still the choice for many. In spite of this, now more and more corporate film production houses are allocating part of film's budget on research. The production houses and research agencies are working on research models, identification of film specific focus groups and formalizing the research facilities to retain the sanctity of the film. Thus Market Research is also making huge inroads into bollywood widening the scope.

Cheers...
Reference: (2010, Feb 16). Mint, pp. 1,3