Viral Marketing Is (Partly) Saving Hollywood Dan Koelsch, December 26, 2012January 3, 2013 This past week, Mashable posted an infographic from Allmand Law that shows how the film industry in America is able to avoid bankruptcy despite ticket sales declining. Check out the infographic after the break, along with my commentary on the components that deal with our niche. As you can see above, social media and viral marketing have played an important role in studios’ business plans. Unfortunately, the infographic focuses more on films that had a more directly viral presence, such as screening demands and well-tended Facebook pages. It ignores the more complex viral marketing that we at MovieViral like to focus on, such as ARGs and other interactive components. However, I can see why they didn’t bother.It’s hard to measure the financial impact of a costly campaign like “Flynn Lives” for TRON: Legacy or “Why So Serious?” for The Dark Knight Rises. Sure, lots of people get involved, but how does that actually translate into ticket sales? Merchandising seems to be only place where revenue could easily be found with ARGs. For instance, The Rocket Poppeteers Depot for Super 8 sold t-shirts, patches, and stickers that only players of the ARG would bother getting. Unfortunately, this means that even if those sales figures could be found, they probably don’t mean much to the bottom line.Let us know what you think about all of this. Can the financial benefits of complex ARGs like Flynn Lives be tracked? On a side note, is it more important to have a larger audience be part of your ARG, or to have a much more immersive experience that less people will follow? Give us your insights in the comments below. Editorials Features Viral News infographic
New Images Lead To Live Action Halo Series April 20, 2011Machinima.com has been expanding beyond simple machinima (a film style that uses virtual interactive environment assets for animated films) lately, and more on to fully animated shorts. The guys at How It Should Have Ended are already working with them to re-create video game endings, and now they’re going to… Read More
The Buzz: Iron Man 3 Goes Clancy Thriller, Charlie Sheen, 90s Are Back, Tomb Raider Reboot, Peter Pan, TV News, and More! March 13, 2011March 13, 2011The Buzz is a feature in which we round up the biggest and most popular film and television stories of the week. Why go through pages of blogs just to find out what everyone is talking about? We’ve got it all right here. Check out all the stories after the… Read More
Reddit News: Fan-Made Posters, Found Movie Connections, and More!! January 21, 2013Like many people, I lurk around Reddit during my downtime, and I find some pretty interesting stuff. Sometimes that stuff relates to movies and television, so I feel obligated to share it with our readers. After the break, check out what’s been making the rounds on Reddit recently. Read More