What was the last thing you did before booking your movie tickets?
One in five logged on to Facebook and checked out what their close friends said about the movie, and an even higher 38% found other ways to do the same, suggesting a clear shift in the dynamics of viral marketing.
The numbers come from Effective Measure, a digital audience profiling company headquartered in Melbourne, and pertain specifically to the sci-fi movie, “The Hunger Games,” which opened in Australia last month.
Effective Measures conducted a FlashPoll during the week of 4-11 April and analysed responses received from Internet users in Australia. Of the respondents, 31% were based in New South Wales; 21% in Queensland; 24 percent in Victoria; 13% in Western Australia; 6% in South Australia, 3% in the Australian Capital Territory and 2% in Tasmania.
The following are the key findings:
- We trust in peers. The opinions of close friends and positive word of mouth impacted 38 percent of respondents, contributing to the movie’s box- office success nationally;
- Women are a bigger disseminator. Over a quarter (26%) recommended and shared their opinion on “The Hunger Games” directly with their peers. A high 83.4% of women respondents talked about the movie on a variety of forums but only 16.6% of the men did the same.
- Facebook is king of social media. Facebook is the preferred social networking site for buzz as much as opinions. A full fifth of the respondents said status messages on Facebook made them “excited” about the movie. Facebook also was the most popular social media for “spreading the word,” with 10 percent saying they posted recommendations and comments about the movie on the site.
- Other social media growing is too. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube still are not everything. A lot of smaller social media players are gaining in traction — 9% of the respondents cited fan forums and other social sites as influential social networking channels that made them excited about the movie.
- Buzz for the future. A majority 58% of the respondents said they had either watched or were planning to watch “The Hunger Games;” and 48% indicated their interest in the second installment of the movie while only 8 percent were unsure and needed further persuading.
Effective Measure, headquartered in Melbourne, is a global player in digital media planning and audience profiling. It provides planning solutions in the emerging markets, bringing best practice online measurement data to premium publishers, platforms, agencies and advertisers. Its products and services also offer insights into the state of the Internet and the ever-growing digital population.
