Identifying target markets, determining consumer demand, and making fair comparisons between different markets can be very time-consuming. Companies in the media and entertainment industries now utilize alternative market research tools to easily generate valuable insights into important target markets such as India.
The analysis of worldwide file-sharing data for the top 100 Hindi movies in 2013 vs. 2017 revealed increasing demand among audiences in various markets around the globe.
First, the worldwide number of P2P users downloading and sharing Hindi movies had increased by nearly 10%. Perhaps unsurprisingly, India is still where Bollywood movies attract the largest audience. Interest in downloading Hindi movies increased by nearly 30% over the last four years. Next to the general growing Bollywood industry and growing demand for its content, these numbers may also be attributable to the further penetration of the Internet in the emerging country. Beyond file sharers in India contributing the lion’s share to downloading and sharing Bollywood content and adjacent markets for Bollywood film distribution such as Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, more countries turned out to be increasingly important.
GROWING DEMAND IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
Juxtaposing the respective number of file sharers for 2013 with 2017, the interest in Bollywood content in five European countries showed remarkable growth rates. With more than 100% growth, Ireland leads the list of European markets, recording an increasing demand for Hindi movies that surely also correlates with the growing population of Indians migrating to Ireland. For example, the number of Indians who moved to the West-European island state has grown by almost 250% since 2010 (corresponding to 21,255 Indians), according to data provided by the UN. Further on the list, Macedonia, Germany, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Turkey also stand out among European countries with growing audiences for Bollywood movies.
SEVERAL AFRICAN COUNTRIES SHOW 3-DIGIT GROWTH RATES
With a population of almost 1.3 billion, Africa stands out with numerous countries contributing to the percentage of people downloading Bollywood movies. Compared to 2013, the number of file sharers in the Republic of Tanzania had grown by nearly 250% in 2017. Further down in Southern areas of Africa such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa, the number of Bollywood fans had also increased. However, up in Central and North Africa, countries such as Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana, and Morocco have gained momentum in the downloading of Hindi movies.
But what about all of the peer-to-peer users downloading and sharing songs? Even though music-streaming platforms are becoming increasingly popular, a daily average of 3.03 million file sharers still shared music files in peer-to-peer networks in 2017. Accounting once again for the fact that file sharers may be downloading several titles of different artists on more than just one day, this number adds up to more than 918 million music file sharers daily. As a result, file sharers spreading music files in peer-to-peer networks account for 11% of the world’s P2P users in the given time period.
UNITED STATES AND CANADA
Besides the United States, where nearly 70% of the top 100 Hindi movie fans in North America are located, Canada nevertheless also contributes almost 17%. While Canada has recently recorded declining numbers, file sharers in the U.S. showed increasing demand for Bollywood content, with nearly 16% growth.
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OVERSEAS AUDIENCES HAVE INCREASED BUT CANNOT KEEP PACE WITH HOME MARKET INDUSTRY GROWTH
In the Indian film industry, the international distribution of movies in Indian languages has become increasingly important. The overseas distribution circuit realized almost ₹10.9 billion INR (equalling approximately $167 million USD) in 2016, which corresponds to a 14% increase compared to the previous year's revenues, as KPMG stated in its 2017 M&E industry analysis report. That being said, overseas revenues constitute an 8% share of the entire industry volume. Although revenues have been increasing in recent years, domestic revenue growth has evolved one step faster, leading to stagnating overseas shares of total industry numbers.
Nevertheless, the growing importance of overseas business and distribution is demonstrated when taking a more detailed look at the Indian film industry’s different sub-markets. As stated in KPMG's industry report, in the most famous sub-industry, Bollywood, "[...] the overall number of movies releasing overseas remained low with less than 50 percent of movies released in India releasing overseas." Meanwhile, South Indian sub-industry productions such as films in Tamil, Telugu, or Malayalam have been heating up the growth of the entire industry, despite contributing a smaller share than Bollywood. Nevertheless, the film distribution of smaller movies in South Indian languages often cannot gain momentum because of the high promotion and distribution costs or lower sales expectations, limiting the percentages of overseas distribution revenues. Pairing these facts with increasing demand overseas as proven by P2P user numbers, this analysis suggests that there exists considerable additional scope for further business activities beyond India’s borders.
KEEP PACE WITH INDIA'S FILM INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT: AN ALTERNATIVE TO CONVENTIONAL MARKET RESEARCH TOOLS WILL HELP REFINE DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES
The Indian film industry is evolving rapidly fueled by fierce competition; a growing number of movies are being produced and the importance of distributing films abroad means that players in the film industry on the subcontinent need to refine their film distribution strategies. Market research tools are a useful way to learn how consumers interact with content and what level of popularity a movie can create in every target market around the world. Players in the film industry increasingly use market research tools to enable more targeted business decisions and thus better adapt to consumer needs. Nevertheless, available market research tools are primarily used to analyze the impact of marketing and promotional activities on the Indian box office rather than analyze consumer demand for Hindi movies overseas.
TRADITIONAL MARKET RESEARCH TOOLS MAY NOT DEPICT DEMAND TRENDS IN EVERY TARGET MARKET
Market research tools must provide reliable audience measurements and insights into long-term demand trends to enable the identification of the correct target markets outside of traditional Indian distribution circuits. Using traditional market research tools, companies in the media and entertainment industries can only analyze their markets based on mostly biased information databases. The usual criteria used to analyze audience demand depend on films’ official releases, which restricts the scope of applicability and makes it less useful for global market expansion. If a movie is not yet officially available in a particular market, there is no measurable data to analyze. Altogether, the lack of reliable market data and distorted demand findings may result in hurdles when entering global markets or in merely lacking profitability in worldwide distribution. Traditional datasets cannot depict demand in new markets comprehensively and appropriately, thus companies in the film industry are searching for alternative approaches and new tools to conduct market research that enables the more precise analysis of target audiences.
ANALYZING FILE-SHARING DATA IS KEY TO UNCOVERING AUDIENCE DEMAND
The reliable identification of new high-potential target markets according to demand trends becomes indispensable if Indian film industry companies seek to distribute their content overseas. Leveraging the power of file-sharing data as an alternative to conventional market research tools becomes increasingly crucial in the film business. Film companies get instant access to new and unbiased data that reflects demand in target markets around the world, no matter whether a movie has been officially released, which enables the more targeted distribution of entertainment content. The alternative market research tool by TECXIPIO provides unparalleled business information for every company in the media and entertainment industries; this helps ensure the profitability of the film industries' outcome and helps them meet the demand outside of India's traditional distribution circuits.
Interested in how this works in more detail? Continue reading how to optimize your international film distribution strategy or contact us to get more information on this all-new market research tool!
BOOST YOUR FILM BUSINESS: UNBIASED REAL-TIME DATA FILLS IN THE GAP OF INCOMPLETE MARKET INSIGHTS
Through their access to TECXIPIO’s file-sharing data, companies in the media and entertainment industries are now able to fill the gaps in their incomplete market data. Analyzing unbiased real-time data allows film industry players to optimize their film distribution strategies by easily identifying new target markets abroad, measuring the popularity of titles among audiences, and identifying local differences by visualizing how the demand for content develops during individually selected time periods across the world. These insights do not only open the door to more targeted business decisions and valuable industry insights beyond current distribution reach; analyzing the file-sharing landscape will also help you gain an advantage over competitors in the modern fiercely competitive media and entertainment landscape.
Source: TECXIPIO
Further sources:
KPMG report: https://home.kpmg.com/in/en/home/insights/2017/03/kpmgmediaoutlook.html
