Marketing Strategies of Films in Bollywood Industry

New Release Strategies

In the contemporary scenario, the distribution dynamics of Hindi cinema has changed. Before the new millennium, theatrical revenue was the primary source of income for any Hindi film; however, presently alternate distribution channels and sources of revenues have surfaced. These sources are home videos, satellite rights, pay per view,subscription-based services as well as online streaming platforms. It led to shortening of the release window of a film in the theatrical platform to maximum 2 to 3 weeks. Any further delay would obstruct the profit realisation of the movie in the other delivery platforms such as television channels, home video, and online streaming services such as Hotstar, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Having a longer release window in a theatre also leads to the issues of piracy. It is because of the upsurge of peer-to-peer video sharing websites such as ‘torrent’ and ‘The Pirate Bay’. To avoid copying as well as to earn maximum profit from other distribution platforms ‘shorter release window’ became a mandate for Hindi cinema in the new millennium.

The ‘shorter release window’ – release strategy, in turn, made the practice of a ‘saturated release' commonplace. ‘Saturated (wide) release’ refers to the release of the film across a maximum number of theatres simultaneously over a short period. It leads to the profit maximisation of a film in the theatrical platform even when the film released for a short period. Nevertheless, saturated release only became possible as a result of satellite-based digital distribution of films in India. UFO Moviez a digital cinema distribution network started operating in India during 2005. As of 2013, more than 5,600 screens already digitised, replacing the manual film projection-based exhibition system (Khandekar, 2013). In the case of the film prints distribution model, a ‘market by market’ release was commonplace as movies first released in a particular geographical location and after that often reused in other viable markets. The discontinuing of film projection-based exhibition, and incorporation of digital distribution delivery system, lead to the complete elimination of the cost involved in the transfer of physical prints from one market to another.¹Presently, 60 per cent of the revenue earned in the first week of the release of a film.