- hotstar poised to be the high-impact medium for digital film promotions
- Fox Star Studios sets the digital-first film marketing precedent for India and the world
(Mumbai, 12 May 2015) Continuing to set new precedents in film marketing with the help of hotstar in India, Fox Star Studios yesterday rolled out its third digital-first initiative in less than a month on the fastest growing Digital Video platform for mobile in the country. The studio unveiled an exclusive preview of its highly-anticipated film Bombay Velvet to hotstar’s 15-million-strong audience base on Sunday.
The hotstar Movie Preview of Bombay Velvet comprises four minutes of handpicked scenes from the soon-to-be-released film. The preview was packaged with a specially shot sequence which had Karan Johar introducing Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma, the stars of the film, with their on-screen names of Johnny Balraj and Rosie Noronha, and inviting the audience to watch the exclusive footage that followed. It ended with the trio reminding the audience of the film’s release date, and inviting them to watch it in theatres on the 15th of May.
Only after the Bombay Velvet Movie Preview on hotstar did a preview showcase of the film air across the Star India network on Sunday, 10 May 2015, at 7.55 pm.
Shikha Kapur, CMO, Fox Star Studios India, said, “We are delighted to be the first studio in India to introduce a series of Digital-first initiatives for film marketing on mobile, and that too with a huge multi-starrer like Bombay Velvet. While initially it was all about creating buzz, with the film now getting closer to its release date, we thought the audience would be excited to preview some of Bombay Velvet’s high-quality content, and hence the Movie Preview. This is a part of the build-up strategy which has worked very well so far. hotstar is poised as the go-to destination for popular digital content on mobile today, and we believe it will help us effectively fill the market gaps for movie promotions on digital, and through the innovations, set a precedent for film marketing not only in our country, but also in other world markets.”
The digital-first preview of the movie scenes was the third promotional initiative by Fox Star Studios for Bombay Velvet on hotstar. It came close on the heels of a one-hour talk show featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap, which was shot for and premiered exclusively on hotstar. This was preceded by yet another world-first initiative, the video premiere on hotstar of the popular song, Mohabbat Buri Bimari, from Bombay Velvet.
All three of the mobile-first film promotion solutions for Bombay Velvet on hotstar rode upon the biggest draws of films in India: the music, the fans’ love for the film stars, and their eagerness to catch unseen images and visuals of the film before release. Going forward, hotstar will make even bigger and more significant contributions to the film marketing initiatives of not just Bollywood but even English and regional films.
Hotstar, which was launched merely three months back with compelling content across sports, TV shows and movies in seven languages witnessed the fastest adoption of any digital service in the world, and has pegged 15 million downloads so far. As a result of its popularity and remarkable growth with engaged audiences in a short period, hotstar is now the big destination for movie promotions on digital.
