There is a shift happening in the way people are accessing video content. A recent global study by IBM has shown that the time spent on personal Internet use now rivals TV use. Furthermore, 81 percent of respondents reported that they have either watched or want to watch video on their PC.
These findings correspond with findings from a study by comScore, which was conducted on Internet user behaviour in the USA in May: 75% of users had streamed video in the month of May 2007.
People are getting savvier about where to find the content they want. Hollywood is starting to realize that; it is unthinkable not to find a trailer for an upcoming feature on YouTube. And these trailers aren’t only published by fans who bittorrent them and publish them again on YouTube, the studios and distributors themselves have their own YouTube channels to show trailers, but also behind the scenes material, interviews, etc.
Hollywood knows that the Internet is not (just) their enemy, but their friend when it comes to further promoting their products before release. It’s not just about releasing the trailers; it is about creating hype online that will then spill over into the offline world. Anyone who follows the releases of big Hollywood blockbusters like Transformers or Pirates of the Caribbean 3 will know that there is a lot of activity amongst fans in advance, not just on video sharing sites, but also in Social Media networks and groups. Reviews of the trailers are getting more important, and viral videos are great little appetizers of an upcoming release that can be watched on a PC or a mobile phone, during a break or on the bus on the way home.
Fans have always had their forums or clubs. Online networks take the discussions to another level though. Especially platforms like Facebook, Bebo and MySpace make connecting on a certain topic easy, and they encourage the exchange of thought, links, videos etc. They are great for assisting filmmakers with building their fan base and getting a dialogue going. And they are also great for spreading good and bad reviews, which come into play after a movie has been released. Instead of discussing the movie with just your work or schoolmates, you can do so online, in a much larger forum, with enthusiasts from all over the world. This has a whole new dynamic; and Hollywood can access these discussions, that would normally have been hidden from them (see also my post on agenda setting today).
The web as a social communication platform also enables people who were involved in a project to make contact with their fans (or those thrashing the movie). John Rogers for example, one of the people with a story credit for Transformers, reacted to comments on the political nature of the script on his blog. Without having to go through any official press reps. In a medium that is the same as the one the fans are communicating in. This is a great way to really communicate with your audience in a dialogue. And it is also a way of communicating that is becoming too important to Hollywood to ignore.