Bollywood's spend on digital marketing is on the rise

Bollywood has started increasing its spend on digital marketing. Typically, total marketing budgets of a Bollywood movie comprise 30 per cent of which 15 per cent is spent on digital marketing. This is still small when compared with Hollywood flicks which invest up to 30 per cent of its budget on digital promotions. 

Nevertheless, Eros International -- which is promoting films like Kambakkht Ishq and Love Aaj Kal on the web -- is spending almost 20 per cent of its marketing budget on digital promotion. Hungama Digital Media will be promoting the films online for Eros for an undisclosed amount. Along with this, Eros has signed a revenue-sharing agreement to promote the films on Bollywood Hungama, a subsidiary of Hungama Digital Media. 

Although Dinesh Vijan co-producer of Love Aaj Kal did not disclose the film's digital marketing budget, according to sources, Love Aaj Kal is investing nearly Rs 3 crore in online promotions. Eros International has also tied-up with Yahoo and Youtube to market the two films. "We are carrying out an extensive online activity to promote the movie on websites like Bollywood Hungama, Orkut, Facebook which interact directly with the younger audiences," says Vijan. In an attempt to lure the 50-60 million Indian internet subscribers, Eros is also engaging the audiences through games based on films. 

Eros and Hungama Digital Media have also come up with a game on the movie Love Aaj Kal. It's an arcade game with Bollywood twists, tailor-made to give the player information about the movie and its concept. Users can access the game online and on mobile platforms and a mobile racing game on Kambakkht Ishq. Eros is also offering its customers free digital content based on the movie and has also tied up with online ticketing partners like www.kyazoonga.com. Around 81 per cent of the online Indian population, according to a report by Hungama Digital Media, engages in some kind of social interactivity on the web making it an ideal place for the film marketers to draw young crowds. 

Jyoti Deshpande, Chief Operating Officer and Commercial Director, Eros International, says: "Internet viral marketing is less about how much you spend and more about how effectively you spend." Eros, which was one of the early players to strike an alliance with Google’s Youtube, and has its own partner channel on the video sharing site that gets over 100 million views. Eros also markets its videos on websites like MSN, Rediff, AOL, Yahoo to drive the audiences to its content. 

"After the sucess of Slumdog Millionaire, the Indian film industry has gained an international outlook. So, there is no surprise that the spends are increasing on digital marketing by Bollywood," says a media analyst who did not wish to be named. 

The recently-released Kambakkht Ishq, which is said to have cost the producers about Rs 70 crore, is pumping in nearly Rs 7 crore in digital marketing. Neeraj Roy, managing director and chief executive officer of Hungama Digital Media is also not surprised by the increased spending. “With around 50 million Indians accessing the internet, movie marketing budgets are bound to include the online platform." 

Soon to be released movies like Agyat, a film by Ram Gopal Verma and UTV, are already realising the rationale of web to promote the film. Shikha Kapur, Vice President (Marketing) UTV Motion Pictures elaborates, " We will use internet as the medium to publicise the film through an online contest."