Tweet tweet

Twitter, Facebook, blogs, personal websites and much more. Celebrities are using various digital media to reach out to their fans

When Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish released last month, the film’s hero Hrithik Roshan must have a offered a silent prayer for its success since his last film Kites could not fly high at the box office. Unfortunately, the film did not strike a chord with the majority of cine-goers. But Roshan did; not by his fine portrayal of a quadriplegic on-screen but by an initiative that the actor took to connect with his fans. He chatted live with them on the day the film released.

 

Celebrities are increasingly using digital media tools to keep in touch with their followers, take their feedback and update them. This helps them strengthen their bond with the fans, who in turn get a sense of being connected to their screen idols. Almost everyone who has some kind of a following in Bollywood uses Twitter. The more tech-savvy ones are present on almost all virtual platforms.

UTV Interactive, the digital arm of UTV, launched UTV Live Wire, a celebrity chat product that has been integrated across all telecom operators. “This destination will also be an opening for film producers to promote their movies with a backing of a 360-degree plan,” believes Manish Agarwal, CEO, UTV Interactive.

Priyanka Chopra is known to be the most active of all Bollywood celebrities as far as digital presence is concerned. Not only does she have the maximum number of followers on Twitter at about 750,000, which puts her ahead of Shah Rukh Khan, who commands around 720,000 followers, Chopra also has a Facebook account, which is managed by her PR team, with over 1 million followers on the social networking site. Chopra is not alone. She has company in Amitabh Bachchan (one of the first actors in Bollywood and that too a senior citizen) to take up blogging . Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan also have Twitter accounts and keep their fans in the loop by updating their accounts regularly.

While most celebrities are present on platforms that have free access for fans, companies in the digital space have already worked out avenues to monetise this opportunity. Companies like Hungama Digital Media Entertainment and UTV New Media, which provide new media services, have signed deals with celebrities to develop websites, applications and interactive platforms. UTV Interactive, the digital arm of UTV Movies, recently launched UTV Live Wire, the platform which Roshan used to chat with his fans. The chat is integrated across all telecom operators and generates revenues for the company when a user chats with a star dialling a common number.

Fridaymoviez.com, an entertainment movies portal, has launched exclusive YouTube channels for celebrities including Malaika Arora Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Amrita Arora, Aditi Govitrikar, Vikram Phadnis, among others. Joyce Arora, editor, Fridaymoviez.com, says, “We plan to creatively conceptualise the digital avatars of celebrities across various touch points.”

Hungama, which has worked with a number of celebrities also manages social networking initiatives on Facebook and Twitter for various celebrities. Hungama said that the response from followers across all digital platforms has been overwhelming. “Bipasha Basu has over 130,000 fans on her Facebook page and 160,000 fans on her Twitter page,” says a spokesperson of the company.

Such digital engagements by celebrities typically go up when a film is about to be released and celebrities do not leave any stone unturned, even engaging fans through social games. One of the bigger players in the social gaming arena, Ibibo, enables celebrities to promote their new content through various game. Movies like Once Upon a Time in Mumbai and Action Replayy have leveraged some of the existing social games on ibibo.com. “Apart from integrating the storyline of the movie, the celebs also interact with their followers,” says Ashish Kashyap, CEO of ibibo.com.