The total co-marketing expenditure for Hindi films has reached about ₹100 crore a year with more and more co-branding happening in-films.
However, there is a huge untapped potential when it comes to film marketing, content licensing and celebrity aspects.
A ESP Properties, the sports and entertainment programming arm of GroupM, released the first edition of the entertainment marketing report ‘Showbiz- The Indian Superpower’ recently. The report points that the film entertainment industry is growing at 10 per cent year-on- year in terms of the number of films released.
According to the report, in the last 10 years, film-brand associations have steadily increased with the only downward fall noticed in 2008. 2017 has seen a similar dip perhaps due to economic reforms in India and digital content increasing its share.
The report points that at least 20 per cent of films released include brand associations where the brands also share a part of the marketing budget. There is close to 56 hours of entertainment promotion films playing cumulatively across channels.
Today, producers are working closely with agency partners that help them achieve th
eir marketing objectives efficiently, and drive footfalls into theatres.
Coming to Marathi films, they too have seen a phenomenal growth in the last three years with almost 16 per cent films having brand associations in 2017.
Giving insights from the report, Vinit Karnik, Business Head, ESP Properties notes that as the film market grows, the audience too has moved from linear, one dimensional advertising to a multi-channel and interactive dialogue with the film and brand communities.
To create deeper engagement with the audience, brands and producers are exploring content licensing as an avenue to bring film characters and story lines into true life experiences.
In India, content licensing is growing at 7.4 per cent year-on-year, which a higher than developed markets such as the US, the UK and Canada.
