Maoyan analyzes and explores marketing Chinese films

China’s movie market demonstrated a robust restoration in 2023, with whole field workplace earnings exceeding 54.91 billion yuan and whole admissions of almost 1.3 billion, in keeping with the China Movie Administration. 

“Behind the numbers, what made us even happier was witnessing the success of a extra various vary of movies,” mentioned Zhang Bo, vice chairman of Maoyan Leisure and president of Maoyan Footage. “Moreover, we noticed a rise within the variety of high-quality movies that garnered each constructive word-of-mouth and field workplace success, enhancing the credibility of the Chinese language movie market within the hearts of the viewers. Folks at the moment are prepared to spend cash and two hours to look at a movie in cinemas, which is able to in the end enhance the business’s ecosystem and future improvement.”

Maoyan is China’s main platform for ticketing, field workplace monitoring, and large knowledge evaluation, in addition to an leisure firm concerned within the manufacturing and advertising and marketing of movie tasks. In the course of the previous yr’s record-breaking movie seasons, Maoyan actively had a hand within the success of a lot of hit movies. These embody the annual field workplace champion “Full River Purple,” which was launched throughout final yr’s Spring Pageant, in addition to “Creation of The Gods I: Kingdom of Storms” and “By no means Say By no means” in summer time. Moreover, Maoyan was additionally concerned in “Johnny Hold Strolling!” and “Shining for One Factor,” launched on the year-end. Among the many prime 10 highest-grossing movies in 2023, Maoyan produced seven of them, together with 5 the place Maoyan acted as the primary producer and 4 the place they oversaw advertising and marketing.

Zhang shared examples of how the corporate achieved phenomenal success by way of modern options to market and promote movies. As an illustration, they used suspense and interactive advertising and marketing methods for Zhang Yimou’s “Full River Purple” and undertook intense street reveals for “Creation of The Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” leveraging the facility of apps, on-line and offline integration, live-streaming, trending subjects, selection reveals, quick movies, and numerous different applied sciences, approaches, and options. Lately, they haven’t solely enhanced the sense of celebration and festivities for younger audiences main as much as the New Yr vacation by organizing cinema occasions for “Shining for One Factor” but in addition recreated an iconic snow scene from the movie and its associated on-line collection by spraying synthetic snow inside theaters. For “Johnny Hold Strolling!,” they organized particular screenings and creating on-line discussions designed to resonate with as many white-collar staff as potential.

The longer term is brilliant. On the press convention, Maoyan supplied an inventory of 40 future movie tasks in 2024, together with the much-anticipated “Pegasus 2” by Han Han, which is about for launch throughout the upcoming Spring Pageant vacation. 

Liu Peng, director of the Maoyan Analysis Institute, highlighted that field workplace takings in 2023 reached a four-year peak, showcasing commendable general market efficiency. The substantial year-on-year progress in field workplace income and attendance has considerably bolstered business confidence. 

Liu believes that behind the continual enchancment of the market is the joint effort of all events within the business, working collectively to advertise the sustainable improvement of the movie market. The implementation of insurance policies comparable to public welfare screenings, and steady subsidies from particular funds for the event of the movie business have successfully cultivated moviegoing habits amongst audiences. On the availability facet, content material creators have precisely grasped viewers calls for, leading to a plethora of excellent home movies throughout numerous genres, which have considerably elevated the common variety of cinema visits per particular person in comparison with the earlier yr. When it comes to promotion and distribution, a number of movies have explored various advertising and marketing methods and selective launch strategies, additional driving ticket demand.

When it comes to content material, Maoyan’s analysis has seen a surge in feminine empowerment in society, indicating a rising viewers curiosity in nuanced and various portrayals of feminine characters. Globally, “ladies” and “gender” points have emerged as vital developments in movie and tv content material, with “Barbie” claiming the title of the worldwide field workplace champion in 2023. Domestically, movies centered on feminine characters have gained traction, with, for instance, “Misplaced within the Stars” and “Final Suspect” garnering widespread consideration. One other notable pattern final yr was the recognition of sensible dramas impressed by social subjects that resonate with strange individuals, comparable to these seen in “No Extra Bets.”

“Whether or not it is the success of female-centric movies or the recognition of topic-driven films, these mirror the viewers’s rising concern in regards to the connection between movie content material and their very own lives,” mentioned Liu, including that within the face of quickly altering market situations, the movie business ought to be audience-oriented, innovate repeatedly, and iterate in a well timed method. 

Li Rui, who heads the Maoyan Professional app, mentioned how the corporate has invested considerably in synthetic intelligence to assist predict field workplace performances and generate movie advertising and marketing content material and approaches. They’ve additionally launched modern options comparable to unique cloud screenings, permitting filmmakers, companions, or film followers to collectively buy digital screenings on-line and distribute tickets to ask pals. Attendees can then redeem these digital tickets for precise screenings at their comfort. Maoyan additionally acts as a facilitator of the selective launch mannequin, connecting distributors with cinema chains.

Different new companies have been launched based mostly on Maoyan’s large knowledge platform, together with a search operate for a movie challenge’s registration with China’s movie authorities, a field workplace map illustrating market competitors, profiling of ticket purchasers, and a real-time city field workplace report showcasing highlights and achievements for medium and small-budget movies. As well as, Maoyan can also be venturing into the TV collection area and can provide extra metrics for TV and on-line collection advertising and marketing.