Offline Word-Of-Mouth More Popular Than Social Media For Movie Buzz!

 However large social media and the internet loom in consumer reviews and product selection, they are not the primary ways by which people share their opinions about upcoming movies, finds Ipsos MediaCT’s Motion Picture Group, as reported by The Wrap in October 2012. Based on a survey of 1,200 Americans aged 13-49, Ipsos found that 88% prefer to share their thoughts with family through offline methods such as face-to-face (53%), on the phone (23%), or via text (12%). Just 12% prefer communicating through social networks (6%), email (5%) or other online methods (1%).

The same preference pattern for communicating offline rather than online held for friends (76% vs. 24%) and co-workers (54% vs. 46%), too. For all others, online methods were preferred (63% vs. 37%).

Friends Get Friends In The Door

While buzz helps with marketing, the largest proportion of survey respondents said that they were most likely to watch a movie if they had someone to go with (71%), slightly ahead of the proportion who said that someone’s recommendation would drive them to see a film (69%). On the other end of the spectrum, posts about a movie (39%) and the number of comments online (37%) influence the smallest proportion.

Mobiles Play a Role in Movie Selection

While Ipsos surveyed the population of movie goers overall, the IAB and InMobi [pdf] conducted a more granular survey (released in October 2012) of how US mobile data users use their devices to select, interact about and pay to see movies.
Ipsos discovered that 31% of the mobile users surveyed are regular moviegoers, who see 1 or more movies a month in cinemas. Some 30% of these regular moviegoers say they use the mobile internet always or most of the time when picking a movie to see. Many of this group also use their devices to read reviews (45%), watch trailers (41%), and check social media for movie reviews (35%).

Other Findings:

• 75% of IAB/InMobi respondents aged under 35 use their mobile devices to select a movie, compared to 68% of consumers aged 35 or older.
• 42% of mobile users under 35 have checked social media to see what friends thought of a movie, versus 33% of those aged 35+.
• Regular moviegoers are far more likely to buy tickets via their mobile devices: 24% reported having done so in the past six months, versus just 7% of infrequent moviegoers.
• 19% of regular moviegoers have used social media to “check in” at a movie or cinema in the past six months, versus 7% of infrequent moviegoers.

About The Data: Ipsos surveyed 1,200 Americans between the ages of 13 to 49. Those surveyed were evenly divided by men and women.
The IAB and InMobi conducted an on device survey among 373 US mobile data users in August and September 2012. The survey was distributed on InMobi’s mobile advertising network, and data is representative of all major platforms in the US market, including Android and iOS.