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MOVIEGOERS IN INDIACONSUMER INSIGHTQUALITATIVE FOCUS GROUPS

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THE OPPORTUNITY FOR US STUDIOS IN INDIA

In the last decade, India has emerged as a rapidly growing world economy. This has owed much to IT and other related service industries creating jobs, boosting disposable income for India’s particularly young, stay at home, population (as of 2005, 70% were aged less than 34 years and 47% less than 20 years).

While statistics on theatrical admissions and revenue are less reliable than more developed markets, there is broad industry agreement that this young, buoyant economy offers a cinema market with strong potential. Consequently, India has been classified in the four BRIC markets (Brazil, India, China and Russia), offering the strongest international growth potential for the film industry.

In terms of product, it is estimated that the Hindi, Mumbai based, Bollywood productions have a 40% share of the market, while non-Indian films in 2006 achieved only a tenth of this (4%). These market trends suggest that the biggest opportunities for US studios will be co-financing local productions, though there is also huge potential for US product, as long as the local language needs are well served:

“Over the past three years, we have seen tremendous potential for Hollywood films in India. It is our endeavour to expand the market for Hollywood in India and to provide the best entertainment available to the family audiences in a language that cuts across all audiences.”

THE HINDU (12/30/06): George John (Marketing Manager)

commenting on the 2006 Indian release of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM

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CONSUMER INSIGHT IN EMERGING MARKETS: FIRST MOVIES’ EXPERIENCE

First Movies has strong experience in exploring what makes moviegoers ‘tick’ in developing markets.

A recent example of this is the qualitative consumer insight work undertaken for Sony in 2006 in Russia and the Ukraine, which spanned five cities and a broad spectrum of age and gender groups.

As with the Russia project, we would schedule in visits to local multiplexes between the groups, to get first hand experience of audiences in India and we would collect articles to provide a ‘living snapshot’ through which to illustrate focus group findings.

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UNDERSTANDING INDIAN MOVIEGOERS: QUALITATIVE FOCUS GROUPS

First Movies propose a series of focus group discussions to help Sony better understand Indian audiences, focusing on the following topics of discussion:

HOW DOES MOVIEGOING FIT INTO INDIAN LIFE?

THE CINEMA EXPERIENCE

HOW DO MOVIEGOERS FIND OUT ABOUT FILMS?

GENERAL FILM TASTES / ATTITUDES TO AMERICAN AND INDIAN FILMS

PIRACY

NEW MEDIA CONSUMPTION

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o How do group members spend their time?o What are the baits and barriers to going to the cinema?o How does it compete with other leisure options?o How do they ‘consume’ cinema, via descriptions of a typical visit?

o Attitudes to ticket prices and the effect of price upon their cinema-going frequencyo Whether they’d be willing to pay more for a more modern cinema experience (with surround sound, better

seats, etc.)o How do the facilities on offer affect cinema-going, both in terms of quality and location?o What kinds of concessions to they buy? ... How often? ... If not very often, does cost limit purchases or are

there other reasons?

1More specifically, discussion topics could cover the following areas, to help elicit a deeper understanding about Indian moviegoers. Findings from the U&A study would steer the content:

HOW DOES MOVIEGOING FIT INTO INDIAN LIFE?

THE CINEMA EXPERIENCE

UNDERSTANDING INDIAN MOVIEGOERS: QUALITATIVE FOCUS GROUPS

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o Where exactly do they find out about films? (trailers; billboards; TV spots; radio; in-cinema promotions; the Internet; radio; newspapers; magazines; outdoor?)

o Which sources generally are most important when making a decision about which film to see at the cinema? ... Does this differ by genre?

o What movie advertising sticks in their minds and why?

TRAILERS

Most important

Least important

To understand why a specific source is important, we would ask group members to take part in a ranking exercise, moving cards up and down a scale, asking them to justify their choices:

“I want to get a taste for the type of story and music in the film, but I don’t want to know too

much”.

HOW DO MOVIEGOERS FIND OUT ABOUT FILMS?

TV COMMERICALS

RADIO

BILLBOARDS

IN-CINEMA PROMOTIONS

UNDERSTANDING INDIAN MOVIEGOERS: QUALITATIVE FOCUS GROUPS

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o What types of films do they generally see at the cinema? .... Why do they warrant a big screen experience? ... What are the key ingredients of a ‘must see’ film?

o How often do they see American and Indian films?o What do they like and dislike about American / Indian films? … What are the baits and barriers to viewing each type of

movie at the cinema?o Do they think there are common themes and values across American movies? … Are these liked?o Beyond language, what marks American films as being different to Indian films? … What are the commonalities? …

Which type is their preference?o How does American comedy translate for them? … Are there any particularly good or bad examples?o Which actors are hot (and not) right now? (discussing Indian and American talent separately) and how important is

talent when deciding to go to the cinema

1GENERAL FILM TASTES / ATTITUDES TO AMERICAN AND INDIAN FILMS

o What pirate DVDs have group members purchased?o What motivates the purchase of pirate DVDs? (to see before release;

convenience; social reasons; kudos?)o What are the drawbacks of pirated DVDs and how strong is each

drawback?

PIRACY

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1o Whether the film would still be seen theatrically, or the legitimate DVD

bought when a pirated copy had been acquiredo Where are pirated copies generally purchased?

On the street; through friends; online download? Are some types of movies easier to get than others? How does availability of US product compare to Indian?

o To what extent is it seen as illegal?o What would persuade moviegoers to stop purchasing pirated product?

(messages about poor quality; funding organised crime; punitive sentences?)

o Do they have mobile phones? ... If so, do they use them for purposes other than making calls: texting; WAP; downloading?

o How ‘glued to the hip’ is their mobile phone?o What do they think their mobile phone will be used for in the near future?o How many use the Internet, where do they use it and what do they use it

for? ... Which sites are popular?o What other new media devices do they know of and/or do they use?

NEW MEDIA CONSUMPTION

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LOCATIONS: To get a representative read on Grade A and Grade B locations, we recommend running the groups in the following three cities:

Mumbai: The home of Hindi / Bollywood film productions

Delhi: The capital city of India and political and financial hub of the market

Ahmedabad: A significant area for the countries burgeoning IT service industry, with an ever increasing number of multiplexes

SAMPLE DEFINITION:

1. To see a Hindi or English language film at a permanently fixed multiplex cinema at least once every three months, on average

2. No direct contact with the film industry and/ or the fields of journalism and market research

QUOTAS: 15-20 21-24 25-34 35-49

Males GROUP 1 GROUP 3(mixed)

GROUP 4(mixed)

GROUP 5(mixed)Females GROUP 2

SAMPLE SIZE: 5 groups per city (thus, 15 groups in total) with 8-10 members per group

GROUP LENGTH:

90 minutes

FOCUS GROUPS RESEARCH DESIGN

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£37,200$77,376 at an exchange rate

of £1 = $2.08

Discussion guide approval Day 1

Delivery of stimulus material Day 2

Fieldwork Day 3-15Including travel across cities

Full report Day 20

FEES AND TIMINGSFOCUS GROUPS

Includes all project set-up and design, all group costs and management in-market (15 groups over a 12 day period), analysis and reporting . Excludes accommodation, travel and expenses for one First Movies exec, which will be billed separately, at cost

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Contacts

Adam SheridanVP, ResearchTel: +44 (0)207 292 7399E-mail: adam.sheridan@firstmovies.com

For more information, please contact Adam, Stephen or Louise:

Stephen PalmerSVP, ResearchTel: +1 310 927 8298E-mail: stephen.palmer@firstmovies.com

Louise ChaterCEOTel: +44 (0)207 292 8360E-mail: louise.chater@firstmovies.com