Accurately Grasping Opportunities in China's Film Market, CSM's Helping Hand

China's Film Audience Measurement Evaluation (FAME) research initiative generated wide spread interest among participants of the Shanghai International Movie Festival. On June 16th, 2008 CSM's Deputy Managing Director Tracy Cui and CSM's Business Development Director Matthew Brosenne attended the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival's forum “Hot New Topic – Exploring China's Film Industry Capital Market.”

Ms. Cui gave a speech entitled “How to Accurately Grasp Opportunities in the Chinese Film Market.” In this speech Ms. Cui shared some of the key findings from CSM's 2008 China Film Audience Measurement Evaluation project with the forum participants. The speech was very well received and frequently cited by industry experts in the following panel discussions as well as by the forum attendees.

Ms. Cui pointed out“a large amount of value exists throughout the film industry value chain that has not been realized, and this media vehicle still has strong potential and in a way is a new media opportunity, similar to Focus Media and Mobile TV. Because this platform is comparatively new, it also faces similar problems to many new media in clearly defining exactly what their value is. Our aim is to deliver in depth professional data and analysis support to help answer this question for the movie industry just as we have done for the TV and radio industries in China. We strive to enable industry players to use audience data to express the value of media in China's rapidly developing media market.”

The data and analysis from this survey has practical applications for all movie industry players. Producers can use the data better understand which type of films different types of audiences prefer and then adjust their strategies to be more efficient and effective in the production stage. Film distribution companies can understand the differences between markets more clearly to make the best use of their existing distribution resources, targeting the right films in the right places and making sure that they utilize efficient marketing strategies at reasonable costs to drive down their distribution risks. Advertisers can utilize the data to pinpoint their audiences and communicate with them more effectively with highly targeted advertising. Cinemas themselves can now use data to develop more in cinema advertising opportunities and customers as well as ensuring they bring in the types of movies that audiences want to see.

This is the second consecutive year that the China Film Audience Measurement Evaluation project ran and it supplements CSM's TV and Radio rating services. The survey is 100% focused on the movie industry and is a highly evolved and advanced movie evaluation system. The study adopts some of the world's most advanced international norms for this type of investigation. When preparing to launch this system, CSM considered the work of the Cinema Advertising Association (CAA) in the U.K. and their system which is the currency for the U.K. This survey is run by CSM's parent company, TNS. The project has 25 years of history and experience in that market and CSM's Business Development Director, Matthew Brosenne states, “this survey provides a very strong foundation and platform for China's FAME research system. We have made important adjustments and adapted the work to be appropriate for the local market and the result is a strong evaluation system. 2008's survey is an improvement on 2007's survey as we have further improved the questionnaire and adjusted the methodology.”

Industry requirements indicated that project expansion was necessary in 2008 to cover more markets. Five new cities were added to the research which was conducted in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in 2007. Those five cities were Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan, Shenyang, Changsha, all important movie markets. A street intercept methodology was utilized after utilizing strict random sampling guidelines to select locations for interviews in each market, based on PPS sampling with clear quota controls to ensure the final sample was representative of the movie going population. The project not only includes data from movie going audiences but also includes critical information from people who are not movie goers, or the potential movie audience (those who have not been to a theater to see a movie in the past year). The research content contains information on audiences' film preference, movie consumption, attitudes and reasoning behind choosing a movie theater, when they prefer to go see movies and what the effective types of advertising are in a movie theater. At the same time the system includes in depth analysis regarding why people do not go to movies and what would make them more likely to go to see movies in the future.

Ms. Cui noted,“The movie industry is rapidly developing and maturing just as the TV and radio markets have already done and there is a need for strong analysis to support the industry as it moves forward.”There is opportunity for all players in this environment and CSM's China Film Audience Measurement Evaluation system is here to support industry professionals to better know their audiences, their needs and attitudes and more accurately grasp market opportunities.