Cutting Edge Research: The Innovation Challenge

Cinema A consumer connect platform: Unleashing the real potential

Background
The Indian film industry is the largest in the world in terms of ticket sales and number of films produced annually. Further, the advent of multiplex chains, digital screening of movies and revamp of single screen cinemas in the recent past has brought back the novelty of movie viewing in theatres. Viewing a movie on the weekend with friends and /or family is on the high. People look at the movie going experience as a complete outing with family and friends.

Trends in Target Group Index (TGI), a syndicated single source study, suggest that in Mumbai and Delhi the percentage of regular cinema (at least once a month) goers among SEC ABC individuals has increased from 13% to 25% over the last two years.

Coupled with the above is the fact the time spent by a consumer on traditional media like TV and Newspapers is reducing. India is also seeing a huge media explosion with more than 440 TV channels (as against 230 in 2003) and 25,000 publications vying for the consumers attention. The radio industry is also booming currently with 25 players operating in more than 120 radio stations across the country. This has led to huge fragmentation in the consumption of traditional media (as per the TAM data, the top 10 channels today account for only 43% of channel share as against 55% in 2005).

These market drivers are forcing marketers to look beyond traditional media. With the kind of increase cinema viewing in theatres has shown, it is only natural that advertisers have started looking at this medium very seriously.

The Cinema Theatre As the Cinema Industry is evolving so are the theatres that screen them. Most single screen theaters in the Metros have either been revamped or converted to multiplexes. The idea behind this is to give the consumer a complete outing experience. This revamping has also led to more advertising opportunities not only on screen but practically everywhere inside the theatre:

The standard - Backlit Vinyl panels, LCDs, Standees, Posters The innovative - Branding of seats, passages, stairways, floors, toilets etc The interactive - Outdoor brand activations like live demos

Looking from the marketers perspective, the marketers have always wanted to, in this fragmented media scenario, look beyond just exposure levels. It is here that the Cinema as a medium goes very well with them as it Offers captive audiences Unlike the other mass media, Cinema is a high involvement medium Opportunity to offer a complete consumer experience and connect platform Offers options to do innovative advertising screen and outside it and brand promotion activities both on

The need for Research

However the flip side to this is that while there is a lot of syndicated research available to measure the traditional media (TAM, NRS/IRS, RAM), there is practically no research that is available for the Cinema Theatre medium. Advertisers are a little vary of the medium as Only data available is ticket sales data No information available on the o Profile of the people visiting in terms of demographics, psychographics, product and brand usage and lifestyle o Efficiency in terms of Reach and Frequency of the overall theatre and the advertising properties within the theatre o Efficacy of theatre medium in terms of the ad recall

This essentially means that while the medium looks very good for advertising, buying space largely happens by gut feel the advertiser has no inputs on the ROI achieved.

This study is an attempt from us along with Reliance Adlabs to create such a currency to understand the exposure, experience and the ad efficacy of the Cinema medium. The study will deliver an integrated tool for the marketer to evaluate cinema as a consumer connect platform and not just as a brand communication exposure vehicle.

What sets this study apart from the above is the use of cutting edge RFID technology and its linkage to an industry accepted currency like TGI.

Objective of the study

The study aims to 1. Profile the Regular Cinemagoer in terms of a. Demographics b. Consumer mindsets, attitudes and lifestyles c. Brand consumption

d. Attitudes towards cinema e. Cinema screen behavior f. Brand recall/consideration of the brands present

2. Provide an efficiency measure for the medium by giving Reach and Frequency for a. The theatre as a whole b. Each advertising property within the theatre 3. Give hot and cold spots for advertising within the theatre for advertising 4. Provide a efficacy measure by linking the R&F to the ad recall of the brands advertised

Deliverables from the study The marketer will be able to 1. Measure efficacy (and not just exposure) of brands using the medium as a "platform" to communicate 2. Quantify the ROI of the brands being advertised by a. Position of the advertising b. Type of communication c. Brand recall/ intention to purchase/ actual purchase

3. Map the brand attributes to the consumer segments being targeted - better targeting framework 4. Evaluate Cinema platform relative to all other media and connect points

Research Methodology
The study has been divided into three phases:

Phase 1: TGI re-contact for understanding of the cinema going habits at a broad level. Avid cinemagoers from TGI 2007 were identified and a re-contact study was done among them to find out their The entertainment space and role of cinema in the same Details on the movie viewing habits Attitudes towards ads, pre release movie trailers during a movie Details on money spent during a movie outing

This information was added back to already available information on demographics, lifestyle and psychographics and other media habits in TGI to create a holistic picture of the cinemagoer

Phase 2: Understanding the in- theatre experience Creating a Profile database - To generate a profile of the of the cinemagoers coming into the multiplex, a large no of profiling interviews were conducted at random at the Cinema hall entrance Computing the Reach & Frequency of various advertising properties using RFID technology - Respondents were recruited at entry points to the theaters. These respondents were given RFID tags so that their movement within the theater premises could be monitored. Enumerating the Traffic Counts for each advertising option to arrive at hot and cold spots for advertising and to validate the RFID findings

Phase 3: Recall of Advertisements seen during the visit All the respondents who were given the tags were interviewed at exit points for the following information: Recall of advertising across various advertising properties was captured

Ticket counters, lobby, rest rooms, food courts, etc Laminated neon lit posters, hoardings, video programming and digital ads on LCD screens in the premises

On-screen advertising , movie trailers

Other information that was captured was

How much time before the beginning of the cinema did they reach the cinema hall

The activities undertaken inside the theatre premises

Reach and Frequency measurement using RFID technology a one of its kind across the world While it is easy to know the total number of people entering the theatre (from the ticket sales) and hence the exposure to on screen advertising, one needs to find out the exposure levels of other advertising properties like posters, banners, standees, LCD screens, backlit Vinyl panels, printed ad hangers etc. These advertising properties are normally located at strategic points like Food counters, play stations, seats, gangways, toilets. Hence we tracked the traffic of people who visited these places.

The Reach and Frequency model was arrived at using RFID technology and conducting Traffic counts.

What is RFID technology?

RFID uses radio waves to automatically identify people by the tags that they carry. RFID tags consist of a microchip containing a unique identification code and an antenna coiled around it. The RFID readers (installed at strategic locations) send and receive electromagnetic waves around it. When a tag comes within the range of a reader, the tags antenna receives the electromagnetic waves and the tag sends back the unique code from the microchip to the reader at a predetermined frequency. The reader receives this and transmits the same to a central server/ machine that it is connected to. By this technique we could arrive at the path that the respondent has taken during his tenure in the theatre. A typical path has been shown below

By tracing the path of the respondents, we could arrive at the no. of times he/she has passed a particular point hence giving us the Frequency and Time spent of visit at each advertising property.

Why RFID technology?

The above could also have been arrived at manually by probing respondents as to which areas they had visited but this would again have an element of error. Also it was extremely difficult to interview the respondents in the theatre for a long time. It is here that RFID technology gave us the edge. RFID technology is

Non intrusive and automatic o o Captures the consumer connect points inside the Cinema without any probing Gives better response rates with no manual error

Precise o o Actual movement of people can be captured Hence providing an unbiased effectiveness of connect points

Gathers data for each advertising property thus enabling evaluation and pricing of each zone separately

Research Design
The research was conducted across three centers Mumbai, Delhi NCR and Madurai. The sample sizes are as follows: Centers Phase 1: TGI recontact exercise Mumbai Delhi NCR Madurai TOTAL 500 300 50 850 Phase 2 & 3 : R&F + Ad efficiency 600 (2 theatres sampled) 600 (2 theatres sampled) 300 (1 theatre sampled) 1500

The sample was distributed so as to represent Weekdays and weekends Different dayparts Different screens within the multiplexes

The Findings
Profiling the Cinemagoer & the Role of Cinema Demographics: The following table broadly indicates the demographics of the Cinemagoers.

Universe SEC A SEC B SEC C Age: 15-19 Age: 20-24 Age: 25-34 Age: 35-44 Age: 45-55 23 35 43 15 16 31 22 16

Avid cinemagoer 26 35 40 12 17 34 23 14

Index 113 100 93 80 106 110 105 88

Demographically, the TG is skewed towards SEC A 25-34 years Overall, one-fourth of the SEC ABC population in Mumbai claim to be ardent cinemagoers. And, one-fifth of the SEC ABC population in Mumbai claims to be visiting a multiplex at least once a month.

Psychographics:The psychographic analysis of this Target Group of cinemagoers brings out interesting results. The Target group of cinemagoers is extremely good at managing their money. They are very optimistic about their future. They consider themselves as being westernized. Moreover, they are interested in knowing different cultures from within India and from different parts of the world as well. The cinemagoers are more conscious about their health & well being. They are more likely to be outgoing in nature and they like to mix with others. They enjoy any kind of shopping and they love to listen to good music. Most Importantly, they think that advertisements helps them make better buys, but, They tend to change channels whey they are watching TV and hence reach them through TV could be difficult.

Expenses on entertainment at large: On profiling the cinemagoers, we have also measured on how much does the cinemagoer spends on different entertainment avenues vis--vis watching a movie in a multiplex. This is done not only to get a fair indication their entertainment priorities but also to understand among different entertainment options, what is the share of the pie that the Cinema enjoys

With different options available for entertainment, the cinemagoers had indicated an impressive 10% of the total expense on Cinema. The following table would give a birds eye view of different entertainment options and the percentage of money spent on it on a monthly basis. % of expenses 5% 4% 4% 6% 5% 11% 8% 13% 8% 10% 9% 8% 6%

Expenses on Entertainment on an average month Watching TV / Movie at Home Playing Games / Sports with friends / Kids at home Public places like beach, temples, parks, etc Theme Parks Meeting friends at their home Visiting malls with friends / family Eating out at restaurants Visiting Malls, Shopping complex for purchase Visiting Malls, shopping complex for window shopping Watching a movie in the theatre / multiplex Going out to a pub / bar Going to a Disco Going to a coffee shops with friends / family

With visiting a mall or shopping complex for purchase, window shopping and spend time tops the list with 32%, one has to bear in mind that this entertainment option is also coupled with a purchase mission. On the contrary watching a movie in the theatre / multiplex, which is purely indulgent in nature, shares a whopping 10% of the expenses pie of different entertainment options, second only to the expenditure in malls. The analysis of the overall data also indicates that one-third of the cinemagoers who go to multiplex for more than just watching movies They consider the entire event as a complete evening out with the family / friends.

Further analyzing the components of expenditure on movies, the following insights were found.

Expenses within Multiplex Travel Expenses Parking Charges Movie Ticket Charges Snacks during interval break At Food court (Restaurants) Average Spends at snack joints

% of Expense 8% 5% 40% 16% 11% 19%

While movie tickets takes a major share of expenses at 40% of the total money spent in the movie, the average spends on snacks & food, takes away a 46% of the total outgo in the entire movie watching episode.

Creating a Currency One of the key objectives of the study was to create a currency for the Cinema medium and bring up to par with the other media. The key challenge here however was on which model to use? Should it be Print which uses a looked at / glanced through as a measure for exposure OR should it be TV which uses the presence and persistence of the respondent in front of the TV set We decided to go the TV measurement route as RFID is electronic in nature and the data we get here is real time data just like the Peoplemeter data in TV. Also Cinema being an audio visual medium in nature and a high involvement one just like TV also added to the argument.

However the measurement using RFID technology had its own challenges as the RFID data gives the distance of the reader from the tag (respondent) at various ranges: <5 feet 5-10 feet 10-15 feet >15 feet

A lot of experimentation was needed to calibrate this as it was important to see as to from what distance is an average ad visible. Post these trails we arrived at the conclusion that a range of upto 10 feet is best suited for the purpose.

The persistence levels used for a respondent to be recorded as valid was 15 seconds same as that for TV in a Peoplemeter system

Installing the RFID readers For confidentiality purposes we are sharing the findings of just one theatre in Mumbai. The theatre was first observed for all its advertising points. The theatre in question here has two floors

with two screens on the ground floor and three screens on the first floor. Four readers were placed on the ground floor and six readers were kept on the first floor. The readers were installed at strategic locations in such a way that they were not visible to anyone but would cover all advertising points like Standees, LCD screens, Backlit Vinyl panels, Posters, Banners and the Cafeteria. The layout the two floors is as given below:

GROUND FLOOR
C a f C o u n te r R3 R4 C a f C o u n te r S c re e n 2
S ta irc a s e

S ta irc a s e

FIRST FLOOR
Cafeteria R9 Screen 5 Screen 4 R7 Cafeteria Cafeteria R6 Icecream Parlour Cafeteria Screen 3

Stairs from Ground

Stairs from Ground

Stairs from Ground

Stairs from Ground

The Reach and Frequency Model The key challenge in creating the R&F model was deciding on what period of tie should be considered as a spot for generating the schedule. The opportunity to watch Ad spots on TV is as and when they are aired hence while creating a TV schedule we use a minute as the least count for creating spots. However for a Cinema experience, the Opportunity to see (OTS) an

Entry
R10 Backlit banner
LCD screen

R1
Stairs to 1st flr

V in y l s t a n d e e s a n d L C D s

R2
Wall
Stairs to 1st flr Stairs to 1st flr Stairs to 1st flr

Entry XBoX Entry to Ebony Lounge

Art Gallery

S c re e n 1

R8

LCD Screen

Stair Case Stair Case IceCream Outlet

Pillar Wall E Chair X Box R5

advertisement is only for the period when the person is in the theater and when the person is not watching the movie. We found from our survey that the Average time that a person comes into the theatre before the movie starts is 15 minutes Average time of interval is 10 minutes

Hence we used 30 min timeslots for creating a Spot Plan

Following is a model output of a plan: Time period taken 8 days Universe Total seating capacity across all screens and all shows = 60360 ( in line with total TV owning universe in case of PeopleMeter) R&F calculated across all readers (advertising areas)

GRPs in % 87

Avg Freq. (OTS) 1.91 1+ 46 2+ 21

Reach % 3+ 10 4+ 5 5+ 3 6+ 2

We find that 46% have been to at least one advertising area with an opportunity to see any advertising option roughly twice. These kinds of exposure level for weekly plan are comparable with that of any weekly Television plan.

We have also computed the R&F numbers for all individual readers installed in the theatre.

Reader

GRPs in %

Avg Freq. (OTS)

Reach % 1+ 2+ 1 3 9 2 1

1 2 5 6 10

5.2 15.2 42.2 14.1 5.2

1.26 1.40 1.50 1.20 1.33

4 11 28 12 4

We find that Reader 5 installed on the first floor seems to have the maximum Reach and OTS.

Basis this data we could arrive at the hot and cold spots for theatre in terms of gross impressions created by that spot. A map of the same has been given below:

Ground Floor
Screen 2 Caf Counter R3 R4 Caf Counter
Staircase

Hot & Cold Spots

Staircase

HOT

R10 Backlit banner

LCD screen

S ta irs fro m G ro u n d

S ta irs fro m G ro u n d

S ta irs fro m G ro u n d

Wall

S ta irs fro m G ro u n d

Traffic Count Validation Traffic count exercise was conducted at the pre-identified positions (selected basis the traffic split points in the theatre taking into consideration the various advertising properties being evaluated).

Entry
Cafeteria R9

R1
Screen 5 S ta irs to 1 s t flr S ta irs to 1 s t flr

Vinyl standees and LCDs

R2
Screen 4 R7 Cafeteria S ta irs to 1 s t flr S ta irs to 1 s t flr Entry

First Floor
Cafeteria R6 Icecream Parlour Cafeteria Screen 3

IceCream Outlet

Entry to Ebony Lounge

Art Gallery

COLD
Screen 1

R8

LCD Screen

Stair Case Stair Case

Pillar W a ll E C h a ir X Box R5 XBoX

The time slot for Traffic count exercise was done at the start of the show and during the interval for each screen. Basis this count we could validate the Reach arrived from each of the advertising property. Reader GRPs in % from RFID % of traffic count 1 2 5 6 10 5 15 42 14 5 15 18 34 11 4

We found that this was not exactly in line with the RFID data but this is largely due to the fact that a person could have been double counted if he was spending more than 15 minutes within an area. This also justifies the need for a electronic measurement like RFID

Ticket sales Validation We also used the ticket sales data for the different screens (two on the ground floor and three on the first floor) and the results were matching perfectly

Floor

GRPs in % from

% of total tickets

RFID across 8 days sales across 8 days Ground (2 screens) First (3 screens) 28 72 29 71

Cinema vs. TV - a comparison basis time spent on advertising We conducted another exercise to prove the efficiency of the Cinema medium in terms of time spent on advertising. Cinema Average time a person comes before show starts Average Interval Total possible time for ad exposure in a 3 hour slot Average time spent (Univ.) by a person in theatre Hence % of time exposed to advertising Minutes 15 10 25 3.25 13

Television Total Ad spots duration across key channels in a 3 hour prime time slots Time spent viewing these Ad spots Hence % of time exposed to advertising

Minutes 112038

3066 2.7

We find that the Cinema medium is far more efficient in terms of the time spent on exposure Thus by use of the RFID technology we have created a currency for the Cinema medium where it can now be compared for exposure levels with those of TV.

Measures of performance GRPs Reach OTS Break Reach Spot Reach

TV

Cinema

We cannot segregate the exposures at a brand level as there could be multiple brands around a reader and hence the only measure of exposure that this method cannot give the Spot level Reach.

Efficiency of advertising Taking the study beyond just the exposure and to present it to advertisers as consumer connect platform and to arrive at the efficacy of the medium, we looked at the ad recall levels among people who had an opportunity to get exposed to ( were in the vicinity of) the different brands that were on display in the theatre. Brand A B C D E No. of % Reach Readers of brand 5 1 4 1 2 48 11 21 29 21 Recall % Avg. minutes among spent by people rchd people rchd 36 4.6 15 16 17 35 1.34 1.23 6.9 1.13 Comment Big Banner + LCDs One counter LCDs at cafes Play station Live Activations

Brand A had high presence and high recall the fact that the brand had a chance to get multiple exposures and that it had a big banner seems to have helped it Brand E had low presence, but high recall in spite of fact that not many people had a chance to see the brand activation, the fact it was a Live Activations seems to have registered the brand in the minds of the people

Brand C had high presence but low recall, LCDs at Cafes not working the fact that people are too involved with their food could have led to a low recall

We could thus get a clear understanding of what was working and what wasnt.

Concluding, This study has enabled our client to get a holistic understanding of its consumer: Demographic, Psychographic and Lifestyle profile Behavior and attitudes on Cinema In theatre behavior in terms of places visited and chances of exposure to various advertising options both on screen and within the theatre premises Ad recall by each of the properties and hence the efficacy of each one of them

thus creating a currency for the Cinema medium and bringing it at par with the other mass media

The successful use of RFID technology has opened a lot of frontiers for us in the outdoor research space.