With Wonder Woman 1984 the only major new release with a possibility of being released into theaters in 2020, it’s safe to say that the holiday movie season is looking unrecognizable compared to past years. Almost every big budget film has either been pushed into next year or is debuting on a streaming service, and the social media conversation around movies is evolving as well. To help film marketers navigate the new normal, here are 5 social media facts you need to know.
Insight #1. There Is More Social Media Interest Around Film During The Pandemic
Even with most scheduled new releases delayed, the social media conversation around movies has actually increased during the Fall. There have been 69,152,194 Tweets mentioning Movie or Film between September 1- November 15, 2020, a 31% increase from the 52,680,727 Tweets that mentioned Movie or Film during September 1- November 15, 2019. Just because the audience has been dealing with the pandemic, the elections, and isn’t currently comfortable physically going into movie theaters, doesn’t mean they’re any less interested in watching or talking about movies.
Insight #2. The Real Time Conversation Around Movies On Streamers Is Way Up This Fall
Between September 1 – November 15, 2020, there were 1,471,989 Tweets that mentioned Netflix and either the word Movie or Film, a 160% increase from the volume of such Tweets between September 1 – November 15, 2019. Similarly in the same time period, there were 111,449 Tweets mentioning Hulu and the word either Movie or Film, a 361% increase; while there were 85,394 Tweets mentioning Amazon Prime Video and either Movie or Film, a 160% increase compared to September 1 – November 15, 2019. With people’s entertainment options more limited during the pandemic, movies on major streaming services are getting a lot more social media attention.
Insight #3. Gently Used Content On Netflix A Conversation Starter On Social
Between November 1-15, 2020, Knock Knock had a ListenFirst Interest score of 655,997 (Wikipedia page views and hashtag & handle mentions on Twitter), the most of any movie during that time period. Knock Knock is a low budget Keanu Reeves horror movie that originally was released in 2015 but is finding a new audience after being released on Netflix. With major new releases, either in theaters or on streaming, few and far between during the pandemic, “new to me on Netflix” is as big a conversation driver on social media as anything else.
Insight #4. Netflix Is The Streaming Platform With The Most Rewatch Conversation On Social… But With A Catch
There were 22,978 Tweets that mentioned both Netflix and a Rewatch between September 1- November 15, 2020; which by far was the most Rewatch social media conversation around a streaming site. In comparison during the same time period, Disney+ was mentioned in 3,282 Rewatch related Tweets and HBO Max was mentioned in 2,877 Rewatch related Tweets. However, the Rewatch conversation around streamers is primarily on the television side. For example of the 50 Netflix Tweets mentioning a Rewatch that generated the most responses, only 9 of them mentioned movies, with far more often the Tweet being about a TV series.
Insight #5. Streaming Movies Can Still Provide Moments That Go Viral On Social Media
While films that debut on streaming platforms don’t traditionally have the marketing budget of tentpole theatrical releases, streaming first movies are still creating water cooler discussions on social media. For example, between October 21-27, 2020, there were 294,584 Tweets mentioning both Borat and Rudy Giuliani around the climatic scene in Amazon Prime Video’s movie, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm; including celebrities such as as Mark Hamill, Ice T, and Sean Penn weighing in. As more high profile projects begin to debut on streaming services, expect the social media conversation around film to increase as well.
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