Launched in 2010, Ormax Cinematix (OCX) is our campaign tracking and forecasting tool for theatrical films. The tool now runs across nine major languages, sampling audience across 300+ cities & towns in India, and tracking more than 750 theatrical releases every year. One of the key parameters reported in OCX is the first-day box office forecast, or FBO. You can read all about FBO in this explainer. 

OCX helps stakeholders make more informed marketing & business decisions through daily tracking and FBO reporting, from the time of the launch of the first major video asset, till the day of the film's release. It also provides information on tracking of the film by various audience segments, such as age, gender, markets and theatre types, enabling marketing & distribution prioritization.

However, as a tracking tool, OCX is not designed to answer more complex diagnostics-related questions related to a film's marketing campaign. Areas such as target audience selection, potential box office opening that a film can target, optimal number of screens for a film’s release, target geographies/ territories, ideal positioning for the campaign, etc., do not fall under the scope of OCX. Nonetheless, questions of this nature are critical at the pre-campaign stage, or during the campaign itself. OCX subscribers often pose these questions to us, which led us to launch a production extension, OCX Xtra, a tool that aims to empower film campaigns with data-led strategy, leading them towards better campaign planning & management.

OCX Xtra is available in two modules, for the pre-campaign and live campaign stages, respectively.

Pre-Campaign Stage

At the pre-campaign stage, Campaign Strategy report is the key deliverable of OCX Xtra. This report can be seen as a base marketing strategy document for the film. The Campaign Strategy report covers various sections related to an upcoming film’s distribution and marketing strategy, as highlighted below:

Release scale estimation is done based on relevant benchmark films (similar starcast, and genre), which helps in arriving at the optimum number of screens and multiplex shows a film should target for its release. For Concept Appeal, information about the film that is available in the public domain, such as title, starcast, genre, director, logline, etc. is cued to the audience in a specially-designed survey, to gauge their intention to watch the film. Concept Appeal is reflective of the marketability of the film, and can be seen as a pre-cursor to the Appeal (a parameter in OCX tracking reports) of the actual campaign. Additionally, Buzz and Reach (also OCX tracking parameters) targets are also estimated, based on benchmark films. This enables an estimation of the first-day box office potential of the film.

To understand core strengths and weaknesses of the film at a pre-campaign stage, Appeal Drivers and Barriers are identified by Ormax Media. Target audience with positive Concept Appeal are asked to pick upto three drivers from a list given to them, i.e., reasons that drive their intention to watch the film in a theatre. Similarly, those with negative Concept Appeal are asked to pick upto three barriers from a list given to them, i.e., reasons because of which they do not intend to watch the film in a theatre, or are unsure of watching it at the concept stage.

For illustration, actual output for Appeal Drivers and Barriers for the upcoming film Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna, and directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, is shown below. This data was collected in August 2023, before the film's teaser was launched. Only a short description of the film (based on public-domain information, as mentioned above) was shared with survey respondents. Note that the data seen in this article was collected by Ormax Media at its own cost, and the producers of the film were not involved in this exercise in any manner.

The chart above suggests that genre is the primary driver of Appeal, along with the starcast. Ranbir Kapoor’s equity is split across two drivers - his standalone equity, as well as him being cast against his image. The latter has strong potential to be leveraged in the campaign, because it can infuse uniqueness in the campaign in an organic manner.

Primary barriers are around the film’s unconventional lead casting (which is also a driver for some audience), and the unusual (though easy-to-recall) title. Both of these can be converted to strengths through a well-designed campaign. An analysis of these drivers & barriers provides cues towards building the film’s positioning, in turn also helping in defining the creative strategy for the campaign.

In the Campaign Strategy report, which can be prepared as early as six months before the film's release, talent analysis is conducted for all saleable names associated with the film, such as actors and directors, but occasionally music directors or writers, if relevant.

The next sections of the Campaign Strategy report focuses on TG (Target Group) Prioritization. Target demographics (gender and age) are identified by looking at skews across various data sources, such as Concept Appeal, Ormax Stars India Loves, Ormax Cine Sense, etc. Similarly, geographical (market) prioritization is done basis box office performance of benchmarks films (similar genres & starcast), and popularity of saleable talent across various markets.

The chart below illustrates the outcome of market prioritization for Animal. Film territories (including sub-territories of the Mumbai and Delhi-UP territories) have been segmented into Priority, Secondary and Challenging markets. This information helps the producer/studio make sharp choices related to the media plan and distribution of the film.

The next section of the Campaign Strategy report deals with the positioning of the film. A positioning statement is recommended by us, as an articulation of the key messages and benefits that should be communicated to the target audience. The positioning statement is not a tagline, slogan, or a line in the trailer. Instead, it should be considered as the marketing brief that can be given to the agencies working on the creative assets for the film. Finally, various possible media choices that align with the nature of the film are presented.

Live Campaign Stage

In the live campaigns stage, weekly performance analysis and diagnostics of the film's live campaign are reported every Friday, from the start of the film’s tracking in OCX, till the week before the release week. Apart from tracking Buzz, Reach and Appeal vis-a-vis targeted levels, and looking at demographic and geographical skews, live tracking also reports drivers & barriers at a weekly level, comparing them to the pre-campaign data, when available, leading to identifying potential opportunities to increase the box office opening of the film during the course of the live campaign.

If you would like to know more about Ormax Cinematix (OCX) or OCX Xtra, please reach out to us, through the Contact section of this website.