Facebook is the renowned home of socialising, networking, gaming and even shopping, yet never before has the site been a hub for home entertainment… Until now!
Lions Gate are set to become the first movie studio to include Facebook rentals in the launch of new thriller, Abduction, on Tuesday as part of their new confidence in social networking. Facebook will release the movie- on the same day as it will be sold on DVD, Blu-ray and digital download- to help in the critical early weeks of a home release.
Not only will the collaboration between Lions Gate and Facebook help promote the movie, but it will also enable the studios to gather personal information about film viewers for future marketing efforts.
The movie viewing experience is also guaranteed to be a lot more social when used in conjunction with Facebook as fans can leave notes on scenes of the film for their friends to see whilst watching themselves. This kind of interaction has allowed movie studios to see a 20-30 per cent spike in Facebook fans after each movie is released. This could be due to the targeted advertising campaigns that the technology caters for, or simply just because the social connection gives the fans a stronger relationship with the film.
This isn’t the first time that such offerings have been experimented with as The Dark Knight was rereleased on Facebook last March. However, this is the first time that a movie has used such social applications in its opening week.
Facebook is branching out with its repertoire with a new feature added more or less every month. It remains to be seen nonetheless, whether this additional string to Facebook’s bow is something that people will use over the already successful movie download sites, such as iTunes and Netflix.