Small screen promotions get massive

If you’re unaware of Agneepath’s TV premiere on Zee Cinema tonight, you must’ve been out of town for the last few weeks. .

If you’re unaware of Agneepath’s TV premiere on Zee Cinema tonight, you must’ve been out of town for the last few weeks.

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TV premieres of movies are a huge deal these days. Thanks to film producers selling satellite rights for astronomical sums, channels are putting almost as much marketing muscle into the promotion of the film as its producers did when the movie released in cinemas. The promotional budgets of TV premieres these days range from R3-5 crore — the equivalent of a small film’s budget.

Says Hemal Jhaveri, general manager, Star Gold, “A film’s TV release comes after its release in theatres, on DVDs and even pirated DVDs, so it’s critical for broadcasters to reinvent the film for viewers.”

In the case of Agneepath, the on-air campaign was played across all Zee Network channels as well as on other news, music, Bollywood entertainment, regional and children’s channels — even on religious channels! There were hoardings across 12 cities, full-page ads in newspapers, promotions on the country’s biggest DTH players, an online campaign across 25 leading websites, including YouTube and Facebook, and Zee Cinema even created an Agneepath game that is currently hosted on Facebook.