Online Ad Drives Movie Buzz

Dynamic Logic released a study today on the effect of online advertising in raising awareness for movie releases (ClickZ story here). They found that ads run four weeks before the film's release seems to have the strongest result. That's most likely a bit of a data-illusion, since that's the first time most people have heard about the film, but I'm just making an assumption there.

The other interesting tidbit is that the study found that online is better than any other medium at raising awareness for movies. Well: stick that in your pitch deck and smoke it.

Why would that be? Well, online certainly has captured people's attention in general. I wonder if there's an element of surprise that happens as well? That is, people are still expecting text and flat images on the screen. The presentation of video (as in a trailer or a clip) represents an unexpected element, and therefore grabs attention.

Any other thoughts are definitely welcome.