Urban Indians are excited for Pathaan, with two-fifths saying they will watch the film in a theatre

As Pathaan releases today, YouGov data shows it is the most awaited film by urban Indians amongst some of the first few releases of 2023. Touted as Shah Rukh Khan’s comeback film after a hiatus of four years, the film will be released in multiple languages to drive a pan-India appeal. Latest data from YouGov reveals the level of excitement for the film and whether it will translate into footfalls in the theatre.

YouGov’s newly launched Screen Appeal Test (SAT) is a solution to enable content creators (of movies, TV shows, web-series, etc.) evaluate the level of excitement and viewership intent generated by their trailers or teasers.

YouGov tested trailers and teasers of four upcoming movies- Pathaan, Jawaan, Bholaa and Kabzaa, on urban Indian respondents from YouGov India’s online panel. Each trailer was rated on *seven metrics, to give a Combined Appeal Score, which is an average of the seven underlying measures of interest.

Among the four trailers, Recall, which measures the reach that the trailers have managed to build till date was the highest for Pathaan (at 58%). In comparison to this, Recall was the lowest for Kabzaa (28%).

Pathaan scores high on Delivery as well (a measure of how well the trailer can land the main plot/idea of the story), while Jawaan and Bholaa score low on this metric.

Even though Kabzaa is low on Recall it scores high on other metrics such as Curiosity (measures the extent to which a trailer pushes viewers to want to get more information about the movie), Buzz (measures the word-of-mouth potential) and Eagerness to watch a movie (measured on a 10-point scale).

When it comes to Big Screen Pull, which indicates the percent of people who say they will watch a movie in the theatre, there isn’t much difference amongst the four movies, but Kabzaa and Pathaan are slightly ahead in the race. Two in five urban Indians plan to watch Kabzaa and Pathaan in the theatre (40% and 39%), and slightly fewer intend to do that for Jawaan (38%) and Bholaa (37%).

The Combined Appeal Score, an average of the seven underlying measures of interest (from Likeability to Big Screen Pull) shows Pathaan tops the chart and is the most awaited film by urban Indians (at 37%). Interestingly, Kabzaa scores equally high and is at par with Pathaan despite originally being a Kannada- language film.

Furthermore, when the data is filtered by the category of movie viewers, the scores increase for both the films among movie buffs (defined as those who love watching films and never miss catching a latest release in theatres) as compared to the general population but is much higher for Kabzaa (66% for Kabzaa vs 59% for Pathaan). This highlights the strong hold of South Indian cinema amongst Indian audiences and the tough competition for Bollywood films looking for a pan-India appeal.

Using YouGov’s Screen Appeal Test (SAT) content creators can test various versions of a trailer, identify drivers of appeal and understand the big screen potential of their films.

To know more, get in touch.

Methodology

YouGov Screen Appeal Test (SAT) is a solution to enable creators of movies, TV shows, web-series, etc. evaluate the level of excitement and viewership intent generated by their trailers or teasers.

As part of the methodology, each trailer is exposed to a total of 500 respondents from YouGov India’s online panel, which primarily constitutes consumers from NCCS A (80%); and matches the population numbers of urban India in terms of basic demographics like age, gender, regions, and city tiers. Every trailer is rated on *seven metrics (below), which are then summarized as the Combined Appeal Score, which is an average of the seven underlying measures of interest.

1. Recall – reach that the trailers we test have managed to build till date
2. Likeability (TB) – a measure of how much viewers like the trailer
3. Delivery – a measure of how well the trailer can land the main plot/idea of the story
4. Curiosity – to what extent does the trailer move the viewers to want to get more information about the movie
5. Buzz - to measure word-of-mouth potential
6. Uniqueness – how unique is the concept/idea of the movie
7. Eagerness to watch the movie after release (on a 10pt scale)
8. Big screen potential - % of people who say they will watch it in the theatre
9. A combined appeal score for the trailer, which will be a single composite number based on metrics 2-8 (i.e. Likeability to Big Screen Potential)

Clients can use this data to:

-Test different versions / copies of a trailer and identify the one which is likely to garner highest appeal

-Identify drivers of appeal for different trailers (for example, star cast versus special effects versus story)

-Understand how a trailer performs across various zones or audience segments, and strengthen their marketing plans

-Deep dive into viewership intent by channels for movies, to understand if it has big screen potential or better fit for OTT release