The Importance Of Online Reviews

The Importance Of Online ReviewsIn the wake of digital age, the internet offers a comparatively complete and nationwide environment for heap all over the world to communicate and sh be information. The form of put down fall over is reforming as come up. From traditional critics of in force(p)s to look backward of normal audience (Awad, Dellarocas Zhang, 2004), cyber world offers a newly potent channel for audience sharing their comments closely ikons cinema application also encounters more challenges on box authority from consumers (Boatwright, Kamakura Basuroy, 2005). For film industry, online check into of critical audiences plays an primal role. On ace hand, the advantageously comments of a movie squirt attract more audiences in general. On the other hand, the good comments do not needed mean high box revenue and vice verse. The intrusion of film review has been proved by previous study on motion pictures (Litman, 1983 Eliashberg, Shugan, 1997 Basuroy, Cha tterjee, Ravid, 2003 Desai, Basuroy, 2005 Gemser Gerda, 2007). However, around study tends to research film review from traditional critic review of journals or other form of articles while slight study get on to the tinct of online review on box king success. Within this paper, I approach to explore the coefficient of correlation betwixt the online review of new social media and the box occasion success of assorted types of movie. Although in that respect are previous researches about the influence of online review on box baron, those researches tend to study the whole catalog of film. In differ from previous research, the target of this paper is to find out to what extent online review could influence box perspective success and whether the impacts of diverse types of movies are the same. gibe to Gino and Ferrian research (2006), new social media can reflect the successful of the movie to a great extent. Audiences preferences and tastes can and stimulate final box patch as much as the most positive comments from newspaper. Comparing with traditional media, such as articles written by critics or reporters on influential newspaper and magazine, plain new social media is more powerful and covers a lager scope of audiences. By offering the opportunity to share preferences among median(a) audience, online movie database has established (www.IMDb.com). In the next couple of years, IMDb has expanded fast and became the best kn cause platform for sharing information of the movie. The famous TOP 250 Movies list represents the best movies around. By cooperating with major film company and convenient operating platform, it has been recognized by both experts and audiences. The online ranking clubhouse of movies in IMDb, as the most direct and transparent approach to reflect the positive or negative review of movie, is decided by normal audience worldwide.Due to the reliability and authoritative data of IMDb, this paper concentrate on online ranking set of IMDb. By dividing the first 100 movies of TOP 250 Movies into different catalogs which are fine film and mercenary film, the paper tests the correlation amongst the box office and the four independent box office drivers that are yield budget, awards obtained, MAPP rating and online ranking order. In order to explore the correlation, this paper uses twain equations for multiple regression analysis to test the possible difference amidst artistic film and mercantile film by running SPSS. Comparing the results of outputs, at that place is statistical significance of both kinds of film. However, for artistic film, online ranking order has comparatively less impact on box office while the most all important(p) determinant is awards. Meanwhile, the result of commercial film shows the strongest correlation between online ranking order and box office success comparing with other determinants. Thus, I purpose that higher online ranking order indicates higher box office of co mmercial film. As for artistic film, how many awards it obtained is the most important reason for box office. To be admitted, in that location are some limitations of the paper due to the small sample size of the research.Literature review2.1 Artistic film and commercial film study industry as an important part of creative industry has created huge fortune in both material and psychological of human contemporary history. Although there are plenty of types of movie and different catalog involved, considering the high marketing participation, film industry classifies cardinal catalogs which can generalize all are types of movie. The deuce catalogs are labeled as major and independent films (Zuckerman Kim, 2003), or art house and mainstream films (Gemser, Oostrum Leenders, 2007). The reason of the different names attributes to the slightly difference about rendering and criteria. However, those differences reflect the degree of artistic and commercial of a film (Bagella Becchetti , 1999). Thus, artistic and commercial film can be summarized as the most applicable form for film industry. Within this paper, I apply the concept of artistic film and commercial film on my research target since it is a relatively blanket(prenominal) classification.According to the author of Cinema of Outsiders The Rise of American Independent Film, who had interviewed dozens of independent director and film researcher, whether a film could be defined as artistic or commercial film can be judged from two aspects. One is based on the way indies1 are financed, the other focalisees on their olfactory modality or vision (Emanuel Levy, 1999). The former concept refers to marketing issues including distribution and budget. While the latter one tends to be a abstract definition which is the fresh perspective, innovative spirit and personal vision that are determining factors. Since the concept is too ambiguous, the distinction between artistic film and commercial sometimes to be blu r to a great extent. Even a deem of insiders of film industry tend to ignore the difference between artistic film and commercial film. Joseph Burstyn, a film distributor offered his point of view about artistic film. He said, I hate the expression art film there are solely two kinds, good films and bad films. Based on his opinion, there is no fixed meaning of art film. And obviously the concept of art film and commercial is flexible because of the increasing complexity of producing a film due to the financial issue of the film.Nevertheless, there still are certain standards for diverting artistic film and commercial film accord to previous study. The factors might determine whether a film belongs to artistic film or commercial film refers to several(prenominal) more pragmatical elements that contain production budget and advertizing effect (Geer, 1998), the participation of super winds and award-winning situation (Bagella Becchetti, 1999), the number of released screen (Reinst ein Snyder, 2005), or the story line and the storey structure of the movie (Bordwell Thompson, 2001). Those elements construct the standards of judging whether a movie is an artistic or a commercial one. And the two types of film construct the success of movie industry.Since there are different criteria of artistic film and commercial film, the box office success, the potential influence, and the reputation are distinct. Traditional concept about artistic film tends to be closed to the definition of independent movie which indicates independent production without any financial support of the eight major film company, MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Paramount, twentieth century Fox, Warner Brothers, RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum), Universal, United Artists, Columbia Pictures (Levy, 2001). However, throughout the development of the century, the eight companies piddle been through broken, emerged and rebuilt. The concept is not suitable anymore. In my research, I altogether focus on the dis tinction of box office success between the artistic film and commercial film by texting different determinants of box revenue. In order to research the correlation between online review and different types of film, which are artistic film and commercial, I consider one-third elements which are production budget, language (English/non-English) and the number of released screen as the criteria that can classify all the films preciously into artistic film and commercial film. Since I conduct quantitative research in this paper, the three factors could offer a clarity standard for classifying artistic film and commercial film.2.2 The act of film reviewFirst of all, film as information good has an important characteristic, which is experience good. The feature of experience good is that consumers must experience it before they know what it is (Hal, 1998). This factor results in a permanent problem which is fractional pre-purchase information. Thus, reviews of film help overcoming this problem to a great extent. By providing evaluations and comments to potential consumers are ubiquitous in digital age (Hal, 1998). Although it is still a restrain access for consumers getting to know the product, reviews play a curial role in the whole film industry, especially before video image became best-selling(predicate).Due to the splendor of review in film industry, there are plenty of studies and researches about the influence of film reviews. To be more specific, most researches discover the relationship between reviews and box office success. And the result proved to be positive in most cases (Wyatt, 1991). Nevertheless, there are a number of different study implies opposer result of the correlation between box office success and positive review. Negative or positive review does not indicate the significant relationship between box office success and the movie performance. For instance, Transformer as one of the best known economic series of film history did not pu ddle too much positive review from professional experts or public. However, the worldwide box office of Transformer reached 836,297,228 US dollars worldwide, four times more than production budget, according to official data collection of IMDb. Most study about how review impacts box office tends to have the similar conclusion that there is significant-but-weak association between patterns of reviewers and box office success (Holbrook, 2007). Based on previous research, there is a significantly positive correlation between the average of ratings in two critical guidebooks and distribution rentals (Prag Casavant, 1994). On the other hand, there are evidence indicating a negative relation between the earnings of selected films and their critical evaluation, which could be explained by the application of technical and analytical considerations and stringent artistic standards in critical evaluations, whereas audiences looked simply for enjoyable entertainment (Hirschman Pieros, 1985 ). To explain the different result, there is the assumption that ordinary consumers like more accessible, realistic forms of entertainment, while professional critics give higher ratings to more complex, abstract, and intellectually demanding artwork (Holbrook, 1999).Despite of previous research on correlation between box office success and review, the perspective of the research is prone to focus on favorability of journalistic reviews or judgments of film experts (Prag Casavant, 1994). There are relatively less researches concerning about publics review. Due to the popularity of internet, audiences are able to share their review and preference through the internet instantly. Holbrook concludes audiences opinion towards motion picture as popular appeal which contains online rating and review.The popularity of online review is the nature consequence of digital age. Neoclassic theory emphases the importance of demand induces. As for film industry, companies pay attention on the impo rtance of marketing power even more than products themselves (Belaux Marteaux, 2007). Thus, there has been a growing increase in the emphasis of web-related promotion for nowadays film industry (Zufryden, 2000). Zufryden (2000) did the research on the development and empirical testing of a variable mathematical model approach for predicting a films box-office performance as a function of film website activity, as well as other relevant explanatory variables. The results of his study support the relative importance and statistical significance of website activity as a predictor of a new films box-office performance. In accordance with promotion of website, variables including screens, film grade, time from film release, production budget and seasonally were also effect to be significant covariates in the prediction of ticket sales during a films life cycle. Obviously, online review and ranking system account for an important part of variables that can influence box office success a ccording to Zufrydens research.Moreover, Holbrook (1999) summarizes different types of film review according to multiple cultural markets of distinction (Hall, 1992) professional critics versus ordinary consumers, expert judgments versus popular appeal, extensive training versus naive appreciation, emphasis on aesthetics versus entertainment, genuine or pure versus commercial or commoditized art, highbrow versus lowbrow standards, elite group versus mass tastes, legitimation versus market success, dominance via cultural capital versus economic capital, autonomous versus heteronomous principle, and restricted versus large-scale production. Own to those different concepts, film reviewers have their own opinions about certain film. The ordinary audience in question does not share in the relevant habits governing the dispositions that guide the professional critics standards of evaluation. Therefore, the different judgments from ordinary consumers are quite personal. However, the influe nce of those judgments can be differed according to different tastes. Holbrook (1999) compared popular appeal representing ordinary consumers and expert judgment in order to probe the most importance variable for box office success. The data Holbrook collected for conducting research focus on polls of film viewers. Since his paper has published in 1999, one year from the establishment of IMDB, the best popular internet movie database, which involves film grade and audiences review. Therefore, there is a gap of studying to what extent online review system can impact a films box office success. My research in this paper would try to fulfill this missing part.The development of IMDBThe IMDB has become one of the most popular forums for on-line interaction. The popularity of a movie can be gauged by the number of votes. The establishing of IMDB can be trace back to the late eighties and early 1990s. Col Needham, the founder of IMDB, created a database that sought to provide useful and up to date movie information online across as many platforms as possible (Dodds, 2006). Since the year of 1990, the technology of constructing web site has developed speedy. Col Needham as a big fan of movie believed that there should be a place in cyber world to offer a free land for sharing ordinary audiences comments2. Therefore, IMDB has been created and expanded quickly since then. Firstly, the IMBD includes new features such as votes awarded to one-on-one films. Later in 1995, it was formally launched and the Amazon.com Company subsequently bought it in the 1998. The site has been further enhanced to allow for greater on-line interaction as well as additional features providing updates on movie releases and film gossip (Dodds, 2006). Till now, IMDB import Metacritic, a similar movie database but focus on judgment of professional movie review like authoritative movie magazines and journals. Although there is increasing number of competitive online movie database, IMDB is still the most reliable, recognizable, professional and comprehensive online movie community containing the largest users and offering the best platform for sharing information and interaction.The ranking system of IMDB represents audiences opinion. The famous Top 250 list indicates the best movie in the history throughout time, culture and races. And the option belongs to ordinary audience. The top 250 films are also based on a weighted rating edict referred to in actuarial science as a credibility formula (Norberg, 2007). In order to create a fair and reliable grading system, IMDB sets a formula to calculate the final result of the movie as the following equationThis formula is equivalent to a Bayesian posterior mean3. In this equation, represents weighted rating, which instrument final score of the movie. means rating, represents average for the movie as a number from 0 to 10 (mean). refers to number of votes for the movie, more votes represents more influence. indicates minimum vot es ask to be listed in the Top 250, the current entrance is 3000 votes. is the mean vote across the whole report (currently 6.9)4.Because of my research focus on box office success and online review while IMDB includes all the official data and information, I introduced the brief history of IMDB and rating equation in order to convince people the reliability of this database.Determinants of the successful box office successInvesting film industry has been considered as higher risk business even more than stock. receptive study indicates that only three to four out of ten movies could reach breaking even point, and about one out of ten becoming profitable at the box office success (Valenti, 2004). Although film producers make profit through various channels such as DVD sales and threatening track CD or any other related business. Box office still accounts for the largest part of gross revenue for the film market. Furthermore, box office success has been related to the successful o f the movie itself to a great extent. Talking about the standards of a good movie, there are diversity of criteria according to different scholar and the era they lived in. In the last century, three indicators of judging success of a movie which are the reviews of professional critics, the size of audience and industry comprehension via awards (Hirschman Pieros, 1985). The relationship among the three indicators has certain order. Firstly reviews of critics come out, followed by amount of audience and finally awards prove the success of the movie. Besides, the three indicators have inside impact on each other as well. As for the determinants of motion picture in the 21st century, there are a number of detailed factors from several disciplines have been used in the literature to understand and explain various aspects of motion picture success (Hennig-Thurau, Houston Walsh, 2007). In general, there are three groups of movie-success drivers have been recognized in this century. The three determinants are movie characteristics, post-filming marketing studio actions, and non-studio factors (Elberse Eliashberg, 2002 Hennig-Thurau, 2001). Movie characteristics refer to star power, director power, cultural familiarity, genre, and certification. However, the research of questioning whether star power related to a successful movie has been published (De Vany Walls, 1999). As for director power, so far there is no empirical evidence about a successful movie on economy can be decided by director. The second determinant studio actions are the term including the production budget, marketing expenditures, timing, and the number of screens. Finally, non-studio factors contain reviews, awards, consumers perceived movie quality, and early box-office information. The Academy Awards tend to represent a compromise between art and commerce (Caves, 2000). Audiences review does ascend the movies opportunity on obtaining an award. In another word, audiences voice has equal impor tance as experts judgment.Sony picture indicates that the insiders of film industry believe that movie review is important for box office success (Terry, Butler Armond, 2005). Combining the indication of Sony, one of the largest film companies in the world, the output of commercial film tends to prove Sonys standpoint. Firstly, there is statistic significance according to the output. And R-square is 0.694 which indicates 69.4 percentages dependent variable, in this case, box office, can be explained by the four box office drivers. In another words, the four determinants are major drivers of box office for commercial film. Production budget still has less importance comparing with other independent variables. Meanwhile, awards have positive and strong impact on box office of commercial film as artistic film. However, table 6 shows that among the four elements, the strongest correlation exists between box office and online ranking order. For commercial film, online ranking is the str ongest box office driver, far more than artistic film.Comparing the outputs of artistic film and commercial film, online ranking order has less influence on artistic film while the strongest determinants of commercial film. Meanwhile, the higher online ranking order do result in better box office success in both artistic film and commercial film. Especially, for commercial film, the recognition from audience attributes to box office to the largest extent. Although there are some distinguish cases, the tendency of impact of online ranking order is quite clear according to the research.ConclusionSummaryOnline ranking order as the direct and clarify symbolic representation of online review provides important information for audience. This paper tests the correlation between online ranking order and box office success by comparing online ranking order with other determinants of box office. Throughout running multiple regression analysis in SPSS, the result indicates online ranking order has stronger impact on commercial film while less important for artistic film. However, high online ranking order contributes to higher box office in general for any kinds of movie.LimitationsThis paper only includes four major determinants of box office success. However, other determinants such as released screen, released date, star power and region are also contributing to the box office success. Due to the limited words and research time, there are more important indicators are excluded. Besides, the result could be less trusted and accurate because of relatively small sample size. Furthermore, due to the producing time of some movies are quite old, the lack of some data and currency rate might lead to different results slightly.