好萊塢大片的中國(guó)新寵：時(shí)光網(wǎng)
Now that Hollywood has mostly figured out how to get its biggest movies approved for release in China, studio marketers here are grappling with a new puzzle: What is the best way to woo China’s ticket buyers?
好萊塢差不多已經(jīng)了解如何讓它的電影大片通過中國(guó)的發(fā)行審查，接下來電影公司的市場(chǎng)人員正在和新的難題作斗爭(zhēng)：什么才是吸引中國(guó)觀眾的最好方式?
Trailers and television advertisements, the two most effective methods to drum up interest, are difficult marketing tools to use in China. Chinese theaters do not typically play trailers. The cost of advertising on TV can be exorbitant, in part because studios must buy time at the last minute. China usually limits foreign films to an advertising window of a few weeks.
在中國(guó)，引發(fā)人們興趣最有效的方式——預(yù)告片和電視廣告這兩種市場(chǎng)工具舉步維艱。中國(guó)電影院通常并不播放預(yù)告片。電視廣告的費(fèi)用過于高昂，部分原因是由于電影公司必須到最后時(shí)刻才能購(gòu)買廣告時(shí)段。中國(guó)通常會(huì)把外國(guó)電影的廣告窗口限制到幾周內(nèi)。
Instead, film companies pay for outdoor banners and signs, advertise online, team up with local promotional partners and, increasingly, call a company with enormous reach that few people outside of China have ever heard of: Mtime.
因此，電影公司將費(fèi)用轉(zhuǎn)投戶外海報(bào)和標(biāo)志、在線廣告以及建立本地宣傳伙伴，此外，它們?cè)絹碓蕉嗟耐ㄟ^一家觸角廣布卻在海外鮮為人知的公司——時(shí)光網(wǎng)。
Founded in 2005 in Beijing by Kelvin Hou, a former Microsoft executive, Mtime started as an online listing of movie times, hence the name. Then a film database was built and added. Next came a movie-news service, aggregation of user-submitted reviews, a movie-scoring system and an online ticket service for 3,000 theaters. Now attracting 160 million unique desktop and mobile users a month, according to Mr. Hou, Mtime is effectively Fandango, IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Yahoo Movies rolled into one.
2005年，前微軟高管侯凱文創(chuàng)立了時(shí)光網(wǎng)。網(wǎng)如其名，一開始時(shí)光網(wǎng)是電影放映時(shí)間列表，之后加入了影片數(shù)據(jù)庫。此后，電影新聞服務(wù)、用戶評(píng)論聚合、電影評(píng)分系統(tǒng)和支持3000家影院的在線購(gòu)票系統(tǒng)被一一加入。目前時(shí)光網(wǎng)每月?lián)碛?.6億來自電腦和手機(jī)的獨(dú)立用戶。侯凱文稱，它實(shí)際上是售票網(wǎng)站Fandango、電影資料庫IMDb、影評(píng)網(wǎng)站爛番茄和雅虎電影的合體。
And for a fee, Mtime will promote movies through all of these services, helping studios to quickly cover a market they covet but do not yet fully understand.
通過以上所有服務(wù)，時(shí)光網(wǎng)為電影提供收費(fèi)宣傳，幫助電影公司迅速覆蓋它們渴求但并不在行的市場(chǎng)。
Next comes merchandising: Mtime, which counts Fidelity Growth Partners and CBC Capital among its backers, has started designing movie-themed products that are sold on its website and inside Chinese multiplexes. Mtime began opening these “merchandising centers,” many in partnership with Wanda Cinemas, China’s largest theater operator, in January. Mr. Hou will have 80 of these centers operating by December.
下一步是周邊商品。以富達(dá)國(guó)際投資和中國(guó)寬帶資本為后盾的時(shí)光網(wǎng)開始涉足電影主題商品設(shè)計(jì)，并在網(wǎng)站和中國(guó)的電影院內(nèi)出售。時(shí)光網(wǎng)從一月開始開設(shè)的這些“周邊中心”中，大部分是和中國(guó)最大的院線商萬達(dá)電影合作的。侯凱文將在十二月前開始營(yíng)業(yè)80家這樣的中心。
Walt Disney Studios was one of Mtime’s early merchandising partners. According to Mr. Hou, Mtime sold 300 items tied to “The Avengers: Age of Ultron,” which was released in China in June. Recently, “Cinderella” dresses were selling on Mtime’s site for $53.
迪斯尼工作室是時(shí)光網(wǎng)最早的合作伙伴之一。侯凱文表示，六月在中國(guó)上映的《復(fù)仇者聯(lián)盟：奧創(chuàng)紀(jì)元》已經(jīng)售出了300個(gè)相關(guān)商品。最近，《灰姑娘》里的裙子在時(shí)光網(wǎng)上以53美元的價(jià)格出售。
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