Twitter market research case study: Paranormal Activity

While I am not a full fledged ambassador of using Twitter sentiment and analysis as a market research tool I can see the benefit in analyzing the data combined with a time dependent market research study using questionnaires and panels.

Over the weekend the indi film, Paranormal Activity purchased by Paramount Pictures, which shot for a reported $15,000 grossed $7.1 million. The market push first included screenings at 12:00 am slots to build up buzz and fans could vote on a dedicated website to bring the film to their city. Paranormal Activity averaged $44,163 a theater over the past weekend, compared with $11,780 Couples Retreat, the number one movie grossing movie over the weekend.

Using a few Twitter Sentiment and Trending tools we can analyze the response to the movie and if combined with a traditional market research study including the economic potential then Paramount can establish how many theaters the feature film should be shown in along with how much should now be spent on further advertising the film.

Twitter Sentiment

This analysis is based on free tools and only to show the types of reports that can be combined with a time dependent market research analysis. I have also not tested any tools that require payment. In no way do I endorse any of these tools.

Overall there appears to be a slightly more positive tone with regard to the film. The overwhelming number of neutral comments has to do with users talking about seeing the film or just mentioning it as a new release and potential view. 

With regard to the sources Twitrratr provided me with the highest number of number of analyzed tweets where 16.1% were positive mentions and 7.1% negative.

Update: As readers have pointed out Twitrrater does a poor job of analyzing sentiment, such as using scary for negative when the film is a horror film. You have to use these tools with a grain of salt and the purpose is only to show the new reach for market research reports by integrating with Twitter and other online results.

Twitter Trends

For trends I gathered data from the free versions of Trendrr, Trendistic and Palm’s trend tracker. You can clearly view the increased number of Twitter posts coming out as the weekend approaches and after users have finally seen the film. 

• Twitter posts per day up 313.9% from 9/17/09 to 10/12/09, 402 posts to 29, 609
• Sunday at 12:00 am Twitter posts spiked due to those midnight screenings
• The high majority of posts originated from the United States as the film was only released nation wide

Trendrr