Good News For Film Tourism

Film productions don't simply generate money for the studios, directors and cast involved, but also for the real life places in which they are filmed, according to new research undertaken for EuroScreen.

A new report, 'Quantifying Location Placement Value', released by Film London and undertaken by social media intelligence agency Human Digital, analysed almost 35 million comments and interactions across sites including Twitter, Facebook, Reddit and Pinterest and found a correlation between mentions of place and the films or TV shows filmed there.

The release of the report follows news last month of the positive effect the HBO series Game Of Thrones has had on Spanish towns following its recent filming there; something of which the Northern Ireland Tourist Board is already well aware.

The report also found that the social media hype surrounding London-shot Notting Hill generated the equivalent of £19.5m in online ad spend for the capital, while the combined value of the Swedish and British versions of Wallander amounts to £17.5m in promotional value for Ystad in Sweden, where it is set.

The research focussed on four European locations – London, Ystad, Apulia (Italy) and Malta – and a selection of the films and television shows filmed there.

In London, the report found, the location placement value (LPM) of the Harry Potter series (2001 – 2011) was €13.3m, with 50% of that value emanating from the UK, 25% USA and 25% 'Other'. In terms of reasons for the location visit, 43% were there as a result of the film production, 38% by chance and 19% 'Other'.

In Ystad in Sweden, murder mystery series Wallander (2005 – Present) holds a location placement value of €28.8m, with a breakdown of 44% from the UK, 20% from the US and 11% from the Republic of Ireland. 35% were there as a result of the show's having been set in Ystad.

The research found that activity on social networking regarding the locations mentioned in the report amounted to paid-for advertising, with values ranging from thousands to millions of pounds.
"Quite simply, this is free advertising," said Film London CEO Adrian Wootton, concluding that it "emphasises the power of screen productions as a tourism driver."

Image: Copyright HBO

www.euroscreen.org.uk

(IT/CD)