• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 12, 2011

Trends in search reveal that moviegoers have become more deliberate about movies they consume. Searches do not indicate a definitive intent to see the movie, but rather a desire to gather more information. Online digital advertising presents opportunities for a variety of companies -- not just movie studios -- to reach audiences as they search for information.

Google's ThinkMovies event in Hollywood, Calif. highlights changes in movie consumption during the past few years and into the future, as well as its commitment to the entertainment industry. Nearly 12% of all daily search queries are entertainment-based, according to Adam Stewart, director of media and entertainment at Google.

Supporting the entertainment industry through ecommerce and ad platforms for online activities, from mobile to local to display to search, means collaboration between physical and digital. Bonita Stewart, vice president of U.S. sales at Google, predicts that 80% of all screen time in the near future will be digital and two-thirds of consumers will view purchases on mobile, with half paying for them through the device.

Those devices and technologies, such as mobile and cloud computing, continue to shape the movie industry. John Rose, senior partner and managing director at the Boston Consulting Group, points to the transition from physical to digital at home, the proliferation of digital devices, and low tech, and kiosks massively distributing movie rentals as trends changing the movie industry. By 2015, 65% of U.S. homes will have the bandwidth to watch streaming movies from home, he says. Tablets will become the device acting as the out-of-home TV screen, Rose adds.

About 1.9 billion users took to the Internet in 2010, and that number should reach 5 billion in 2020, according to Stewart. Google estimates that mobile subscribers will grow faster. Stewart highlighted ways that companies can collaborate to "make magic," pointing to Google's effort with Twitter that allowed people in Egypt to send messages through a platform called Speak to Tweet, or technology that enables scientists to identify earthquakes.

Stewart says mobile commerce is growing 30% faster than ecommerce, and 90% of the recommendations are through friends. Both factors will support digital entertainment content.