Small Consolation: Sony Social Sites Skyrocket After Film Leaks

Days after five of its films leaked online, Sony has seen a huge spike in followers of its main Facebook page and in viewers of trailers to some of the leaked films, says social-media consultancy RelishMix.

It doubtless is small consolation for Sony executives after the five films – including Oscar hopefuls Fury, Annie, Still Alice and Mr. Turner – ended up on file-sharing sites last week. But all the noise over the leaks also seems to have propelled considerable interest in Sony’s movies on its own official social-media outlets, says Marc Karzen, RelishMix’s CEO.

Among the data points Karzen noted:

• Sony’s official Facebook page jumped a whopping 1.6 million likes on Thanksgiving Day. Normally, Karzen said, Sony’s Page adds about 900 likes a day.
• The top trailer for the Annie remake starring Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhane Wallis nearly doubled its daily views, going from 18,000 a day to 35,000. Views of the Annie video trailers as a whole also have nearly doubled from 65,000 to 120,000 the past three days.
• The top trailer for Fury, the only of the five films that already has been released, tripled its views on one YouTube site, JoBloMovies. Karzen called that kind of jump, for a film that’s been in theaters since mid-October, particularly unusual.
• The top Fury trailer on Sony’s YouTube channel also jumped, though not as much, going from 12,000 views a day to 20,000 (still a 67 percent jump)
• Fury’s official Facebook page nearly doubled, from 1,200 likes a day to 2,200. Clearly, Karzen said, “people are taking a fresh look” at the David Ayer-directed WWII tank drama starring Brad Pitt and Shia LaBeouf.