Entertainment
Will controversy boost ‘Udta Punjab’ at box office?
Mumbai : Abhishek Chaubey’s “Udta Punjab” finally hit the screens on Friday accompanied by hype and expectation. According to trade experts, the controversy around the film “Udta Punjab” will give a tremendous boost to the opening of the film.
However, the film’s leakage two days before its release on the internet is being seen as a big blow to the film’s box office potential.
“The online leakage has resulted in a huge dent in the opening collections. Anurag Kashyap’s appeal to audiences not to watch the film online until Saturday is futile,” said a marketing head of a leading multiplex chain.
“Youngsters are eager to see ‘Udta Punjab’. They will see it online. We expected an opening of 70-80 per cent. It has now opened to around 50-55 per cent occupancy,” he added.
Trade analyst Atul Mohan said: “The curiosity surrounding ‘Udta Punjab’ has only built up over the weeks. But unfortunately, for the makers, the film got leaked online and the response is very mixed.
“So after this, it would be interesting to see how the film opens. Had it not come online, the opening expected would have been one of the biggest of this year.”
Trade pundit Amod Mehra feels the film will have a terrific weekend.
“At least Rs. 5-7 crore initially… Plus if the content is weak, it will not crash next day and if the content is strong, then the sky’s the limit.”
Film critic Raja Sen thinks the movie will get a “huge opening weekend, much more than it would normally have got”.
“There has been so much talk of ‘Udta Punjab’ — the cuts, the banned words et al — that curiosity is very high. I just hope the film is consumed as a film and not as whatever people expect it to be based on the hype and the news cycles.”
Relieved and rejuvenated, Madhu Mantena, a partner in Phantom Films — the co-producer of the movie, says: “We fought a long and sleepless battle to get ‘Udta Punjab’ into theatres on time and we succeeded.
“Yes, the online leakage will affect our box office. But finally, even those who watch the pirated stuff on the internet would come to the theatres. We are sure of that.”
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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