A film is promoted with the aim to reach the maximum number of target audience. Film producers presently invest quite a huge amount of money in promotional techniques especially in big industry like Hollywood. They leave no stone unturned in using various kinds of promotional techniques so that the film will capture the attention of the viewers. In fact, promotion is done as an effort to recover the costs of the production of the film and to make sure that that the investors get expected profits.

Audience activity is the most important aspect of media promotion. Different theoretical models have grown because of this audience activity. There was constant work going on along with it to promote the films through different media so that it can have a wider range and mass appeal. One of the major concerns for the filmmakers and distributors is to maintain the viewers' attention.

Keeping in mind the promotional aspect, one can say that the ultimate aim of promotional technique was to arrest the audience with a larger than life experience Cinemascope, technical improvements, and wide screen projection were invented. Though all possible measures were taken to make cinema livelier, the need to reach the youth was still felt.

A considerable expense is there in marketing campaigns to maximize profits. There are both traditional and modern techniques used to serve the purpose of promoting a film. Television and radio play a major role in this promotional campaign, as they not only deal with entertainment but also business to a large extent.

The first hand knowledge about a soon-to-be-released-film goes to the audience through these entertainment media. The trailers are shown on television. One of the eye-catching techniques that Hollywood used in promoting the film Memoirs of Geisha is worth remembering. The clippings of the film were shown throughout an episode of a television show. This kind of marketing is called product placement.

Along with it, there is extended placement, where talk shows discuss the film and the participants include the members of film crew like cinematographer, choreographers who discuss the technical part of the film, and the stars and the director who talks about incidents that occurred while the film was being shot.

In the age of Internet, Hollywood uses the virtual world as one of their major promotional techniques due to its power to reach millions across the globe. There are websites showing short trailers of the film along with rushes from the film. Moreover, there are user generated content and blogs.

The paid advertisement in newspapers and magazines, one of the earliest and traditional methods of promotion techniques, forms a significant component of the campaign. There are paid co-branding and co-advertising, for instance in BMW and James Bond films. A major aspect of this marketing is promotional tours made by the actors to different places to market the film.

The year 2000 saw the film industry spending around 2 billion dollars yearly in marketing alone. In this way we can see that the film patterns have changed drastically in each era but the medium is still lively and entertaining. A lot of money is involved in promoting a film.