A TestScreen trailer test
Real answers from a trailer test.
We showed an action trailer to an audience recruited from a digital twin of the US population and asked three questions. Here is a sample of their answers, in their own words, and the people who gave them.
The answers
“How appealing was the trailer overall?”
Colin Villalpando, 44San Diego, CA · Sales manager
“It was pretty appealing overall - fun, fast-moving, and easy to get into. I liked the mix of action and humor, and the younger hero angle made it feel a little fresher instead of just more superhero noise.”
Peace Evangelista, 31Somerville, MA · HR specialist
“It was appealing to me overall. What I watched felt polished, entertaining, and easy to follow, with a good balance of action, humor, and a younger personal storyline, so it came across as a reliable kind of fun rather than something heavy or messy.”
Sandra Falcinelli, 61Rural Pennsylvania · Graphic designer
“It looked polished, sure, but for me it leaned too hard on spectacle. A lot of frantic action, quips, and flying around - competently done, just not the kind of thing that really pulls me in.”
Sam Norstrom, 62Rural Nebraska · Driver
“Too flashy for me. Lot of noisy action and young-kid stuff, and I did not have much to grab onto beyond that.”
“How likely are you to watch more?”
Colin Villalpando, 44San Diego, CA · Sales manager
“I’d watch more. It looked fun without feeling overloaded, and the mix of action, humor, and the school-life angle kept it easy to stay with.”
Peace Evangelista, 31Somerville, MA · HR specialist
“What I watched felt too chaotic for me to want more. The explicit threats and constant disorder made it feel high-friction in a way I do not enjoy, especially when I prefer stories with a steadier structure.”
Sandra Falcinelli, 61Rural Pennsylvania · Graphic designer
“What I watched was energetic and slick, but honestly it felt like a lot of noise and spectacle. From my seat, it’s the kind of thing I can see other folks enjoying more than I would, and I’m not especially pulled to keep watching.”
Sam Norstrom, 62Rural Nebraska · Driver
“Not too likely. What I watched had a lot of chaos, and the hero came off pretty young and not all that ready. Too much high school stuff mixed in for my taste.”
“How credible did the trailer feel as a source?”
Colin Villalpando, 44San Diego, CA · Sales manager
“It felt credible to me. Watching it, the whole thing had that polished official-trailer feel, like it knew exactly what it was selling and wasn’t trying to fake anything.”
Peace Evangelista, 31Somerville, MA · HR specialist
“It felt fully credible to me. What I watched had a very polished, official presentation and nothing about it seemed off or misleading, so it came across like a dependable studio source rather than something unofficial.”
Sandra Falcinelli, 61Rural Pennsylvania · Graphic designer
“It felt credible to me. What I watched was polished, straightforward, and very clearly presenting itself as a movie trailer, not trying to sneak in as something else. You can tell money and professional standards were behind it, which for this kind of thing goes a long way.”
Sam Norstrom, 62Rural Nebraska · Driver
“It looked polished, sure, but it's still selling a made-up story. I can follow it fine, but as a source, no, I wouldn't call that especially credible.”
A sample of answers, exactly as recorded.
Where they split
Most viewers called the trailer polished. Whether they would watch more split on pace.
Would watch more
Fun, fast and easy to follow.
“I’d watch more. It looked fun without feeling overloaded, and the mix of action, humor, and the school-life angle kept it easy to stay with.”Colin Villalpando, 44 · San Diego, CA · Sales manager
Would not
Flashy, chaotic, too young.
“Not too likely. What I watched had a lot of chaos, and the hero came off pretty young and not all that ready. Too much high school stuff mixed in for my taste.”Sam Norstrom, 62 · Rural Nebraska · Driver
“What I watched was energetic and slick, but honestly it felt like a lot of noise and spectacle. From my seat, it’s the kind of thing I can see other folks enjoying more than I would, and I’m not especially pulled to keep watching.”Sandra Falcinelli, 61 · Rural Pennsylvania · Graphic designer
Some of the viewers
Each viewer is one person from the population, with a job, a household and their own news sources, recruited to the brief. None of them is a copy of a real person.
Colin Villalpando, 44Sales managerSan Diego, CAGraduate degree · Lives alone, owns his home
Sam Norstrom, 62DriverRural NebraskaSome college · Married
Peace Evangelista, 31HR specialistSomerville, MABachelor's degree · Single
Sandra Falcinelli, 61Graphic designerRural PennsylvaniaBachelor's degree · Single
Brianna Chapman, 32Hair stylistRural West VirginiaHigh school · Single mother of one, rents
Maribel Miller, 35Retail sales supervisorRural New HampshireSome college · Married, three children
Kaila Smith, 29Business operations specialistAnn Arbor, MIBachelor's degree · Married, two children
Andre Feterl, 52RooferNew York, NYHigh school · Married, four children, owns his home
Mario Bockus, 58Retail sales supervisorRural VirginiaBachelor's degree · Married
John Grimm, 62Civil engineerRural IowaGraduate degree · Married
Precious Rai, 40Medical records specialistRural IllinoisGraduate degree · Single
Gregory Cumbo, 60Brokerage clerkRural OhioSome college · Divorced
The audience
Recruit an audience by almost any combination of who people are: age, gender, where they live, marital status, children, household income, education and job, down to the streamers they pay for and what they watch. Then run the same footage past several audiences at once and compare the results side by side.
Where they live
AK
ME
VT
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
RI
MA
OR
NV
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
WV
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
SC
DC
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
HI
TX
FL
Most live in rural areas, the rest in cities from San Diego to New York.
Household income vs the US
Bars: share of this audience. Black line: share of US households (Census ACS 2022). This audience skews to $75–99K and has nobody above $125K. We show the skew instead of smoothing it out.