Last year, Professor Thorsten Hennig-Thurau from the Marketing Center Münster published his multiyear effort "Entertainment Science: Data Analytics and Practical Theory for Movies, Games, Books, and Music”, co-authored by Mark B. Houston, Professor of Marketing at Texas Christian University (Fort Worth) and Visiting International Professor at the University of Münster. In their 900-pages monograph, the authors challenge the "Nobody-Knows-Anything" mantra that has dominated the entertainment industry’s thinking for decades, making the argument that combining managerial intuition with data analytics and rigorous scholarly knowledge provides a source of sustainable competitive advantage when it comes to make and manage entertainment.

Just now, Springer Nature, the book’s publisher, announced that since its release, more than 1.7 million chapters of “Entertainment Science” have been downloaded globally so far, which equates to more than 100,000 electronic copies, in addition to the hard copies sold. MCM professor Hennig-Thurau is excited about these numbers, which exceed the authors’ expectations quite dramatically. He considers them as proof for strong interest in the entertainment industry and also for fresh approaches to manage and market the industry’s unique productions.

In case you are interested in the book, please note that Hennig-Thurau and Houston have joined Springer’s Corona Initiative which provides free electronic access for all students and researchers to a list of essential publications at a time when many libraries have closed during the current crisis. Please check the publisher’s SpringerLink website to download the book free of charge for a limited time.