In order to promote movies, trailers are made lasting for 2-3 minutes for theatrical release and 10-30 seconds for television. Generally, there are 1 or 2 theatrical trailers and 8-10 TV promos. The TV promos consist of song promos and dialogue promos. Trailers are loaded on YouTube, and are released simultaneously with the theatrical release. They may get millions of views online. To begin with, trailers in the 1990s and early 2000s were cut by filmmakers themselves. Today a trailer is a complete advertising package which is cut by a specialist. A film editor cannot do this specialist job. There are specialist agencies to cut trailers. The trailers create a sense of expectation from the movie and drive the audience to the theatre. The potential audience has to get the feel of the movie in 2 minutes. Slick and crisp editing is a pre-requisite for a successful trailer. Filmmakers use between Rs 3 and RS 25 lac on trailers and promos. Trailer makers earn a profit margin of 25-30 per cent.

Work on trailers start six to eight months before the release of the movie. A good trailer must be accurate too. If there is disconnect between the trailer and the movie, the movie may flop. The history of trailer making is as old as 100 years. Hollywood studios in 1913 started screening clips of their upcoming movies. In India, Prime Focus and Trigger Happy are the two major players in trailer cutting.