As it’s national cinema day on 3rd September (there’s a day for everything!) we thought it would be timely to run through an overview of some of the advantages that cinema advertising can offer.
Cinemas have had it tough over the past couple of years, however, things are beginning to get back to normal. 2021 saw the UK box office grow by 80% compared to the previous year, whilst a 2022 forecast suggested that cinema advertising spend would return to just under pre-pandemic levels by the end of year.
It’s also worth noting that companies such as Google, Amazon, Sky, MacDonalds, Channel 4 and Cadbury were amongst the top cinema advertisers in 2021. So, what’s all the fuss about and why should you care?
Cinema offers a captive audience and a positive environment
In fact, Cinema offers the lowest rate of ad avoidance of all media. Think about it, when you’re in the cinema and the ads are rolling, you’re in a dark room, sat directly in front of a huge screen with zero distractions, you haven’t got (well you shouldn’t have) your phone out and no one’s talking. Everyone is focused on the screen.
This has an added advantage, as it means that a high frequency of message is not so important, as you can achieve great impact with just one viewing of a cinema advert. The audience may have only seen the ad once, but as they were so engaged, it will have better recall. Indeed, Cinema advertising benefits from a recall four times higher than television advertising.
A recent study by Old Salt found that when asked how much attention respondents paid to adverts across a variety of platforms Cinema came out best at c.57%. The same study also found that 55% of respondents said they felt positively toward Cinema advertising, again higher than any other platform. Why does positivity matter? Well, a Hearst research study reported that a positive mindset can increase brand favourability by 18%, and it can also increase purchase intent by a staggering 35%!
Cinema campaigns can be run broadly or can be highly targeted
Whilst Cinema offers broad reach, it can also be very targeted. Here are some of the possible targeting options:
· By Audience
· By Film
· By Genre
· By Cinema
· By Week
· By Day
· By Time
· By Showing
Cinema is great at reaching a younger audience who are light TV viewers
DCM reports that 46% of cinema goers are aged 16-34, whilst 64% of cinema goers are light TV viewers. It also provides a more upmarket audience than any other media, with 58% of cinema goers falling into the ABC1 demographic.
However, the older audience are still going to the cinema, for the right film. Box office figures show that the tickets sales by age for the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, were in line with those for Bond’s previous outing in Spectre.
Cinema offers an uncluttered advertising environment
The average pre film reel which includes advertising and trailers is 11 minutes, meaning the audience is not bombarded with advertising messages.
If you’d like to find out more about how cinema advertising could benefit your brand speak to one of our team.