Cinema Ad Spending Is Up 15%, Adds Momentum to the Growth of Out-of-Home Advertising: Ad Age

October 19th, 2007 Nurlan Urazbaev

According to the Cinema Ad Council, ad spending in movie theaters grew 15% in 2006 to $455.6 million, driven by strong ticket sales and the digitization of ad content distribution.

Advertising Age reports that the out-of-home advertising market has been growing as “spending shifts from traditional billboards to more accountable digital platforms,” and reached $6.8 billion in 2006. The majority of these dollars were spent on in-store networks and digital billboards.  Movie theaters have managed to lure marketers by selling the big screen as an alternative to cable networks or multiple-market billboard buys, says Ad Age.

What I find interesting is that movie theatre advertising represents one of those ‘captive audience’ phenomenae, where longer ad formats could work really well:  

“…with in-cinema pre-shows often running 20 minutes of content and ads, there’s more inventory for movie marketers to buy. The pre-shows started out as a place for marketers to get extra mileage out of their 30-second TV spots. Now major marketers such as Coca-Cola Co., Procter & Gamble and Geico are creating custom, short-form content often 60 seconds or 90 seconds in length. Movie theaters are the only place to catch new Geico ads starring the popular cavemen now that the ABC sitcom is on the air.”

Ad Age quotes Stu Ballatt, senior VP-marketing and research for Screenvision, who says the long-form approach is helping drive growth of movie advertising. “It’s a continuing trend for people to place new creative into the cinema that isn’t necessarily used elsewhere or maybe is launched in cinema and then moved into other media,” he said.”

Main categories advertising in cinemas have been family restaurants as well as retail and package-goods personal-care products, Ad Age reports. 

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