In a new report, the Union Internationale des Cinémas says that growth and box office results over recent years across UNIC territories clearly show that cinema-going in Europe is thriving, becoming an ever more engaging, diverse and immersive experience. This is thanks in large part to on-going investment in innovation by cinema operators and their partners. This report explores how the sector embraces new technological and consumer trends by exploring three key areas: creative audience engagement; the big screen experience; and social innovation.
In 2015, the 36 European territories represented by UNIC saw admissions increase by six per cent and box office revenue by 12.5 per cent. This positive growth trajectory is reflected around the World: in 2016, industry analysts IHS Markit reported a box office rise of 9.1 per cent for 20 selected countries when compared to already record breaking results in the previous year.
European cinemas were among the first in the industry to commit to digitizing their businesses. Over the past 10 years, cinemas across UNIC territories – in partnership with colleagues in film distribution – invested more than € 1.5 billion in the digital transition of their theatres. The introduction of digital technology has led to a paradigm shift across the cinema landscape.
Massive improvements in sound and projection quality, more flexible and efficient operations and sophisticated audience engagement strategies continue to transform the experience and attract increasing numbers of guests to our theatres.
Moreover these changes have led to a significant increase in the number of international and local films screened in cinemas. European cinema operators of all sizes and locations continue to embrace innovation and experiment with new ways to engage audiences. As cinema going becomes an increasingly eventful and digitally connected experience, the sector confidently competes with the myriad of online entertainment options available to consumers today. Cinemas are engaging with those who love the big screen in an ever more personal and seamless fashion, as we will show in this report.
Rather than starting in the cinema lobby, the cinema journey begins days or even weeks before, most likely on a Smartphone or a tablet. Research confirms that around 80 per cent of Europeans watch film trailers online. Similarly, evidence from the US confirms that an even greater share of cinema-goers – 87 per cent – use their mobile phone after seeing a trailer or an advertisement for a film elsewhere. The role of social media in activating cinema going is constantly growing: more than 50 per cent of cinema-goers discuss their experience before, after and sometimes – to the irritation of some – during the film screening. This has profound impacts on promoting the theatrical experience as operators and their business partners increasingly shift marketing investment and innovation efforts online.
The cinema going journey is ever more eventful and experience driven. Teen screenings and ladies nights are just two of the many formats that help cinemas attract specific audiences to the big screen.
Cinemas can significantly increase their audience reach by partnering up with third-party platforms and brands, from Facebook to a local newspaper or community initiative.
Audience engagement is of course not confined to the digital space. Cinemas across Europe are working with staff and volunteers to make the cinema-going journey as enjoyable and personal as possible.
Distributors are responsible for the vast majority of marketing efforts around a film release and have a detailed understanding of the box office performance of different types of films. Both parties stand to reap major benefits were they to share data as well as resources with a view to make cinema marketing more fine grained and personalized.
Integrated software solutions further help to collect information from a variety of internal and external sources, including the point of sales, metadata about each film title, the date and time of the cinema visit, as well as other external factors such as information about local events or the weather. Providing more personalized cinema offers and promoting these to individual customers via email, social media or text messages – possibly linked with a dynamic pricing approach – all serve to increase footfall. Providers of data analytics services promise a 10–20 per cent increase in admissions if data programs are implemented with the appropriate expertise. A key milestone of introducing further data-driven innovation in cinema will be to transform the relationship between cinema operators and film distributors. Cinema operators increasingly possess deeper and more personalized customer insights.
Europa Cinemas is a unique international network of cinema operators, totalling 2,350 screens across 596 European cities, dedicated to attracting audiences for non-national European films. The network is supported by the European Union and widely recognized as a flagship initiative of European cultural support. Recognizing that cinemas across Europe navigate a new digital landscape with plenty of innovation potential to engage with audiences for European films, the network has in recent years organized a series of ‘audience development and innovation labs’.
Across UNIC member territories more than 38,000 cinema screens create awareness around and interest in local, European and international films, thereby enabling hundreds of millions of cinema-goers to discuss stories that entertain them, make them think and enable them to reflect on everyday life.
In a world where fast-paced cultural experiences increasingly happen on mobile devices – and yet at the same time often occur in solitude – the shared experience of watching a film on the big screen continues to create a sense of identity and community.
Click here to read the full report:
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