According to a new report from the Cinema Advertising Council total cinema advertising industry revenues of CAC members – which account for more than 82 percent of U.S. movie screens – grew by nearly two percent to $584 067 000 in 2009 as compared to a total of $571 421 000 in 2008. The report was independently tabulated by Miller Kaplan Arase & Co. Cinema advertising grew despite a year that saw spending in other traditional media decrease significantly. For 2009 regional and national cinema advertising sales were up 5.4 percent compared with the previous year accounting for 79.4 percent of the industry (regional and national sales accounted for 76.8 percent of total cinema advertising spending in 2008). Meanwhile local cinema advertising sales were down 9.6 percent year over year accounting for 20.6 percent of the total cinema advertising market (compared with 23.3 percent in 2008) while other independent forecasts showed that the majority of non-cinema media categories were off 20 percent or more last year. CAC president Michael Chico says “Cinema advertising in what was one of the most challenging years for media sales during the last few decades continued to grow in a meaningful way. That growth is continuing in 2010 as cinema has already experienced double digit increases across the board. Our sector’s vitality remains very strong and major brands that have utilized cinema remain loyal to the category based on the return on investment we provide. New advertisers and new emerging advertiser categories made cinema part of their spend in 2009 even though it would have been very easy for buyers and planners to have stayed the course during such a difficult year.” The CAC report includes revenue data for both on-screen cinema advertising – including commercials airing in advance of movie previews and the feature presentation – as well as off-screen revenues – including those delivered by digital video and audio programming sampling special events concession-based promotions and lobby-based promotions. On-screen revenues accounted for over 93 percent of total cinema advertising revenues and were up 2.1 percent year over year while off-screen revenue was flat. Top national cinema advertising categories in 2009 included Apparel Auto Entertainment Retail Consumer Packaged Goods Travel and Wireless. Additionally growth in 2009 was attributable to increasing activity across a broad spectrum of emerging categories from Cable Television Networks Cosmetics Financial and the Military. The Cinema Advertising Council www.cinemaadcouncil.org
