National CineMedia Announces 2008 Fiscal Results

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Sun, 03/22/2009 - 20:00 -- Nick Dager

National CineMedia has announced consolidated results for the fiscal fourth quarter and fiscal year that ended January 1 2009.   Total revenue for the fourth quarter 2008 (14 weeks) grew 18.9 percent to $112.4 million from $94.5 million for the comparable quarter last year (13 weeks). Advertising revenue for the fourth quarter 2008 was $101.5 million an increase of 18.6 percent compared to $85.6 million for the comparable quarter last year. Meetings and events revenue increased 20.2 percent to $10.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to $8.9 million for the comparable quarter last year. National advertising inventory utilization for the quarter was 97 percent versus 104.4 percent in the comparable period in 2007. “I am pleased with our strong finish to 2008 as our advertising revenue growth outperformed almost all other national advertising mediums in a difficult market environment reflecting the increasing reach of our network and our ability to compete more effectively for national marketing budgets ” says Kurt Hall National CineMedia’s chairman and CEO.  “Our Fathom business also had a great year with revenue growing more than 110 percent as our strategy to expand our live distribution capabilities attracted more high quality entertainment content.” Hall says “Cinema appears to be gaining broader acceptance as advertisers become more focused on maximizing the effectiveness of their shrinking budgets.  While we still face difficult economic conditions especially in the local marketplace we are off to a strong start to 2009 with revenue and OIBDA growth expected in the first quarter versus 2008 and higher national scatter advertising bookings for 2009 compared to 2008 at this same time last year.” National CineMedia www.ncm.com