At its annual meeting held in Las Vegas during last week’s CinemCon, the Cinema Advertising Council announced record cinema advertising industry revenues in 2013 – up 6.5 percent to $677,957,000, marking its fourth consecutive year of $600 million or higher.
The theme of the meeting was the potential that cinema advertising brings to brands targeting Millennials – a demographic that is harder to reach due to media fragmentation across screens of all sizes. This is reflected in a new trade campaign that uses the tag line Movies Never Get Old, which will launch later this spring as CAC members NCM Media Networks and Screenvision – along with many TV networks and digital content companies – unveil their upfront presentations to buyers and planners. Screenvision’s upfront presentations will begin April 2 in New York, with events in Los Angeles, Detroit and Chicago the next evening, while NCM Media Networks once again presents during broadcast upfront week, with a May 14 event in New York.
“A recent New York Times column talked about a ‘veritable orgy of advertising’ tied to big event TV, which fittingly began with the Golden Globes and ended with the movie industry’s most-watched award show, the Academy Awards, and attracted an estimated $1.5 billion in spending. We of course believe that every weekend at the movies is a big event, and the line-up of new releases coming up in 2014 drives that point home,” said Katy Loria, CAC president and chairman. “2013 was the highest grossing box office year in U.S. history, at $10.9 billion, with 34.7 percent of moviegoers being in the coveted 18-34 demographic. In fact, while the media marketplace has experienced unprecedented fragmentation, the box office has averaged more than $10 billion and 1.35 billion attendees over the past five years. Marketers recognize the power of cinema as a complement to TV through which a younger audience can be reached – especially on weekends – and we plan to accentuate that throughout the year as we look to bring even more new brands on board.”
As mentioned above, unveiled to members at the annual meeting were the results of the 2013 CAC Revenue Report, which showed that cinema advertising was up 6.5 percent to $677,957,000, compared to $636,404,000 in 2012, with the five leading sales categories in 2013 being Automotive, Computer Software, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Products and Television. This marks the highest cinema advertising revenue since the CAC began measuring it in 2002.
“This growth is a result of more new brands moving into cinema, the unique power of the movie theatre as a venue for creative, engaging advertising, and a movement by agencies to a more video-neutral approach that places cinema alongside TV and online platforms,” said Loria. “We are optimistic about this revenue momentum, and the direction the marketplace is headed with a strong start to 2014 as we enter upfront season.”
The cinema revenue report is being released on the heels of 93 new brands advertising at the movies in 2013 – with top growth categories being Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Products, Retail/Apparel, Television and Travel & Leisure. This continues a powerful trend as advertisers continue to see cinema as a place where they need to be to complement their TV and online video buys and generate incremental reach.
Regional/National spending once again made up the vast majority of cinema advertising revenue, 78.3 percent, with spending up 5.7 percent to $530,569,000 from $502,070,000 in 2012. Meantime local revenue, accounting for 21.7 percent, grew 9.7 percent to $147,388,000 in 2013, up from $134,334,000 the year prior.
On-screen revenue in 2013 was up 6.2 percent, to $624,153,000 in 2013, from $587,473,000 in 2012, with 2013 off-screen revenue growing 10 percent to $53,804,000 from $48,931,000 in 2012.
The CAC Report is based on data independently tabulated by Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co. LLP from CAC members, which make up approximately 90 percent of all cinema screens and box office admissions in the U.S.
The Cinema Advertising Council http://www.cinemaadcouncil.org