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The development of multiplex cinemas, with 5 or more screens, and the strategy of the major UK exhibitors Odeon, UCI and Virgin to provide cinema goers with an entire night’s entertainment, have seen cinema admissions increase by over 50% in the last ten years rising to 176 million admissions in 2002. In fact it has been estimated that 23% of the population go to the cinema once a month or more, and these statistics have attracted a number of advertisers back to the cinema also. Total UK expenditure on cinema advertising in 2001 reached £141 million (at constant 1995 prices, source : Competition Commission).
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Carlton Screen Advertising, acts as a media contractor to the cinema exhibition industry and covers approximately 70% of admissions in the UK and over 98% in the Republic of Ireland. Its web site provides some excellent case studies and study material on both cinema and television advertising, and should be visited by everyone who reads this article to gain a real insight into this element of business.
 click to visit Carlton Screen Advertising site
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Cinema audiences can be targeted in terms of the movie they go to watch. Segmentation by age can be achieved through the age certification of movies in the UK. Carlton a major On-Screen advertisement provider claims that 33% of the cinema audiences are over the age of 35 years and 29% between the ages of 25-34 years, the remaining 39% is aged 15-24 years. In addition movie makers target particular segments i.e. families, couples, and children with their films, thus enabling advertisers to target these segments also. Finally, films are shown at the cinema first, before video, or television release, and therefore attract Early adopters, the people who tend to be the opinion formers in the market.
Going to the cinema is a completely different experience to watching television, audiences experience far greater impact watching a movie on the big screen, and the same is true of the adverts shown, one piece of research claiming that cinema adverts where five times more powerful in terms of audience recall than the television equivalent. The fact is many cinema goers consider the on-screen advertisements as part of the cinema experience, and without the facility to channel hop and the anticipation of the movie itself, attention levels for advertising are far higher at the cinema.
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