Movie Theater Advertising – Just imagine this on a 40 foot screen
Ever considered advertising your business at the local movie theater? During the pre-show, theaters often display national, regional and local ads, before the previews and the feature itself. I’ve been researching cinema advertising for a while now, speaking with account representatives at Screenvision, and considering the options. Most importantly, I’ve been generating ROI goals, as theater advertising isn’t the cheapest form of promotion.
In-theater advertising offers another way to attract geo-targeted clients. It’s an appealing option that few local companies take advantage of. But the moviegoer demographics tell an encouraging story. According to Screenvision, 9 out of 10 moviegoers pay attention to the ads. What else is there to look at? You’re in a big dark room, facing a 40 foot screen, and you can’t turn it off. Compare that to broadcast television, where 55% of TV watchers avoid commercials entirely by changing the channel or skipping it with a DVR.
We’re starting with a 28 week run on 7 screens. Each screen shows an average of 5 movies per day, and the ad runs 3 times per showing. That means our ad will run about 735 times per week. With an average audience of 7,000 per week, we’re expecting to be seen by a maximum of just under 200,000 people. Knowing that only about 50% of moviegoers arrive for the pre-show (according to Screenvision), that brings it down to about 100,000 people in about 6 months
Like everything else, this is part experiment. We enjoy trying varied marketing strategies both for our own promotion, and to gain meaningful knowledge we can pass on to our clients through actual experience. See you at the movies!
