Cinema advertising market triples
"Many people may still remember the pre-internet times when posters were placed on advertising pillars with the title “Which cinema to choose?”. Thinking with the logic of today’s marketing campaigners, now the question would be: Where to go? Let’s go to the cinema!
Advertisers spent HUF 2.24 bn in 2013 and HUF 6.33 bn in 2018 at list price in the cinemas, i.e. cinema advertising has tripled in five years. Besides the increasing viewer rate, this result also comes from the regular cinema developments. This covers the ScreenX room opened by Cinema City, the third 4DX room in Debrecen, the full renovation of the VIP cinema, the B1 posterbox digitalization, the replacement of seats and the planned reopening of the cinemas in Mammut plaza. All this, together with the range of successful and attractive productions, will raise the viewer rate, which offers a promising “ground” for advertisers. The cinema screen focuses the attention on one spot, thus guaranteeing quality reach in our multi-screen world.
The cinema advertising market has been continuously booming over the past few years. While the summer was a dead season earlier, the biggest film distributors also come out with blockbusters in the summer, attracting thousands of viewers to the cinemas. This slice of the advertising cake is small but growing year by year parallel with the increasing number of cinema-goers. The fact that the cinema - as an ad carrier - performs well these days is also due to the fact that the cinema-goer rate has increased every year since 2011, by 64% in total between 2011 and 2018. According to the figures of the National Media and Infocommunications Authority, 9.5 million cinema tickets were sold in 2011 and this number went up to 15.6 million by 2018.
Last year also witnessed a growth - almost 576,000 tickets were sold alone for Mamma Mia! Here we go again, followed by 573,000 tickets for Avengers: Endgame. There is a good chance for growth also this year as movies are expected in the cinemas like Gemini Man, shot with Will Smith in Hungary, the second part of Maleficent, Terminator 6, Charlie’s Angels in a new form, Jumanji continued, the second part of Frozen and the finishing episode of Star Wars later this year.
New Age Advertising is the market leader in the Central European cinema ad market, advertising in 112 Cinema City cinemas and in 9 IMAX rooms through its Polish, Czech, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovakian and Hungarian offices. In Hungary, New Age Advertising provides its customers with nationwide advertising facilities in 17 Cinema City cinemas, in 3 Mi Mozink cinemas as well as in Mammut 1 and 2 after the re-opening, also including the 4DX, Simple IMAX and ScreenX rooms. Currently, they make on-screen campaigns available on 170 screens.
The opportunity offered by cinema advertising has been recognized and is used by large companies like Magyar Telekom, which has used the brand building elements of room sponsoring and has extended its media mix optimized for the target group since 2011. Another dedicated cinema advertiser is the OTP Group, especially OTP Mobil, which has been the name-giving sponsor of the IMAX cinema with the Simple brand since May 2016.
In 2017, Philips built an integrated, national cinema campaign into its media mix. On the one hand, the spot featuring the latest Star Wars edition shaver could be seen on the screen, and its visual world strongly connected to the movie. On the other hand, the cinema ticket - with the message placed on it - was a coupon with discount for all cinema-goers that they could redeem in the Philips webshop.
Recognizing the opportunity that the cinema offers for employer brand building, evosoft Hungary Kft. continued its on-screen recruiting campaign that started in 2017 and from April 2018 the evosoft room was opened in Cinema City Allee and a year later in Aréna with the brand-building elements of the name giver’s room sponsorship.
Cinema advertisers can choose from various options, in addition to the classic, on-screen pre-movie ads they can also select off-screen, long-term sponsoring and cooperation aimed at brand activity and brand building – said Zsuzsanna Kiss, media sales director of Cinema City in an interview to Marketing&Media magazine. In fact, the company’s portfolio was extended in May, as the cinemas located in Mammut plaza were returned to the company. Zsuzsanna Kiss said it would be too early to talk about the exact date of opening but both venues will be transformed. A part of the reconstruction will be the introduction of the all inclusive VIP cinema experience in Mammut, which is very popular in Cinema City Aréna."
The full compilation and the interview with Zsuzsanna Kiss can be read in the latest edition of the Marketing&Media magazine or click here: Marketing&Media 2019/09