LAS VEGAS—A panel of experts predicted that the emerging industry of pre-show cinema advertising will grow significantly over the next several years, but warned that growth could be jeopardized if theater owners fail to limit the number of commercials they screen, or advertisers fail to make unique, fun and entertaining spots specifically for the silver screen. The caveat surfaced during a panel discussion at last week’s ShoWest confab in Las Vegas.
"There’s a great expression—’hogs get slaughtered,’ " said Cliff Marks, president of marketing and sales at Regal CineMedia. "I think patrons and consumers will [only] accept so much. I think we have a responsibility as exhibitors to turn the spigot off … rather than jam in another thirty [seconds of advertising] to make another couple of bucks. We’ve got to be disciplined enough, or we’re going to blow a really great industry, an emerging industry, because we got fat." Marks predicted that the industry will double in size or come close to that in five years’ time.
Michael Norris, president of Loews Cineplex Entertainment, also believes that the industry will experience rapid growth over the next several years. "I think that cinema advertising is relatively immature, and I think that people are just starting to figure out that there’s this great big thirty- or forty-foot screen that is really powerful," Norris said. "Other than broadcast television, this is the only medium that I know of that has sight, sound and motion that can actually really engage a captive viewer. The world is changing, and I think that five years from now, cinema will clearly be on the radar screens of most major brands in America."
Shannon Feldheim, media supervisor at MediaVest, which represents Activision and other video game companies, said cinema advertising is an ideal way for brands to reach the young male demographic, known to be light television viewers but ardent moviegoers.
With the fragmentation of the TV audience, the panel members agreed that cinema advertising is one of the places brands will move their money to as they struggle to reach consumers.
But cinema advertising will not replace TV advertising, just augment it, said Michael Dowling, VP of business development at Nielsen Entertainment. "I think it’s less of a question of TV vs. cinema," he said. "It’s TV and cinema, TV and talk radio, TV and magazines or TV and other forms of media exposure. And I think what we’re seeing from the research we’ve been doing is that cinema … is showing a very strong demographic pull." Dowling added that TV and cinema could really work together in this area.
The panel members cautioned that pre-show commercials need to be creative enough to make audiences feel like they are watching another form of entertainment. If the ads offer nothing more than those on television, customers will be dissatisfied, they said.
"Cinema advertising should be engaging, entertaining and fun, and if you create advertising that is captivating to the patrons … then they’ll like it," Marks said. "We’re finding now that more and more agencies and more and more clients are thinking about creating advertising that is entertainment as well as advertising—[advertising that] feels like it belongs in the cinema."
Gail Schiller is a reporter with The Hollywood Reporter, a sister publication of SHOOT.
