You’ve heard about the resounding success of out-of-home (OOH) ads, but is your client including cinema in them? If they aren’t, they’re missing out on a huge advertising opportunity. OOH media includes more than billboards, posters, murals and transit ads, digital, or static. Here’s why your client needs to include cinema in their OOH advertising strategy.

Cinema Rules as an OOH Media Format

People are Going Back to the Movies

After a LONG pandemic of staying inside and being careful about where they go, consumers are finally ready to get back to their normal lives. They’re going back to theme parks, they’re traveling and they’re going back to movie theaters. According to a report by AdAge, movie ticket sales in 2022 grew by 60%, reaching $314 million for AMC and Cinemark. All this time on the road and outside sets OOH media up for advertising success. But cinema continues when consumers are actively enjoying what they went out for.

Cinema Beats TV, CTV, Social, and Digital Ads

According to AdAge, cinema ads are WAY more effective than many marketers give them credit for. “Attention scores for ads that run before movies beat TV, connected TV, social, and digital ads by as much as four to seven times,” says AdAge.

15-second cinema ads received attention scores of 72, says AdAge. This score takes into consideration what percentage of the audience was actively watching the ads and how long they watched them. Comparatively:

Linear TV ads scored 11
Connected TV ads scored 11
Social ads scored 12

AdAge points out that it’s really easy for consumers to look at their phones, go to another room or scroll past an ad when they’re in their own homes watching TV, pursuing social media or when they run into digital ads. When they’re in a movie theater, this is far less likely to happen. For one, they went to the movie theater to watch content on the big screen. Two, it’s difficult to ignore ads on a giant screen that takes up almost your entire field of vision. Three, mobile devices are highly discouraged in movie theaters to the point where most patrons silence their phones and put them away as soon as they sit down, if not before they even enter the theater. The attention cinema ads demand make them a fantastic contributor to OOH media.

Why Attention Matters

“Well, yeah, pre-movie ads grab my attention, but so do other types of ads,” you may be thinking. True, but how long do those other ads hold your attention? Do you think about them often after that brief glimpse? AdAge points out that the more attention consumers give an ad, the more likely they are to have their perceptions on a brand changed. The more attention they give an ad, the better the results. Add the extra attention consumers give cinema ads to all the benefits OOH media gets out in the open and you’ve got a higher chance of raising your client’s sales.

Will Cinema Ads Reach Your Client’s Target Audience?

If your client needs more convincing to add cinema to their OOH media mix, here’s some stats you can throw at them. According to AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel:

14.6% of U.S. consumers over the age of 18 are Movie Theater Ads Responders (they’ve taken action after seeing an ad at a movie theater within the last 30 days)
71.2% of Movie Theater Ads Responders see between 2–12 movies in theaters every year
22.3% of U.S. consumers over the age of 18 are Frequent Moviegoers (they see movies in theaters at least seven times per year)

Want data more personalized to your client’s target audience? Look up their profile on AudienceSCAN to see:

How many times, on average, they see movies in theaters per year
What movie genres they enjoy the most

Photo by Felipe Bustillo