| Date | |
|---|---|
| Author | Zoe Aresti |
Digital Cinema Media (DCM) has today reported a huge 26 per cent rise year-on-year in cinema ad spend in Q1 2016. Since the beginning of the year, DCM has seen new advertisers adding cinema to their AV campaigns, an increase in bookings for premium positions and a surge in bookings from retail, motors, finance and food category brands during the Easter period.
New brands include Gumtree, The History Channel and The Chapar, for whom Sir John Hegarty and his son unveiled an inaugural ad for the pioneering retail company exclusively on cinema last month. Another notable booking was from B&Q, which launched its first cinema campaign in several years. Targeting UK audiences around Easter, B&Q showcased its new creative ‘Let’s Create’ on the big screen.
Spend was also up across a range of categories, with retail spend up 70 per cent year-on-year, food spend up a 127 per cent year-on-year, finance spend up 121 per cent year-on-year and motors spend up a huge 198 per cent, as brands looked to reach an highly desirable upmarket, early-adopting cinemagoing audience during the Easter period.
In 2016, advertisers are also making the most of booking into cinema’s premium positions, with Q1 Gold Spot revenues up an impressive 244 per cent vs the same point last year.
2015 set a new base for cinema advertising when cinema ad spend was up a whopping 27 per cent, and the industry is now seeing this momentum fuelling demand in 2016. The year started on a high with the continued success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which went on to become the highest grossing film in UK history. Other successes have included Alejandro González Iñárritu’s award-winning The Revenant and Deadpool, which surprised most by out-grossing any X-Men film to date with a massive £37.6m. Admissions are also up, with February up 1.3 per cent from February 2015, making it the busiest February since 2011 and the second busiest since 2002.
Karen Stacey, CEO of DCM, said: “2016 is proving a defining moment for cinema advertising and the stellar results that we have recorded so far, and in particular around the Easter period, speak volumes for the effectiveness and popularity of our medium.
“The cinema medium is flexible, adaptable and targeted and provides the perfect opportunity for advertisers to reach very specific audiences in an engaging environment. Adding cinema to the media mix is proving an effective way for advertisers to really build incremental campaign reach and maximise ROI, with more and more advertisers adding cinema to their media plan.”
Read how the news was covered by Campaign Magazine.