Previewing the New Cinema Experience with Audiences and Brands

Ask Scott Felenstein chief revenue officer at National CineMedia NCM what date he was most looking forward to this year and he answers September 3That39s when movie theaters around the country shut down since midMarch because of the coronavirus pandemic finally reopened with Tenet Christopher Nolan39s longawaited espionage caper It scored an encouraging figure at the box office as the 3rd highest grossing film on a Labor Day weekend ever despite the fact that the two biggest movie markets amp8211 New York and LA amp8211 were still closed for business and social distancing rules reduced theater capacity elsewhere But when those cinema houses welcomed audiences back NCM the top seller and supplier of intheater advertising messages welcomed those crowds back as wellquotWe39re excited that the day is finally here when we can get back to the moviesquot Felenstein says quotThere39s a great slate of content that39s scheduled for September all the way to the end of the year Then a lot of the films that we were supposed to debut since midMarch are rescheduled for 2021 So 2021 now looks like a tremendous yearquotWith AMC Cinemark and Regal the top proprietors of movie theaters reopening the majority of their theaters as quickly as possible this fall under industrywide CinemaSafe protocols Felenstein expects a big snapback for NCM39s primary business presenting ads prior to feature presentations In 2019 National CineMedia generated nearly 450 million in revenue and ended the year with the best Fourth Quarter ad sales in our company39s history and the biggest year ever for our National Sales team From April to June 2020 according to the company39s latest quarterly earnings roundup released August 3 NCM had 4 million in revenues way down from 1102 million over the same three months last year Over the first half of 2020 the company had 687 million in revenue compared to 1871 million at the 2019 halfway markAt the time movie theater owners went to lockdown mode NCM was several months into a restructuring of its Noovie preshow ad showcase Introducing new inventory running in 60 percent of its affiliates commercials could now run in two new premium positions lights down and platinum Under the lights down format five minutes of spots appeared onscreen after the house lights were dimmed at advertised movie showtime wrapping up with an invitation to turn off mobile phones as a courtesy to all moviegoers The platinum spot 60 seconds in length came on before the secondtolast trailer of coming attractions Walmart General Motors39 Cadillac division and Google were the initial platinum sponsors of what NCM is calling one of the most valuable and impactful ad spots in the entire premium video advertising marketplaceInitial audience research on both formats quotcame back fantasticquot Felenstein discloses quotYou39re already in a very engaged environment and you have a highly engaged audience in front of a 50foot screen surroundsoundamp8230Now the inventory works even betterquotAnother conclusion of the research young theater audiences expressed more interest in watching the commercials in part because they were seeing messages crafted to take full advantage of intheater display Walt Disney39s messages for example highlighted their theme parks or cruise line excursions A WarnerMedia campaign consisted of behindthescenes activity with upcoming programs on TBS TNT or HBOquotIt feels like great content because it is great contentquot continues Felenstein quotIt39s also getting across a great commercial message The recall on the platinum spots went through the roofquotCompany officials have been working overtime to make sure advertisers like Amazon Mars Unilever Progressive Ford ATampampT and Heineken were back up on the big screen for Tenet39s Labor Day Weekend premiere As that business gets generated Felenstein and other top NCM executives are exploring a number of pathways for expanding intheater revenue such as programmatic sales new digital products like NCM39s Noovie Trivia app targeted national ads for specific audience demographics and expanded local advertiser opportunities The way NCM sees it Noovie is a fully integrated suite of products designed to innovate the moviegoing experience in ways that help brands tap into the excitement emotion and magic of the moviesquotThis is a good time maybe to reset everythingquot understands Felenstein quotWe39re looking at all aspects of our business Are our formats as engaging as they could be Are there other ways new ways that we could get brands involved with reaching movie audiences that we haven39t worked with before Are we doing the best job we canquotBranded content looms as one promising opportunity in Felenstein39s mindset quotThere39s definitely an appetite for brands to want to do that What better place to do thatamp8212the big screenamp8212when you39ve got a captive audience in a captive environment watching the best storytelling medium anywherequotNCM39s effort to capitalize on that opportunity is Noovie Studios the company39s custom content unit focused on connecting brands with movie audiences amp8203Campaigns have included Hyundai39s What amp8203Drives You which featured top actors and directors discussing what motivates their work CNN chose to collaborate around Name That Movie NCM39s amp8203onscreen and digital gaming appamp160adapted from the classic TV show Name That Tune amp8203to create a coproduced amp8203gaming experience amp8203around the channel39s miniseries The Movies Brands can also integrated with NCM and HQ Trivia with their new Movie Trivia Night every Wednesday nightGeared toward a core audience of Gen Z and Millennial movie fans NCM39s Noovie offers exclusive content and unites brands with the power of movies anytime and anywhere In a preCOVID19 interview an NCM executive commented quotNoovie is a brand that has a personality a point of view and provides value and relevance to our consumers so much so that brands want it to rub off on them as well The second key piece is to build engagement We already benefit from some of the highest engagement metrics in the industry We want to make sure that we deliver a fully engaging show with people interacting in a meaningful way with content and brands on the big screen and beyondquotPhoto courtesy of CinemarkClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNetamp160

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Previewing the New Cinema Experience with Audiences and Brands

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