Rising Cinema Admissions Echoed By Rising Advertising Revenues

Cinema adspend has been rising over the past decade in real terms, reaching a total of £87m for the 12 months to September 2000, according to CIA Medialab research. Cinema admissions have also risen over the period, from just under 90 million during 1989 to just over 100 million during 1999. However, this growth has not always been steady, as figures for 1995 and 1998 saw a year on year drop. Cinema advertising, in contrast, rose steadily, picking up speed in the second half of the decade, until 1999, which saw a sharp upturn of 25% in real adspend year on year.

Cinema’s share of adspend across all media remains small- 1%, compared to the big players TV, which commands 48%, and Press which claims 39%. The product category representing the most significant revenue source for cinema advertising is drink, which brought in £12.1m during the year to September 2000. This is reflected in the top cinema advertiser- United Distillers and Vintners, which spent £4m during the year, up 10% from 1999- and the top cinema brand- Smirnoff Vodka, which spent £2.6m during 2000, up 16% on 2000. Drink is followed by Food, which accounted for £10.1m worth of revenue last year, Cosmetics and Toiletries, which brought in £9.3m, then Computers, Finance and Business and Industrial, which each generated between £7 and £7.5m.

The largest year on year increases in cinema adspend by brand was made by Virgin Net Internet, second in the league overall in terms of spending during 1999, thanks to an increase of 1,295%, from £160,000 for the year to September 1999 to £2.2m for the year to September 2000. Häagen Dazs, number 8 in the league, increased its spend from £356,000 to £1,532, a year on year increase of 347%, while Red Bull’s (number 5) spend jumped from £1m to £1.8m, a 70% increase. Only one of the top ten brands dropped its spend year on year: Peugeot spent £3.3m promoting its 206 Gti in cinemas during the year to September 1999 but only £1.5m in the 12 months following, a drop of 54% which sent it to number 9 in the table.

CIA Medialab: 020 7803 2000

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