The challenges being faced by our local television industry appear to be following an international trend. Can cinema close the gap as TV audiences continue fragmenting?
New trend 1: TV and/or cinema in 2016
Recently, we’ve had a number of interesting discussions with agencies and clients around accessing a market they used to be able to reach on TV but no longer can, or have to pay more for the same result.
“Can we reach them in cinema?” has been the question.
Understanding the dynamics around the complementary relationship the two forms of media have shared over the years, coupled with market insights from a number of sources including Ster Kinekor’s Movieminds, the immediate response to this question has been an emphatic, ‘Yes’. We’ve subsequently done the runs and can verify that a large chunk of these TV consumers go to the cinema.
This can be verified by the phenomenal uptake of Ster Kinekor’s premium offerings, namely Cine Prestige and IMAX. Add to this the extremely high engagement factor of our audience and the influence of the medium, and there is a compelling argument for investing in cinema to reach the high end of the market. Additionally, we are starting to see the result of it all.
This trend is supported internationally. National CineMedia in the US posted a 27% increase in ad revenue in their last quarter as well as a 15% increase in upfront commitments as a result of the challenges being faced by the TV/on demand industry there. You can read the article published by the Wall Street Journal here.
New trend 2: Cinema optimisation
Simply put, the way cinema is bought needs a rethink for a host of advertisers.
Yes, cinema is still an environment buy and the quality of engagement is, arguably, unbeatable. However, marketers are facing increasing pressure to prove their ROIs and cinema is one of the channels that deserves a relook because of its variable delivery methods when the schedule has been cherry-picked.
In response to this, Cinemark launched the Guaranteed Audience buy last year. Aside from all the nice fuzzy things cinema does for a brand, this offering opens up an extremely broad band of screens belonging to Ster Kinekor – the biggest and most progressive exhibitor on the African continent – thereby guaranteeing a substantial audience in a specific period at an agreed cost per contact.
We’ve had a number of successful campaigns but based on feedback from senior media people, we are expecting a lot more from this one.
Continuing Trend: Cinema activation
More than just clever creative, cinema activations – bolted on to an onscreen campaign – provide a powerful vehicle for cutting through the clutter present in most media environments.
Cinema is a shared social event and marketers have used this facet of the medium very effectively in the last few years to engage one-on-one and cost effectively with the cinemagoer in very creative ways.
From a laser light show to a flash mob, a marriage proposal and a well-known rugby player tackling an irritating cinemagoer – the cinema environment has provided a platform for brands to express themselves creatively and tell their story outside of the cinema, through various video channels.
The most successful recorded activation to date was seen live by over a thousand cinemagoers and generated over 1.5-million views on YouTube.
To view and experience the Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations fun-filled cinema activation, check this out.
View the BMW i8 campaign here.
To view the Cell C cinema activation case study, watch this:
