Leading cinema-advertising companies share their latest efforts to make the show before the main feature engaging and entertaining.
Cliff Marks
President of Sales and Marketing
National CineMedia
Tell us about your typical pre-show and what the content usually consists of.
NCM’s
FirstLook is a digital entertainment and advertising pre-feature program showcasing content from some of Hollywood’s most popular entertainment companies, such as A&E Television Networks, NBC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting System, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros. along with national, regional and local advertising seen on approximately 15,500 digital screens nationwide.
FirstLook provides both a high-quality entertainment experience for patrons and an effective marketing platform for advertisers. Designed with the audience in mind,
FirstLook ends approximately at the advertised movie showtime (when the film trailers begin) and its entertainment content segments are rotated between theatres about every two weeks to help ensure that frequent moviegoers are entertained by fresh content. Multiple versions of
FirstLook are presented every month throughout NCM’s media network, and each
FirstLook presentation is tailored to a specific film rating category to provide age-appropriate content and advertising for the movie audience.
Who are your pre-show content providers?
A&E Television Networks, NBC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Turner Broadcasting System, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros.
Which pre-show content has been especially successful?
Our entertainment content has been very successful, especially content which is uniquely created for
FirstLook and highly relevant for the moviegoing experience. We have just renewed multi-year deals through 2011 with NCM
FirstLook content partners A&E Television Networks, NBC Universal and Warner Bros.
What new forms of content have you introduced this year?
Several new clients are buying NCM’s cinema-advertising network for the first time in 2009, including clients in the packaged goods, sports apparel, import auto and telecommunications categories. We are also starting to see interest in the technology area, a whole new category for us. Earlier this year, E*Trade gave movie goers a “
FirstLook” at a “Director’s Cut” featuring the outtakes from its popular “Talking Baby” Super Bowl campaign. The humorous campaign really resonated with movie audiences and elicited terrific response. Another great example was when Ford Motor Co. launched a nationwide campaign using NCM’s
FirstLook pre-show to highlighting its charitable giving with a two-minute content piece shown before “G” and “PG”-rated films. The content focused on the philanthropic work of the Ford Motor Co. Fund—both its financial contributions and the thousands of hours of volunteer work performed by Ford employees. Ford, like a lot of advertisers these days, followed the people who are flocking to the movies during the downturn.
Does audience feedback or interactivity play a role in your pre-show?
Yes. NCM is taking cinema advertising beyond the big screen with a new 360° mobile, online and onscreen campaign called “r8 it” (pronounced “rate it”). It is an interactive mobile text/WAP polling program that gives moviegoers a unique way to share their thoughts immediately after enjoying a film in their local theatre. Through messaging in onscreen spots in NCM’s
FirstLook pre-feature program, Lobby Entertainment Network (LEN) and box-office handouts, audiences are asked to text in the name of the movie they just saw, and will then receive a message back featuring a fun question that asks them to rate a particular element of the film. As an incentive to play, “r8 it” participants become eligible to win movie tickets for a year.
Results of the polls are showcased online at
www.NCM.com/r8it and through the new “r8 it” app that is distributed over the NCM Media Network of more than 20 entertainment-related websites.
As an extension of
FirstLook online, NCM.com’s “r8 it” provides a unique integrated marketing platform with multiple touch points for clients. Maintaining that connection with people when they are looking for showtimes or after they left the movie theatre was always the missing piece of the puzzle, and now we have a way for advertisers to complete the picture. Perhaps even more importantly, “r8 it” also creates fun, user-generated original content that encourages interaction with the brand and will keep audiences coming back for more.
What makes a good and effective pre-show? What kind of content works best?
A good pre-show is entertaining and relevant to the moviegoing experience, while at the same time being an effective marketing platform for brands. The entertainment content from our world-class partners works especially well, but any advertising that is high-quality, innovative and interesting can resonate on the big screen and generate high rates of recall.
What does your research show about the audience’s feelings about your pre-show?
Cinema is an engagement medium—it provides one of the most engaging ad environments of all major media, with consumers paying attention to ads at a rate of two to five times greater than television.
Research shows that consumers have become accepting of cinema advertising as part of the moviegoing experience—according to E-poll, 90 percent of audiences prefer pre-show entertainment content and advertising over a blank screen. One reason that audiences are so responsive to NCM’s cinema advertising is that our
FirstLook pre-feature program is respectful of the movie theatre experience, ending at about the advertised movie showtime when the film trailers begin. As discussed previously, we also rotate entertainment segments approximately every two weeks to help ensure that frequent moviegoers are entertained by fresh pre-show content.
What new content will you be introducing?
We are working with more and more brands to create long-form content so that in the future, audiences might enjoy an entertaining content segment from a consumer brand, as well as from our current group of movie studio or television network content partners.
Darryl Schaffer
Executive VP, Exhibitor Relations
Screenvision
Tell us about your typical pre-show and what the content usually consists of.
Screenvision has revived the great tradition of pre-feature entertainment programming with the only hosted pre-show in the industry, guiding moviegoers through a 20-minute program that runs on 7,000 screens nationwide. The pre-show consists of magazine-style entertainment segments on a variety of topics including behind-the-scenes of film and TV programming, world-premiere music-videos, a contemporary music soundtrack of current and emerging artists, and pop-culture entertainment trivia.
Who are your pre-show content providers?
Screenvision’s valued content partners include entertainment companies such as 20th Century Fox, FX, E!, MTV, Nickelodeon and HGTV, consumer products such as Lego and Breyers, government/institutions including the National Guard and the U.S. Air Force, automotive companies including BMW and Honda, and record labels such as Warner Brothers Records and Universal Music.
Which pre-show content has been especially successful?
Entertainment content has been extremely successful for both film and television partners, especially unique pieces created for Screenvision featuring cast interviews and/or behind-the-scenes looks at the production of the film or TV program. The conversion rates (consumers tuning in to watch the program or see the film after viewing the content pieces in Screenvision’s pre-show) are high.
What new forms of content have you introduced this year?
Screenvision broke ground with the first-ever 3D advertisement to run in U.S. movie theatres, partnering with Wrigley to showcase a 3D spot for Skittles this past May. The spot was originally produced in 2D and converted to 3D to run in front of 3D films. This December, we will also be showcasing a 3D ad created by the U.S. Air Force.
We have also introduced a Sprint program bringing consumers mobile movie previews. Slides invite moviegoers to send a text message to download and view new movie trailers right on their mobile devices.
The U.S. Air Force took moviegoers to new heights with a view from inside unmanned aircraft patrolling the skies. Additionally, our pre-show ended with a U.S. Air Force “flyover,” evoking the same feel-good emotions brought on by flyovers at sporting events right in the theatre.
First-time cinema advertiser Breyers gave moviegoers an inside look at the technology involved in producing their commercials, which made over classic movies
Gone with the Wind and
King Kong, featuring “30 Rock” star Jane Krakowski.
2009 also brought us entertainment content from the automotive industry, including featurettes from Honda’s “Dream the Impossible” documentary series, celebrating those who have the courage to turn failure into success, and a making-of look at the BMW Paint Project, in which artist Robin Rhode created a work of art capturing the joy of driving—using the all-new Z4 as his paintbrush.
Finally, Lego showcased scenes from their upcoming
Bionicle movie, offering entertaining content the whole family could enjoy.
Does audience feedback or interactivity play a role in your pre-show?
Screenvision values consumer feedback, conducting research in our theatres nearly every week and taking their comments into consideration as we produce our pre-show.
Regarding interactivity, we have consistently been on the forefront of interactive technology, instituting the first on-screen text-messaging program in 2006 and the first interactive polling program in 2008. Moviegoers are using their cell-phones on a daily basis, and we were the first cinema company to engage them in this activity in the theatre.
Interactive polling asks moviegoers questions and gives them an option to text their responses. After audience members submit their text messages, the actual live audience results are displayed on the movie screen in a bar chart. Verizon Wireless inaugurated this program with a music genre-related poll, and Sprint participated with a Red Carpet Fashion poll, partnering with E! during this year’s awards season. We’ve also just signed Nokia for an interactive gaming program that will take place this holiday season.
While we encourage mobile interactivity during the pre-show, we value the moviegoing experience above all and encourage moviegoers to silence their cell-phones before the feature film begins.
What makes a good and effective pre-show? What kind of content works best?
A good pre-show should entertain and engage consumers and add value to their overall moviegoing experience, while also serving as an effective brand builder for advertisers. Moviegoers are most interested in content they can’t see anywhere else—that’s why behind-the scenes features with cast/crew interviews are so popular, as well as world-premiere music-videos—but moviegoers enjoy anything that entertains them while they wait for the movie to begin.
Screenvision also reaches moviegoers before and after the pre-show with our digital lobby program and interactive kiosks—where we can offer discounts on concession items.
What does your research show about the audience’s feelings about your pre-show?
A common misperception is that moviegoers don’t like advertising in movie theatres, but research shows that only 11% of moviegoers would prefer to see a blank screen before the film starts. Our pre-show entertains and informs consumers while they’re waiting for the main event, and we offer them multiple opportunities to become involved in the pre-show with our text-messaging trivia slides and download opportunities.
Overall moviegoer receptivity (likeability + neutral) to Screenvision’s pre-show is 94%, with 96% receptivity to the content, 98% receptivity to the music featured in our show, and 96% receptivity to our host. [Source: Lieberman Research Group, 2009]
What new content will you be introducing?
You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!
Bill McGlamery, President
UniqueScreen Media
A Cinedigm company
Tell us about your typical pre-show and what the content usually consists of.
The preshow program is a hosted voice-over package made up of local advertisers utilizing both motion graphic ads and video spots along with PSAs for our exhibitor partners and Preflix-branded entertainment content. The entertainment content includes music-videos, behind-the-scenes interviews and commentary and movie trivia.
Who are your pre-show content providers?
The entertainment content is all developed in house utilizing materials provided by the studios and Cinedigm’s Entertainment Group.
Who are your leading theatre customers?
We represent over 50 exhibitor partners and all are an important part of our footprint. Some of our largest exhibitor partners include Marquee, MJR, Jack Loeks, Santikos and Carmike, Alliance, Allen, B&B, Cinema West and Neighborhood.
Which pre-show content has been especially successful?
The music-videos and interviews have been particularly successful, as they offer more audience interaction and are often content that isn’t readily available to the public.
What new forms of content have you introduced this year?
We have added text-messaging features and song download options to some of the content.
Does audience feedback or interactivity play a role in your pre-show?
Yes, on a small scale today. We are currently working toward more audience interaction with the program.
What makes a good and effective pre-show? What kind of content works best?
We believe an effective pre-show maintains a balance of unique, entertaining content and well-crafted, targeted advertising which captures audience members’ attention and slowly draws them into the overall moviegoing experience.
What new content will you be introducing?
We are working on several things, from increased audience interaction with both the entertainment and advertising content to a new content provider that would bring current Hollywood news and movie entertainment to our program.
Steve Adams
Account Manager
Digital Cinema Media (London, U.K.)
The cinema pre-show used to consist of local advertisers such as jewelers and car dealers, but this was changed at the end of 2007 when we introduced the pre-reel content position across all Odeon, Cineworld and Empire cinemas.
For 18 months, the show across these cinemas was taken by the BBC, who used four minutes to show trailers from their shows and content not seen before. Their aim was to re-engage with the 16-24 audience that was becoming harder to reach through media fragmentation.
Pre-show content is also shown across 211 independent cinema screens, and this is used by Virgin Media to highlight their support for short-film makers by running a national competition. The best short films as voted on the VM website are short-listed at an awards evening with Kevin Spacey on the judging panel.
All content so far has been very successful, with various BBC shows being filmed and placed on YouTube—the “Dr. Who” trailer was taken and watched nearly 1,000,000 times through this method.
Audience research has been very limited. There was a study of the early BBC activity which came out very well in terms of enjoyment and message recall. To that end, interactivity doesn't play a role in which copy is put on at what time, but the success of the VM shorts competition is testament to the medium in driving interest and holding kudos as the place where all aspiring filmmakers want their content to be shown.
The BBC pre-reel deal has come to an end now, so the space is being pitched to media agencies and clients across London. There are also other ideas being mooted for how the space can be used, but for now these are under wraps until an announcement is made.
This article was revised with a new Screenvision Q&A on 9/23.
