cinema

Political Opinions Drive Media Perceptions

Research by Ipsos reveals that political party affiliation is an important driver of most Americans’ views about movies and TV – leading to the stunning finding that Black Americans are now more likely to say they see “people like me” in entertainment than White Americans.

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Three Little Words

How would you describe a show or movie in three words? Netflix does. And according to a New York Times article, that is one of the drivers of the streamer’s success. Read more »

More Product Placements?

Recent reports predict an increase in product placement and product integration spending. Research shows how to make them more effective.

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Streaming in the New Media Landscape

Since the onset of COVID-19, viewing patterns have changed dramatically. The biggest shift, however, has been an accelerated trend towards streaming. Shelter at home policies and health concerns about gathering in large public places, such as movie theaters, are the driving forces. The ARF’s OTT virtual event was dedicated to exploring recent trends as well as identifying the drivers of viewing behavior and the business of OTT in the “new normal”: How have viewing patterns and preferences evolved? What strategies have streaming companies employed to maintain and increase market share? How have studios evaluated and overcome production challenges? 2020 OTT landscape are vastly different from 2019 – how have advertisers taken advantage of the shifts? Spanning two days, for two hours each day, leading OTT providers, advertisers and research experts shared their perspectives and predictions about changing viewing behavior and where the market is heading.

What Drives Entertainment Viewership?

Greg Durkin of Enact Insight asked the audience why doesn’t every tracker use posters and videos instead of words on a page? And why can’t we do syndicated trailer testing? And what if testing could predict viewership? In his long career as an entertainment market researcher, he found five main things that drive viewership: creative positioning, product quality, media + publicity, competition and distribution. With so many choices today, content discovery is harder than ever. The vast majority of content is unheard of. The type of platform also affects viewership. The audience for Apple TV+ is different than Netflix’s. What’s more, content coming out is not being optimized. Releasing content at the proper time can drive viewership. Certain themes can do so as well and attract widely diverse audience segments. The most important thing for a platform is quality, both in content and in navigation and recommendations.

Putting Cinema in the Frame

Lumen has a comprehensive attention dataset for most media about visual attention, yet cinema was missing. How much attention goes to cinema advertising? The comparison between media is important. Clients have been asking to complete the picture—how to “put cinema in the frame”?

Putting Cinema in the Frame

Mike FollettCEO, Lumen Research

Manu SinghSVP, Insights/Analytics & Sales Data Strategy, National CineMedia (NCM)



Lumen has a comprehensive attention dataset for most media about visual attention, yet cinema was missing. How much attention goes to cinema advertising? The comparison between media is important. Clients have been asking to complete the picture—how to “put cinema in the frame”? Methodology: 151 respondents across six screenings; infrared head tracking cameras used to assess viewing. Track when people were looking at the screen and when not. The first ever eye tracking data for cinema in the U.S. Analysis of data was second by second. The attention funnel: 1,000 ads, 51% were technically viewable, only 9% were looked at, and if so, they were looked at for 1.6 seconds. Findings:
  • In contrast to TV or other media, and in particular digital display, cinemas ads are functionally unmissable. Almost all cinema ads are viewed.
  • Based on the premise that more attention is usually better—the longer you engage the more likely you are to remember them—findings show that cinema ads hold attention for dramatically more time than any other media—as much as 36x of some digital formats.
  • The proportion of the ads that gets looked all the way through—cinema ads are often longer than other formats, but they outperform other media as a proportion of viewable time.
  • Cinema is both audio and visual—perhaps even if you’re not looking at the screen, you might still be listening to it.
  • Cinema drive more attentive seconds per 1,000 impressions than any other media.
Attention and recall 1:1 correlation via survey: for every percentage point increase in attention there is correspondence lift in brand recall and brand choice. Implications for advertising: APM X CPM = ACPM ACPM embedded within agency planning tools. ACPM + BLS = “value of attention.”

Key Takeaways

  • The first ever eye tracking data for cinema ads in the U.S.
  • Ads in cinema are functionally unmissable; hold attention for dramatically more time than any other media; cinema ads are often longer than other formats but they outperform other media as a proportion of viewable time; Cinema drive more “attentive seconds per 1,000 impressions” than any other media.
  • Three main drivers of attention: 1) size of screen; 2) lack of distraction; 3) mood of audience.

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Gen Z’s Media Habits

A recent HUB survey confirms that Gen Z uses media differently. Gen Z spends more time watching non-premium and short form video and playing video games than watching “regular” TV. Read more »

Consumers Return to Normal in 2023

Morning Consult’s surveys find that consumers are increasingly “returning to normal”—meaning feeling more comfortable traveling, going to the movies and dining out.

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