Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Theater Web Site Advertising Gone Wrong

This is topic Theater Web Site Advertising Gone Wrong in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 08-28-2014, 02:50 PM:

Here's an illustration of why it might be a bad idea to have advertising on your theater's web site:

I'm sure that there are worse things to have advertised, but telling people that they can stay home and experience something extraordinary is contrary to what most theaters would want, no?

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 08-28-2014, 03:06 PM:

I'd be sending Dolby a little "nasty gram" about that one. Not that they would reply.

Although to be fair, it's probably placed there by some agency that sells ad space on websites in bulk, or something like that.

Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 08-28-2014, 03:49 PM:

One has to wonder about the wisdom of advertising other peoples stuff on a website that is intended to (frankly) sell ones own stuff. A punter might see an add that presses their buttons, and then forget they were thinking about going to the movies.

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 08-28-2014, 10:00 PM:

Is it really all that different from the pre-show commercials inside the theater that invite me to stay home and watch whatever TV show they happen to be plugging?

Posted by Buck Wilson (Member # 5885) on 08-29-2014, 12:59 AM:

I remember having to program Netflix ScreenVision ads onto features.

Always did seem a little counterproductive.....

Sometimes I wonder...

Posted by Jarod Reddig (Member # 6363) on 08-29-2014, 12:59 AM:

Ya I gotta agree with Geoff here. Altough I totally see your point Scott. So ridiculous [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Terry Lynn-Stevens (Member # 7349) on 08-29-2014, 02:36 AM:

quote:
Here's an illustration of why it might be a bad idea to have advertising on your theater's web site:

-

I'm sure that there are worse things to have advertised, but telling people that they can stay home and experience something extraordinary is contrary to what most theaters would want, no?

Scott, have you been searching Dolby Atmos recently? This looks like a Google ad that is popping up just for you. On my screen I get Cineplex Scene points.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 08-29-2014, 09:34 AM:

I got an ad for a local car dealership...

Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 08-29-2014, 11:56 AM:

It's just an advertising network looking at your personal profiles. If you've been looking at the Onkyo Atmos receiver on some webshop lately, it's likely it will pop up on other sites that are somehow affiliated with the same advertising network. If you've been looking at cars, an advertisement for a car might pop up, if you've been looking for vacations, same thing...

I agree with David, advertisements on movie theater sites are just awkward. Why do people get there? Because they want to know what's playing, maybe some information about the theater and maybe even to buy tickets. So, your web site is a marketing tool, why put the marketing of someone else on there and frustrate your potential customers?

Posted by Scott Jentsch (Member # 1681) on 09-02-2014, 10:36 AM:

quote: Mike Blakesley
Although to be fair, it's probably placed there by some agency that sells ad space on websites in bulk, or something like that.

quote: Terry Lynn-Stevens
Scott, have you been searching Dolby Atmos recently? This looks like a Google ad that is popping up just for you. On my screen I get Cineplex Scene points.

It's most certainly being generated from an ad network, and most likely I was shown an Onkyo ad because I had been researching Atmos in the home recently.

However, web site publishers have the ability to block certain advertisers, so ads like this can be removed (and entire advertisers/categories can be blocked) by someone that is paying attention.

Personally, I don't think that a movie theater should be advertising other products/services on their corporate web site. Some theater chains even have popups, which are so annoying that most sites that depend on advertising don't show them.

With web sites like The BigScreen Cinema Guide, we have to show advertising, because that's the (primary) way we make money, but a theater's primary way of making money is attracting customers to their business and selling them tickets, concessions, etc. Quite a few chains/theaters do it, so it's hard to pick on just one chain or theater for it, but it just seems counter-intuitive.

It would be like McDonalds or Wendy's having banner and popup ads on their sites, and seeing an ad for Whole Foods or Kraft Macaroni & Cheese or something.

Can anyone come up with an example of other business segments that do this? Nothing comes to mind for me...

Posted by Manny Montes (Member # 5639) on 09-20-2014, 10:02 AM:

Unfortunately it seems that some operators consider a website seperately in their costs. I knew a couple who basically said that if their website didn't pay for itself via advertising they would take it down. Crazy considering how widespread internet use is, plus the fact that hosting is so cheap now that you could easily absorb the costs elsewhere.

Posted by Edward Havens (Member # 4715) on 09-20-2014, 10:29 AM:

To be fair, a plurality of calls we still get at the theatre on any given day are from people who found our phone number on the internet and want to find out what we're playing. And not just from "older" people either.