quote:

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Regal and Cinemark have signed on — but AMC won't — for a potentially controversial bet to air commercials post-showtime.

In the biggest disruption to in-theater advertising in nearly two decades, regular commercials will run for five minutes after the lights go off and before the trailers at two of the country's largest circuits, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark Theatres. And one 60-second "platinum" spot from a top-tier brand will roll before the second-to-last or last trailer.

National CineMedia's potentially controversial bet, unveiled Sept. 17, has sparked concern among Hollywood studios, which are under pressure to keep consumers interested in the theatrical experience. Execs say they want to see how the format works before speaking publicly.

Since launching its in-theater preshow in 2003, NCM's commercials have been relegated to airing 20 minutes to 25 minutes before the official showtime, when the lights are still on and moviegoers are getting settled in their seats.

With the advent of reserved seating, some advertisers worry that their spots aren't reaching the intended audience, though NCM's ad revenue has generally been on the rise (in 2018, it was $441 million, up 12 percent from 2014).

NCM CEO Tom Lesinski assured investors that theaters in much of the rest of the world have mixed ads in with trailers for years — that includes mega European chain Cineworld, Regal's parent company— with no significant consumer backlash. He said the new offering in the U.S. will be readily embraced by advertisers.

“I think in the world where it’s very hard to find consumers and to prove that they really watch the inventory, when the lights go out in a movie theater and the phones are gone, it’s one of the few places where you literally have to see an ad,” Lesinski said, adding that “our typical audience is only 31 years old compared to broadcast television, which is 57, and cable, which is 48 years old.”

But the country's biggest U.S. chain, AMC Theatres, took immediate umbrage in a tersely worded news release refuting it was in talks with NCM to join the new initiative (AMC already has the longest trailer block of any circuit, or 20 minutes on average). The company took particular issue with the idea of a platinum spot being sandwiched between the final trailers.

"What is rue is that in April of this year, NCM proposed this concept to AMC of commencing a platinum advertising program during the end of trailer play, which AMC flatly rejected at the time because of concerns that U.S. moviegoers would react quite negatively to the concept,” the company said in its release, issued hours after NCM touted the new plan to Wall Street.

Lesinski noted that NCM's new initiative will roll out amid a year-end schedule that includes such high-profile tentpoles as Frozen 2, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Jumanji: The Next Level.

And while Cinemark declined comment, sources say the circuit will likely move one trailer to pre-showtime, off-setting the additional six minutes of ads that will air after the theater goes dark. As of now, Cinemark generally shows 15 minutes worth of trailers before the actual movie begins. Regal's trailer block generally runs 15 minutes to 20 minutes, depending upon the location.

Cinemark and Regal, as well as other participating cinemas, will get a 25 percent cut of the platinum spot, plus an an increased fee per patron from NCM.

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One thing that strikes me here is that these guys are already running 20 minutes of trailers before the show.

20 minutes? Sheesh. I usually play zero, one or two, and very occasionally three trailers but more than that seems to be getting past reasonable.
 

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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 10-01-2019, 01:16 PM:
 
Playing regular adds before movie trailers has been done in Europe for more than 25 years, back in the film days, there were advertising companies specialized in creating film transfers of regular TV ads with varying success in quality, now some of that same companies deliver DCP packages to play as part of your pre-program. Some even allow you to customize some of the advertisements for your location. I personally find it kind of stupid if you run tons of Coca Cola advertisements when the place only sells Pepsi or vice versa, for example.

But stuff has gotten out of hand lately, watching to 20 minutes of adds and trailers is really obnoxious and simply not compatible with me paying full price for both tickets and concessions...

It also gives credibility to a rather bad habit. Since more and more seats are reserved anyway, people start to show up 20 minutes after the lights go down...
 

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 10-01-2019, 07:10 PM:
 
I can't believe some idiotic exhibitors are willing to sprinkle ads in-between the trailers. That just dilutes the fun of the trailers and makes them obnoxious. It's just tacky.

But it's no surprise, considering most showmanship is dead now anyway.

I once said I would never run ads as a preshow, but digital cinema changed that due to the ongoing costs. But I will never run a paid ad after the trailers have started, never never never never never.

Just as a point of comparison, we usually run 3 to 5 trailers. Mostly because we need that kind of time to get everyone through the concession line, due to our small lobby. If we get a larger-than-expected crowd, I'll add another trailer or two in on the fly.
 

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Posted by James Wyrembelski (Member # 9037) on 10-01-2019, 07:29 PM:
 
On one hand, this is awful. Just another reason for people to skip the theater. On the other hand, maybe this trend will be good for me since I'd NEVER do that.

We use a company that does our pre-show ads for us. They have national ads CAPPED at a 5 minute maximum, then local ads complete the pre-show and of course are not capped. Ads end at our listed show time.

I do the same as Mike. I usually have about 3 trailers that start at our listed show time. Most times everyone is in the door by the time they start, or at least all but a few stragglers. But, we also have a fairly small lobby and bigger crowds can take some time.

When we started I had a firm rule that the show time listed is when the movie starts, but that never seemed to work out. Everyone is so used to ads and trailers taking up 15-20 minutes after the scheduled "show time". It was becoming way too common to have late people filtering in at the beginning of the film...so now I use trailers as a grace period. (Its helped with concession sales too.)

Why everyone wants to show up 5 minutes to show time is beyond me. I've always been 30 minutes early. Who wants to rush?
 

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Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 10-01-2019, 08:36 PM:
 
I can just see the board meeting now: "I know what will save the exhibition industry: more advertising!"
 

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Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 10-01-2019, 08:48 PM:
 
We can make the cinema more like viewers of TV love if we superimpose ads over the movies while they are running.

Little ads in the lower right hand corner of the picture would be pretty cool. Big paying advertisers could get a banner across the bottom of the screen.

Maybe some trivial questions and answers could break up the monotony of of the movie. The real movie lovers should like that. They could repeat several times throughout the "advertising presentation".


 

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Posted by Marcel Birgelen (Member # 6801) on 10-02-2019, 03:47 AM:
 
I didn't think I'd ever say that, but thank god for end-to-end encrypted DCPs. At the very least, it avoids anybody tampering with the content, like overlaying advertisements or cutting the end-credits short and putting them in a PIP frame while the full image shows some advertisements...

quote: Mike Blakesley

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I can't believe some idiotic exhibitors are willing to sprinkle ads in-between the trailers. That just dilutes the fun of the trailers and makes them obnoxious. It's just tacky.

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quote: Mike Blakesley

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AMC does a cool thing with trailers. They strip off the green screen at the beginning, which is largely useless anyway unless the film has actually been rated. Then they add a slide at the end that shows the movie's onesheet, the rating info and the opening date along with the AMC logo. I'm sure they create their own DCPs of the trailers... I wouldn't mind doing something similar but I don't know how to go about it.

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quote: Mike Blakesley

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Too bad there can't be ads that would pop up on people's phones while they're busy ignoring the theatre's preshow.

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quote: Frank Cox

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20 minutes? Sheesh. I usually play zero, one or two, and very occasionally three trailers but more than that seems to be getting past reasonable.

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