Amusement parks have seen attendance gradually grow for decades, and while the recession has hurt the finances of some amusement park operators, notably Six Flags, attendance at theme parks this summer is strong.

With some 341 million people visiting amusement parks each year, placing ads inside these parks is increasingly attractive to advertisers. They reach consumers who have cash in their pockets and who tend to spend long hours and even days taking in rides and wandering about.

Almost every amusement park sells sponsorships to companies like Pepsi and Toyota, with the advertiser getting naming rights on attractions and throughout the parks.

Traditional out-of-home advertising like posters is also offered by many amusement parks, including digital TV networks.

To find out how to get your client’s message seen at amusement parks, read on.

This is one in a Media Life series on buying out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.

Fast Facts

What
Advertising at amusement parks, including sponsorships, posters, billboards and digital TV.

How it works
Almost all amusement parks, from Disney World in Florida to Six Flags parks and regional amusement parks, offer multiyear, often multimillion dollar sponsorships. These typically include naming rights on rides, attractions and ads in parking lots and throughout the parks.

Sponsors may also offer samples of their beverages, food and other products, and they may choose to put products on display in areas with heavy foot traffic, such as cars.

Often media buyers and advertisers work directly with the amusement parks and in-house divisions like the Six Flags Media Networks to secure sponsorships and to place ads in parks, from signage to 45-inch screens that guests see as they’re waiting in line for a ride and other options.

Markets
There are 400 amusement parks around the country, usually located within driving distance of major metropolitan areas, such as Great Adventure in New Jersey, close to New York and Philadelphia.

Other parks are major stand-alone tourist destinations that attract visitors from around the country and world, such as the Disney and Universal amusement parks in California and Florida.

Numbers
Attendance at theme parks has been gradually trending up most years for the past few decades. In 2007, 341 million people went to an amusement park, spending $12 billion, according to the latest findings from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions.

How it is measured
Almost every amusement park conducts its own research on how many people attend the park, usually working through a third-party research firm.

But many syndicated research studies, such as Scarborough and MRI, also track attendance at theme parks, with demographic profiles and information on the types of products theme park visitors buy and the media they use.

What product categories do well
Major consumer brands and services geared to families and teenagers are the most common advertisers at amusement parks.

Demographics
The vast majority of visitors to theme parks are families, but another key demographic is young adults.

Making the buy
Knott’s Berry Farm does not offer traditional ads but does offer long-term sponsorships.

Matrix Media Services is an out-of-home agency that handles all aspects of OOH media buys.

Revolution Display Systems sells what it calls its RevMini ad display system, which can scroll up to 24 ads.

Six Flags Media Networks offers several types of in-park advertising for Six Flags’ parks, including TV displays and signage.

Submedia World creates outdoor ads for amusement parks, although currently mostly in international markets.

Walt Disney offers sponsorship packages to advertisers. Most are handled in house.

Who’s already advertising at amusement parks
Chrysler just this week renewed its in-park sponsorship at 10 Six Flags parks. Toyota has advertising throughout Knott’s Berry Farm in Southern California. Georgia-Pacific is one sponsor prominently on display at Disney amusement parks.

What they’re saying
“One of the great things with these signs is that they tend to attract people’s attention. People are really engaged with the media,” says Rikk Villa, president of Revolution Display Systems.

Web site info
Knott’s Berry Farm
http://www.knotts.com

Matrix Media Services
http://www.matrixmediaservices.com/index.php

Revolution Display Systems
http://www.revpower.com

Six Flags Media Networks
http://www.sixflags.com/national/footerNav/news_medianetwork.aspx

Submedia World
http://www.submediaworld.com/index.php

Walt Disney
http://home.disney.go.com/parks