Movie audiences taking their seats for the summer blockbuster season are in for a surprise even before the opening scenes roll. Advertisers at some theaters are foregoing standard ad fare for interactive games on the screen that engage the entire audience.
To find out how to get your client’s message incorporated into an interactive game for movie audiences, read on.
This is one in a Media Life series on buying the new out-of-home venues. They appear weekly.
Fast Facts
What
Interactive games that engage viewers in a brand are played on movie theater screens.
Who
National CineMedia, headquartered in Centennial, Colo.
How it works
Interactive ad games are projected on the big screen in movie theaters.
Movie theater audiences move together to form a human joystick that controls the interactive gaming elements on the big screen. For example, in a game sponsored by Volvo, the audience leans right or left to steer an image of a car through an obstacle course.
CineMedia uses Brand Experience Lab’s AudienceGames program to create the games. The program is dubbed Advergame.
The games are part of the pre-show programming.
A 90-second game is standard, but an Advergame can last up to two and a half minutes, and that includes a portion where the audience is instructed in how to play the game.
The advertiser can also choose to change the game for different audiences.
Markets
The program is rolling out on 750 screens in 50 theaters in the top 20 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas-Ft. Worth, San Francisco, Boston, Atlanta, Houston, Detroit and Washington, D.C.
How it is measured
Measurement is based on the number of ticket sales.
Research
According to data supplied by Brand Experience Lab’s CEO Barry Grieff and conducted jointly with SS+K:
-71 percent of audience members reported unaided recall of MSNBC as the game sponsor.
-78 percent reported playing the game.
-93 percent said they want more games in cinemas.
-75 percent said they were more likely to use the brand after playing the game.
-86 percent said they prefer a game to an ad.
Additionally, according to a January 2008 Entertainment Choices poll:
-50 percent of moviegoers go out to eat after they leave the theater.
-30 percent go shopping after the movie ends.
What product categories do well
Automobiles, entertainment, gaming, computer hardware and software, military, financial, retail, consumer packaged goods, beverages and quick service restaurants are top categories.
Demographics
According to a Nielsen study, National CineMedia movie audiences are 51 percent female, and over half are between 12 and 34 years old, with 11.6 percent at 2-11, 15.9 percent at 12-17, 34.6 percent at 18-34, 25.3 percent at 35-54 and 12.6 percent at 55 and older.
Race breakdown is 80 percent Caucasian, 6 percent African American, 6 percent Asian American and 10 percent other. Median household income is $68,365, which is 31 percent higher than the national average.
Attendance by movie rating was 50 percent PG-13, 24.5 percent PG, 19.9 percent R and 5.8 percent G.
Making the buy
Lead time is three months. Cost for a 90-second program ranges from $750,000 to $800,000 for a four-week flight.
Advertisers buy the network.
Who’s already on big screen interactive ads
MSNBC launched the program in the U.S. Volvo ads launched it in the U.K.
What they’re saying
“It’s totally unique for the advertiser. The games are custom-created for each client. It’s interactive gaming with the brand as the star of the game. The brand is the hero.” – National CineMedia president of sales Cliff Marks
Web site info
National CineMedia at http://www.ncm.com
