The #1 Weekend Network in America Positions
Cinema Comparable to TV’s Premium Prime and Live Events, with
Nielsen Posts and Demo Guarantees
Announces New Deals With Shazam, Maker
Studios, Ideas United and the GRAMMY Awards® at The Bigger Picture
Upfront Event in New York
NCM Media Networks, America's #1 weekend network and the largest
cinema network reaching moviegoers on-screen, on-site, online and
on mobile devices, presented its third annual The Bigger Picture
cinema upfront event in New York City today, unveiling a variety of
new ways for advertisers to easily make the big screen’s superior
content, reach and engagement part of an upfront video
strategy.
Hosted by comedian and impressionist Frank Caliendo, NCM’s
upfront event at the AMC Lincoln Square movie theater introduced
media buyers, planners and brand clients to the new FirstLook
pre-show with Shazam interactivity, digital, and social extensions;
as well as new NCM-exclusive cinema advertising options including
marketing partnerships with Maker Studios, Ideas United and The
GRAMMY Awards®.
“Advertisers are now living and operating in a video everywhere
marketplace where consumers have more control over how and when
they watch programming and if they watch ads,” said Cliff Marks,
president of sales and marketing with NCM Media Networks. “We hold
our event during TV upfront week because we believe that is our
rightful place as one of America’s highest rated video networks. It
is a great opportunity for us to showcase our world-class content
on our big screens and share the exciting new marketing partnership
opportunities that we will bring to brands in the upcoming
year.”
Mr. Marks continued, “NCM’s average unduplicated weekly audience
represents a Nielsen rating of 7.4 in adults 18 to 49 — that’s
massive when you compare it to the average of 1.6 for a broadcast
program or 0.9 for the top 20 cable networks in primetime. It puts
our weekly FirstLook pre-show squarely in the top 10 primetime
shows every week throughout the year. And if you look at our
biggest movie weeks, NCM’s FirstLook delivers ratings as big as the
biggest live events on TV, with no DVR.”
Marks concluded, “Our new 2014-15 upfront pricing strategy
reflects NCM’s repositioning to compete in the TV primetime and
live event marketplace. Just like TV, NCM will be offering Nielsen
Post Buy Analysis and demo guarantees to our upfront advertisers
beginning in Q4 2014, making it easier than ever to include cinema
as part of a video-agnostic upfront buy.”
NCM also introduced the concept of industry’s first Cinema
Audience Targeting Optimizer (CATO) system, expected to launch
in 2015, along with the integration of the Screenvision theaters
into the NCM network. Initially offered as a test to a limited
number of select upfront partners, CATO will give brands the
ability to create more effective media plans based on film genres
that will maximize consumer targetability and minimize waste.
New FirstLook Pre-Show with Shazam Interactivity, Digital and
Social Extensions
NCM gave their upfront event audience a first look at its new
FirstLook pre-show program, which is launching this weekend on
approximately 20,000 movie screens nationwide. The new updated look
and feel of the show was specially designed to provide advertisers
with more organic ways to integrate a brand into the show itself.
The innovative new flexible crystal graphics create individual
“stages” to showcase brand content within its own FirstLook show
environment — putting it center stage on the big screen.
The new FirstLook show will also be Shazamable, giving
advertisers a way to literally put a brand in the hands of
moviegoers using mobile devices. Shazam is one of the world’s
most popular apps that connects people to the world around them
through their mobile device, and is now working with NCM
exclusively as its U.S. cinema partner. This partnership will give
its 120+ million users in the U.S. the fastest, easiest way to
engage with the cinema pre-show experience. When a moviegoer
Shazams content in NCM’s FirstLook, they will be able to
identify, explore, purchase and share that content.
“We know that moviegoers love their smartphones so much so that
85% use them before they plan a movie night out to check show
times, watch a trailer, or buy a ticket,” said Dave Kupiec,
executive vice president of sales and marketing with NCM Media
Networks. “We’ve grown our NCM Digital online and mobile networks
to connect the dots with moviegoers, and now we can give our
audiences a true connected-screen experience with Shazam, and even
let them extend their movie experience after they leave the
theater. We chose Shazam to power FirstLook’s interactivity
because it delivers a beautiful and entertaining mobile experience
in a magical and effortless way, and reaches more users than nearly
every other mobile app.”
As part of the new FirstLook rollout, NCM is launching digital
and social extensions of the show beyond the big screen:
- FirstLook5, a “snackable”
5-minute digital video version of FirstLook with over 2 million
views a week, will also be updated with the new FirstLook design,
delivering the best behind-the-scenes entertainment content right
to moviegoers’ computers, tablets and smartphones.
- To extend the movie experience beyond
the theater environment, NCM introduced
FirstLookYou!, a new user-generated social video
platform that captures the authentic reactions of movie fans to the
latest films. Using special FirstLookYou! booths in select theater
lobbies, moviegoers will be able to give their own personal
20-second video review of the movie they’ve just seen, and then
share across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
“If you think about it, movies are the ‘original social media’ —
not just the moviegoing experience itself, but the ‘water cooler’
effect that lasts long after the credits have rolled,” noted Steve
Ochs, NCM’s senior vice president of marketing. “Today, especially
for the coveted millennials demographic, being ‘in the know’ about
the latest movies is a critical form of social currency. In fact,
to the surprise of many who view the millennial generation as
primarily digital cord-cutters, over 50% of NCM’s audience is
millennial — they’re going to the movies more than ever!”
NCM also announced several entertainment marketing
partnerships that offer new ways for advertisers to create their
own unique branded content to reach this coveted movie
audience:
- Maker Studios — Entertainment is
changing, and the millennial audience is living a mobile, social,
on-demand life. Maker Studios, a next-generation media and
technology company, is the world's leading producer and distributor
of online content to this diverse, tech-savvy group, and NCM has
entered into an exclusive relationship with Maker to bring its top
digital stars and premium programming to movie theaters.
- Ideas United — Ideas
United creates unforgettable content, promotions and events
for premier brands around the globe, and NCM has partnered with
them to help advertisers tap emerging filmmakers to produce
creative and engaging branded entertainment content for the big
screen.
- The GRAMMY Awards® — Music is an
integral part of the movies, and NCM and the GRAMMY Awards, the
preeminent peer-recognized award for musical excellence and the
most credible brand in music, are now working together to give
unprecedented access to the music and artists who inspire the
movies.
A Record Year at the Movies
NCM enters the 2014-15 upfront season building on two record
years of audience growth, as the movies continue to deliver
Hollywood’s best content in a unique environment that eliminates
the fragmentation inherent in other media. Experts are calling 2015
the perfect storm, and Matt Bean, editor of Entertainment Weekly,
gave NCM’s upfront audience an exclusive look at the potential
blockbusters coming to a theater near you.
“Within this Upfront window, starting in Q4 this year through
next summer, we are anticipating the biggest slate of movies to
ever be released in such tight windows,” noted Bean. “It will no
doubt be an incredible year at the movies!”
Cliff Marks concluded, “The industry should think of cinema and
NCM Media Networks as the most premium video available — with the
biggest screen, captive audience, national reach, blockbuster
entertainment programming, and no way to skip the ads. You can now
buy us like TV, but our unique theater environment makes us bigger
and better than any other medium. We’re here to make sure that
brands see the bigger picture with cinema.”
About National CineMedia
(NCM)
National CineMedia (NCM) operates NCM Media Networks, the #1
weekend network in America and the largest cinema advertising
network reaching moviegoers on-screen, on-site, online and on
mobile devices. NCM offers captivating entertainment content,
national reach and unparalleled audience engagement across its
digital in-theater network of over 19,800 screens (100% percent
digital) in over 1,500 theaters in 183 Designated Market Areas® (49
of the top 50). During 2013, approximately 710 million moviegoers
attended theaters that exclusively present NCM’s FirstLook pre-show
program, including AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: AMC), Cinemark
Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK), Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC),
and 40 other leading regional theater circuit affiliates. National
CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCMI) owns a 45.8% interest in and is the
managing member of National CineMedia LLC. For more information,
visit www.ncm.com. (NCMI-A)
Twitter: @NCMNews, #NCMUpfront
The Bigger Picture upfront event photos and other NCM Media
Networks artwork is available at https://www.ncm.com/art.
NCM Media NetworksAmy Jane Finnerty,
212-931-8117amy.finnerty@ncm.comorLeslie Obletz,
212-931-8119leslie.obletz@ncm.com
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