NCM Rebrands, Introduces E!’s Maria Menounos
as the New Face of FirstLook
Upfront Event Highlights NCM as the Top
Millennial Growth Network and Features Enhanced Moviegoer Targeting
Before, During and After the Movie
National CineMedia (NCM) presented its fourth annual upfront
event at the AMC Lincoln Square theater in New York today, showing
advertisers why it truly is America’s Movie Network.
Maria Menounos will be the new face of
America's Movie Network as the host of NCM's FirstLook pre-show
program, seen by over 700 million moviegoers a year. (Photo:
Business Wire)
NCM – America’s Movie Network
NCM kicked off its presentation with some branding of its own,
launching a new look and feel for the largest cinema advertising
network in the U.S. Designed by NCM’s internal creative agency, the
company’s new logo calls to mind the projected beam of light that
delivers the magic of the movies onto the big screen, while the new
positioning of NCM as America’s Movie Network reflects the
company’s distinctive role in connecting brands with movies that
shape our culture and the national conversation.
Cliff Marks, NCM’s President of Sales and Marketing, explained,
“Movies drive the social conversation — they are woven into the
fabric of our culture. As we looked more closely at the video
universe in which we compete and the value we offer to our
advertising partners, we asked ourselves, ‘Who are we? What is
unique about the NCM value proposition to advertisers?’ And it
became clear that NCM is America’s Movie Network — we’re one of the
biggest players in the video advertising marketplace, we have the
best content and engagement in the world, we are the top growth
network for the Millennial audience, and we’re the #1 weekend
network in the country. And, of course, everyone loves the movies,
so today we plant our flag and claim our rightful place as
America’s Movie Network.”
Marks also announced that E! host Maria Menounos has
signed an agreement to be the new face of America’s Movie Network
as the host of NCM’s FirstLook pre-show program, which reaches over
700 million moviegoers annually across a network of 21,000 screens
covering 97% of all TV households. “With Maria Menounos we have one
of America’s premier hosts and entertainment personalities, someone
who has done everything from star in movies to interview
presidents,” Marks said.
Menounos then took the stage, sharing that, “Movies helped me to
learn English growing up. They also were the healthiest escape and
source of inspiration and remain so to this day. To be part of
America’s greatest modern art form in theaters daily with NCM’s
FirstLook is literally a dream come true.” Menounos, and her
partner, producer Keven Undergaro, co-founders of AfterbuzzTV.com,
the largest online broadcast network that produces “after-shows”
for favorite TV shows and plays to a weekly world audience of 23
million, will also create content for NCM. She continued, “NCM is
the premier platform in this unique and exciting space. I'm
thrilled to host and produce content that will reach moviegoers all
across America and hope it will enhance the overall movie
experience. We are very much looking forward to working with Cliff
and his amazing team.” First up will be Movie Minute
segments, offering brands a new way to engage moviegoers across all
of the platforms where they view movie content — on-screen, online
and on mobile devices.
A Big Year At The Movies
Menounos then gave the audience an insider’s look at what is
coming up in the 2015-16 movie season, one which many industry
experts are predicting could be the biggest in movie box office
history. So far this year, hits like Fifty Shades of Grey, Furious
7 and Avengers: Age of Ultron have resulted in record crowds and
sold-out inventory for NCM. And with upcoming titles including
Black Mass, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, The Peanuts Movie,
Jurassic World, Spectre, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and
everything in between, she expects this to be a fabulous year at
the movies.
Cinema Targetability & Measurement
Moving from movies to moviegoers, NCM’s Executive Vice President
and Chief Revenue Officer, Bennett Fogel, got down to business,
introducing a number of new ways to target NCM’s highly desirable,
young and engaged audience. NCM’s Cinema Audience Targeting
Optimizer (CATO) system, which has been in development for over
a year and will be tested this year with select clients and made
available across NCM’s entire on-screen inventory in early 2016.
The CATO system will enable brands to create media schedules based
on movie genres that more effectively deliver a target audience for
maximum impact and efficiency. In addition, CATO will enable NCM to
offer a number of new specialty networks to reach specific
multicultural and consumer groups, including an NCM Hispanic
network and an NCM High Income network.
But he was quick to point out that targeting the NCM moviegoer
shouldn’t be confined to just the theater, which is why NCM has
engaged Rocket Fuel’s Audience Accelerator to power
Cinema Accelerator, a new product that utilizes first-party
data including movie ticket purchase data, geo-local mobile
audiences, cross-device delivery and audience modeling to
accurately reach NCM moviegoers as they extend their movie-going
experience. It gives NCM Digital the ability to connect the dots
from awareness to purchase with proprietary targeting capabilities
and optimization to reach in-theater audiences with online and
mobile activations. Marketers can now go beyond the big screen in a
whole new way to create full-funnel marketing programs that
surround the entertainment experience, increasing both recall and
frequency. Encompassing NCM’s more than 700 million moviegoers a
year, Cinema Accelerator has the largest data set in the industry
for entertainment audiences and is backed by Nielsen and comScore
VCE audience guarantees.
Bennett Fogel noted, “We set out a few years back to reposition
NCM as an easy alternative to capture high-quality impressions and
include them in the premium video planning process. We converted
our audience delivery to Nielsen ratings based on the TV universe,
changed our pricing model to compete with premium prime and live
event programming and offered standard upfront terms and options.
In last year’s upfront, against the backdrop of rapidly
accelerating audience fragmentation and commercial avoidance, NCM’s
new approach resulted in the doubling of our upfront commitments
and the completion of our transition into a mainstream upfront
participant. In fact, we had a strong first quarter and are
tracking to have a record second quarter with our national
inventory nearly sold out!” He continued, “This year, to further
enhance and standardize our measurement and ROI metrics, all of our
upfront partners will not only receive demographic guarantees
directly posted by Nielsen, but will also receive engagement posts
conducted by Nielsen Brand Effect. Every post analysis will not
only include target audience delivery, but will now also include
measurement of brand recall, message recall and likeability to
quantify the impact of an ad in NCM’s FirstLook versus TV, and the
combination of the two which has proven to provide maximum
impact.”
After giving NCM’s upfront audience a never-before-seen sneak
peak at some of the hottest films that are expected to drive the
industry box office to record levels for the upcoming year, Cliff
Marks concluded, “No one knows moviegoers like NCM. And as
America’s Movie Network, we know how to connect brands with what
America will be talking about – this Friday, next week, next month,
next quarter and next year. As the #1 weekend network in the
country, NCM is delivering the best entertainment content, national
reach and unparalleled audience engagement across our digital
in-theater network. You can count on America’s Movie Network to
always bring you new ideas to capture the power of the movies.”
About National CineMedia
(NCM)
National CineMedia (NCM) is America’s Movie Network. As the #1
weekend network in the U.S., NCM helps brands get in front of the
movies that shape the national conversation. More than 700 million
moviegoers a year enjoy NCM’s FirstLook pre-show in nearly 50
leading national and regional theater circuit affiliates including
AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:AMC), Cinemark Holdings, Inc.
(NYSE:CNK) and Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC). NCM’s cinema
advertising network offers broad reach and unparalleled audience
engagement with approximately 20,100 screens in approximately 1,600
theaters in 183 Designated Market Areas® (49 of the top 50). NCM
Digital goes beyond the big screen, extending in-theater campaigns
into online and mobile marketing programs to reach entertainment
audiences. National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) owns a 45.1%
interest in, and is the managing member of National CineMedia, LLC.
For more information, visit www.ncm.com. (NCMI-A)
To download NCM’s new logo and other images/photos from NCM’s
upfront event, click here.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:
http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20150513005949/en/
National CineMedia (NCM)Amy Jane Finnerty,
212-931-8117amy.finnerty@ncm.comorLeslie Obletz,
212-931-8119leslie.obletz@ncm.com
National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024