National CineMedia (NCM) Acquiring Fantasy Movie League
May 17 2017 - 02:27PM
Business Wire
Matthew Berry to Remain Actively Involved,
Bringing Fantasy Gaming to the Movies
National CineMedia (NCM), America’s Movie Network, announced
today during its sixth annual upfront event in New York that it has
entered into an agreement to acquire Fantasy Movie League, the box
office predictions game co-created by ESPN's Senior Fantasy Analyst
Matthew Berry that combines the fierce competition of fantasy
sports with the insanely popular world of entertainment and
movies.
Co-creator Matthew Berry will remain actively involved in
Fantasy Movie League, which will be featured in NCM’s new Noovie
cinema pre-show and digital channels. NCM’s pre-show is currently
seen by 750 million moviegoers a year according to Nielsen on over
20,500 screens in over 1,600 theaters nationwide including AMC,
Cinemark, Regal Entertainment Group and over 45 other leading
theater circuits. Berry previously sold his TalentedMrRoto site to
ESPN in 2007, and remains ESPN's Senior Fantasy Analyst. Fantasy
Movie League co-founders Eric LaVanchy and Larry Tobin will join
NCM as part of the agreement.
“I’m really excited about the partnership with NCM, and I’m
thrilled to be bringing Fantasy Movie League to a larger audience
at the movies,” Berry said. “I’m addicted to all sorts of fantasy
gaming, but Fantasy Movie League has been a true labor of love for
me because I’ve always been a huge film fan. With a 20% rise in
fantasy sports over the past five years, the opportunities to
partner with NCM on the next chapter for Fantasy Movie League
couldn’t be better timed. We had over 100,000 players in our first
year without any advertising, just word of mouth, so I can’t wait
to see how many people join the game once they see it up on the big
screen in theaters nationwide.”
“Fantasy Movie League is an exciting part of NCM’s new Noovie
digital strategy to reach and engage movie audiences with great
content, commerce and gaming beyond the big screen,” said NCM
President Cliff Marks. “There are over 210 million people in
America who self-identify as movie fans – that’s more than the NFL,
NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and NASCAR combined! We look
forward to working with Matthew and the Fantasy Movie League team
to continue to expand fantasy gaming beyond sports and into
Hollywood.”
Fantasy Movie League (FML) is all about predicting the box
office. It’s free to play at www.fantasymovieleague.com or by
downloading the iOS app, and fans can compete from any device to
play in public leagues or set up their own private league with
co-workers, friends and family. Movie fans become virtual theater
owners as they pick which movies to show that weekend to earn the
most money. How much money those movies make at the real-life box
office is how much they make at your fantasy Cineplex! Fantasy
Movie League is easy to play, but hard to master. Whether it's
studying the upcoming film slate, reading FML’s advice columns,
watching FML’s advice shows, listening to the FML podcast, setting
their line-ups, checking on box office estimates or seeing the
final results every Monday, fans engage with the game all week
long. Winners can score great prizes every week, ranging from gift
certificates for movie tickets, to T-Shirts, to premiere tickets
and other special prizes from movie studio partners.
Fantasy Movie League attracts a younger, more gender-balanced
audience than traditional fantasy sports, with 60% of players age
35 or younger. Research also shows fantasy players are more brand
aware and brand loyal, with three times the engagement of a normal
fan.
About National CineMedia (NCM)
National CineMedia (NCM) is America's Movie Network. As the #1
Millennial weekend network in the U.S., NCM is the connector
between brands and movie audiences. According to Nielsen, more than
750 million moviegoers annually attend theaters that are currently
under contract to present NCM's pre-show in over 45 leading
national and regional theater circuits 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 over
20,500 screens in over 1,600 theaters in 187 Designated Market
Areas® (all 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 39.3% interest in, and is the managing member
of, National CineMedia, LLC. For more information, visit
www.ncm.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170517006153/en/
National CineMediaAmy Jane Finnerty,
212-931-8117amy.finnerty@ncm.com
National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI)
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