Thanks to AdJab for the heads-up on this article!
You can be sure that the lantern-jawed stars and the tear-stained starlets, the wannabes and old movie moguls, who attend this weekend's Oscar ceremony will not have to endure the authentic cinema experience.Cinema adverts are often more entertaining than other ads
They will not be forced to sit through aeons of adverts before the envelopes are ripped open.
In this, the Oscars are unlike the business of going to the cinema in America.
Movie-goers are captive to commercials because no start time for the film is announced, only a start time for the "programme".
And there does seem to be what might be called "ad creep".
According to the Cinema Advertising Council, $356m was spent on cinema ads in 2003, an increase of nearly 40% on the year before and way above the growth rates in the rest of the advertising industry.
Tinseltown rebellion
In truth, cinema-goers are divided on the practice.
There are those of us who see cinema advertising as a delightful hors d'oeuvre to the main feast - and the irritated rest who feel they're being force fed junk when they paid good money for classy cinema.
They came for caviar but they were forced to eat a bag of chips first.
In some American cities, there are even signs of rebellion.
In New York, people have started to shout at the screen.
In Chicago, some irritated movie-goers tried to get a court to rule that the start time of films should be advertised. The judge gave them short shrift.
In Connecticut, a state legislator is trying to get the law changed to make cinema owners give accurate information about start times.
There's been a legal claim against one of the cinema chains for "unannounced and unwarranted advertisements", seeking compensation for up to $75 per moviegoer. It has not got very far.
A pressure group has been set up.
The Captive Motion Picture Audience of America offers special cut-out-and-use signs on its website saying: "RESERVED: this patron is avoiding cinema advertising and will return when the feature begins".
Entertaining adverts
But where there is loathing, there is often also love. Indeed, advertisers love the cinema as a medium.
The commercials can be very finely targeted at young or old or different income groups according to the film they accompany. The audience is captive and relatively affluent.
As one of the advertising companies, Entertainment Media, puts it: "The ads are a balance of entertainment and advertising messages to ensure moviegoers' attention. We offer selective demographic targeting.
An advertisement may be placed locally, regionally or nationally. It may be presented to a neighbourhood, city, region, state or the entire country.
On-Screen advertising is an effective and proven means for promoting a business".
And the Entertainment Media pitch continues: "Your advertisement will be viewed by a captive, seated audience that is interested in the On-Screen Entertainment program.
"Moviegoers' full attention will be focused on your advertisement.
"Moviegoers' have 3 Times the Next-Day Recall when compared to "Day-After TV viewer recall!"
Research done by Arbitron, which follows trends in the media, indicates that people view cinema adverts more favourably than they do television advertising.
As the company puts it: "The Arbitron Cinema Study: Appointment Viewing by Young, Affluent, Captive Audiences, reveals that over two-thirds of moviegoers and seven out of every 10 Young Adults, age 12-24, said they did not mind the advertising that plays before the movie begins".
Free nachos?
Which isn't to quite say that people like adverts at the cinema.
But, personally, I do like them. They divert your attention and you can use them to play a quiz game with your friends alongside you.
When each advert starts, the person who correctly shouts out the name of the product being pushed first gets a point.
When the twenty minute advertising session ends, the person with the lowest number of points gets to buy the nachos.
Link: BBC NEWS | Business | The love and loathing of cinema ads.
Link: AdJab.
Previous links to this topic:
Link: Experience Manifesto: NYC: No, Really, What Time Is the Movie?.
Link: Experience Manifesto: The Great Advertising Hunt Continues.