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Author Topic: Tell me about your revenue stream from commercials :-) Asbjorn Rossau Film Handler Posts: 14 From: Elsinore, Zealand, Denmark Registered: Sep 2019 posted 09-21-2019 07:06 AM                        Hello I'm really looking forward to talking to some of you out there in the cinemas in the hope that some of you will reply. The question is: What can you tell me, and everybody else, about what kind of marketing show and technical setup you have at your cinema, region or country? The reason why I ask is to get an overview of the commercial-content-type, the revenue of showing these and the process of getting it to the cinema screen. ------------------------------------- I have worked at five different cinemas in Denmark. In Denmark, only two cinema ad agencies exist, DRF and Fs2. My five workplaces: 1. Big IMAX Dome cinemas that did not show commercials before the movie 2. The biggest Danish cinema chain that has it's own ad agency (DRF) and distribution system. In total this ad agency sells and shows commercials in 40 cinemas. Their distribute commercials on DCP's. I think they have around 50% of sold tickets in Denmark. They focus on both local and national commercials, with about 50/50 split. 3. Medium-sized independent cinemas with 5 screens. They use the secondary ad agency (Fs2), used by roughly 77 cinemas in Denmark. The distribution is done by sending a video.mp4 commercial-reel to a windows computer running LiveConnect, connected to the projector with an HDMI cable. Cues for "Loop", "Play" and "PAUSE" are communicated between TMS and LiveConnect. They focus on both local and national commercials, with about 50/50 split, but the main revenue from local commercials. 4. A small cinema with 2 screens, that also uses Fs2. They have a lot of cultural events in and around the cinema, that they try to promote on the big screen, by creating a homemade slideshow, shown for 15 minutes while the audience walks into the cinema. 5. An even smaller cinema with only 1 screen. They create all their commercials themselves in a powerpoint show, converted to video, converted to DCP with openDCP. They update ones a month. Their main purpose to promote local business is to reward them as a sponsor of the community cinema. Around 54 cinemas in Denmark sell and create their own commercial reels  |  IP: Logged Michael Putlack Expert Film Handler Posts: 187 From: Fort Collins, Colorado Registered: Sep 2011 posted 10-08-2019 09:15 PM                        We're a three screen theatre and we sell our slideshow ad space and "video" ads that screen for up to two minutes after showtime. Last year we made just over $30,000 USD on these ads. Definitely worth your while if you're willing to put in the effort.  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 10-10-2019 05:24 PM                     There have been some dedicated advertising systems using generic computer hardware (already back in 35mm times, then using dedicated presentation projectors), but in general, all advertising in germany is now done in DCP format. That is, nationwide advertising. We ourselves, in addition to DCP ad spots, have a rather long admission time window (about 30min), during which we loop a powerpoint presentation (actually running it second screen style live from PowerPoint). These a still slides, in part carrying our own announcements and upcoming events, but also local ads. We earn quite a bit of money with them (much more than with live video/DCP advertising), mainly because they can be created by local businesses with very little effort, and so the entry barrier is low - people come to our cinema, see these simple ads booked by their local co-businesses, and ask us how to get the same for their business. They would never consider inquiring for moving image/live video ads. We can also offer them at comparably low cost, as there is no booking agency involved, and our effort to emply them is minimal. Cashing the money is the largest part here. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Asbjorn Rossau Film Handler Posts: 14 From: Elsinore, Zealand, Denmark Registered: Sep 2019 posted 10-11-2019 04:48 AM                        Hey Michael Putlack and Carsten Kurz This is really exciting to hear about these two good examples of DO_IT_YOURSELF ad-creation so that you guys are able to cash in a larger cunck of money, instead of having an expensive third-party-agency as the middleman. Do you know any other Cinemas who does it themself as well? /Asbjørn  |  IP: Logged Dave Macaulay Film God Posts: 2321 From: Toronto, Canada Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-11-2019 07:12 AM                     I work with quite a few independents in smaller towns that do their own ads. Some use PP on a PC into DVI or HDMI. A few make DCPs - one bought Dolby Cineasset and makes them up on a Mac, the others use DCP-o-matic or similar freeware. I don't know what their revenue is like, must be worthwhile to justify investing in a dedicated decent Mac and Cineasset. They all include some sort of "Want your ad here? Contact us" slide or clip in the preshow. Chains pretty much as described. Cineplex has a media group that makes preshows, they run on a dedicated PC at each screen through alternative content inputs. Preshows are classified for film ratings, upload preshows weekly via internet, and the preshow system pulls schedules and ratings from the boxoffice system... generally working fine with no site staff involvement. Landmark Canada does something much the same. Quebec is, as always, different. I don't know of a PQ chain that does what Cineplex or Landmark do but independents use PowerPoint or DCP for self-generated preshows and ads.  |  IP: Logged Rick Cohen Expert Film Handler Posts: 102 From: Amherst, New York Registered: Feb 2011 posted 10-11-2019 03:48 PM                        We began offering on-screen advertising in 2018. We are a seasonal business, being an outdoor drive-in, so all of our contracts cover all five screens for the full season, which for us runs April through November. We limit the on-screen advertising to 3 minutes, and offer a choice of either a 15 second commercial for $2,000 for the full season, or a 30 second commercial for $3,000 for the full season. Our advertisers include a car dealership, a pizza shop, a health care insurance provider, a home nursing provider, a regional bank, a BBQ chicken take-out place, and a marina restaurant. All of our advertisers pay for the full season upfront at the beginning of the season. Once they provide the commercial, we do the DCP conversion using DCP-o-matic, and insert the file into our nightly program. Minimal effort from start to finish. We choose mostly local, family oriented businesses. Most of our advertisers from 2018 renewed for 2019, so we only needed to recruit two new advertisers, which we already had a waiting list for. We could probably increase the number of ads, but we feel 3 minutes is enough, and any additional ads would upset the audience, and dilute the value of the other ads. Over the last two years since we began showing ads, we haven't had any complaints or pushback from patrons.  |  IP: Logged Sarah Treichel Film Handler Posts: 12 From: Fort Kent, ME USA Registered: Apr 2019 posted 10-16-2019 12:27 AM                     This is a great topic! We're thinking of doing this for local businesses, basically just slides because you don't have to worry about sound levels and they don't violate any MLAs. We have no idea how much to charge for this. Would anyone who is doing slide shows like to share their pricing?  |  IP: Logged Asbjorn Rossau Film Handler Posts: 14 From: Elsinore, Zealand, Denmark Registered: Sep 2019 posted 10-17-2019 04:36 AM                        Hey Sarah I think the prices used by Rick Cohen "15 second commercial for $2,000 for the full season, or a 30 second commercial for $3,000 for the full season" would be a good starting point. After testing this price point for a while you will get a feel for the sensitivity among your potential local advertisers and then adjust accordingly. What is MLA? ---- Hey Dave A really interesting overall picture of Canadas various setups. Thanks for sharing. Coming from Europa I don't understand what you mean by Quebec being different when speaking about Cinema Business. Are there some specific cultural differences or different approaches to how they structure the composition of pre-shows? The reason why I'm asking is that I'm building an online platform for creating pre-show content in DCP format, and my wish is to make it as useful for as many cinemas worldwide. So inputs are appreciated:-) Best regards Asbjørn  |  IP: Logged Carsten Kurz Film God Posts: 4340 From: Cologne, NRW, Germany Registered: Aug 2009 posted 10-17-2019 05:05 AM                     We're taking about 50US$ per month for a 15s slide during our admission, single screen, single show per day. Usually, clients book 6 months or a year ahead. That is comparably low, but we do have many bookings and it 'ads up'. Not much work involved, we get these slides in power point or common image formats by mail, do a quick visual check, copy/paste them into the show, and that's it. Some clients want more screen time, so they book two adjacent slides. When we play something during the preshow block, that is, mixed with ads or trailers, it goes up to e.g. 200US$ per month. - Carsten  |  IP: Logged Brent Barnhart Film Handler Posts: 12 From: Terre Haute, IN USA Registered: Jan 2018 posted 10-17-2019 08:53 AM                        MLA = Master License Agreement Studio contracts.  |  IP: Logged Geoff Jones Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 579 From: Broomfield, CO, USA Registered: Feb 2006 posted 10-21-2019 09:30 AM                        I'm curious to know if the widespread adoption of reserved seating advertisers will lead to reduced revenues for pre-show ads. I used to get to the theater early to be sure I got the seat I wanted. Now that my seat is reserved ahead of time, I try to show up a minute or two before the show starts so that I don't have to sit through the ads. If enough people start doing this, won't advertisers realize their ads aren't being seen and spend their dollars somewhere else?  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 10-21-2019 02:29 PM                     Why do you think they added a convenience charge or seat-reservation charge to your ticket?* Another trick: Advertisements now simply start at the officially indicated time the show starts or just a handful of minutes before. * Your theater may be the exception.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 10-21-2019 03:56 PM                        It hasn't happened too often but in the past few years I have had a few occasions where people arrive about 20 minutes after the show has started. When I sell them their tickets I say, "The show actually started twenty minutes ago." They say, "But what time did the movie start?" When I say "Twenty minutes ago" they're surprised. I guess they're used to going to theatres where there's twenty minutes of advertising before the start of the show.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-21-2019 05:00 PM                        Our start time for Fri & Sat has traditionally been 7:00 and 9:00, but since shows are getting longer, most recent weeks we've been doing one show at 7:30. We get people showing up at 8:05 saying "It probably hasn't started yet, right?" And I say it started at 7:30, and they say "but you probably have a half hour of previews, right? And I say we ran four previews for a total of 10 minutes.  |  IP: Logged Asbjorn Rossau Film Handler Posts: 14 From: Elsinore, Zealand, Denmark Registered: Sep 2019 posted 10-22-2019 01:08 AM                        I sense that it is very normal among the smaller and medium-sized Cinemas in the states, to not show advertisements at all. Is this common? Do any of you create and display promotion on the big screen, regarding your in-house events? In Denmark almost everybody have advertisment and promotion for local events, for about 12 minutes.  |  IP: Logged

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