Cinema Fosters Positivity: What Does It Mean for Advertisers?

According to Hearst’s ‘Power of Positivity – 2023’ study, people are more open to brand messaging when they’re in a good mood, driving stronger recall and deeper engagement.

Cinema delivers this magic in spades. With its immersive storytelling and shared moments, cinema creates an emotional high that few other media can match. Research by DCM supports this, revealing that 78% of moviegoers say they’re in a great mood while watching a film, and 60% report feeling a genuine sense of connection at the movies. This presents a unique opportunity for brands to engage audiences organically and memorably, in a space where they disconnect from distractions and absorb both the movie and pre-show ads fully.

Cinemas are Still a New Frontier for Gulf Advertisers

“Cinema averages an 84 percent active attention to ads, versus TV, or even CTV [connected TV, meaning digital services such as Netflix], where that number is about 30 percent. That’s a difference of 26 seconds of a 30-second ad being actively watched in the cinema environment versus only about nine or 10 seconds of a 30-second ad being watched on linear or CTV.” – Jennifer Friedlander, senior vice-president, Screenvision

Cinema is popular in the GCC for many reasons. The region has a young population with high disposable income, for whom cinema is an attractive way to spend time out of the house, especially given the hot climate and paucity of outdoor entertainment options. In addition, developers in the region have been investing in high-tech and luxury cinema facilities in malls and entertainment hubs, not least in Saudi Arabia, where cinemas were banned for 35 years, until 2018.

How Cinema Advertising Boosts Every Key Brand Metric

Cinema advertising has long reigned as a powerful medium for enhancing key brand metrics, due to its ability to reach a deeply engaged audience in an immersive setting. A growing body of research consistently highlights its impact, from increasing ad awareness to influencing consumer behavior. Recently, two significant studies have reaffirmed the medium’s strength, showcasing its exceptional potential to elevate brand campaigns.

DCM UK's Cinema 101 research, provides compelling evidence of cinema advertising's impact on key brand metrics such as Awareness, Consideration, Recall, and Action.

Cinema Ads' Attention is Here to Stay – Study

Cinema leads in average seconds viewed. For a typical 30-second ad, cinema achieved 25.1 seconds viewed, surpassing other mediums such as linear live sports (17.7 seconds), premium AVOD (15.5 seconds), and YouTube (14.6 seconds). The study also demonstrated that cinema outperforms social and digital platforms, achieving 6x to 16x greater attention.

National CineMedia (NCM), in collaboration with Lumen, has conducted another Cinema Attention benchmarking study – Attention 2.0 – to assess the impact of demographics, category, creative content, and ad placement.