• by John Gaffney , May 13, 2003

A new Arbitron survey suggests that your ad oughta be in pictures.

"American cinema audiences regard advertising before movies as more interesting than ads seen on television and more acceptable than ads on the internet," states the study, which claims 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.

"Worldwide, nearly a billion dollars is spent in cinema advertising, little of it in the United States," said Pierre Bouvard, president, New Ventures, Arbitron Inc. "Our research indicates cinema audiences are open to advertising, and represent a large and highly attractive target audience for advertisers. The U.S. cinema advertising market is poised for growth."

The research began in July 2002 and subsequent surveys were conducted in December 2002, and January and April 2003. Audience trends for each survey were compiled using frequency of attendance, including "last week," "last month" and "last three months." It found that moviegoers arrive at the theater early and are aware of their "enhanced" media environment. Adults who frequent the theater monthly tend to arrive, on average, 19 minutes early.

"This allows ample time for a variety of media to reach consumers including tickets, posters, concessions, music and video programming in the lobby and the auditorium as well as high-tech interactive kiosks that allow consumers to research films and purchase tickets," according to the study.

Eighty-six percent of "last-month" moviegoers (an average of the four surveys), are aware of advertising seen before the movie. Forty percent of Americans, age 12 and older, went to the movies in the past month, during the Holiday 2002 movie season. Arbitron claims the core audience that is highly educated, active and is much more likely to have a household income of above $75,000.

Last-month cinema audiences rely less on television, radio and newspapers for advertising and are more frequent users of internet and outdoor media. Against the national average, last-month moviegoers are 29 percent more likely to be heavy internet users and nine percent more likely to be heavy users of Outdoor media.