• by Wayne Friedman , April 13, 2016

Releasing its report during the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas, the Cinema Advertising Council says ad revenue hit $716.4 million up from $631.9 million.

National/regional sales, which make up 77% of all cinema revenue, climbed 15.6% to $550.5 million in 2015 from $476.3 million in 2014. Local advertising -- 23% of all cinema revenue -- climbed 6.6% to $166.0 million in 2015 from $155.6 million in 2014.

The group says this furthers its strong position “in the premium video category.”

The Cinema Advertising Council (CAC) says leading categories were automotive, banking/finance, consumer electronics, government/education and media. Some 215 new national or regional brands advertised in cinema advertising in 2015, up from 121 new brands in 2014 and 93 new brands in 2013.

New sales categories included alcohol, colleges/universities, cosmetics, sporting goods stores and supermarkets.

Factors that helped drive the results, the association group said, were the consistency of 1.25 billion or more tickets sold for the last 22 years and overall 2015. box office revenue, 7.4% to $11 billion in North America.

CAC members include NCM, Screenvision, Spotlight Cinema Networks, Cinema Scene Marketing, Marcus Theaters Corp. and On The Wall.