• by Wayne Friedman , December 13, 2018

TV had a “marketing impact” of 42% for a film’s box-office results when looking at 2016 data, according to a study from Neustar, a data-analytics company.

By comparison, overall digital media had a collective 14% share of marketing spend -- but delivered an effective 46% marketing impact of box-office revenue results.

Movie marketing for an individual wide-release theatrical movie now averages $27.4 million. This doesn’t include consumer product sponsorship deals, which can double this total.

Neustar says that 82% of a typical wide-release theatrical movie spend goes to TV; 6% for online display; 5% to online video (excluding Facebook); 4% for paid Facebook impressions; 3% out-of-home advertising; 2% for radio; and 1% for print advertising.

Some 44% of box-office sales are attributed to these paid-media efforts. Another 56% comes from earned movie efforts such as public relations, big sponsorship deals and movie talent.

Looking specifically at one digital channel -- Facebook -- Neustar says its share of an average film’s budget was 4%. But it was responsible for 20% of a movie studio’s box-office results -- 10 times more efficient than TV when it comes to a studio’s return on media investment.

Neustar says Facebook delivered a $7.91 return on ad spend (ROAS) for every dollar a studio spent on the social media network.

Neustar looked at 70 U.S. movies in 2016, covering eight different marketing channels -- TV, online display, online video, paid Facebook advertising, OOH, radio, print and paid search. They comprised a total $1.8 billion in marketing spend. The company looked at the 15 weeks leading up to a film’s release and the six weeks after the movie’s release.