• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, January 12, 2007

One of the nation's leading pre-show in-theater movie advertisers, National CineMedia, is preparing an initial public offering (IPO) of 38 million shares at a projected price of $18-20, the company announced Thursday. Listing on the NASDAQ under the "NCMI," the company hopes to rake in about $674 million, a large portion of which will go toward a $686.3 million debt owed to its founding members, AMC Theatres and Regal Entertainment Group--two of the largest movie-theater owners in America.

Overall, cinema advertising has boomed in recent years. The most recent figures--from 2005--have revenue surging 20.6 percent to almost $528 million from about $438 million in 2004, according to a report released by the Cinema Advertising Council (CAC). The 2005 results, tabulated by Miller, Kaplan, Arase and Co., follow several years of sustained double-digit growth--and the industry hopes for similar growth in 2006 and 2007, according to Bob Martin, president of the CAC.

Big brands using cinema advertising in 2005 included American Express, the Army National Guard, Hyundai, Nike, Toyota, Unilever, Verizon, Wal-Mart, and X-Box. According to Cliff Marks, president of National CineMedia: "Retail has also been a big one, with companies like Radio Shack and Wal-Mart really getting serious now. We're also seeing wireless companies like Verizon and Cingular using us more and more."

Marks also boasted of NCM's satellite delivery system, recalling: "We've invested about $150 million to digitize." According to Marks, that translates into an ability to "narrowcast" ad content for different audiences: "That allows us to target specific films or ratings genres, in specific markets, for specific brands, using a digital satellite feed." Marks noted that "NCM has 11,000 digital screens, and over 90 percent digital coverage of our audiences. "It's also a boon to advertisers running "just-in-time" creative programs: "It allows us to change creative on a weekly basis, which is great for people who have tight production deadlines."