Screenvision Aligns Buying Process With TV Model
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Screenvision, one of the U.S. major national cinema advertising companies, announced what company management says is a first for the cinema advertising industry: a true alignment of the buying process with TV, including a commitment to offer demo guarantees, supported by Nielsen‘s Cinema Audience Reports, to national advertisers participating in the 2013 Upfronts.
The announcement was made last week at Screenvision’s first-ever Upfront presentation, themed ‘Front and Center’, before more than 600 advertising and media executives at New York’s Ziegfeld Theatre.
“The media industry is at an inflection point, as advertisers are aggressively seeking out audience replacements to mitigate the significant ratings decline across broadcast and cable TV,” said Travis Reid, CEO, Screenvision. “In contrast, moviegoing attendance has been very consistent over time, and, in fact, increased 6% in 2012 to 1.36 billion attendees.
“Over the past year, we’ve quietly primed ourselves to take advantage of this growing need in the market. We’ve engineered a new sales team, headed by one of cable TV’s most successful ad sales executives, Jim Tricarico, and with a new flexible plan for buying cinema advertising, we are poised to be a meaningful and compelling option for advertisers in this year’s Upfront.”
Tricarico, who recently joined Screenvision as chief revenue officer after 12 years at Nickelodeon as executive vce-president of sales, introduced the new sales approach.
“Our plan revolutionizes cinema advertising by fully aligning with the TV and video buying process, touting new offerings of demo guarantees, seasonal pricing, show-parting and creative flexibility,” said Tricarico.
The demo guarantees are believed to be an industry first. Screenvision will be guaranteeing its audience delivery to its Upfront advertisers, with Nielsen’s Cinema Audience Reports against specific demos, such as 18-49 year-olds. Screenvision is the only cinema advertising network that uses a third-party independent company, Nielsen, to post its audience delivery.
Screenvision’s first commitment under the new plan is with Taco Bell and it expects to announce several additional commitments with brands and agencies over the coming weeks.
“Cinema not only delivers great scale, but is the most powerful, immersive and captivating environment for video ads,” said Tricarico. “Moviegoers are drawn to see the world’s greatest content, and their affinity for the experience puts them in a highly receptive mindset, delivering unrivaled results, including 56% Ad Recall and 10:1 Ad Likeability compared to TV.
“As someone who has spent the last 12 years within TV ad sales, I realized that in-cinema had to create a comparable model to present our offering to media buyers. We think this new approach, and flexibility will help advertisers better connect with the increasing number of consumers who are being lost to declining ratings in broadcast and cable.”
Screenvision showed research demonstrating cinema’s powerful position as the perfect complement to any TV ad buy. When TV viewing at home is low – such as on weekends or in the summer – cinema viewing is up, making it the ultimate pairing to a TV ad buy. It showed that cinema’s powerful attributes, when combined with TV, deliver scalable incremental reach and deliver over 30% lift versus important purchase indicators such as Brand Recall, Intent to Buy and Brand Recommendation.
Screenvision also announced an exclusive new partnership with Shazam, London-based media engagement company, that will bring the Shazam for TV advertising platform to the Screenvision theater network. The marriage of Screenvision’s immersive and captivating big screen experience with Shazam’s industry leading mobile platform will enable advertisers to connect with moviegoers at the moment of awareness. Moviegoers will now be able to connect directly to brands for a deeper level of engagement with special offers, sweepstakes, bonus content and outlets to social media.
Tricarico said, “With our national cinema network reaching nearly 40 million moviegoers monthly and Shazam’s 90 million and growing U.S. user base, advertisers have the ultimate platform to reach the mass market and to get them to act on their message.”
At the Upfront, Screenvision also presented its Emerging Filmmakers Series, an initiative that focuses on working with emerging filmmakers to create branded content for advertisers in the Screenvision Preshow.
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