In-Cinema Advertising in India (2024)

19 Apr 2019

Is it the film which makes the deepest impression on our minds or the advertisem*nts that accompany it? While many of us will have to jog our memories to remember the first film we ever saw in a cinema hall, we will easily remember the ‘anti-smoking’ ad that preceded the film.

In-cinema advertising refers to the on-screen and off-screen branding that consumers see in theatres – usually seen as a short audio-visual advertisem*nt before the film starts and as posters in the refreshments areas of cinema halls etc. It has always been a very powerful medium for advertising.

Thegrowthof in-cinema advertising has gone hand in hand with the growth of cinema in India, which has grown phenomenally in the last few decades. Not only has the number of films produced annually grown, but the new format of screening formats i.e. multiplexes has added to the opportunities for in-cinema advertising. With estimated revenues of INR850 crore, it is one of the largest advertising options, and seen as an important channel for brands to target audiences effectively.

But why in-cinema advertising? There are several advantages:

Huge cinema screens give a ‘larger than life’ impact to the message.
The audience is acaptiveaudience since they cannot switch channels/flip pages of a print advertisem*nt and are unlikely to walk out during advertisem*nts.
In-cinema advertising is viewed by an audience which is likely to be paying close attention to the screen or the cinema hall area.
In-cinema advertising guarantees better attention span for the message to be communicated convincingly.
Cinema, with its huge localized reach pan India, makes it suitable to reach out to a small geography as well as the entire country.

This has resulted in developing a good ecosystem, a platform for brands to communicate with audiences in the most impactful way. The best part of in-cinema advertising is the fact that it caters to a unique audience and allows us to advertise in select geographies with different propositions.

What has given a huge boost to the growth of in-cinema advertising has been the increase in the number of multiplex screens across the country. There has also been growing recognition among the advertising and media buying community that in-cinema advertising offers a target audience which, by virtue of being captive, is more attentive when an advertisem*nt is running.

Improved infrastructure and growing footfalls are other key reasons. Production houses are investing in innovative marketing and promotion activities prior to any release, thus creating a lot of anticipation for the film. All this helps bring in huge crowds to cinema halls now, which results in a larger audience for in-cinema advertising .

In-cinema advertising is poised to grow further in the future with many brands increasing the amount they spend on in-cinema advertising given the impact and hype it generates.