In an announcement that demonstrates how ubiquitous the medium has become in the four years since the group’s formation, the Cinema Advertising Council (CAC) has issued its 2006 report on in-theatre ad revenue, unveiling spending of $455.7 million. That marks a 15 percent increase over 2005, when cinema ad revenue was $394.8 million.

In an interview with Boxoffice, Cliff Marks, president and chairman of the CAC, calls the double-digit growth “something we’re pleased obviously to continue to see as marketers have embraced our medium and continue to reinvest in it. When you do something well for a year or two, that’s not a trend. When you do something well for four, five, six years running, that’s a trend. I think the trend shows that marketers overwhelmingly are satisfied with the experience of using the cinema as a marketing tool.”

For exhibitors, cinema advertising is an increasingly important contributor to the bottom line. “It’s not insignificant, and it’s grown dramatically over the years,” Marks says. “It’s still not their driving resource of revenue, but it’s certainly an important supplemental part of their revenue stream.”

Onscreen advertising, including commercials aired before trailers or the feature presentation, was up 15 percent to $417.4 million from $361.6 million in 2005. And off-screen revenue, like audio programming, sampling, special events and promotions at the concessions stand and in the lobby, was also up 15 percent to $38.3 million from $33.2 million.

“Obviously one of the beauties of the movie theatre are all the touchpoints that happen in the theatre, everything from backlit posters to Coke cups to popcorn bags to standees,” Marks says. “Many marketers like the multiple touchpoints, and they’re using them. … If we use the medium right, and there’s the big screen and the lobby elements and other things that are being worked on—there’s a lot of neat stuff in the interactive fields that are going to keep the experience fun and different—marketers will continue to support it.”

Meanwhile, Marks says, consumer resistance to cinema advertising that was portrayed in the media as being so rampant just a few years ago seems to have subsided.

“It’s died down for a reason. It’s died down because the product has gotten so much better. Companies like National CineMedia and Screenvision have spent a lot of time and effort and energy and cost creating entertaining preshows that happen before the movies,” says Marks, who also serves as president of sales and chief marketing officer for NCM. “The experience is much better, the content is much better, and—[although] this isn’t true of every exhibitor in America—in many cases, the ads only run before showtime. We did what we were supposed to do, and that’s listen to exhibition and listen to the customer and create a better experience.”

Although Marks acknowledges that theatre patrons aren’t likely to go to the movies to see the preshow, anecdotal evidence suggests it’s become an integral part of the moviegoing experience.

“Two weeks ago we got a complaint—Cinemark sent it over to us—from a customer who went to a Cinemark theatre,” Marks says. “There was a technical error, and the preshow did not run—that happens one or two percent of the time—and they actually sent a letter to Cinemark saying, ‘I got there early to see the preshow, and it didn’t run.’ I’m thinking, ‘I never thought I’d see this day.’”

The CAC report was independently tabulated by Miller, Kaplan, Arase & Co. Association members account for more than 81 percent of U.S. movie screens. —