UFO Moviez, an in-cinema advertising network, recently announced their latest offering ProCat. This is a web-based data analysis platform that will measure the number of footfalls, and provide cinema advertisers with data-driven insights to make informed decisions to plan, review, update and evaluate their cinema ad campaigns.
ProCat aims to disrupt cinema advertising campaigns by leveraging technology and data analytics, and more. ProCat’s platform looks to empower advertisers to craft campaigns that resonate with their target audience.
Medianews4u caught up with Sachiin Guptaa, National Head – Programmatic Cinema, UFO Moviez to find out more.
Q. What trends are we seeing when it comes to in-cinema advertising?
2023 has been a landmark year for Indian cinema. Box office recorded highest ever collections as well as footfalls. Advertisers have closely monitored the medium’s progress and have shown immense faith in the medium. We see that more categories & advertisers are willing to opt for a long-term strategy on cinema.
Q. What growth is expected in the coming three years?
We expect 15-20% CAGR for the next three years owing to increase in overall screen count of the country as well as positive sentiment of advertisers for cinema as an advertising vehicle.
Q. How important is AR in this advertising medium?
Augmented Reality (AR) is increasingly important in advertising, especially in in-cinema settings, due to its ability to enhance audience engagement and create memorable, interactive experiences. AR allows for innovative storytelling, extending narratives beyond the screen and fostering deeper connections with the audience. It enables personalised content delivery based on user data and location, making ads more relevant and effective.
Q. How does UFO Moviez’ new offering ProCat allow brands to better measure campaign ROI? Was AI used in creating ProCat?
For the longest time Cinema has been grappling with the issue of audience measurement. While there have been different cinema industry sources publishing box office and cinema footfall data, the medium was missing a centralised Pan-India audience measurement system. ProCat is UFO’s initiative in this direction. This tool, that uses AI and ML at its core, gives advertisers the empowerment to take data-backed decisions in terms of planning their campaigns.
Procat enables advertisers to analyse past data to be able to get an understanding on performance of content/movies. From a scenario of gut feeling on a particular week/movie, ProCat will enable advertisers to take more informed decisions. Infact, this tool will help advertisers to monitor, analyse and fine-tune on-going campaigns.
Q. How effective is in-cinema advertising in boosting brand affinity according to recent research done?
Viewers in cinemas are highly engaged and less distracted, leading to higher recall and retention of ads. The immersive environment and extended exposure time allow for deeper emotional connections with the audience, resulting in positive brand associations. Cinema ads also work well in conjunction with digital campaigns, enhancing overall brand recall.
According to a Nielsen study, brands that utilised cinema advertising experienced an 18% lift in brand awareness and a 12% increase in brand favorability, demonstrating its significant impact on building and enhancing brand affinity
Q. Does in-cinema advertising see a big jump in its revenue during the festive season?
Yes, definitely. Festive season always coincides with the release of Blockbuster/Tentpole releases. Advertisers are always keen on showcasing their brand on these big weeks as the anticipation and excitement of these big movies is extremely high leading to high footfalls. This leads to high ROI and hence cinema enjoys a surge in revenues during festive.
Q. FMCG, telecom, BFSI, auto, apparel are among the key categories that use cinema as an ad vehicle. Is the split between categories more or less even? Or do some categories dominate in terms of their presence in cinema halls?
Amongst the above categories, Apparels dominates as a lot of clients in this category follow an “Always On” strategy. Clients like Manyavar, Mufti and few others are present all 52 weeks of the year. FMCG is another big category on cinema with a lot of clients spending heavily on Big Titles and during the festive season.
BFI as a category is becoming big on the medium every year. While there are handful of clients who maintain a sustained long-term presence on the medium, others follow a blockbuster strategy. .Auto category is largely a tactical spender that gets very active during festive season.
Q. Years ago UFO Moviez did a rural initiative Caravan Talkies. What traction did it get? What other initiatives are in the pipeline?
Caravan Talkies is a very unique offering that has found great traction, especially with FMCG. A majority of clients see it as a potent vehicle to reach the Heartland in an engaging and impactful way. With Caravan now even covering South markets, we see an increase in interest from more set of clients.
Q. PVR Inox is doing an ad break-free experience at some premium properties. Do you think that consumers will pay a premium to avoid ads?
There will always be a segment of consumers/audiences who will be willing to pay a premium. However, in a country like ours, that percentage of audience is very miniscule. Its like a “good to have” offering in your kitty as a diverse and unique experience
Q. What are UFO Moviez’ plans to grow its screen count this fiscal? Where are the whitespace areas for growth?
With our partner chains having aggressive expansion plans, we see our screen count (ad inventory rights) crossing 4000 this fiscal. By further enhancing our leadership position in India (in terms of screen count) and the ProCat offering, we see a robust growth in our revenues. Our unique offering ProCat, places us in a very strong position to drive growth for the in-cinema advertising industry by sharing data and analysis with advertisers that was never available at this scale and form before.
