Movie theater ad spend is climbing: report

After a bumpy start to the summer box office, people are beginning to flock to the movies as the weather heats up. Disney’s Pixar films Inside Out 2 notched a $155 million opening at the box office last weekend, the biggest weekend box office since last year’s Barbie, and other anticipated titles like Deadpool & Wolverine are projected to bring in even more in ticket sales.

As theater attendance has slowly recovered since the height of the pandemic, more brands are advertising in movie theaters, too. Spending on out-of-home cinema advertising saw a 41% YoY increase in Q1 2024, according to data that Vivvix compiled for Marketing Brew.

A star-studded (advertising) affair: The data, which spans almost 4,000 movie theaters across the country, found that advertisers spent $42 million on cinema ads in the first quarter of 2024, an uptick from the $33 million spent a year prior, Vivvix found. Three sectors dominated that ad spend: public transportation, hotels, and resorts; communications; and insurance.

• The public transportation, hotels, and resorts category accounted for more than $31 million in ad spend, with the largest advertisers being Vrbo, Expedia, and Hotels.com.
• The communications industry hit almost $3 million in Q1 cinema ad spend, with Samsung leading the way.
• Insurance firms dropped $1.8 million in Q1 cinema ad spend, with Allstate and Progressive accounting for a combined 99% of that total.

In 2023, the category of public transportation, hotels, and resorts was one of the top three sectors spending on cinema ads, too; the other two sectors were automotive and beer and wine, according to Vivvix. Among those two sectors, Chevrolet, Hyundai, and Mazda, and Coors were among the biggest brand spenders.