October’s Latent Demand European Study Results

“I really wanted to see that movie in the cinema but I missed it.”

Earlier this year we began conducting sentiment surveys with some of our Exhibition partners around the topic of unconverted (or latent) demand. Those people who wanted to see a particular movie on the big screen but who never it made it to the cinema in time. In April and June we shared the results of Irish Exhibitor Movies@ Latent Demand survey and the movies that their customers wished they had got to see at the cinema.

On average, 33% of customers who want to see a given film in the cinema failed to convert. As a result of the feedback we helped them to implement some changes in their marketing and scheduling plans to make sure they were capitalising on turning this demand into additional admissions during a film’s primary release window. After all, these are patrons who don’t need to be convinced to see a film in a movie theatre, and if people have already decided they want to go to see a specific release, it’s now down to exhibitors to help make it easier for them to remember the film they want to see, why they want to see it and when they can do so.

In October we broadened the extent of the Latent Demand survey publications to include Exhibition partners from the UK (thanks to REEL Cinemas, Portugal (thanks to Cinemas NOS) and Norway (thanks to Trondheim Kino, Nordisk Kino and Edda Kino and presented the findings at the UNIC Cinema Days 2022, held in Brussels on 24th & 25th November.

With a sample size of over 16,000 respondents we saw a big variance in the conversion rates, and in turn the market state, across the 4 countries. Portugal had the lowest rate of unconverted demand meaning their focus should be on growing the overall active customer base, while Norway with the highest rate of unconverted demand are best placed to look at implementing ways that help their existing base not miss their preferred movies at the cinema.

Since focusing their efforts on increasing these conversions, Ireland’s Movies@ have gone from a 33% unconverted demand rate in June to only 19.8% in October.

While there was a broad mix of reasons people gave for missing the films they wanted to see at the cinema, there are some that are more within our control to influence than others. Breaking it out into what falls within the Marketing Team’s influence and what falls within the Film Team’s influence presents a renewed focus for both teams to work together to find solutions to increase conversion among cinema goers.

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