Anyone else make sure they're on time for the cinema specifically to watch the ads before the movie?
I've done this since I was a kid. Maybe I was born for advertising. But there has always been something so charming about watching a new set of ads, not seen on television, within the space of a movie theatre.
It's a whole part of the experience.
58% of people actively ignore the ads they see online.
86% suffer from "banner blindness,' which means they pay literally zero attention to online ads.
We've become so accustomed to seeing them. So we've learned to tune them out as mere background noise.
This means for marketers, capturing attention can be a monumental challenge.
Here you have a captive audience, ready to soak up what's on that giant, unavoidable screen. Because, fortunately, you can't skip ads in a theatre.
And what do people often do after a trip to the movies? Talk about their experience.
Which makes cinema advertising twice as effective. Because you're coupling it with the inevitable word of mouth that comes along with it.
But cinema advertising isn't just a throwback strategy. It's actually a very clever way to reach audiences who are getting harder to track down.
Interestingly enough, this group makes up half of cinema audiences. And this very same demographic loves horror.
Which is why advertising against indie horror films is The New Black of marketing strategies. Because it allows brands to target this elusive demographic.
As Jennifer Friedlander, SVP of insights and measurement at Screenvision told Marketing Brew, 'They're the ad-avoiders.'
'They're heavy streamers of non-ad-supported content. They're online all the time...This is really the one place where advertisers can really connect with them during a highly personalized moment that they've opted into because of their interest.'
Longlegs, produced by indie studio Neon, made a whopping $22.6 million in the US in its first weekend in July. The film has since become Neon's highest grossing release to date.
Sydney Sweeney's religious horror Immaculate, also made by Neon, raked in $5.3 million in March alone.
Longlegs surpassed A24's Talk to Me (another indie horror that will knock your socks off), which made $48 million domestically upon its release last year. (For context, only 15 independent studio releases in the past decade opened above $20 million.)
Obviously, the genre is wildly popular right now. And this presents marketers with an invitation to hit our coveted cohort with ads they're actually paying attention to.
Think about it. If someone's all set to watch a slasher film, a spooky, suspenseful ad that feels like an extension of the movie is going to land a lot harder than bill from 'Insurance Plus' giving you some lame spiel.
This isn't just about showing up. It's about showing up with a message that fits the moment. You know, so you don't feel like the annoying person who walks into a horror movie screening and starts talking about financial planning.
We aren't here to interrupt. We're here to seamlessly slip into the experience.
This is where word-of-mouth comes in-one of the most organic and effective forms of marketing there is.
Indie horror films have this down to a science. They might not have blockbuster marketing budgets, but they absolutely thrive on buzz. It's not just about launching big. It's about sustaining interest and driving waves of new viewers to theatres long after opening weekend.
Remember M3GAN? The creepy doll movie that blew past $170 million worldwide didn't get there through conventional ad bombardment.
It became a hit because people couldn't stop sharing memes, videos, and reactions about it. This kind of organic momentum doesn't just create awareness. It fuels continuous audience growth, even weeks after a campaign launches.
