Different films, different people
Each year a small number of new releases become ‘events’ – for example, the latest James Bond film, Disney family feature or Marvel action blockbuster. Films like these are the bedrock of commercial cinema.
With a dependable mass appeal, they’re created at huge cost and supported by massive marketing spends. They make up a disproportionately large amount of a cinema’s annual income and generally appeal strongly to the youth audience (16-24 year olds). ‘Event’ films are shown widely at multiplex cinemas but often perform poorly in local independent cinemas when shown a few weeks after their initial release – though some people will wait if they have seen the film trailered at a favourite cinema.
In contrast, a large number of high quality, independent and foreign language films are released annually but invariably earn much less at the box office. These films appeal more to 30+ year olds and can prove very popular with particular audiences in individual cinemas.
In recent years the 45+ age group has become one of the largest growth markets in UK cinemas, with films containing more mature characters and storylines aimed at a multi-generational market.
Young people, although still the mainstay multiplex audience, are increasingly consuming film online through downloading or streaming services (although, in the post-COVID period, there has also been a new growth in young people engaging with independent and repertory film at the cinema).
Films based on literary works or specific aspects of social history or parts of the country are often well received by local audiences who prefer cinemas with comfort, character and the opportunity to have a coffee or a bar drink.
Young children enjoy cinemagoing, often accompanied by parents or relatives and friends. Films for younger age groups are important for local cinemas and may attract sell-out audiences for morning or matinée shows, especially at weekends and during school holidays. Many cinemas now have regular slots for this audience and operate it like a ‘club’ to encourage repeat visits.
Local cinemas must be capable of adapting to whatever is currently in the news and available to them. This requires skill, flexibility and showmanship on the part of the programmer, cinema manager and front of house staff in addition to a well-designed building.
Segmentation analysis
The cinema industry categorises audiences in many different ways but often relies on an age-related scheme which closely follows UK film certification categories (U, PG, 12A, 15, 18):
- Children (5-11 years old)
- Family groups
- Teenagers / young couples / students
- Adults
Research by the All Industry Marketing (AIM) Committee for the UK cinema industry has proposed two new audience segmentation schemes.
The ‘lifestage’ categorisation draws attention to the elements of cinemagoing that each group seeks – popcorn, comedy and thrills for the teenage audience, contrasting with a bar drink and a quality film for 40+ year old adults.
The categorisation by ‘attitudes’ seeks to identify the small but highly important group of enthusiastic cinemagoers. Apart from being regular attenders, these individuals are often opinion leaders who influence other less committed people to attend.
Life-stage categories
- Teens (<16 yrs)
- Teens / singles / couples (<25 yrs)
- Those with young families
- Those with older families
Attitude categories
- Cinema enthusiasts / regulars
- “If nothing else to do…” (socialites)
- Reluctant
- Non-attenders
The motivation to attend a cinema (and opportunities for doing so) vary considerably from group to group. Teenagers in a rural community might like to see a film each week but would have to travel 10+ miles to get to the nearest multiplex. Without a car, this may be impossible. Families may want to attend regularly but the total cost (travel, tickets, confectionery) may be too great.
Within the broad leisure sector, operators increasingly focus on the social aspects of leisure and on four influences affecting choice of activity:
- Group composition – who do we attend the cinema with: family, friends, or alone?
- Mental and physical energy – a small proportion of attenders are highly motivated to attend cinema and encourage friends to join them. Others are tired after work or have family commitments
- Location – is it possible to have a complete evening out in one location?
- Deals and events – given the costs of regular cinema attendance, deals such as family tickets and subscription schemes can be attractive.
For local cinemas, a ‘Friends’ scheme may offer useful benefits for both the cinema (loyalty) and the customer (discounts and special events).
Establishing a catchment area
Planning a cinema development, like any other leisure or retail development, involves estimating the catchment area that the new cinema will serve and from which it can expect to draw audiences.
The most common way to define a cinema’s catchment is a drive-time boundary (as most people drive to the cinema). The boundary takes into account the type and quality of road links as well as distance. If public transport is particularly important then a ‘travel time’ boundary is more appropriate.
The most appropriate catchment for any individual cinema depends on:
- The scale of the cinema planned (10-screen multiplex or two-screen independent?)
- The scale and number of competitor cinemas (competitor catchments may impinge on the planned cinema’s catchment – which cinema will be more attractive to residents in the middle?)
- The quality and range of other leisure facilities near the planned cinema (visits to cinemas are usually accompanied by other leisure activities like eating, drinking and shopping)
- The extent of car ownership within the proposed catchment and the attitude to travel for leisure purposes (rural residents are often more inclined to travel long distances for leisure)
- The quality and frequency of public transport (late evening services are especially important)
- The age and life-stage profile of the target audience (children, youth audience or older adults)
- The surrounding geography (is the town remote from other significant population centres or are there lots of small communities within the catchment boundary?)
Typically, several catchments are examined at the planning stage for a new cinema – for example a 10 or 15-minute inner catchment where the majority of the regular cinemagoers live, and a 20 or 30-minute outer catchment where infrequent cinemagoers live. In order to obtain a good understanding of the potential audience for a new cinema, it is usually worth looking at these catchments independently. Other relevant catchment boundaries can be derived from travel to work data and from retail catchment information.
Demographic and lifestyle data
A wide range of population, economic and lifestyle data is available from local authorities, from National Statistics and from commercial companies such as CACI and Experian. Much of this data can be analysed at ward or postcode sector level, allowing a detailed picture of the population’s characteristics to be established. Google searches can also lead to very useful, and invariably free, data.
A popular scheme such as CACI’s ACORN geo-demographic system classifies postcodes into seven categories, subdivided into 22 groups and 65 types. Each category has established consumer, lifestyle and economic behaviour patterns which can be used to investigate the potential strength of cinemagoing in any defined catchment.
Cinemagoing is generally more popular with prosperous and educated audiences, with ACORN categories B and C particularly important. However, the audience characteristics for individual films vary widely, and demographic analysis should be treated with caution.
The demographic characteristics for specialist cinema audiences differ in important respects from commercial cinema audiences, with a noticeably higher proportion of people in education or with higher educational qualifications. Older audiences tend to dominate; teenage audiences (14-20 years) rarely attend.
In addition to assessing potential audiences through demographic data, market researchers may use psychographic research as a tool for understanding audiences. Where demographics looks at purely social classifications, psychographics looks at broadly psychological factors – values, attitudes, personality, interests, lifestyle – that inspire audiences to respond to certain kinds of offer.
The diversity represented by specialised cinema in particular is increasingly seen as a lifestyle choice for a range of audiences with shared values and attitudes, rather than simply a cultural choice for a particular social class.
Market research companies such as Mintel and Fifty5Blue produce regular reports on audience characteristics and cinemagoing (see Appendix 4 for a full list of market research resources).
If public funding is sought for a new cinema project – refurbishment, conversion or new build – it is likely that a competent analysis of the relevant catchment population will be required. Arts Council England makes demographic and lifestyle information available to supported projects, or contact Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales or Arts Council of Northern Ireland as appropriate.
Field research
Apart from conducting desk research (i.e. gathering data from existing published sources) as outlined above in the section Demographic and lifestyle data, you may be required to conduct research specific to your audience or potential audience. For example, you might wish to test out your ideas by asking local residents what they think (consultation) or test your assumptions about the cinemagoing habits of your actual audience.
There are a number of ways of doing this – focus groups or questionnaires administered online, by post, telephone or in-person. Social media is increasingly being used to conduct market research. A detailed discussion of research methodologies, quantitative analysis and questionnaire design is beyond the scope of this guide. For anything large scale, it is probably best to appoint a professional market research company. Field research can be a minefield in terms of establishing meaningful data. However, for small-scale projects (consultation, focus groups etc.) the ‘DIY’ approach may be adequate.
Audience development
Of course, you may confound received wisdom and expectation by attracting pensioners to Star Wars and teenagers to an archive presentation on Land Army girls. Indeed, from time to time, films are released that buck trends and have genuinely wide appeal.
There is absolutely no reason why any audience segment should not enjoy any film. The fact that a certain type of audience tends not to attend foreign language films for example can simply be seen as a marketing challenge. Filmmakers and marketers alike are becoming increasingly savvy at blurring traditional boundaries and appealing to broader audiences through both film content and marketing. However, you still have to work hard to get people to change their viewing habits and overcome their prejudices about certain kinds of films.
In order to broaden audiences, you will need to invest in audience development work. The concept of audience development has become more broadly defined during the past decade, and encompasses aspects of marketing and education, but the main considerations for audience development can be summed up as below. See our in-depth guide to audience development.
Audience retention
- Keeping existing audiences
Added value
- Enhancing the experience of audiences
- Providing audiences with opportunities to develop knowledge and a better understanding of film
Frequency
- Making existing audiences attend more often
New audiences
- Bringing people who haven’t attended before to the venue/programme
Cultural diversity
- Increased take-up from minority ethnic and social groups
- Expanding audience knowledge and taste through programming of a broader range of cultural forms and traditions
Social inclusion
- Increasing audiences from deprived areas and communities
Rural inclusion
- Increasing audiences from isolated rural areas
Geographic reach
- Achieve awareness of venue/programme across a particular geographic area
Summary of key points:
- Different types of film appeal to different types of audience
- You need to identify an appropriate catchment area for your cinema, then find out everything you can about who lives there
- There are lots of published data available about UK populations, their lifestyle and demographics
- Research suggests that lifestage and attitude may be more useful ways of categorising audiences than simple age bands
- If you need to conduct field research, employ a professional or keep it very simple
- If you want to change an audience’s viewing habits, you will need to employ audience development strategies, though this can be expensive, and the results often hard to quantify