It's Saturday night at Dendy Newtown and the three of us have just been relegated to a third-row position. But before the main event can start, I've readied myself for the pre-show of ads, trailers and exhortations to load up on candy. Twenty-three minutes later, the ads are still going. Not the trailers and ads. Just ads. At last, a trailer comes on. Just one. All up, it was over 25 minutes. I was gobsmacked, and my popcorn was finished.
And it's not just me. Over the Christmas break, one of my colleagues went to the movies for the first time in 10 years – he was astounded at how much had changed in the interim. "What the fuck is this?" was his stunned response after almost half an hour of ads and a ticket price that could feed a family of four twice over (well, at Coles, apparently). Is the situation getting out of hand? Is adland at risk of pissing off filmgoers?
I must confess, most of my frequent cinema viewing takes place at Dendy during the day. So I'm generally confronted with maybe 15 minutes of ads. But every now and then, I venture into a weekend evening session of a big Hollywood release (and long queues for the bathroom), and bam! Shock and awe.
As with all things, it's not as simple as 'there are too many ads' before movies. The pre-show is broken down into four segments: the local ads, the national ads, the trailers and house ads. So in Dendy's case, that's ads from Star Media Platinum, ads from Val Morgan, the trailers (technically still an ad) and then the Dendy ads.
To Dendy's credit, it has very few house ads. Hoyts and Event on the other hand are more generous on this front (but at least they've ended that godawful Hoyts Insider experiment with Andrew 'don't call me Andy' G). Four segments means four agendas jockeying for more or maintaining what they have.
Broken down (an average of three minutes from Star Media, maximum 11 minutes from Val Morgan, an average of four or five trailers and a couple of house ads), it doesn't seem so unpalatable. But to the average consumer not versed in adland rigmarole, it's still a 25-minute block of ads. And while cinema is a great advertising medium which offers brands a platform to reach a mostly undistracted consumer, there is a line, and it's behind us.
Val Morgan chief executive Damian Keogh admits the length of the pre-show is getting to be a problem, and it's something he's been talking to exhibitors about. Cinema ad revenues are up and early indications for June will see its growth outpace the golden goose of the industry, digital. Star Media Platinum boss Peter Skillman told me he's also seeing great renewal rates from clients. The sector is booming but it's vital to keep consumers onside if the happy days are to keep on shining.
Australians love going to the cinema and admission numbers are growing but the introduction of allocated seating by the two major cinema chains a few years ago offers filmgoers the option to walk into a session late and still get premie seats. Anecdotally, many people are taking this option – a packed out Tuesday night session of Despicable Me at Hoyts Broadway last week saw the majority of patrons walk in at least 10 minutes after the start of the ads – but Skillman said his research showed 85% of people still sit down before the advertised time.
Keogh posits it's possible the quality of the film that follows may effect how filmgoers feel about the ads. If you walk out of the cinema feeling great about the flick you just watched, it's less likely you'll feel put out about the ads that came before. Which could also explain why that fateful Saturday night in January stuck with me so much. The subsequent movie, Gangster Squad, was two hours of a lobotimised script and ham-fisted acting from talented thesps who should know better. Woeful.
While I will continue to check out the midday matinee session every couple of weeks, thereby not testing my patience with an over-abundance of ads, the average consumer goes to the movies four to five times a year. And if the box office figures are anything to go by, they'll likely see one of the big releases all the advertisers want to get in on, the ones with the 25-minute-plus pre-show.
For the sake of all consumers and advertisers, the pre-show time has to be shortened to maintain the momentum of the medium. This is my exhortation, it's much more calorie-friendly.
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