Navigating the Movie Industry: Maximizing Marketing Opportunities in the Post-Strike Era

2023 was a challenging year for the film and TV industry. With the Writers’ Strike and discussions around the use of AI, studios had to reevaluate longstanding practices for today’s evolving landscape. One of the biggest players, Disney, revealed that it spent $965 million on four of its most high-profile streaming and films only for them to flop with consumers. Their highly anticipated releases, including The Little Mermaid and Indiana Jones, barely broke even with their multimillion-dollar budgets.

In a competitive entertainment market, studios must optimize financial resources to make a profit. On the production side, studios will find ways to cut costs by filming on a sound stage instead of on location or filming in countries that reimburse part of the costs for bringing business to the local economy. Similarly, when it comes time to release a movie, studios need solutions that will raise awareness and drive people to theaters or tune into streaming platforms.

Getting Audiences in Theater Seats

Data-driven strategies that emphasize efficiency and audience insights allow studios to make the most of ad dollars. By layering third-party data across omnichannel campaigns, studios can enrich existing datasets – such as subscriber data – with information like demographics, behavioral data, and contextual data, refining targeting strategies. This approach ensures promotional efforts are more personalized and therefore, effective. Additionally, as consumers increasingly shift their viewing habits to OTT/CTV and streaming, advertisers must find ways to reach the right audience. Leveraging a media mix that includes linear TV, connected TV (CTV), online video (OLV), and digital media enables studios to promote films better and capture consumer attention.

Making Movie Magic with Cadent

Cadent offers a suite of cutting-edge solutions for the entertainment industry that help to boost advertising efficiency and increase reach. Cadent Aperture Platform provides movie advertisers with capabilities like audience building, audience, and media activation, as well as audience extension. By leveraging Aperture Data Marketplace, studios can access valuable insights and enhance their understanding of audience behavior.

Additionally, Aperture Platform stands out because of its converged TV supply, seamlessly integrating across digital, CTV, and linear platforms. This process not only streamlines the process of media buying but also eliminates the need to execute individual IOs across multiple publishers. Through Aperture Platform, studios gain access to premium inventory which supports reaching a broad audience with national reach, or more granular targeting for more niche films. For example, Aperture Platform supports the use of transactional data to target individuals who have purchased movie theater tickets, or behavioral data to engage viewers who watch horror movies on streaming services.

These combined solutions allow advertisers to orchestrate end-to-end omnichannel campaigns, reaching audiences across TV, video, and digital, ensuring a unified viewer experience.

Next Steps

Studios aspire for blockbuster success and the most difficult aspect – after creating a memorable film – is reaching the widest possible audience, quickly and efficiently. With Cadent, its movie advertising made easy. Find out how you can make the most of your film ad budgets. 

Get in touch to learn how Cadent can support your upcoming movie marketing campaigns.