Ireland has the highest per capita visits to the cinema in the EU.
Irish people love going to the cinema and they will travel 9.2 km on average to see a movie on the big screen and spend €16.81 while they are there, according to new research carried out by Wide Eye Media.
According to the research, which is called the Film Audience Measurement and Evaluation research (FAME)- Ireland has the highest per capita visits to the cinema in the EU at 3.4 compared to the EU average of 1.7.
The research involved a survey of almost 1,700 cinema goers across the Republic of Ireland, to examine their cinema habits, attitudes and motivations with some 69% of respondents agreeing that there is no better place to watch a film than the cinema while 75% of heavy online streamers agreed that seeing a film in a movie theatre gives you a unique experience that online streaming services cannot match.
The research also noted that online streaming services are complementing cinema rather than killing it. The FAME research found that heavy online film streamers were more likely to be heavy cinema goers (53%) than those who don’t stream films online (34%).
Frequency of attending the cinema is high and 45% of all respondents who had been to the cinema in the past 6 months were heavy cinema goers going at least once a month, according to the research.
According to Eoin Wrixon, CEO of Wide Eye Media: “Although we are devoted to devices, bigger is better when it comes to our screens. As our world becomes more and more digital, there is a growing trend, especially among those with children, towards placing value on experiences rather than material things. The cinema experience is universally cherished. Everyone remembers their first trip to the movies.’
The research also found that “Millennial Men” are most likely to go to the cinema with friends while “Millennial Women” most likely to go on a date.
But the research shows that cinema is very much a shared experience with 99% of those surveyed indicating that the go with at least one other person to the cinema with 1 in 3 people going with their partners while 44% of 35-44 year olds last went to the cinema with their child.
Advertisers and trailers are also an important part of the cinema experience, according to the research with some 50% of respondents saying that they consider the ads and trailers to be an important part of the cinema experience. Some 94% watch the ads before the film, with 3 in 10 said they are always seated before anything is shown on screen. 76% don’t check their phone after they initially sit down.
As cinema captivates audiences like no other medium, it is one of the best places to engage with brands, according to Wide Eye Media.
“Cinema makes people feel happy, excited, attentive and significantly less distracted, tired, bored and frustrated. Respondents agreed they were 52% more engaged, 75% more attentive and 283% happier when sitting in the cinema as opposed to watching TV. They agreed they were 207% more excited sitting in the cinema than when using the internet and 38% more engaged than when reading a newspaper or magazine,” it notes.
The FAME research also found that people are very positive about adverts at the cinema with 81% agreeing that they were less distracted watching ads than elsewhere while 64% agreed that they remembered the ads in the cinema better than those on TV. 58% agreed they enjoy watching ads in the cinema. 47% agreed brands that advertise in the cinema are more trustworthy.
“The FAME research demonstrates once again how the ads shown before the movie are an essential part of the cinema experience, inseparable from the excitement and anticipation of the film itself. In the cinema environment, brands have the opportunity to become fused to the collective consciousness in ways that are not possible anywhere else,” concludes Wrixon.
