23 January, 2019 - 08:02
After a year of mixed fortunes in 2017, South Africas cinema industry recorded a prosperous 2018 with audience attendance numbers and ad revenue stabilising and holding their own against other media types. And signs point to 2019 being an exciting year for this sector. By Michael Bratton
With more in-home viewing of content on wide screens, hi-tech televisions are a trend in international markets, but it is one not significantly impacting the local cinema sector.
As Ryan Williams, managing director of Ster-Kinekor, says, It doesnt matter what technology changes, people still want to be out of home... And you cant duplicate the cinematic experience.
His sentiments are echoed by a Cinemark spokesperson who says, If content is king, context is queen and cinema is the throne. There is no better way to see a movie than in the cinema.
Cinema advertising revenue holding its own
Like cinema audiences that have remained stable in the local space (aside from 2017), advertising revenue has also fared well in recent times.
Cinemark points out that the advertising market as whole took strain in 2018, and although Ster-Kinekor managed to keep revenue performance flat year-on-year, the market remains a challenging.
In the past two years, Ster-Kinekor and Cinemark have implemented strategic enhancements, including bringing online a direct and digital sales team to change the revenue mix. This seems to be working as Williams reveals that in November 2018, contracted ad sales were up 15% on the same time in 2017.
Having visited the biennial Screen Advertisers Worldwide Association (SAWA) Convention in Amsterdam at the end of last year, Cinevation managing partner, Karen Bailey, and Popcorn sales director, Justin Inglis, say the state of cinema advertising revenue is extremely positive.
It was enormously encouraging to see how cinema advertising continues to hold its place, even in markets where digital advertising is commanding more spend. In fact, we are already involved in global cinema campaigns and we envisage that more will come in the future, says Bailey.
Williams refers to numerous advantages for cinema advertisers including brand safety, a familiarity with the content that an advert will be paired against, and insightful audience data.
He also points to a consistent audience and the nature of the attention that gets paid as two key differentiators for cinema advertising. He elaborates that studies have shown ad noting is higher in cinema than other mediums, as levels of multi-screening are very low in this environment.
A problem that he identifies with cinema buying in South Africa is that too many people buy in too short a chunk. Cinema has always been a slow build. The optimal kind of length, if you want to do a short term campaign in our space, is eight weeks, he explains.
Diversification of cinema advertising options also continues, including venue hire, activations and experiences, all of which are bringing in additional revenue. Cinema advertising has come a long way from simply delivering on-screen adverts.
Trends in cinema ad buying
Programmatic is being explored by some international markets for cinema buys, but has not reached South African shores just yet, according to Williams. If it ever does arrive, it will for sure disrupt the cinema industry, though its impact remains to be seen.
There is one element that Williams sees as potentially coming in the near future: I think well see more of the digital way of buying and more digital language coming into cinema, as opposed to television metrics. And thats far more about quality of engagement, cost per contact, full video play, that kind of stuff, as opposed to reach curves and frequency.
He also points to an overseas trend, which could also land in South Africa. There has been a move away from cherry picking content and movies to advertisers rather focusing on audiences and audience volumes.
But Bailey has an opposing view. At the SAWA Convention, programmatic buying options for cinema were discussed. The general consensus from cinema media owners from around the world was that they will not be embracing programmatic and dont foresee what positives it will bring to the medium, she says.
Get More Film Business South Africa
Select your Membership
It is all about gathering cinema data, Bailey adds. In my years of cinema I have never seen so much possible research on the medium; the results of the research and case studies are proving to be more useful to cinema clients than ever before. This may sound like nothing new, but the cinema research companies and tools that are now available around the world are more dynamic. Measuring the true effect of a cinema campaign with new age tools is incredible, but the challenge in South Africa is to find a way of making it affordable with our weak Rand, she elaborates.
Attendance numbers back up, after slump
A portion of South Africas cinema sector took a hit in 2017, driven mostly by the markets over reliance on Hollywood movies. During that year, the US film space saw the worst content slate produced since 1994/95 on an attendance/volume basis. Even though other international markets recorded slight increases in 2017, including UK, Australia and France, the local scene was affected.
Williams reveals a 7% drop in attendance figures year on year (from 2016 to 2017), but adds that the drop was negated in 2018, with August to October attendance figures showing a 7% increase to the 2017 comparable period.
A polar opposite picture is being seen for Nu Metro, Movies@, EPIC Cinema and other independently-owned cinemas represented by Popcorn Cinema Advertising.
Here are the attendance numbers for Jan 2017 - Dec 2017 compared to previous periods:
Popcorn attendances for Jan 2017 - Dec 2017 was 15% up over the same period in 2014
Popcorn attendances for Jan
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
23 January, 2019 - 08:02 
