Moviegoers headed to their local AMC theater can expect to see more ads before movies starting on Tuesday as a deal with ad giant National CineMedia takes effect.
The deal, announced in early June, will see AMC Entertainment place ads in the “platinum spot,” the highly coveted period immediately preceding a movie’s start. The preshow material ahead of feature films, which includes trailers and other promotions, can last between 25 minutes to 30 minutes, according to AMC’s website.
The deal with National CineMedia, which provides ads to several major theater chains, will also enable AMC to secure additional ad sales. It is expected to provide a much-needed lifeline to AMC, which recently saw its worst first-quarter earnings since 1996 outside the pandemic.
AMC and National CineMedia did not respond to requests for comment.
The ad expansion is a departure from the theater giant’s prior stance. In 2019, when top competitors Regal Cinemas and Cinemark Theatres inked similar deals with National CineMedia, AMC refused to participate. At the time, the company said it “flatly rejected” the company’s offer, expressing concerns that “US moviegoers would react quite negatively to the concept.” Now the company is singing a different tune.
“While AMC was initially reluctant to bring this to our theaters, our competitors have fully participated for more than five years without any direct impact to their attendance,” AMC told Bloomberg last month.
The reversal reflects the mounting pressure AMC faces amid a sluggish industry rebound. Ticket sales are still recovering from the pandemic, and the company continues to feel the impact of the 2023 actors’ and writers’ strikes that disrupted film release schedules. On top of that, the dominance of streaming platforms has further eroded traditional theatergoing.
To stay afloat, AMC has made difficult choices. CEO Adam Aron revealed last year that the company has shuttered 169 theaters since 2019 to trim costs.
But, during the company’s latest investor call, Aron dismissed the company’s dismal Q1 results, describing the quarter as a “distorting outlier, an anomaly that has already corrected itself,” and pointed to a “resurgent box office” for the remainder of the year.
Though ticket sales in 2024 totaled $8.7 billion — down 3.3% year-over-year and 23.5% compared to the pre-pandemic $11.3 billion in 2019 — the summer box office is showing promise.
Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst with Comscore, told CNN that the launch of National CineMedia’s pre-show programming comes at an “auspicious time given the strength of the current summer movie season with a hit-filled month of July on the horizon.”
“The massive footprint that AMC brings to bear will put this advertising package in front of a captive audience, and the revenue enhancing potential that is the stated motivation by AMC for this initiative will ostensibly enable the chain keep ticket prices stable, enhance the customer experience, and ensure the long-term success of the company,” Dergarabedian said.
The 2025 box office is already nearing $4 billion, buoyed by Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” remake, which has grossed more than $380 million domestically. That’s an 18% gain compared to this time last year, according to Comscore data.
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