Cinecom & Media presents the results of cinema monitoring for the first timeBy Markus KnöpfliCinema advertising has been systematically monitored since 1997, but for the first time the results of last year's monitoring are also being published, at least in summarized form. Although the controls have made cinema owners more accommodating, they have hardly become more reliable.
There is a reason why the annual report of the Cinema Control has so far remained unpublished and is only being published this year, the fourth year of the control: it took three years for the cinema industry to produce a positive and therefore presentable result. This small advertising contractor (gross advertising expenditure in 2000: CHF 38.6 million) is now in an even better position.
However, the control years 1999 and 1998, in which the industry performed less well, are also shown in the report. In addition, the cinema marketer Cinecom & Media is to be commended for setting a standard with its mandate to carry out controlling.
According to the 2000 annual report, the Qualitest Institute inspected around 100 cinemas in seven cities in German-speaking Switzerland and Suisse romande every month last year. This corresponded to an inspection rate of around 24 percent of the 418 advertising cinemas or 43 percent of the 18.762 million moviegoers. Qualitest checked a total of 1,3328 advertising film insertions or dates for use and execution.
Qualitest has now established that of the 13,328 advertisements, 1196 or 9 percent were simply not shown or were shown at the wrong time. In 1999, the error rate was 9.7 percent. The fact that the error rate has fallen slightly indicates that the discipline and reliability of cinema owners and operators has hardly improved.
However, a second point has improved: where errors were identified, compensation was generally made last year. What's more, the 1196 faults were more than compensated for with a total of 1281 additional switching operations. The surplus of 85 additional switching operations appears in the report as a "complaint rate" of + 0.6 percent. However, this balance between missing and additional insertions was positive for the first time last year. In 1999 it was still minus 3.7 percent and in 1998 even minus 14 percent. In other words: Cinema owners today are more willing to admit mistakes and offer the best possible replacement.
However, there can be no question of compensation. Anyone who places an advertising film at a certain time usually does so with the intention of reaching a very specific target audience at a very specific time. Success is not necessarily the same in the context of a different film or at a different time. Conclusion: discipline would be more important than substitution.
And by the way: if the cigarette industry were to actually do without cinema advertising in future, this would also be a consequence of the indiscipline of some cinema owners (see p. 5).
Free inspection report from 100,000 francs
The concept for cinema controlling was drawn up by Media Audit AG on behalf of Cinecom & Media AG and following discussions with customers, advertising and media agencies and associations. The concept provides for Media Audit to act as a hinge between Cinecom and Qualitest - in order to guarantee independence. This means that Cinecom never has any direct contact with the institute carrying out the audit.
Qualitest supplies all the data to Media Audit, which analyzes it and also compiles the annual report. In addition to the monthly inspection of 100 cinemas, a coincidence study has also been carried out since last year - a one-off inspection with a larger sample. Last year, it essentially confirmed the results of the regular audit.
Cinecom bears the costs for the investigations - around half a million francs per year. It provides customers who run cinema campaigns of CHF 100,000 or more with an individual control report free of charge. For smaller campaigns, this is only done on request and against payment.
Not yet an industry standard
The aim of cinema control is to introduce "control guidelines for cinema advertising as a binding industry standard" in order to promote the trust of advertising customers in the medium of cinema. At least that's what the annual report says.
However, Cinecom is not the sole cinema marketer in Switzerland. Since November 1999, the French cinema marketer Mediavision has been pushing into the Swiss market from Geneva. Nevertheless, neither Cinecom nor Media Audit have yet entered into talks with the newcomer about an industry standard. This may be understandable, as Mediavision only (or already?) achieved a market share (MA) of five percent last year. But Cinecom also wants to export cinema control to Austria and Germany - and the MA of its competitors there is greater than in Switzerland. This means that an industry standard is even less tangible there. If Cinecom therefore takes too much time for discussions, it will miss an opportunity and cinema control could degenerate into a mere marketing tool.
Cinecom becomes RMB Switzerland
On April 1, the media marketing company Cinecom & Media will officially become the Swiss representative of Régie Média Belge International (RMBI) under the name RMB Switzerland. This has in fact been the case since September 2000, when RMBI took over the Cinecom/Wegra Group and thus gained access to the German-speaking region (D, CH, A). RMBI holds a 75 percent stake in Cinecom & Media Switzerland.
The operational integration of the Central Europe area will now be completed on April 1, making RMBI the first media marketing company to operate throughout Europe. Matthias Luchsinger, the former CEO of Cinecom, will become the head of the RMBI Central Europe area and will also become Chairman of RMB Germany and RMB Austria.
