Since the beginning of the year, a lot has been new in cinema advertising. For Publicitas Cinecom customers, too. For example, it is now possible to bill according to the number of contacts actually reached. This is something that many advertising customers have wanted for some time.

In a nutshell: Christian Wittmer has been Managing Director and Head of Sales Cinema National at Publicitas Cinecom since February 2012. Previously, he worked as a management consultant in various companies and industries.
 
WW: Christian Wittmer, it seems Publicitas Cinecom had to have competition until customer wishes were taken into account.
Christian Wittmer: Of course, tougher competition is forcing Publicitas Cinecom to become more innovative as a provider. Under pressure from the competition - and from advertising customers - we therefore adjusted the pricing model as of 2013. On the supply side, however, not much has changed. The fact that it was previously not possible to book on film, as portrayed in an article (Media Trend Journal, 4-2012), is not true. In addition to geographical choice, we have been offering our customers the option of booking advertising on individual films or genres, i.e. target-group-specific advertising, for several years now.
 
Werbeweischer advertises strongly with the target group approach. Where does Publicitas Cinecom place its focus?
The target group is also a big issue for us. So far, the split has been about 50-50. In the past two years, about half of our customers have taken a geographic approach, and the others have booked on genre or film. In the future, however, I think the target group will play a bigger role than geography. 
 
Target group-specific advertising is the trend. In which cases do you see the geographic approach remaining superior in the future?
The geographic approach is suitable, for example, if a company operates in a limited area and wants to reach all customers there. For a garage owner or optician, it still makes sense to advertise in the cinemas around their location.
 
Let's talk about the pricing model: Why did Publicitas Cinecom stick to the old model, seasonal pricing, for so long?
Price accounting is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it should not be complicated, so that customers and agencies can also book advertising easily who do not deal with cinema advertising every day. On the other hand, there are the major customers and agencies who want performance-based billing. As of this year, we now cover both desires: In the local business, we stick to scale prices. This means that each cinema is divided into a scale according to audience numbers, which costs a fixed amount per month. In national business, we have introduced the thousand-contact price (CPM), which advertising customers already know from other categories.
 
How does the new model work with CPMs?
The model works with two variables: a forecast and the effective visitor numbers. The price for the advertising placement is calculated in advance on the basis of the average number of visitors to a movie theater over the last three years. Billing is then based on the effective contacts.
 
What contact figures do you receive from the cinema operators? After all, the audience figures are not public...
The cinema operators provide us with the audience figures for an auditorium on a weekly basis - in German-speaking Switzerland from Thursday in each case, as the films run.
 
You get the information per film?
The cinema operators decide each week which film will be shown in which auditorium based on their internal audience forecasts. We then receive the figures per auditorium and film every week. In over 90 percent of the cases, one film is shown in one auditorium during one week.
 
The new model is not risk-free. An unexpectedly successful film like "Intouchables" can bring alternative cinemas a lot of viewers one year. The next, such a film is missing, and audiences stay away....
Publicitas Cinecom bears this risk. If a film attracts more viewers than forecast, the advertising customer receives the additional viewers at no extra charge. If the film brings in less, we have a tolerance limit of 10 percent. If the audience figures are lower, we extend the customer's advertising campaign accordingly.
 
Ticket sales say nothing about the buyers. How do advertisers get information about the target group anyway?
To do this, the ticket figures are married with Mach Cinema, WEMF's consumer study. For an action film, for example, we know from Mach Cinema that the audience consists on average of 57.7 percent men between 14 and 29 years of age. If 1000 tickets were sold for an action film, we assume that around 577 of the buyers correspond to this type.
 
In the small Swiss cinema market, several providers could never exist in the longer term. How do you assess the current situation: Is there room for two?
That's difficult to assess from today's perspective. The battle will be fought tooth and nail. Basically, however, I believe that both Publicitas Cinecom and Werbeweischer are interested in cinema gaining ground as a medium, since cinema is undervalued in the advertising pie.
 
Why do you think cinema advertising is underrated?
Cinema is a niche medium due to its low reach. But reach should not be the criterion. What speaks for cinema advertising is the quality of the contact. Moviegoers can remember the advertising very well. The viewer is in a receptive state. Cinema advertising is an intensive experience, which is also enjoyable if the advertising is good. Moreover, the visitor can be reached additionally in the cinema - for example with samplings or give-aways. After a perfume advertisement, a sample is distributed at the exit. Or a car manufacturer displays a model in the foyer. Such opportunities are still underutilized.
 
Werbeweischer has snatched a valuable customer away from Publicitas Cinecom with the Kitag cinemas. How is Publicitas Cinecom coping with this loss?
This loss is painful. However, Publicitas Cinecom remains a major player. We still have a monopoly in Ticino and French-speaking Switzerland. In German-speaking Switzerland, we have a market share of 57 percent. I admit that there are a few blank spots on the map, for example in eastern Switzerland. And it's not all that easy in central Switzerland either. Otherwise, we have a good offering everywhere and still have a leading cinema portfolio throughout Switzerland. With Pathé, we currently have the largest cinema operator on board. For historical reasons, the cinema chain has a stronger presence in western Switzerland. However, Pathé is now also well positioned in German-speaking Switzerland, with the Westside in Bern, the cinemas in Basel, and in Dietlikon near Zurich.
 
Due to the existing monopoly in French and Italian-speaking Switzerland, Publicitas Cinecom promotes national campaigns in particular. How many advertisers run national campaigns at all?
Unfortunately, Ticino is often neglected. Western Switzerland, however, is very much in demand. Nationally active clients are keen to advertise in French-speaking Switzerland as well. More than 50 percent of all campaigns that do not come from local business are present in at least two language regions. For these customers, we remain the first point of contact.
 
National is unlikely to be booked by film in the future either - given the different film preferences in the language regions...
That's right. A film can perform differently in different parts of the country. This is further complicated by the different start dates. It's entirely possible for a film to be released two months earlier or later in French-speaking Switzerland. The differences are becoming smaller and smaller, because film distributors are trying to keep start dates as close together as possible due to piracy. However, certain differences remain.
 
How do you get around this problem?
In national campaigns, we don't define individual films, but a target group and look in the individual regions to see which films appeal to this target group in the time period.
 
Werbeweischer advertises with 3D campaigns and interactive screens. What ideas does Publicitas Cinecom have?
I don't think there will be many 3D campaigns in Switzerland any time soon - the production costs are simply too high for such a small market. Our idea is to network the cinema with other media. We combine the big screen with the ad screens in the cinema, with events, promotions or television.
 
For example, Star TV...
Exactly. Everyone who books cinema with us can also show their advertising for free on Star TV. Star TV is a cinema-affiliated channel and now shows movies every evening from 8 o'clock.
 
Are there cross-media offerings for the online sector?
Negotiations are currently underway with a major cinema portal. The idea is that moviegoers will come into contact with advertising twice: the first time on the online portal when they decide to see a film, and the second time in the theater. However, this is not yet ready to be announced.

Interview: Isabel Imper

Since the beginning of the year, a lot has been new in cinema advertising. For Publicitas Cinecom customers, too. For example, it is now possible to bill according to the number of contacts actually reached. This is something that many advertising customers have wanted for some time.

In a nutshell: Christian Wittmer has been Managing Director and Head of Sales Cinema National at Publicitas Cinecom since February 2012. Previously, he was a management consultant in
different companies and industries.
 
WW: Christian Wittmer, it seems Publicitas Cinecom had to have competition until customer wishes were taken into account.
Christian Wittmer: Of course, tougher competition is forcing Publicitas Cinecom to become more innovative as a provider. Under pressure from the competition - and from advertising customers - we therefore adjusted the pricing model as of 2013. On the supply side, however, not much has changed. The fact that it was previously not possible to book on film, as portrayed in an article (Media Trend Journal, 4-2012), is not true. In addition to geographical choice, we have been offering our customers the option of booking advertising on individual films or genres, i.e. target-group-specific advertising, for several years now.
 
Werbeweischer advertises strongly with the target group approach. Where does Publicitas Cinecom place its focus?
The target group is also a big issue for us. So far, the split has been about 50-50. In the past two years, about half of our customers have taken a geographic approach, and the others have booked on genre or film. In the future, however, I think the target group will play a bigger role than geography. 
 
Target group-specific advertising is the trend. In which cases do you see the geographic approach remaining superior in the future?
The geographic approach is suitable, for example, if a company operates in a limited area and wants to reach all customers there. For a garage owner or optician, it still makes sense to advertise in the cinemas around their location.
 
Let's talk about the pricing model: Why did Publicitas Cinecom stick to the old model, seasonal pricing, for so long?
Price accounting is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it should not be complicated, so that customers and agencies can also book advertising easily who do not deal with cinema advertising every day. On the other hand, there are the major customers and agencies who want performance-based billing. As of this year, we now cover both desires: In the local business, we stick to scale prices. This means that each cinema is divided into a scale according to audience numbers, which costs a fixed amount per month. In national business, we have introduced the thousand-contact price (CPM), which advertising customers already know from other categories.
 
How does the new model work with CPMs?
The model works with two variables: a forecast and the effective visitor numbers. The price for the advertising placement is calculated in advance on the basis of the average number of visitors to a movie theater over the last three years. Billing is then based on the effective contacts.
 
What contact figures do you receive from the cinema operators? After all, the audience figures are not public...
The cinema operators provide us with the audience figures for an auditorium on a weekly basis - in German-speaking Switzerland from Thursday in each case, as the films run.
 
You get the information per film?
The cinema operators decide each week which film will be shown in which auditorium based on their internal audience forecasts. We then receive the figures per auditorium and film every week. In over 90 percent of the cases, one film is shown in one auditorium during one week.
 
The new model is not risk-free. An unexpectedly successful film like "Intouchables" can bring alternative cinemas a lot of viewers one year. The next, such a film is missing, and audiences stay away....
Publicitas Cinecom bears this risk. If a film attracts more viewers than forecast, the advertising customer receives the additional viewers at no extra charge. If the film brings in less, we have a tolerance limit of 10 percent. If the audience figures are lower, we extend the customer's advertising campaign accordingly.
 
Ticket sales say nothing about the buyers. How do advertisers get information about the target group anyway?
To do this, the ticket figures are married with Mach Cinema, WEMF's consumer study. For an action film, for example, we know from Mach Cinema that the audience consists on average of 57.7 percent men between 14 and 29 years of age. If 1000 tickets were sold for an action film, we assume that around 577 of the buyers correspond to this type.
 
In the small Swiss cinema market, several providers could never exist in the longer term. How do you assess the current situation: Is there room for two?
That's difficult to assess from today's perspective. The battle will be fought tooth and nail. Basically, however, I believe that both Publicitas Cinecom and Werbeweischer are interested in cinema gaining ground as a medium, since cinema is undervalued in the advertising pie.
 
Why do you think cinema advertising is underrated?
Cinema is a niche medium due to its low reach. But reach should not be the criterion. What speaks for cinema advertising is the quality of the contact. Moviegoers can remember the advertising very well. The viewer is in a receptive state. Cinema advertising is an intensive experience, which is also enjoyable if the advertising is good. Moreover, the visitor can be reached additionally in the cinema - for example with samplings or give-aways. After a perfume advertisement, a sample is distributed at the exit. Or a car manufacturer displays a model in the foyer. Such opportunities are still underutilized.
 
Werbeweischer has snatched a valuable customer away from Publicitas Cinecom with the Kitag cinemas. How is Publicitas Cinecom coping with this loss?
This loss is painful. However, Publicitas Cinecom remains a major player. We still have a monopoly in Ticino and French-speaking Switzerland. In German-speaking Switzerland, we have a market share of 57 percent. I admit that there are a few blank spots on the map, for example in eastern Switzerland. And it's not all that easy in central Switzerland either. Otherwise, we have a good offering everywhere and still have a leading cinema portfolio throughout Switzerland. With Pathé, we currently have the largest cinema operator on board. For historical reasons, the cinema chain has a stronger presence in western Switzerland. However, Pathé is now also well positioned in German-speaking Switzerland, with the Westside in Bern, the cinemas in Basel, and in Dietlikon near Zurich.
 
Due to the existing monopoly in French and Italian-speaking Switzerland, Publicitas Cinecom promotes national campaigns in particular. How many advertisers run national campaigns at all?
Unfortunately, Ticino is often neglected. Western Switzerland, however, is very much in demand. Nationally active clients are keen to advertise in French-speaking Switzerland as well. More than 50 percent of all campaigns that do not come from local business are present in at least two language regions. For these customers, we remain the first point of contact.
 
National is unlikely to be booked by film in the future either - given the different film preferences in the language regions...
That's right. A film can perform differently in different parts of the country. This is further complicated by the different start dates. It's entirely possible for a film to be released two months earlier or later in French-speaking Switzerland. The differences are becoming smaller and smaller, because film distributors are trying to keep start dates as close together as possible due to piracy. However, certain differences remain.
 
How do you get around this problem?
In national campaigns, we don't define individual films, but a target group and look in the individual regions to see which films appeal to this target group in the time period.
 
Werbeweischer advertises with 3D campaigns and interactive screens. What ideas does Publicitas Cinecom have?
I don't think there will be many 3D campaigns in Switzerland any time soon - the production costs are simply too high for such a small market. Our idea is to network the cinema with other media. We combine the big screen with the ad screens in the cinema, with events, promotions or television.
 
For example, Star TV...
Exactly. Everyone who books cinema with us can also show their advertising for free on Star TV. Star TV is a cinema-affiliated channel and now shows movies every evening from 8 o'clock.
 
Are there cross-media offerings for the online sector?
Negotiations are currently underway with a major cinema portal. The idea is that moviegoers will come into contact with advertising twice: the first time on the online portal when they decide to see a film, and the second time in the theater. However, this is not yet ready to be announced.
 
Interview: Isabel Imper