National CineMedia (or “NCM”) and iSpot are bringing ad measurement to the silver screen.
The two companies announced this week that they’re expanding their partnership to provide the first-ever scaled, third-party measurement of in-theater ads, specifically those that run during trailers before a movie begins. For the first time, NCM will integrate its household-level exposure data with iSpot’s unified cross-platform and outcomes-based measurement solutions.
The goal? To give advertisers a clearer picture of how cinema ads perform, not just in terms of reach, but also in driving real-world business outcomes like sales, website visits, and ticket purchases.
This marks NCM’s first integration with a third-party measurement provider and is designed to help brands evaluate cinema as part of a broader video mix alongside linear TV, streaming, and digital. Advertisers will gain insight into audience reach, frequency, conversion data, and channel overlap, hopefully making cinema a measurable, trackable line item in cross-media buys.
Why This Matters:
While movie theaters are still recovering from the COVID-pandemic slump, they remain a high-impact advertising channel.
According to a Lumen study done with NCM (so a bit self-promotional, sure), cinema outperforms other ad-supported video platforms when it comes to attention. This probably isn’t surprising, given the immersive nature of the big screen. The report also says that theater ads drive stronger recall and, with that, trust across all categories, like pharma and auto.
To that end, NCM’s platform spans more than 1,400 theaters across AMC, Regal, and Cinemark, giving advertisers access to pretty desirable real estate. Now, with third-party measurement in place, they can better position cinema alongside other premium video environments. Independent validation also adds an extra layer of credibility and is something media buyers basically expect across all channels.
Experts React:
In a press release about the announcement, Manu Singh, Chief Data & Innovation Officer at NCM, says:
“The technology is now in place, and brands looking to reach and convert highly engaged consumers can finally connect the dots to business outcomes—whether that’s sales, website visits or ticket purchases.”
Our Take:
This is a smart move for NCM as it works to align cinema with broader digital and TV measurement frameworks. For advertisers, it reduces friction by making it easier to understand how theater ads perform relative to other channels. More importantly, it helps eliminate uncertainty around what’s long been viewed as a siloed, harder-to-measure channel in terms of ROI.
Random thought: NCM sort of resembles a media network layer for theaters, no? It does the “in-store” piece, but also seems to provide audience extension, off-site, via DOOH, according to its website. Seems cool.
