Everything old is new again, especially at the movies.
In 2025, cinema advertising is looking at a stellar year, with large crowds, strong engagement, and even a generational bump in its demographics that should interest advertisers, said Christine Martino.
“Cinema is booming and what’s really driving that is Gen Z,” said Martino, chief revenue officer of Screenvision Media. “We’re seeing audiences grow year over year, where other networks simply aren’t seeing that sort of dramatic growth.”
The cinema advertising company is projecting record-breaking crowds this year and into next, as moviegoers rediscover the experience of watching movies in the theater, following the surge in video streaming spurred by the pandemic lockdown. Audiences are expected to grow 30 percent, said Martino.
“It’s that perfect storyline,” she said. “We have amazing content. We’ve got this elusive, attentive audience in cinema, and that emotional engagement that they have with the content drives real outcomes for brands.”
Following the Barbenheimer phenomenon of summer 2023, audiences have continued to show up in force for theatrical releases. Late 2024 titles like “Wicked” and “Gladiator II” delivered major box office wins, and more recently, “A Minecraft Movie” packed theaters with a $163 million opening weekend. Easter weekend saw “Sinners” become the highest-grossing Easter debut of all time. Now, Memorial Day weekend 2025 has officially set a new record with $325 million in box office revenue and 24 million+ admissions, led by the heartwarming success of “Lilo & Stitch” ($183M) and the high-octane return of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” ($77M). Audiences aren’t just back, they’re showing up in bigger and more energized ways than ever before, said Martino.
“We’re seeing more and more momentum at the box office,” she said. And the momentum is accompanied by an increased relevance of movies in culture, after years of Peak TV dominating the pop-culture conversation.
“We’re seeing this big boom in cinema, where more and more movies are driving cultural moments and being really relevant,” said Martino. “It’s becoming more and more apparent that there’s really no better place to share premium content than at the movies.”
Gen Z is embracing cultural moments at the movies, said Martino. Nine out of ten consumers in that cohort have been to the movies in the last year, and plan to go more often. This summer alone, Screenvision projects theaters will sell 450 million tickets to Gen Z moviegoers, she said.
This year will also see records broken in the number of movies on screen. Studios are planning 147 releases, including 32 blockbusters (any title projected to surpass $30MM on opening weekend), up 33% from 2024, said Martino.
“We’re just seeing this huge growth at the box office and this huge audience build of Gen Z really coming out to support it and be entertained,” said Martino. “And the content itself is actually shifting the cultural conversation. That’s what cinema is able to do.”
Creating cultural moments
Cinema advertising has evolved, from a static out-of-home medium to a dynamic, immersive experience that’s considered in the premium video set, along with linear TV, CTV and streaming. Cinema benefits from an unusually engaged audience, especially by the multitasking standards of Gen Z, said Martino.
Advertisers are innovating the creative offers in cinema, with pre-show takeovers to reach an audience primed for that message, and leveraging targeting and measurement tools to show results. Screenvision created a pre-show takeover for the release of “Wicked” in 2024, including shooting segments with the movie’s stars to be included – along with advertiser content – in the programming of their pre-show, Front + Center. The idea takes the existing preshow and enhances it for today’s audience, to make advertisers organically a part of the conversation moviegoers are having around that film, said Martino. Screenvision is preparing to launch another takeover this summer for M&M’s and the release of “Jurassic World: Rebirth.”
Cinema advertising has an advantage in that it can predict and plan for pop culture moments, since it taps directly into their source material, said Martino.
“Cultural moments happen, and so often people are chasing them. In cinema, you can plan a year-plus in advance,” said Martino. “We know that when ‘Avatar’ comes out this holiday, it’s going to be huge. You can be part of that cultural moment. When ‘Wicked: For Good,’ comes out over Thanksgiving, you can be part of that moment. We can create a whole storyline for you, so you’re not chasing cultural moments anymore. You’re actually planning in advance.”
The ability to measure those audiences and maximize campaigns helps brands see where cinema advertising is contributing to their campaign ROI, often alongside other video media, such as linear TV and CTV. Screenvision has partnered with LiveRamp, iSpot and OpenAP to add measurement and data tools for advertisers. At last year’s Upfronts, it introduced Screenvision AMP (Audience Management Platform), to help brands target and measure campaigns more effectively and this year will introduce Impact, a new product that provides advanced measurement capabilities, to AMP’s suite of advertiser solutions.
When measured, cinema advertising can show it holds its own against other video and digital media, said Martino. “It’s all about growth, looking at cinema in more of a digital data aspect, where it can be completely measurable and transparent against linear CTV: Where that reach and frequency and finally, at the end of the day, where that conversion comes from,” she said.
Media agencies were first to notice the evolution and move cinema advertising from the out-of-home portfolios to the video investment teams. Having Nielsen data to compare to other media and “be able to really look and feel and speak the same way that any of those networks are able to” helped open doors with brands and campaigns, she explained.
“Cinema really sits firmly in the premium video universe and has established it as home over the last 10-plus years,” said Martino. “When marketers are putting together their video investment plans, we are now squarely an option for them that they can compare side-by-side with any of the other premium video solutions that they’re purchasing.”
