DCM snatches Vue sales contract from Pearl & Dean
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Advertising sales house Digital Cinema Media (DCM) has secured the contract for the Vue cinema chain.
This was previously held by rival operation Pearl & Dean and the decision casts a shadow over the future of the company.
DCM is owned jointly by two of the three major cinema chains, Cineworld and Odeon. Pearl & Dean retained a contract with Vue, which holds 23% of the UK cinema market by revenue.
Pearl & Dean was sold by STV to Image, a company set up by the owner of cinema chain Empire Cinemas, in April for £1. Image is fully owned by Thomas Anderson, a non-executive chairman and shareholder of Circle Oil, as well as director and owner of Empire.
At the time, STV described the sales house as a “well known brand with longstanding screen heritage.”
For the year ending December 2009 Pearl & Dean had revenues of £19.9m and losses of £13.3m.
A spokesman for Pearl & Dean says: “Pearl & Dean continues to deliver engaging cinema activity for an exciting raft of upcoming film releases, and the company remains committed to creating innovative cinema communications platforms both on- and off-screen.”
DCM’s contract with Vue starts on 1 January next year. Steve Wiener, CEO of Cineworld, says: “Today’s news is an exciting development for DCM: we anticipate DCM benefiting from economies of scale over the mid-to-long term.”
DCM changed its name from Carlton Screen Advertising in 2008 when it was sold to Odeon and Cineworld by ITV.
Read Marketing Week’s recent feature on the cinema sector here
YouGov Insight:
Cinema
· Almost three quarters of cinema goers see it as an occasional activity and less than one in ten consider themselves avid goers – those who do are most likely to be under 25.
· When choosing a film, drama appeals most to ABC1 women aged over 25 and to men over 55.
· 18% of cinema goers buy their sweets (e.g. Haribo, M&Ms) at the cinema, while 34% bring sweets they have bought elsewhere.
· 36% of cinema goes currently buy their fizzy drink at the cinema, as opposed to 19% who carry it with them.
· 37% of YouGov respondents say they have taken advantage of the two for one Orange Wednesdays offer.
· 1 in 5 people say they have paid for premier seating.
· Only 3% of cinema goers have an Odeon Premiere Clubcard.
Click here for more information on this YouGov market report
