Blog > Data Utilisation, Not Just Sharing: A Smarter Way To Reach Cinema Audiences

Data Utilisation, Not Just Sharing: A Smarter Way To Reach Cinema Audiences

“How strategic collaboration between exhibitors and distributors can drive ticket sales, enhance campaigns, and meet evolving audience expectations?”

Industry Leaders Gather to Tackle Cinema Challenges

At a recent major market conference, a group of senior executives joined a roundtable discussion to share their views on key industry topics. Attendees heard insights from experienced voices on subjects like slate awareness, theatrical windows and release patterns, with perspectives from both exhibition and distribution.

As the conversation turned to film marketing, a key challenge was raised: How can exhibition and distribution better share data in order to boost campaign effectiveness and sell more cinema tickets? Surprisingly (at least to me) one or two eyes rolled. Maybe even a sigh or two escaped from the audience. Not because it’s unimportant, far from it, but due to what I’d call ‘issue fatigue’. This topic has been discussed for years, yet fundamental obstacles remain that prevent us from establishing a standardised, industry-wide approach. A key remains however: this issue is impacting cinema audiences. Slate awareness is a definite challenge, yes, but in today’s world it takes so much more than awareness to gain a cinema-goer, especially in the mid-tier or indie sector.

“It is critical that we revolutionise the way exhibition and distribution collaborate to collectively drive better outcomes for all theatrical releases.“

Our Mission: Sell More Cinema Tickets

Our aim as an agency is simple: to help sell more cinema tickets. We work with both exhibitors and distributors to make that happen. At the heart of that success lies a simple, transformative idea: when exhibitors and distributors utilise data meaningfully and responsibly, everyone benefits, not just industry stakeholders, but moviegoers too.

“Exhibitors hold extremely valuable data. A veritable goldmine of customer insight, loyalty data, website behaviour, geo-location, and ticket purchase history.”

We know from our interactions with distributors across the globe that one major challenge they face is the lack of full-funnel data access. Who is buying cinema tickets? Who is watching our films and what influence do our campaigns have on them? Utilising anonymised exhibitor audience segments, distributors can target campaigns with greater accuracy to the actual ticket buyer likely to see their film. Media spend becomes more precise. National campaigns can be adjusted in real time based on what’s actually working via collaborative marketing activity.

It’s Not About Sharing Data – It’s About Using It Smarter

Now, to be clear to all the exhibition execs reading this, we’re not advocating for exhibitors to throw open their databases here. We’re not suggesting anyone transfer customer data at all. We’re advocating for strategic ‘data utilisation’ over ‘data sharing’, because the focus should be on using existing insights, from both sides, more effectively to get more bums on seats. The data shows this activity brings more qualified traffic to exhibitor websites and apps, giving exhibition marketers a greater understanding of their audience. Distributors are more likely to invest directly in exhibitors who can not only show them a clear return on their investment, but also insights into how they can improve their next campaign too.

The benefits for both sides are substantial and crucially, we’re collectively enhancing a vital early part of the moviegoer experience. Instead of generic ads, audiences can receive relevant, timely suggestions. Highly targeted and relevant communication shouldn’t simply be the preserve of exhibitor emails. The ability to deliver this through collaborative activity across a wider media campaign exists today. What’s holding us back is hesitation.

Real Results from Real Collaboration

We’ve consistently seen that campaigns driven by shared data outperform those based solely on instinct or broad trends. During last year’s panel session at this conference, we spoke with Ryan Hewitt, Marketing Director at Everyman (full disclosure – a Gruvi partner), about the increased trade investment they’re now seeing. In some cases, this is now ten times higher per campaign than their previous average. Why?

These campaigns are
a) expertly executed
b) built on highly relevant audience insights from the exhibitor
c) improving results (which are reported back to the distributor in real time).

We’re proud to support this collaborative work. At this year’s conference, we’ll share results from a national pilot study we conducted with Meta and an exhibitor partner, focused on generating incremental searches and sales. The takeaway is clear: collaborative data utilisation can drive a significant uplift in performance.

We’ve seen vast increases in trade investment for our clients in the last 24 months. We’re seeing more collaboration around trailer launches, with distributors benefitting from reaching exhibitor audiences to understand if consideration is likely to turn into conversion. This is fundamentally changing the way films advertising is planned. But we can do more to deliver better results, faster.

Time to Catch Up With Other Industries

In the wider retail and ecommerce market, shared intelligence is a given. There’s no reason we can’t follow suit. Yes, privacy, GDPR compliance, and commercial sensitivities are valid concerns. But they’re manageable, especially when the goal is strategic data utilisation. There are plenty of tools that facilitate secure collaboration via clean rooms and encrypted APIs, ensuring no personal data is exposed. These collaborative platforms can operate under clear rules of engagement, with defined boundaries and objectives around generating mutual value.

Industry bodies and cross-sector working groups can help, not by imposing standards, but by encouraging voluntary frameworks that demonstrate the mutual benefit of cooperation. This was raised at the conference I mentioned earlier, and I’ll continue to advocate for it. 

Our Shared Goal: Filling Cinema Seats

Ultimately, let’s not lose sight of the common goal: getting more people into cinemas. Audiences expect relevance, personalisation, and seamless experiences. If we’re not collaborating to meet those expectations, we’re not just missing revenue, we’re risking our future relevance.

At Gruvi, we believe better data leads to better decisions. Better collaboration leads to better outcomes. It’s not about choosing between privacy or openness, it’s about finding the trust-driven middle ground that helps our industry thrive.

The conversation around data sharing has been long, and yes, sometimes frustrating. But now’s the time to re-energise. To stop sighing and start building something better, together, to get more bums on seats for all the great stories we tell.