Historicly speaking, movie theatres for most of their existence used newspaper advertising as the main source for informing the theatre going public as to what is, and/or will be playing. That meant advertising in your local newspaper(s) on a daily basis. Of course, that was before the internet, and unbelievable high rates in newspapers.
Today I don't think that newspaper advertising is nearly as important, although still needed. It is seldom used to SELL a picture these days, but rather just to inform the public where a picture is playing and when.
Years ago making the ads for a single screen theatre was one of the most fun and important parts of a managers job. At the large theatres in big cities, it was often a full time position to be the advertising and promotion director.
I miss those wonderful large and artisic ads that filled the amusement page(es) of every newspaper.
What I currently do in the way of newspaper advertising is as follows: I advertise in our large metropolitan daily every Fri., Sat., Sun. and Wed. Keep in mind that this is a single screen theatre. I run a 1 col. x 1 1/2 in. ad on Fri. & Sat. and a 1 col. x 1 in. ad on Sun. and Wed. I still think it's necessary to be there on the weekends. The only reason I run an ad on Wed. is because that is the only weekday that I run a matinee, and I want to remind people of that fact.
About 10 years ago I dropped the ad on Mon., then a couple of years later on Thurs. and finally about 4 or 5 years ago dropped Tues. as well. Each time I dropped an ad I charted the drop in business against the other weekdays with ads, as well as the same days from previous years when I had run ads.
What did I find? The amount in dollar loss from box office and concession was less then the cost of the ads. So why run the ads?
During the summer I run matinees every Sun. through Thurs. I therefore run an ad on Mon. during those summer weeks to remind folks that we have the extra matinees. The past two summers the strangest thing has happened. Tues. and Thurs. which are the two days without a newspaper ad are the two best weekdays for business. Go figure!
I also run a larger ad, usually 1 col. x 5 in. in 4 local weekly papers that naturally list the complete show schedule for the entire weeks run. I was taught that the total advertising budget should be around 7%, but not to exceed 10% of box office gross. I usually fall somewhere between those figures.
Most important today though is your website and your weekly e-mail newsletter. Eventually, newspaper advertising may not be needed at all.
[This message has been edited by RoxyVaudeville (edited November 09, 2006).]
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