The U.S. Box Office took over $160M in revenue over the 2017 Easter weekend, and many are hoping for another boost in sales this weekend. According to Movio, new machine learning technology could help the industry create a further 15% rise in ticket sales for 2018. Movio’s Audience Insights tool launches globally next week and is set to revolutionize how cinemas engage with their customers by predicting the most likely audience for each film. A world-first, cinema-centric tool, it draws on past audience behavioral data, helping cinema marketers connect moviegoers with the films most suited to them. They can then work out how best to incentivize attendance.

Using Movio’s proprietary Propensity Algorithm, the product allows film marketers to determine the likelihood a moviegoer will see a particular movie, on average predicting the 10-15% from that audience who will most likely attend. Marketers can then focus efforts on creating personalized, relevant communications, matching messaging and incentives. Movio customers have already seen success from its trials, with one cinema confirming 14% of people who were identified as the ‘likely moviegoers’ made up half (50%) of its opening weekend admissions to the Marvel hit, “Black Panther.” Furthermore, the most likely moviegoer was six times more likely to see “Black Panther” than the total moviegoing audience.

Steve Mathwig, Loyalty Program Manager for Marcus Theatres, says: “Audience Insights is a powerful tool that gives us a data driven view of our membership. The propensity modeling that it uses takes the guesswork out of who is most likely to see a particular film. It has become a major part of our campaign development strategy.”

Will Palmer, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of Movio, says: “We’ve worked with cinema marketers for the past seven years to develop this product. It is a revolutionary step towards not only increasing audience numbers but also building customer loyalty. On-demand streaming services offer viewers relevant content based on their viewing habits, and cinema marketers are under pressure to do the same. So imagine knowing which movie everyone in your database is likely to watch next and how likely they are to see it – that makes marketing incredibly simple.”

For example, if ‘Guest X’ watched Blade Runner 2049 and Black Panther and these movies were also watched by someone who purchased tickets to Ready Player One, then ‘Guest X’ is highly likely to watch Ready Player One as well. This knowledge allows for more refined messaging.

Palmer concluded: “Ultimately this empowers studios, distributors and exhibitors to connect moviegoers with their ideal movie, enabling future generations to experience the magic of the cinema.”

About Movio
Movio is the global leader in marketing data analytics and campaign management solutions, revolutionizing the way the film industry interacts with moviegoers. With a global database of over 100 million moviegoers, 750 million behavioral and transactional records and more than 5000 movie titles, Movio is the world’s most comprehensive source of moviegoer data. A Vista Group International company (NZX & ASX: VGL), Movio’s investment in data science and machine learning has produced market-leading technologies that redefine the possibilities of movie marketing. Movio empowers marketers to connect moviegoers with their ideal movie via online and offline channels, and link campaign data with actual ticket purchases to close the loop and measure campaign effectiveness.