Understanding the disparity between audience demographics is crucial in catering to a diverse range of audience needs and wants. Using mixed methodology research and adapting business models to meet changing audience needs is key to success.
Ben Luxford, Director of UK Audiences at BFI opened the session with a presentation of findings from the BFI’s five year mixed methodology audience study. From surveys and focus groups to “watching diaries” which were given to thousands of people across the country to record their viewing habits, and with open source data, the 2019-2023 study, conducted by GfK on behalf of the BFI, gave what Luxford called, “a rich understanding of the changes felt throughout that significant period” and which provided “unique contexts into cinema-going in the wider viewing landscape.”
Post-pandemic, “There’s a feeling that things have changed,” he said, “and the narrative is that we’ve recovered.” Film viewing is now incredibly popular and more habitual than ever before, with 95% of people watching a film in last 12 months and 23% on daily basis (the primary and dominant form of viewing being via streaming platforms and with an average of one film per week via SVOD). Notably, the independent sector have the broadest demographics but 30% of their audiences are no longer attending. Another concern is that British films are more popular viewed at home than in cinemas.
The key drivers, he said, are that audiences see cinema as “an escape” or a “special treat / night out”, and not a habitual activity. He said the “intellectually challenging or stimulating” reason previously given for seeing films has fallen down the rankings. The barriers he noted included costs and convenience but also featured a real lack of slate awareness. There is a feeling that, with streaming platforms, “If I’m not enjoying something, I can turn it off,” and “Streaming gives me everything I need.”
Michael Gubbins, moderating the session, posited: “Competing with time, and disposable income becomes a problem. What do we do? Is it a marketing issue or do we need to rethink the way we address audiences about the films we’re showing? We create something self-perpetuating. We think it’s a rich or posh thing to do and place it socially and then wonder why people don’t seem to want it.”
“There’s obviously a correction that needs to take place,” Luxford agreed, going on to suggest that if cinema is being viewed as a “special treat” that there is a need for investment to help it grow – potentially through capital upgrades, infrastructure and offer. He also pointed to the way cinemas in the UK have changed their approach to attracting young audiences as a significant investment in the future. Still, slate awareness and creating public awareness around films remains a major stumbling block, “It’s very difficult to reach everyone,” he said. One successful campaign the BFI have launched is their ‘Escapes’ initiative, which was largely informed by this data to get people watching independent films. The initiative offers free tickets to partner cinemas to see a specific film, and the results have already seen 50% new visitors to the cinemas in those audiences. From that, people have been willing to share their data, delivering 40,000 newly collected email addresses to cinemas to direct market to.
Elise Jalladeau from Thessaloniki Film Festival also pointed to a recent piece of research carried out in partnership with a university in Greece which gave significant audience insights. The festival in Thessaloniki always has sold out sessions but developing their year-round audience has been a challenge. In 2018, through focus groups and interviews, they learnt that the younger and new generations in attendance differs greatly from their traditional audience. Younger generations don’t want to “lose time”, meaning they won’t take a risk on a film they’re unsure about. This has led to programming of more classic and repertory films, an emerging trend across the sector.
“The older cinephiles”, she said, “identify themselves as part of an artistic loving community, but they love to come alone.” Whereas, “the new generations don’t belong to the community but they come all together. It’s a social activity.” Special events, films with huge marketing campaigns and classics are attracting them in groups and comedies are more popular than dramas meaning a lot of new releases are falling by the wayside.
Julien Staartjes, marketing and communications for FilmHalen in the Netherlands said their approach is to look at and replicate strategies from service, leisure, travel and e-commerce industries. Using their e-newsletters to give restaurant recommendations before an upcoming screening, to offer background information on films, and also for recommendations for future films. The approach aims “to get back the time that the other industries are taking,” Staartjes said, “What works for sneakers also works really well for arthouse films.”
Giuliana Fantoni, President for FICE in Italy took a different view, saying that the younger audiences in Italy do watch the more experimental films and will take risks in their viewing habits. Their 20-35 year-old audience take pride in being cinephiles, but also do have clear ideas about what they like and what they don’t. What Fantoni called an “audiovisual overload in the pandemic” has also raised cinema literacy and the desire to go to the cinema, “They prefer classics but are also curious,” she said. One mistake, she said, is in generalising too much about younger audiences, a large demographic that has many and varied sub-demographics within it. “We have to communicate through different channels and adapt our language in addressing young audiences.”
Marketing, curation and ticketing clearly all play a part in attracting and deflecting audiences, but what has changed is the iterative approach. Data collection, interpretation and understanding of audience behaviours is crucial in order to design activities, tailor-made, to diverse audiences.
Photos courtesy of Gediminas Gražys