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Smash hit movies, booming audiences, thriving ad revenue.

For anyone in the business of selling cinema advertising, the figures over the past decade make for some pretty happy viewing.

With admissions having risen by nearly 70%, ad revenues up almost three-fold and brands such as BMW, Toyota and Orange now showcasing their work on the big screen, the days of advertising hot dogs and curry houses seems to have been left behind along with serving ice creams at the interval.

Confidence is such that the sector, which took a 1.2% share of total ad spend last year, has set its sights recently on reaching  two per cent by 2005.

However, the blockbuster success of the past few years is by no means guaranteed to continue. The downturn which has hit so many aspects of the advertising industry has caught up with cinema too and whereas, in 2001, ad revenues were up by 28%, this year they are predicted to grow by only eight per cent.

So are those trying to drive the cinema advertising industry forward still confident of reaching their target?

At the helm of the UK's market-leading sales house, Carlton Screen Advertising, sit joint sales directors Nicolette Homes and Adam Mills, with almost 15 years' experience at the company between them.

"Building client confidence in the medium is absolutely key for us at the moment. As there are only two sales houses in the UK cinema market, there's no doubt that we have to shout very loud to promote the medium," says Mills, who began his media career as planner/buyer at TMD Carat and leads the marketing operation at CSA.

Building confidence

Homes, whose role is more on the research side, adds: "As a traditionally niche medium, it's been common in the past for an agency planner to work for five years without buying a single cinema campaign. If there's a lack of confidence in the medium, it's our job to address it."

Although given separate remits within regional, local and direct sales, as well as sponsorship and promotions, Mills and Homes work closely together on national business.

Both admit that cinema -  dubbed by some as "low and slow" because it suffers from low reach and builds only a slow rate of awareness for campaigns - has a long way still to go before it becomes a key part of every advertisers' schedule.

Mills says: "Anyone who sells cinema needs to be realistic about its limitations.

"We'd find it hard to put together a case study that proves cinema's value as a vehicle to increase sales instantaneously. It's about increasing brand awareness through a slow burn medium. It's great for creating talkability and showcasing an ad and is often used as a solus medium at the beginning of a campaign."

Between 1991 and 2001, cinema admissions shot up from 93 million to 156 million, a rise of more than 40%.

And while cinema has few problems convincing advertisers of its potential for continued audience growth, with movie records being shattered on a regular basis, the recent troubles facing television have provided a potential weak spot for the likes of Mills and Homes to exploit, especially as, unlike TV, cinema's grasp on the 15 to 34-year-old market has gone from strength to strength.

Forecasts for 2002 predict cinema will access 84 million 15 to 34-year-olds, compared to 58 million in 1990.

"Our core audience is 15 to 34-year-olds and when TV fails to deliver these numbers, we'll become increasingly crucial to schedules," claims Homes.

"The whole trend toward media neutrality planning is obviously working to our benefit," adds Mills, aware that
cinema is among those that stand to gain from the increasing number of companies and their agencies looking to spread advertising spend away from the more traditional routes to reach today's consumer.

Cinema's audience is also widening. The number of
people aged 35-plus visiting cinemas has risen by 36 million in the past 12 years to 54 million.

Yet still many of the top media agencies have no full-time
cinema buyer.

"Where other media are guaranteed their share of voice in the planning stage, cinema is often forgotten about," admits Homes.

CSA has worked with media companies in the past six months to set up "cinema co-ordinators" in many key agencies, establishing a single point of contact for planners and sales teams.

Meanwhile, the industry's joint marketing body, the
Cinema Advertising Association, has continued to press the medium's claims for clients' businesses.

Set up and run by CSA and SMG-owned rivals Pearl & Dean, the body operates as a public voice for the cinema advertising industry. But the rivalry between the two founder companies means a joint marketing approach is not always an easy ride.

Lucrative contract

Although market leader in the UK, CSA has come under
pressure from its rival for the lucrative sales contracts from the major cinema operators.

Last year, P&D scored a major coup, snatching the UGC chain from CSA, boosting its portfolio by 396 screens.

The move narrowed the gap between the two companies, P&D had a 43.9% share of cinema screens in the UK, compared to CSA's 55.1%.

However, last month CSA hit back, winning the contract for the National Amusements' Showcase cinema chain of 243 cinemas from its competitor, taking its share back to 63.1%.

"Our single biggest challenge is to get cinema onto schedules which is shared wholeheartedly with Pearl & Dean," says Mills.

Although Mills and Homes have had "bankers" such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars in recent months, they are keen to get the message across that admissions as a whole are the story which makes cinema a force to be reckoned with.

"Cinema is attracting audiences of around 3.5 million every week," says Homes.

"Rather than luring advertisers to book campaigns around certain event movies, we want them to think about admissions in general."