National CineMedia, Inc. (‘NCM’) operates as a cinema advertising platform in the US.
The company’s consolidated subsidiary, National CineMedia, LLC, possesses unparalleled reach and scale, connecting brands to sought-after, young, diverse audiences through the power of movies and pop culture. As a premium video, full-funnel marketing solution for advertisers, NCM enhances advertisers’ ability to measure and drive results. NCM’s Noovie Show is presented exclusively in 42 leading national and re...
National CineMedia, Inc. (‘NCM’) operates as a cinema advertising platform in the US.
The company’s consolidated subsidiary, National CineMedia, LLC, possesses unparalleled reach and scale, connecting brands to sought-after, young, diverse audiences through the power of movies and pop culture. As a premium video, full-funnel marketing solution for advertisers, NCM enhances advertisers’ ability to measure and drive results. NCM’s Noovie Show is presented exclusively in 42 leading national and regional theater circuits, including the only three national chains, AMC, Cinemark, and Regal. NCM’s cinema advertising platform consists of more than 18,000 screens in over 1,400 theaters in 196 Designated Market Areas (‘DMA’), including all of the top 50.
The company derives revenue primarily from selling advertising to national, regional, and local businesses through The Noovie Show, the company’s cinema advertising and entertainment show seen on movie screens across the U.S. Additionally, the company generates revenue from LEN, a series of strategically placed screens located in movie theater lobbies, as well as other promotional opportunities in theater lobbies. Beyond the theater, it extends its advertising reach through NCM Boost, leveraging omnichannel retargeting across its owned digital properties, partnerships with third-party digital publishers and platforms, CTV, and a variety of complementary out-of-home venues, such as restaurants, convenience stores, and college campuses, to engage entertainment audiences beyond the theater.
NCM LLC has long-term ESAs with the ESA Parties and multi-year agreements with its network affiliates, which grant NCM LLC exclusive rights in their respective theaters to sell advertising, subject to limited exceptions. The weighted average remaining term of the ESAs with the ESA Parties is approximately 14.1 years as of December 26, 2024. The network affiliate agreements expire at various dates between July 7, 2025, and July 13, 2033, with its largest affiliate agreement expiring on July 13, 2033. The weighted average remaining term of the ESAs and the network affiliate agreements together is 11.3 years as of December 26, 2024.
The Noovie Show Advertising
The Noovie Show provides an entertaining pre-movie experience for theater patrons while serving as an incremental revenue source for its theater circuits. The Noovie Show gives movie audiences a reason to arrive at the theater early to discover what’s next, with exclusive entertainment content and engaging advertising from national, regional, and local brands, as well as long-form entertainment and advertising content provided to it under exclusive multi-year arrangements with leading media, entertainment, technology, and other companies (‘content partners’).
The company presents multiple different formats of the Noovie Show depending on the theater circuit in which it runs. In Cinemark, Regal, and certain other network affiliate theaters, NCM offers additional post-show advertising inventory, which may consist of a lights down segment that runs after the advertised showtime with trailer lighting and may consist of a Platinum Spot embedded in the trailers. As of December 26, 2024, theaters presenting the updated Noovie Show format with Post-Showtime Inventory made up 65.0% of its network. All other NCM network theater circuits, which make up the remaining 35.0% of its network, present the Classic Noovie Show, which ends approximately at the advertised movie showtime when the movie trailers begin, which are not part of The Noovie Show.
Because The Noovie Show is customized by theater circuit, theater location/market, film rating, film genre, and film title, the company produces and distributes many different versions of The Noovie Show each month. This programming flexibility provides advertisers with the ability to target specific audience demographics and geographic locations, and ensure that the content and advertising are age-appropriate for the movie audience.
In 2024, the company launched several specialty content platforms to cater to specific audiences, with topics, including sustainability, fashion, celebrities, and sports. These platforms directly appeal to NCM's diverse audience, including socially conscious Gen Z audiences. The company also launched its Premium Format Network featuring premium cinema screens that create an elevated environment with modern screens and contemporary lobbies. These immersive cinema experiences attract moviegoers with higher disposable income, reaching an attractive demographic for advertisers. In prior years, it launched several other specialty networks, including the NCM Black Cinema Network and the NCM Hispanic Cinema Network, reaching those audiences where they over-index in top DMAs.
All versions of the Noovie Show are produced by the company’s internal creative team, which is cost-effective and gives it significant flexibility while offering advertisers opportunities for sponsorship and integration into its movie and pop culture content series. Additionally, the company works with several media and non-profit partners who provide NCM with pre-produced, culturally relevant editorial content for the show at no cost. Those content segments are co-branded with the partner and Noovie messaging and can be monetized by NCM through advertising sponsorships and brand integrations. The company also offers pre- and post-production advertising creative services to its clients (primarily local clients who may not have their own creative agency), as well as branded content creation for national brands for a fee.
The Noovie Show Structure Including Post-Showtime Inventory—The Noovie Show with Post-Showtime Inventory format consists of substantially the same segments included within the Classic Noovie Show, each approximately four to ten minutes in length, as well as two additional advertising segments after the advertised showtime. The total length of The Noovie Show plus its Post-Showtime Inventory is the same as the Classic Noovie Show as the amount of time displayed prior to the advertised showtime is reduced by the sum of five minutes plus the aggregate length of time of the Platinum Spot.
The Silver Pod is the first section of The Noovie Show, which contains the entertaining content that is a core element of The Noovie Show programming. NCM programs exclusive Noovie content at the beginning of the show that gives audiences a look at what’s happening in the movie and pop culture arenas and features long-form entertainment from its content partners. In 2024, the company continued its Noovie Show editorial series featuring celebrities, creators, and journalists to appeal to both its moviegoing audience and to advertisers for sponsorship and integration opportunities. These series include The Noovie Trivia Show, where its Emmy-award winning host Maria Menounos quizzes celebrities about their career through the lens of movie trivia; Noovieverse, which stars popular social media influencers who analyze upcoming superhero blockbuster movies; and Perri’s Picks, starring movie expert Perri Nemiroff, who shares her insider reviews on what movies to watch and why. The Silver Pod features primarily local and regional advertisements, which generally range between 15 to 90 seconds. This segment also typically includes a spot for Noovie Show programming, such as Noovie Trivia, Noovie Cultural Celebrations (e.g., original content around Black History Month or Hispanic Heritage Month, which can also be sponsored by advertisers), and shorter segments from the editorial series mentioned above.
The Gold Pod runs after the Silver Pod and features primarily national advertisements, which are generally 30 or 60 seconds, as well as a long-form entertainment content segment from one of its content partners. Advertised showtime is after the Gold Pod, except in Regal, where the advertised showtime is after the Silver Pod.
The Pre-Trailer Pod runs after the Gold Pod and features at least 5 minutes of national advertisements, which are generally between 30 or 60 seconds, at a lower lighting level than ads that play prior to the advertised showtime. After the conclusion of this pod, there is a courtesy public service announcement (‘courtesy PSA’) (e.g., ‘Silence Your Cell Phones’) and a 30 second or a 60 second advertisement for the ESA Parties' beverage supplier.
The Platinum Spot features an additional single advertising unit that is either 30 or 60 seconds deeply embedded within the movie trailers at trailer level lighting and at similar volume levels, directly prior to the last one or two trailers preceding the feature film.
National, Regional, and Local Advertising—The company’s cinema advertising business has a diverse customer base, consisting of national, regional, and local advertisers. National and regional on-screen advertising in The Noovie Show is sold on a CPM basis to national and regional clients. The company generally sells its national advertising units across its national network by film rating or groups of ratings, or by individual film or film genre grouping. This ability to target various groups of films offers national advertisers a way to target specific audience demographics at various price points and overall cost levels, which expands the number of potential clients. Local advertising is often sold on a per-theater, per-week basis.
As with other premium video mediums, like linear TV and connected TV (CTV), the company sells The Noovie Show inventory in both the upfront and scatter markets. Upfront is a term that describes the practice of buying advertising time ‘up front’ on an annual basis for the upcoming year, purchasing inventory in advance, and locking in the advertising rates (CPMs). Consistent with the television industry's upfront booking practices, a portion of the company’s upfront commitments have cancellation options or options to reduce the amount that advertisers may purchase up until their commitment begins airing. These options could reduce what is ultimately spent by clients that have made upfront commitments. Scatter refers to the buying of advertising on a shorter-term basis closer to when the advertisements will run, which often results in a pricing premium compared to upfront rates. The mix between the upfront and scatter markets is based upon a number of advertising market factors, such as pricing, demand for advertising time, and economic conditions. The demand in the scatter market impacts the pricing achieved for its remaining advertising inventory not sold upfront and can vary throughout the year.
Programmatic and Self-Serve Marketplaces: In 2024, the company launched two new ways advertisers can purchase its advertising inventory: programmatic and self-serve. The programmatic marketplace offers real-time data-driven trading of cinema advertising inventory, allowing bidding on available audiences during The Noovie Show. Buyers can choose from programmatic guaranteed and private marketplace options, and programmatic buys can be customized by reach, geography, film rating, day of the week, and time of day. Additionally, through NCM's fully automated self-serve solution, local and regional companies can plan, buy, and schedule their own ads to run on the big screen.
Beverage Advertising: Each of the ESA Parties has a relationship with a beverage concessionaire supplier under which it is obligated to provide on-screen advertising time as part of its agreement to purchase branded beverages sold in its theaters. Under the ESAs, up to 90 seconds of the Noovie program can be sold to the ESA Parties to satisfy their on-screen advertising commitments under their beverage concessionaire agreements. The price for the time sold to Cinemark’s beverage supplier increases 2% each year. The time sold to AMC’s beverage supplier is priced equal to the greater of the advertising CPM charged by NCM LLC in the previous year for the time sold to AMC’s beverage supplier and the advertising CPM for the previous year charged by NCM LLC to unaffiliated third parties during segment one (closest to showtime) of The Noovie Show in AMC’s theaters, limited to the highest advertising CPM being then charged by NCM LLC pursuant to the ESAs.
During 2024, the company sold 60 seconds of on-screen advertising to one of the ESA Parties and 30 seconds of on-screen advertising to the other ESA Party for their beverage concessionaires. During 2024, the beverage concessionaire revenue from the ESA Parties’ beverage agreements was approximately 5.7% of NCM LLC’s total revenue. In the instance of certain theaters that are acquired by the ESA Parties but are not incorporated into its network because of an existing on-screen advertising agreement with an alternative provider, the company remains entitled to these encumbered theater beverage payments under the terms of the ESA, which are treated as a reduction to the intangible asset and not classified as revenue.
Content: Beyond the Noovie-branded content during the Noovie Show, the majority of the company’s entertainment and advertising content segments are provided to it by content partners. Under the terms of the contracts, its content partners create original long-form entertainment content segments and make commitments to buy a portion of its advertising inventory at a specified CPM over a one- or two-year period with options to renew, exercisable at the content partner’s option. The original content produced by these content partners typically features upcoming media programming or technology products. In 2024, the content partner segments were between 90 and 120 seconds in length.
Courtesy PSA: In 2024, the company had three agreements throughout the year to exhibit a 40-second ‘silence your cell phone’ courtesy PSA reminding moviegoers to silence their cell phones and refrain from texting during feature films. There are two agreements in place for 2025.
Theater Circuit Messaging: The Noovie Show also includes time slots for the ESA Parties and network affiliates to advertise various activities associated with the operations of the theaters, including concessions, online ticketing partners, gift card and loyalty programs, special events presented by the theater operator and vendors of services provided to theaters, so long as such promotion is incidental to the vendor’s service or products sold in the theater.
Data & Digital Advertising
NCMx is the company’s data, insights, and analytics platform that utilizes the company’s comprehensive knowledge and extensive data about moviegoer behavior to connect brands with custom audiences across all screens, both in theaters and beyond, before, during, and after their moviegoing experience. NCM clients are able to leverage NCMx to execute advanced audience-matching against key geographic, behavioral, and contextual targets on the big screen, as well as retarget moviegoers across any screen with tailored ads or exclusive brand offers. NCM provides advertisers with access to one of the largest collections of deterministic moviegoer data in the industry. With over 824.4 million unique data records as of December 26, 2024, NCMx makes 121.1 million unique data records available over a 90-day look-back period, delivering advertisers a 360-degree view of recent consumer behavior with performance metrics to refine campaign plans and generate a better return on their advertising investment. The company is leading the cinema advertising industry as it transforms into a data-first media company that reaches audiences at scale with the most engaging content.
NCM Boost: In 2024, the company expanded its Audience Accelerator digital product with NCM Boost, which enhances cinema advertising campaigns by extending their reach beyond the big screen. This enhancement empowers advertisers to execute comprehensive retargeting, reconnecting with the elusive moviegoer audience on the right screen at the right time to maximize campaign impact. With NCM Boost, brands reach a national level scale while also targeting moviegoers with enough precision to achieve saturation at a detailed local level. NCM Boost identifies moviegoers using first-, second-, and third-party data, enabling precise targeting based on demographics, genres, or additional data layers to deliver tailored client campaigns. Data-driven campaigns are executed across all platforms, connecting brands with their target audience through an all-encompassing approach. Campaigns are distributed through strategic partnerships with leading premium streaming networks, ensuring broad reach across diverse channels, allowing brands to engage moviegoers on platforms, such as the internet, mobile devices, connected televisions (CTV), and over-the-top (OTT) devices. This comprehensive strategy ensures brands can effectively reach their audience wherever they consume entertainment information and content.
NCM Boomerang: Launched in 2024, NCM Boomerang is NCMx's retargeting solution designed to amplify post-theater engagement by reconnecting with moviegoers after their theater experience through the use of onscreen QR codes. By retargeting audiences at a predetermined interval, such as three hours after initial campaign exposure, NCM Boomerang enables advertisers to capitalize on the last-click attribution of big-screen campaigns seen in theaters, maximizing their impact and driving measurable results.
The company markets NCM’s data platform and all-encompassing marketing solutions through the company’s national and local sales groups to enable integrated selling. The company’s new and upcoming data and digital products are designed to complement in-theater advertisements, offering integrated marketing packages. The company plans to continue investing in its data and digital partnerships and all-encompassing marketing solutions in 2025 and beyond.
Noovie Trivia: NCM’s consumer-facing Noovie Trivia app features advertising opportunities that allow brands to continue to reach movie audiences across multiple platforms, including sponsorships, digital ad inventory, such as leaderboards, banner ads, half- and full-page ads, and a variety of digital video ad inventory. The company’s Noovie Trivia app is designed to not only provide digital advertising inventory to further enhance the marketability of its cinema advertising product offerings, but also to capture exclusive first-party data, which is funneled into NCMx. As of December 26, 2024, approximately 7.4 million moviegoers had downloaded its mobile apps. These downloads and the acquisition of second and third-party data sets, including deterministic ticket transaction data from exhibitors and geo-location and micro-event data for moviegoers that enter theaters in its network, all contribute to NCMx data records.
Lobby Advertising
Lobby Entertainment Network—The company’s LEN is a network of video screens strategically located throughout the lobbies of all digitally equipped ESA Parties’ theaters, as well as the majority of its network affiliates’ theaters. The LEN screens are placed in high-traffic locations, such as concession stands, box offices, and other waiting areas. Programming on the company’s LEN consists of an approximately 30-minute loop of branded entertainment content segments created specifically for the lobby, with advertisements running between each segment. The company has the scheduling flexibility to send different LEN programming to each theater through the company’s DCN, and the same program is displayed simultaneously on all LEN screens within a given theater, which provides the maximum impact for its advertisers. The company sells national and local advertising on the LEN individually or bundled with on-screen or other lobby promotions.
The LEN programming includes up to two minutes for ESA Parties’ advertisements to promote activities associated with the operation of the theaters, including concessions, online ticketing partners, gift card and loyalty programs, special events presented by the theater operator, and vendors of services provided to theaters, so long as such promotion is incidental to the vendor’s service or products sold in the theater. Additionally, subject to certain limitations, the LEN programming includes up to two minutes (one minute of which the company provides to the ESA Parties at no cost and one minute of which the ESA Parties may purchase) to promote certain non-exclusive cross-marketing relationships entered into by the theater operators for the purpose of increasing theater attendance, which the company calls ‘strategic programs.’
Under the terms of the ESAs, the ESA Parties also have the right to install a second network of additional screens in their theater lobbies, which would not display its LEN programming, but would be used to promote strategic programs or products sold in their theater concessions, bars, and dining operations, online ticketing partner promotions, gift card and loyalty programs, and special events presented by the ESA Parties and vendors of services provided to theaters, so long as such promotion is incidental to the vendor’s service.
The LEN programmatic offering was launched in 2022 through a partnership with Place Exchange, a leading supply-side platform (SSP) for programmatic out-of-home media. This automated offering allows advertisers to access and purchase available LEN programming through a partner demand-side platform (DSP). The partnership enabled advertisers to reach the largest network of lobby screens in movie theaters across the country programmatically for the first time.
Lobby Promotions and Experiential Products—The company also sells a wide variety of advertising and promotional products in theater lobbies across the company’s ESA Parties and certain network affiliates. These products can be sold individually or bundled with on-screen, LEN, or digital advertising. Lobby promotions and experiential products may include: brand activations ranging from lounges to 3D holograms, selfie photo stations, social media, vending machines, costume displays, and more; advertising on concession items, such as beverage cups, popcorn bags, and kids’ trays; coupons and promotional materials, which are customizable by film and are distributed to ticket buyers at the box office or as they exit the theater; tabling displays, product demonstrations, and sampling; touch-screen display units, kiosks, and other interactive and creative forms of media; signage throughout the lobbies, including posters, banners, counter cards, danglers, floor mats, standees, and window clings; and exit sampling.
Under the terms of the ESAs, the ESA Parties may conduct a limited number of lobby promotions at no charge in connection with strategic programs that promote motion pictures; however, such activities will not reduce the lobby promotions inventory available to the company.
The company’s ability to provide in-lobby marketing and promotional placements in conjunction with its cinema advertising products allows it to offer integrated marketing solutions to advertisers that provide multiple touchpoints with theater patrons throughout the movie-going experience, which is a competitive advantage over other national media platforms.
Digital Out-of-Home Products
NCM’s Digital Out-of-Home (‘DOOH’) group is embedded as part of the company’s national and local sales organizations and was created in October 2020 to further unite brands with the power of movies by extending movie-centric Noovie entertainment content, trivia, and advertising beyond movie theaters to a variety of complementary venues. In 2024, the company sold DOOH media inventory on a national, regional, local, and programmatic level in relationships with digital place-based properties, including screens in convenience stores, college campuses, CTV, vehicles, and various restaurants.
Network
The Noovie Show is distributed across NCM LLC’s national theater network — the largest digital in-theater network in North America — through the use of its proprietary DCN and Digital Content Software (‘DCS’). With the DCN and DCS, the company is able to schedule, deliver, play, and reconcile advertising and entertainment content for The Noovie Show and the LEN on a national, regional, local, theater, and auditorium level.
The DCN is the combination of a satellite distribution network and a terrestrial management network. The DCN is integrated with NCM’s cinema advertising management system to seamlessly schedule and distribute advertising content. NCM's integrated system dynamically controls the quality, placement, timing of playback, and completeness of content within specific auditoriums, and it also allows the company to monitor and initiate repairs to the equipment in its digital network of theaters.
Advertising and entertainment content for The Noovie Show and LEN is uploaded to the company’s cinema advertising management system and is delivered via multicast technology to the theaters in its network and received by its Alternative Content Engine. The Alternative Content Engine holds the content until displayed in specified theater auditoriums and lobbies according to contract terms. Each theater auditorium and lobby has hardware and/or software architecture that controls the content to be shown. After playback of content, confirmation of playback is returned to NCM and is included in ‘post’ reports provided to its advertising clients.
In 2024, more than 390 million moviegoers attended theaters that are under contract to present The Noovie Show.
As of December 26, 2024, The Noovie Show was displayed on network movie screens using digital projectors. Almost all screens within the company’s network receive content through its DCN and are equipped with more powerful digital cinema projectors, with the remainder consisting of LCD projectors.
Seasonality
The company’s revenue and operating results are seasonal in nature, coinciding with the timing of marketing expenditures by its advertising clients and, to a lesser extent, the attendance patterns within the film exhibition industry. Historically, both advertising expenditures and theater attendance tend to be higher during the second, third, and fourth fiscal quarters (year ended December 26, 2024). Advertising revenue is primarily correlated with new product releases, advertising client marketing priorities, and economic cycles, and to a lesser extent, theater attendance levels. Seasonal demand during the summer is driven by the absence of alternative attractive advertising mediums, and during the winter holiday season due to high client demand across all advertising mediums. Based on the company’s historical experience, its first quarter typically has less revenue than the other quarters of a given year due primarily to lower advertising client demand and increased inventory availability in competitive advertising mediums.
Strategy
The company’s key strategies are to increase the value of cinema media, and diversify its revenue model.
Intellectual Property Rights
The company has been granted a perpetual, royalty-free license from the ESA Parties to use certain proprietary software for the delivery of digital advertising and other content through the company’s DCN to screens in the U.S. The company has secured the U.S. trademark registrations for NCM, National CineMedia, Noovie, and NCMx.
Research and Development
For the year ended December 26, 2024, the company recorded $3.3 million in research and development expense.
History
National CineMedia, Inc., a Delaware corporation, was founded in 2006. The company was incorporated in 2006.
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