At Upfront, Screenvision Guarantees Incremental Reach for Cinema Ads

Screenvision, the second-largest cinema ad seller in the U.S., announced new offerings and guarantees at its upfront event on Tuesday.

On stage at New York City’s Jazz at Lincoln Center venue, Screenvision CEO John Partilla and chief revenue officer Christine Martino shared 2025 cinema attendance projections and incentives with the audience. Actor Alec Baldwin also appeared at the event, joining Partilla for an on-stage discussion about Baldwin’s career arc.

“The fact is cinema delivers massive reach, engaging 50 million people every month that planned, paid money and made the effort to go to the movies,” Martino told the audience, adding that many of those 50 million have eschewed traditional cable packages. Cinema is one of few good places to engage those so-called cord cutters, Martino said.

Here are the three biggest announcements Screenvision made at the upfront.

Guarantee on incrementality

In 2025, for the first time, Screenvision will guarantee results to upfront buyers.

“How do you find consumers who are unreachable through those other platforms? Cinema delivers unique reach, so much so that we’re willing to guarantee it,” Martino told the audience. “We promise our upfront partners that cinema will add incremental reach to your 2025 media plans.”

Guarantees will include marketers’ preferred KPIs—things like brand lift, website visitation or foot traffic.

If the guaranteed buy doesn’t garner the agreed upon results, Screenvision will air the ad until it does, Martino confirmed to ADWEEK.

Access to cinema attention benchmarks

Screenvision is partnering with attention measurement firm Adelaide to calculate how likely it is that moviegoers pay attention to cinema ads.

“It’s clear that measurement, in all its iterations, is top of mind for advertisers. We recognize and embrace its importance,” Martino said.

Now, the company will incorporate Adelaide’s Attention Unit (AU) score into its all of its 2025 media deals. Its benchmark AU score sits at 71 on a scale ranging from 0 to 100.

Screenvision claims its inventory gleans 84% active attention. In practice, that means moviegoers on average keep their eyes on a 30-second cinema ad for 26 seconds. Screenvision conducted incrementality research with its brand and agency buyers, which is combined with Adelaide’s data to assess the relationship between AU attention benchmarks and incrementality.

Because they now understand which attention benchmarks are most likely to influence KPIs, Screenvision executives can make their guarantees with confidence.

“Over the past year, Screenvision media, in partnership with our top agencies and brands, has conducted attention studies to not just prove how much attention the moviegoer pays to your ad—which is a lot—but to unearth the tangible actions taken by consumers post-cinema exposure,” Martino told the audience.

New data platform to simplify planning

Screenvision has been developing its technology stack for the last six years and announced a new data platform, Screenvision AMP. The platform “provides all the first-party data that we’ve collected, and creates a digital suite of solutions designed specifically to amplify your message throughout the movie-going experience,” Martino said on stage.

AMP can ingest Screenvision’s collected first party data to calculate audience insights and deliver new segments to buyers. Its interactive extensions can generate shoppable QR codes, while other features include mobile and CTV retargeting technology, programmatic cinema capabilities and a social influencer network.

“Now brands can say, ‘scan to save’ when they have an offer, ‘scan to win’ if you want to play a game and win a prize. … It’s a way to gamify the pre-show,” said Kevin McGaw, Screenvision’s senior vice president and head of marketing.