MUMBAI: The global market for alternative content in cinemas is forecast to be worth over half a billion dollars by 2014 ($526m), rising from $45.7m in 2008, according to a new report entitled Alternative Content in Cinemas: Market assessment and forecasts to 2014 by media analyst Screen Digest. The USA accounted for two-thirds of global alternative content revenues in 2008, but this will decline to 47.9 per cent by 2014, as the market for non- movie programming in cinemas expands globally.

The cinema is becoming a multi-arts venue

Although it has been tested in cinemas for nearly a decade, it is only in the past two years, with the growth of the digital cinema screen base to over 12,000 screens worldwide, that non-movie programming in cinemas has begun to make a real impact. Cinema exhibitors are catching on to the revenue potential of screening events at price levels higher than the average cinema ticket, with some opera-in-cinema tickets in the UK selling at £35/$59, while boosting occupancy rates in what are often traditional downtimes. The cinema is now becoming a multi-arts venue, with a range of live and recorded events attracting new audiences and offering existing audiences more variety.

However, the report’s lead author, Screen Digest’s head Film and Cinema David Hancock, believes that “despite the sector’s recent development, there are still challenges to be addressed. Further growth depends on several factors coming together, chief amongst which is growth of the wider digital cinema market. This has been driven by 3D during 2009 in preparation for the upcoming James Cameron movie, Avatar, but growth may slow as the move towards to 3D levels out. As well as digital cinema, the exhibitor needs to have a satellite infrastructure in place, something that is still in the early stages.”

Alternative content offers new players scope for market entry

Alternative content is most attractive when it can be offered as a recurring...

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