MPAA Pegs 32 Million ‘Frequent’ Moviegoers as More Likely to Own Technology Gear
MPAA estimates 263 million people in the U.S. and Canada went to see at least one movie in theaters last year, accounting for 76 percent of their population, it said in a report released Wednesday. Of those, 12 percent, or…
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nearly 32 million, classify themselves as “frequent” moviegoers who went to the cinema at least once a month in 2017 and accounted for 49 percent of all tickets sold, said the report. MPAA canvassed nearly 8,100 U.S. adults in December and found 53 percent classified themselves as “occasional” moviegoers who saw a movie at the theater less than once a month in 2017, yet they also accounted for 49 percent of all tickets sold. Comparisons with 2016 were not “feasible” because 2017 was the first time MPAA did the survey exclusively online rather than by phone, it said. The 25-39 age group had the most (26 percent) frequent moviegoers last year. Frequent moviegoers “tend to own more key technology products” than the “general population of adults.” The association estimates 79 percent of frequent moviegoers own at least four different types of key technology products, compared with 61 percent of the adult population at large. It also estimates 93 percent of frequent moviegoers own a smartphone, compared with 89 percent of all moviegoers in general and 86 percent of the adult population at large. The survey also gauged ownership of computers, disc players, tablets, video streaming devices and videogame systems among frequent moviegoers, but not TVs. The report sources home entertainment content spending data from the Digital Entertainment Group (see 1801090032) and IHS Markit and was included to show that “people who love movies love them everywhere,” National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) President John Fithian told reporters on a Wednesday conference call. “As people are watching more and more movies and other entertainment content in the home, those same people who have the most number of technologies to watch movies in the home are also our most frequent moviegoer,” said Fithian. “So the growth of the market in the home is coupled with the growth in the market theatrically.” NATO also wants its “distribution and production partners to make more money in the home,” he said. “That means they’re then more capable of making more and bigger, better movies for us in theatrical with the profits that come from home entertainment.” Theatrical “remains the engine that drives the train for the content produced theatrically,” he said.