CINEMA BUSINESS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXV, Issue 12296, 9 April 1937, Page 2

CINEMA BUSINESS

j PROPOSED GROUP CAMPAIGN I A £ 100,000 co-operative advertisi ing campaign for the film industry, | designed to benefit exhibitors by |i increasing cinema audiences, was ! suggested by Mr S. Rowson to mem- |; hers of the British Cinematograph (| Exhibitors’ Association, at Bastj bourne. i No details of the scheme were re- ! vealed by Mr Rowson who described I it as only a plan, but considerable interest has already been shown in offl- | cial quarters, and it is expected that Mr Rowson’s suggestion will be followed by early action, possibly timed to increase cinema attendances dur-

ing the winter. The campaign, as suggested by Mr Rowson, would resolve itself Into a twofold scheme. The first objective would be to encourage present patrons to go more often; the second to bring non-patrons into the cinemas and keep them as regular devotees.

The situation in American cinemas to-day, where each seat has a much higher earning power, was attributed by Mr Rowson to advertising. The total difference in earning capacity would total nearly 11 million pounds. Funds from the industry for the projected campaign will, it is expected, he readily forthcoming, and it has even been suggested that an appropriation of £ 1,000,000 would not be excessive if results were satisfactory. The suggested figure of £ 100,000 is about a quarter of one per cent, of British cinema takings. During his speech Mr Rowson stressed that he was not submitting a cut-and-dried scheme, but only a plan from which the campaign might he evolved.

During his speech Mr Rowson revealed that the average weekly attendance at British cinemas was 19,500,000. During the present year, the rate of increase obtaining during 1935 has~not been kept up, and this year the average is expected to be just under 20,000,000. The new plan, if adopted, will be the first collective move ever undertaken by the film industry, and a breakaway from its former efforts to maintain receipts by preventing the rebundaut building of new cinemas in busy areas,—"Advertisers’ Weekly."