NIELSEN NRG AND ARTS ALLIANCE MEDIA/LOVEFiLM
FORM STRATEGIC ALLIANCE TO DRIVE BETTER
UNDERSTANDING OF FILM CONSUMERS
Research partnership to leverage actual film-viewing behaviour of over 400,000 UK households to improve effectiveness of film marketing and research
LONDON, 2nd February 2006 - Nielsen NRG, the market leader in international film research, and Arts Alliance Media (AAM), the leading provider of digital film distribution services, have joined forces to bring innovative new research services to film distributors. These services will be the first in the UK to utilise the actual film consumption behaviour and preferences of over 400,000 households in AAM’s LOVEFiLM and Newman databases. LOVEFiLM is Europe’s leading online DVD rental service reaching over 1 million unique users monthly. Newman is a cinema box-office and membership management service deployed in 20 cinemas in the UK.
The partnership leverages Nielsen NRG’s film audience research expertise built over 25 years, and AAM’s expertise in capturing consumer demographics, behaviour and preferences with regard to film consumption. As a result of this partnership, independent distributors in particular will, for the first time in the UK, have access to a cost-effective, flexible service for conducting film research among precisely defined target groups.
Nish Bhutani, Head of Marketing Services for Arts Alliance Media said: “Our methodology is unique in its use of information generated by real consumers based on their real film viewing histories. This allows distributors and producers to get a deeper understanding of their target consumers’ tastes and preferences, and film marketers in particular to test their films and creative against exactly the right audience”.
Henry Piney, Vice President International, Nielsen Entertainment/ NRG said: “this partnership comes at a pivotal point for the film industry when, given the opportunities presented by digital distribution and the threat of piracy, distributors want to get a deeper understanding of their target consumers’ preferences and film consumption by embracing the use of the Internet and information technology”.
Neil Harrison, Executive Director, Nielsen NRG said “our partnership with Arts Alliance Media is a key component of NRG’s strategy to provide flexible, creative and cost-efficient research to independent producers and distributors in the UK. By utilising AAM’s digital infrastructure and in-depth knowledge of their subscriber base, this provides another powerful asset we can use to assist independent film makers in refining and marketing their work.”
The research activities that a distributor or production company might engage in to shape marketing strategy and execution include:
- recruiting a specific audience (for example, female viewers of a particular genre; or urban fans of a particular director) based on their consumer profiles on LOVEFiLM and Newman for a test screening;
- screening a film at a venue fully organised and booked by Nielsen/AAM, including digital projection;
- conducting a research survey following the film to understand the audience’s response to the test material;
- further testing of creative and trailers with the test audience either online on LOVEFiLM, or in person;
- relating the test and survey results back to consumer profiles on LOVEFiLM and Newman for a complete analysis of the findings.
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Notes to Editors
About Arts Alliance Media
Arts Alliance Media is Europe’s leading provider of digital film distribution services to the cinema, the home, and between industry players.
AAM is the European leader in the online DVD rental market, through the UKs number one service, LOVEFiLM, and also in Europe with Boxman (Sweden) and Digitarian (Denmark). Together the services provide online DVD rental services to over 150,000 subscribers.
In February 2005, Arts Alliance Digital Cinema won the UK Film Council contract to install and operate 240 digital screens, the world’s first 2k digital cinema network.
AAM’s in house software team developed Newman, a software-based service for cinemas to drive increased revenue, manage their operations more efficiently, and cultivate stronger customer relationships.
The company also operates Vizumi Pro, a secure, professional VOD network to transport films, trailers and promo reels between producers, sales agents, distributors, exhibitors and festivals.
AAM’s Marketing Services provides advertising, market intelligence and research opportunities to the film industry by leveraging the broad reach and rich profiles of consumers of its LOVEFiLM and Newman services.
About Nielsen Entertainment
Through custom research, consulting and the world's most comprehensive network of entertainment measurement systems, Nielsen Entertainment delivers Actionable Entertainment Intelligence to clients engaged in the business of selling entertainment and trading in the marketplace of our popular culture. Nielsen Entertainment's AEI products give clients unrivaled perspective from which to steer business decisions, providing the measure and the motivation in one package; comparing what the consumer says they do and what they actually do, in any given environment including film, television, music, books, and interactive media.
Nielsen Entertainment is comprised of the following businesses: National Research Group (NRG), EDI and EDI International, Television Services, SoundScan, Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), Music Control, VideoScan, Market Navigator, BookScan, BookData, and Interactive Entertainment, and utilizes the full portfolio of sister companies including Nielsen Media Research (television ratings) and Nielsen NetRatings (internet usage) to deliver a whole media point of view. Nielsen Entertainment is part of VNU www.vnu.com, a global leader in information services for the media and entertainment industries.