18/07/2012 - A new FFA study on German cinemas from 2003 to 2011 reveals that over half of the country’s screens are equipped for digital screening, and that up to 78% will be in two years’ time

The FFA (Germany’s film regulating body) has published a study titled "Structure of Germany’s cinemas from 2003 to 2011". The latter reveals that, at the end of last year, one German screen out of two was digital – mostly thanks to the FFA’s aid for digitisation (in the case of 83% of them), as well as support from the German state (62%) and from the country’s different federal states (72%).

At the end of 2011, the study had recorded 2,252 digitised screens in 1,032 cinemas, of which 1,353 were equipped for 3D, which is about one out of every three screens (29%). The tendency is on the rise. According to indications from German exhibitors, in two years’ time, over three quarters of all German screens will have been digitised (78%) and almost half of them (44%) will be able to screen films in 3D. For reasons linked to the cost of digitisation, one in five screens (22%) is however expected to keep its traditional screening equipment. Between 2003 and 2011, exhibitors provided a fifth (21%) of the cost of digitisation.

Exhibitors also proved to be active when it came to their presence online. In 2011, 95% of cinemas were listed on the Internet, and 56% of these allowed users not only to see what films they were showing, but also to book or even buy tickets (29%) online.

(Translated from French)