21/11/2014 - How "going out to the cinema" really happens, movie information sources, the perception of the cinema theatre, changes in admissions by age group...

Published by the CNC, the "Young people and cinema" survey in France unveils some very insightful data about relations between the seventh art and an age category that's key for good cinema attendance.

72.9% of 15- to 24-year-olds believe that the cinema theatre is the best way to discover a film, outstripping the internet (14.4%; author's note - undoubtedly a euphemism for piracy...), VoD (5%), TV and DVD.

How does this young audience learn about the existence of these movies? By word-of-mouth (58.6% of 15- to 24-year-olds versus 47.5% of viewers as a whole), through clips or trailers seen on TV (56.8%) or in the cinema (56.4%), via internet (55.1%) and on billboards (40.5%). In contrast, young people are much less influenced than their elders by critiques, press articles and radio shows.

In relation to the internet in particular, 69.1% of 15- to 24-year-olds obtain information about movie releases via specialised websites (versus 54.2% for all viewers), 44.8% through video-sharing sites, 36.2% via social networks and just 6% via general websites.

As for going out to the cinema, a more collective trend exists among 15- to 24-year-olds since 90.9% of them go to the cinema in groups and 38.9% go among friends (versus 18.8% for viewers as a whole). This outing is also much more spontaneous: 41.5% of 15- to 24-year-olds decide on the same day to go to the movies (31.9% for all viewers) and 22.8% attend theatres the first weekend that the movie is showing (8.3% for all viewers). The choice of movie is also more spontaneous in that 12.7% of young people decide on the spot (6.1% for all viewers).

Finally, it's important to note greater venue loyalty given that 73.4% of young people always go to the same cinema (66.4% for all viewers) and increased responsiveness to admission charges: 25.9% of 15- to 24-year-olds stated that the price of the ticket determines their choice of cinema, versus 16.9% for all viewers.

That's a lot of data to consider. If 80% of under 25-year-olds went to the cinema at least once last year, the average number of admissions per age group for young viewers has only increased in 20 years for 6- to 10-year-olds (3.8 admissions on average in 2013 versus 2.5 in 1993), while it has stagnated for 11- to 14-year-olds (3.7 versus 3.8) and decreased for 15- to 19-year-olds (5.2 versus 5.8 in 1993) and 20- to 25-year-olds (6.9 versus 7.3).

(Translated from French)