Consumer appetite for 3-D Films but weak awareness.

The Nielsen Company reported that there is strong consumer appetite for 3-D films, based on a detailed analysis that showed a 65% sales increase in theaters using 3-D technology to exhibit their movies.

The analysis, which was unveiled today by Nielsen Preview at the Cine Expo conference in The Netherlands, compared the film’s performance in comparable theaters with a proven track record in the action/adventure genre. This like-to-like comparison provides a more sophisticated understanding on the impact of 3-D than other studies that simply looked at the performance of the movie in 3-D and 2-D theaters regardless of their historical ability to attract action/adventure movies.

“With all the upcoming hype around 3-D, we wanted to take a hard look and see if there is truly a consumer appetite for 3-D,” says Ann Marie Dumais, SVP, Nielsen PreView. “Our new research approach contrasted theaters in such a way to demonstrate consumers, when given a choice, will choose 3-D.”

Nielsen PreView’s 3-D study analyzed over 4,000 theaters in the United States. The research found theaters with at least one screen exhibiting in 3-D had a 65% increase in box office sales compared to their 2-D counterparts. Further, those theaters that chose to exhibit in 3-D on more than one screen saw their sales climb yet even higher to 100% versus what was expected, indicating that one 3-D screen per theatre may not be enough to satisfy consumer demand.

While consumers have an appetite for 3-D films, they often lack awareness and education around what 3-D is and where to find it. In a recent Nielsen survey, 48% were unaware that their movie choices were even available in 3-D. The numbers cited in this study are likely to go even higher for the industry with increased marketing support and consumer education.

For more information at http://www.nielsen.com