The F9 results are now in with an encouraging weekend Box Office of $70M. Finally, we see moviegoers flooding back to the theatres, providing the industry with hope and excitement for the months to come.
At The Boxoffice Company, we created a Benchmark Report for ten top circuits in the US and UK using Google Analytics to assess current vs. previous online performance and measure it against a range of metrics.
While the pandemic made meaningful comparisons across some metrics more complex, we see dramatic shifts in online customer behavior, particularly the lean towards purchasing movie tickets online. While the volumes of website visits and ticket sales are understandably lower, the pandemic has accelerated the move towards online purchasing. This increase is evident in the statistically significant jumps in Conversion Rate (the proportion of people who purchase when visiting your website). There has also been a widespread uplift in Average Order Values online, although we believe several factors are at play here.
F9 vs. Avengers: End Game
To understand these metrics in context, we have compared the performance of the opening weekend of F9 – the best-performing post-pandemic movie – to the opening weekend for Avengers: End Game, the film that ‘broke’ the internet, smashing the Box Office to be the highest-grossing movie ever. And here is what we found:
Conversion Rate
The benchmark identified an average conversion rate for F9 opening weekend of 8.2%, a 20% increase over Avenger’s conversion rate. For context, the average ecommerce conversion rate is around 3%, although entertainment brands usually perform slightly better than this.
Tentpole pictures always drive strong advanced bookings – so a 20% increase in conversion rate is significant because we’re comparing it to Avengers – the biggest film of all time – and this is despite lower overall volume sales.
The increase was also noticeable on mobile devices, with almost 85% of ALL transactions being made using a mobile device. In 2019, the average mobile transaction conversion was nearer 78%.
The results confirm the shift towards advanced booking driven by the pandemic. Reduced seating capacity and social distancing have made it critical to secure seats in advance and reduce touch points. In addition, many theatres have been moving to entirely reserved seating, which was a known driver of online sales.
Average Order Value
Also known as per-caps, the average order values were 15% higher during F9’s opening weekend. Per-cap is a fundamental metric for exhibitors, the more income secured in advance, the better.
There are a few contributing factors here – the growth in premium experiences, whether a PLF experience or premium seating options such as VIP, recliners, or heated seats, all carry a premium price.
We also saw the addition and consumer adoption of online F&B during the pandemic, with some exhibitors now building this into their online sales journey.
Summary
Making it easy and secure for moviegoers to purchase online is only one part of the industry’s successful weekend. We congratulate studios and exhibitors on your marketing efforts to bring your moviegoers back to theatres. We wish you all the best in the months and years to come, and we cannot wait to see even more moviegoers fill up auditoriums for titles like Black Widow, Space Jam, Suicide Squad, and dare we say, No Time to Die.
Contact us if you would like any more information on our Benchmark Report and how you performed.
*Definitions:
Conversion Rate
The proportion of transactions relative to sessions on your website or mobile app as a percent; for example, 1 transaction from 100 sessions is an ecommerce conversion rate of 1%. This statistic can help you assess the effectiveness of your marketing and site design. For any ecommerce business the benchmark is around 3%.
Average Order Value
The average financial value of all orders over a given period, including the sales value of tickets, F&B, gift cards and service fees.