The future of box office growth is in hands of female moviegoers, according to research presented by Movio’s Will Palmer at TheGrill, TheWrap’s sixth annual media leadership conference.
By focusing on big blockbusters such as “Jurassic World” and “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” studios are ignoring underserved sectors of the audience who could provide the increase in revenue they need, the Movio co-founder and chief executive said Tuesday.
The presentation titled “What Women Want: Unlocking Box Office Revenue,” compiled data sampling more than 1 million moviegoers and dividing them based on their viewing preferences. The information revealed two groups that are currently underserved by content and marketing: Millenial women and female baby-boomers.
“It’s well known that women are responsible for making many household financial decisions and across the cinema chains that participate in Movio Media, 60 percent of loyalty cardholders are women,” Palmer said. “In addition, they are primarily responsible for introducing children to the cinema, as women make up 57 percent of the animated film audience.”
Further research showed that movies targeting these two groups saw a higher gross-to-budget ratio than movies dominated by men, suggesting that by producing more films aimed at female audiences, studios could see a significant increase in revenue.
“This suggests that a shift in focus towards producing and marketing films to women could pay off not only in incremental box office, but in blockbuster returns as well,” he added.
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