National CineMedia swung to a third quarter loss on lower theater attendance and overall revenues, the in-theater advertising company announced Tuesday.
The net loss attributable to National CineMedia came to $3.6 million, against net income of $181.8 million in the comparable year-ago period. Overall third quarter revenue was $62.4 million, down just over 10 percent from $69.6 million in the same period of 2023.
The latest financial results reflect the deconsolidation of NCM LLC in April 2023 and the reconsolidation of NCM LLC on August 7, 2023 to complete a financial restructuring as the company emerged from court-directed Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
During the latest quarter, national advertising revenue fell back to $46.8 million, compared to $52 million in the third quarter of 2023. That fall was due in part to National CineMedia feeling the lingering impact on Hollywood’s shifting film release slate after the writers and actors strikes last year, which reduced the company’s ad inventory.
National CineMedia beat the analyst estimate for Q3 revenue at $58.03 million. Total attendance during the third quarter for screens within the company’s advertising network was 121.6 million patrons to see tentpoles like Deadpool & Wolverine, Despicable Me 4 and Twisters, down from a year-earlier 131.7 million cinema-goers when Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Barbie were on screens at the local multiplex.
Tom Lesinski, CEO of National CineMedia, told analysts during an after-market conference call “we are highly confident that the cinema industry will continue its positive momentum through to the end of the year, leading to an exciting and highly anticipated 2025 slate.”
“In an evolving marketplace, cinema stands out, apart from streaming and legacy linear TV, in its ability to reach the desirable, incremental audiences that marketers seek, and NCM continues to cater to the ad marketplace’s changing demands,” he added.
National CineMedia CFO Ronnie Ng discussed the recent Upfront advertising market, and noted marketing brands and agencies were increasingly buying ads in the scatter market and closer to movie premieres in theaters. “What’s evolving in the Upfront marketplace across all these big platforms — it’s not just us — is less reliance on the Upfront than in the past,” Ng argued about changing ad inventory buys by marketers across all media platforms, including streaming TV.
The scatter marketplace offers ad inventory not sold directly during the Upfronts and other negotiations for longer-term commitments.