Screenvision Pivots From Big Screen to the Web

Screenvision, one of the giants in movie theater advertising, is getting into the online video world.

The company, which delivers ads to 15,000 movie screens in all 50 states, has begun lining up a collection of local and regional movie theater Web sites as it builds a distribution and video advertising network. The initial plan is to provide local movie sites with movie trailers paired with pre-roll ads.

According to Robert Formentin, Screenvision’s recently appointed vp of Web operations, while national movie ticket-buying platforms like AOL’s Moviefone and Fandango have carved out a dominant position in this sector, the majority of smaller regional theater Web sites garner decent traffic. Yet most lack content — and few even carry trailers.

“Most are pretty simplistic online,” he said.

But in aggregate, Formentin says the new network will reach about three million unique users. Among the theaters participating are the Midwestern chain Marcus Theatres and Dickinson Theaters, which has a footprint in states like Texas and Oklahoma. “We think this could scale really quickly,” Formentin said.

Beside movie theater sites, Screenvision is planning to extend its distribution network to include smaller movie themed sites. Eventually the video content may include original celebirty interviews and footage from movie premieres, said Formentin.

To assist in the rollout, Screenvision has tapped the emerging Web video technology firm OneScreen, which will manage content delivery. “Streaming is complicated and expensive, and they have a very efficient and effective platform,” said Formentin.