Are Cinema Ads Influential or Intrusive for Moviegoers?

Are advertisements intrusive? It's an age-old question that has been debated enough for almost all possible forms and mediums.

- Dr. S Krishnan & Suyash Kunal Joshi

Recently, cinema advertising got stuck in a similar crossfire of opinions after a Bengaluru consumer forum fined PVR INOX for showing too many ads and wasting the complainant's time.

The increasing length of pre-film advertisement reels in cinemas is trending because cinema-goers are expressing growing frustration and dissatisfaction with the amount of time spent watching ads before movies. This frustration is fueled by the perception that cinemas are wasting their time with excessive advertising, detracting from the overall movie-going experience. The case highlighted the growing frustration among moviegoers who feel their leisure time is being overtaken by excessive promotional content, raising questions about consumer rights and reasonable expectations on the part of multiplex ticket buyers.

The two contradictory headline-worthy updates, so close together, started the debate. Is cinema advertising influential or intrusive?

According to industry observers, in-cinema advertising is limited to 20 minutes per show in most theaters. Of these, up to 10 minutes of the inventory can be used to run ads by the central and state governments. However, in cases of big blockbusters, theaters have reportedly run ads for 30 to 50 minutes in a show. This is where the question of intrusion comes up—it's a significant time commitment that audiences did not explicitly agree to when purchasing their tickets.

THE CONTROVERSY AROUND SHOWING TOO MANY ADS

PVR Cinemas and PVR Inox have been fined Rs 1.28 lakh for allegedly delaying the screening of a movie by 25 minutes for showing advertisements. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission at Bangalore (Urban) said that the multiplex chain needs to honor people's time and not expect them to sit idle and watch ads for 25-30 minutes. Further, the commission also directed PVR to mention the actual start time on the cinema tickets issued to the public at large.