Comscore Introduces ‘Movies Everywhere’ Cross-Screen Measurement System

With the nature and business of feature films changing almost daily, Comscore has announced “Movies Everywhere,” a new cross-screen measurement system.

The offering will provide daily sales reports across various release windows and platforms, including a new reporting system to track box office returns.

Census-based box office data and transactional video measurement capabilities will be combined for the first time, the company said. Granular and advanced audience information will now be connected across the box office, transactional on demand video, OTT rentals and streaming views. The aim is to map box office revenue with demographics, audience sentiment and consumer behavior.

Comscore in 2016 completed a merger with Rentrak, the leading box office data firm. Nielsen remains the dominant player on the TV side and with streaming blurring the boundaries between TV and film it has recently announced new movie tools, including a VOD tracker.

In a press release announcing the new product, Comscore emphasized, “The prestige, exclusivity and revenue generating power of movie theaters is undeniable.” It went onto say that “ever-increasing complexities of the marketplace” mean products like Movies Everywhere “are going to be an essential part in the creation of strategic initiatives and the decision-making process of companies across the entire entertainment ecosystem.”

The announcement comes at a delicate moment for Hollywood studios, which have seen their traditional business all but evaporate during 2020 and early 2021. Box office revenue plummeted almost 90% in the U.S. and theaters in major markets remain either shuttered or highly restricted due to Covid-19.

“The undeniable reality is that the pandemic has forced us all to throw out conventional wisdom and take a fresh look at how we operate,” Paramount distribution chief Chris Aronson said. “We’re confident that people are going to return to theaters in force. But with more consumer choices for content consumption means we need new solutions to truly understand audience behavior as they engage with content on their terms and their screens. One thing that hasn’t changed is that the customer is always right. We all have to adapt.”

One element of the new offering, which Comcast bills as a “significant enhancement,” is its ability to track the demographics of moviegoers as well as individuals who viewed advertisements. In the face of rapidly-evolving media consumption patterns, studios can benefit from having this critical intelligence – including audience information available at both the national and regional levels – to identify behavioral trends that can help inform optimal release windows.

“We’ve seen incredible changes in audience behavior over the past year in the way that people consume content. As a result, the industry needs to reinvent the way we capture audience engagement,” said Erik Lomis, head of distribution for United Artists Releasing. “We are excited to see that Comscore is staying ahead of the curve when it comes to measuring movie performance. Going forward, it will be essential to have a complete picture of how content is performing across platforms.”

Comscore CEO Bill Livek said Movies Everywhere fits a recent pattern for the measurement firm. “Just as we delivered the first transparent studio share reports and the first Movies on Demand promo conversion analysis, we are once again innovating to provide studios the consideration needed to reinvent their strategies and thrive in this new era,” he said. “We are uniquely positioned to deliver smarter audience insights that will ultimately help the entire ecosystem succeed.”