Cinema advertising · Marketing
A cinema slot is bought by the week, and the film decides who is sitting there.
You pay per screen per week. The hall is full or nearly empty depending on what released that Friday, and the rate does not move with it. Two weeks on the same screen can be two completely different campaigns.
In one paragraph
Cinema advertising buys on-screen time in the reel before a film, sold per screen for a week, as a still slide or a video of ten to thirty seconds. GullySales picks the screens around your catchment and checks which films run in those weeks. The booking goes through the cinema or its agency, and the slide carries a countable route.
So the first question is which films are running in your weeks, and the second is where in the reel your spot sits. An 11 am weekday show of a film in its fourth week plays to a scattering of seats. A Friday evening release fills the same hall.
Position matters as much as the week. People walk in late here, so the slots closest to the film are the ones an audience is seated for. The interval slot catches the crowd on its way to the counter and back.
The problem
Does this sound like your business?
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“The slide ran for a month and nobody remembers seeing it”
A ten-second still early in the reel plays to a hall people are still walking into. The slot next to the film costs more because it is the one the audience is seated for.
“The campaign was booked before anyone asked what was releasing”
A screen is priced the same whether a big release is running or a film in its fourth week. Booking blind hands that difference to the cinema.
“The creative was built for a phone and shown four storeys high”
Small type and a crowded layout fall apart on a cinema screen, and a phone number in the corner is unreadable from the back row. One line, one name and a large QR code is what survives.
“The video missed the delivery deadline”
A cinema film has to be converted to the chain's projection format and delivered before the week opens. Miss it and the campaign runs as a static slide you never designed.
What we do
Everything that is included.
Each deliverable, and what it gets you. Nothing here is an extra.
Screen selection by catchment
The specific properties and screens your buyer travels to, rather than a package across a city you do not sell in.
Release calendar check
What is scheduled to run in your weeks, read before the booking, so the same rate is not paid for a near-empty hall.
Slot and position
Where in the reel the spot sits, and whether the interval position is worth the difference for this campaign.
Creative built for the format
A still slide or a re-cut video carrying one message, with type readable from the back row and a code large enough to scan.
Delivery to the chain's spec
The file converted and submitted in the format the property requires, ahead of the deadline for that week.
Lobby and off-screen media
Standees, counter branding or a foyer kiosk, booked separately and through whoever controls the lobby, which in a mall is the mall rather than the cinema.
A route that can be counted
A QR code or an offer code used only in that reel, so an enquiry can be put down to the screen it came from.
How the result is measured
- Scans of the QR code on the slide
- Calls or messages using the cinema code
- Screens and weeks delivered against the booking
- Walk-ins reported during the campaign weeks
- Cost per enquiry across the screens booked
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, then reported every month against it.
Who it is for
This is written for you if these sound familiar.
- A clinic, showroom or restaurant whose customers come from the few kilometres around one multiplex
- Property projects selling to families who already live inside that catchment
- Jewellery and fashion retailers who want a large, loud format at wedding and festival time
- Schools and coaching centres advertising in the admission months, in the screens their parents use
- Brands with a video already made for social, which can be re-cut for the screen
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- A business selling to one trade or a named list of companies, where the hall is full of the wrong people
- One screen for one week, which is a single sighting for anyone who goes to the cinema once a month
- Anyone who needs enquiries counted daily, because the hall reports nothing back
How it works
From your first message to the first monthly report.
No open-ended retainer. Each step has a point in time and something you receive.
01 · Day 1
Free audit call
45 minutes with whoever handles your enquiries: how they arrive, how fast they are answered, where they are lost.
02 · Within a few working days
Written, scored report
Six areas scored, fixes ranked by return and cost. If you want our help, the scope and fee come with it, in writing.
03 · Before work starts
Baseline recorded
Enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order, written down so every later month has an honest comparison.
04 · Month 1
The first fix goes live
Usually the cheapest one on the report: reply time, a follow-up sequence or the marketing-to-sales handover.
05 · Every month
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words.
06 · Month 3 to 6
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. No twelve-month lock.
How the cinema advertising work runs
- 1
Fix the catchment
We start from how far your customer travels to reach you, which for a clinic or a restaurant is short and decides the screen list on its own.
- 2
Read the release weeks
We check what is scheduled in the campaign window and time the buy to the weeks with something worth watching in the hall.
- 3
Build the creative
The slide or the film is made for a screen four storeys high and cut to the duration being bought.
- 4
Coordinate the booking
We place the buy with the cinema or its appointed agency and confirm the screens, the position and the delivery date in writing.
- 5
Count what came back
Scans, code use and calls are read against the weeks and the screens, and the next round drops the screens that gave nothing.
Proof
What happened when owners fixed this.
Real clients, the work we did, and the result as it was recorded. Where no number was recorded, none is claimed.
SB Engineering
- Situation
- Buyers searching for laser cutting and sheet metal work in Bengaluru were finding other suppliers first, because the company did not rank for the terms its own customers type.
- What we did
- The site redesigned for mobile
- Search work on the buyer's terms
- Content that shows the work
- Social channels managed
- Result
- Website traffic rose 60% within six months, against a target of 50%.
- High-quality leads rose 45%, with a rise in conversion rates alongside them.
- Fifteen target keywords moved up the rankings, five of them into the top three positions.
Hotel Felicity Inn
- Situation
- A traveller compares three hotels on a phone and books one. The website was not built for that.
- What we did
- The site rebuilt around booking
- Photography and one look
- Search work for destination searches
- Content a traveller reads
- Result
- Online bookings increased 35%
- Organic traffic increased 50% within six months
- Positive reviews on Google and TripAdvisor increased 30%
Chord Road Hospital
- Situation
- Patients who knew the hospital trusted it. Patients who searched for a department or a treatment in the area did not find it.
- What we did
- Website rebuilt around patient needs
- Search visibility
- Social media on a schedule
- Review management
- Result
- Organic traffic increased 60% within six months
- Online appointment bookings increased 40%
- Social following grew 45%, and engagement on it rose 70%
Also worked with
Curtain Label · Difesa Security Services · Hands On CSR · Implevista · Kambar Group · Kalessi · Kerur Pain Clinic · LL Trust · Lucky Deals · Natural Gases · NavaShakthi Souhardha · NewCom Logistics · Proton Technical Services · Shakthi Foundation · Shakthi Group · Urbanest · Insyde Studio · Venkateshwara Laser Tech · Vivara Studios
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every monthly report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No lock-in, no guarantees we cannot keep
Three to six months at a time. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Engagement options
Ways to work with us.
Pick the size of commitment that fits. Every option starts with the free audit.
Option 1
The audit on its own
A 45-minute call and a written, scored report. It says honestly whether you need outside help, and many fixes are ones your own team can make.
Option 2
One fix, scoped
Start with the fix the audit ranks first, such as reply time or follow-up. The fee is in writing before anything starts.
Option 3
A three-to-six-month programme
We run the work month by month, report against the baseline every month, and you renew on the numbers. No twelve-month lock.
Option 4
Guidance for your own team or agency
We plan, brief and check the work of your in-house team or current agency, instead of replacing them.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 45-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak, within a few working days
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
Is a slide enough, or do we need a video?
Can we choose which shows our ad plays in?
How do we know anyone saw it?
Is this the same as putting a standee in the lobby?
What does cinema advertising cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
By industry
Cinema advertising, written for your industry.
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