Demand is booming for UK Cinemas

When Tim Richards (VUE Cinema CEO) spoke to Business Teachers at the 2009 National Business Teacher Conference, he was pretty upbeat about prospects for the UK cinema industry. Turns out Tim was right to be optimistic!

According to data released this morning, UK cinema attendances in the first half of 2009 rose by 14.5% on the same period in 2008, to 83.4million. Thats a dramatic volume growth during a period of considerable economic uncertainty. The UK market grew faster than other European markets.

A good exercise for students would be to consider the reasons behind the increasing popularity of cinema-going in the UK. Why do cinemas seem to do so well during a recession? What role has product innovation (the films and the cinema environment) played in the growth? How important is pricing when it comes to stimulating demand?

if you haven;t already done so, I recommend that you download Tim Richard’s superb PowerPoint presentation from his talk.