Amazon goes to the movies to promote Prime

Amazon will be promoting its growing portfolio of original content available to Prime members on 20,000 movies screens after reaching a multi-year agreement with National CineMedia.

National CineMedia (NCM) is a holding company controlled by a consortium of theaters owners that sells advertising on a network of 1,617 theaters with 20,361 screens. Amazon reached a multi-year agreement with NCM to participate in the company’s FirstLook program which will allow it to entice moviegoers with two minutes segments of Prime content during an approximately 20 to 25 minutes window ahead of a movie’s advertised start time.

"We are excited to be working with NCM," said Mike Benson, head of marketing for Amazon Studios."Their movie-going audience appreciates innovative, premium entertainment and we are anxious to expose our award-winning Amazon Original television programming to these influential viewers."

Amazon's debut long-form content pieces for NCM's FirstLook pre-show featured a look at the new season of the Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman comedy Mozart in the Jungle. In March, Amazon will give moviegoers a behind-the-scenes look at season two of the drama Bosch, starring Titus Weaver as LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch. Also highlighted will be the Annecy, Annie and multi-Emmy award-winning Tumble Leaf, a whimsical series aimed at preschoolers from Bix Pix Entertainment.

"Moviegoers are the most engaged and enthusiastic audiences out there, so of course the perfect place for Amazon to reach new fans is at the movie theater," said Cliff Marks, president of sales and marketing for NCM, a company with 2015 annual revenues of $446 million. "Movie and TV marketing have always had a great symbiotic relationship, and now with the many new ways to enjoy entertainment programming through Amazon, it's the logical next step in the evolution of media to expand that relationship to include streaming video as well."

It’s also a logical step to help Amazon bring more customers in the Prime program which requires a $99 annual membership fee. Although best known as offering free two-day shipping, an ever more robust offering of high quality content has become an important component of the value proposition.