Lights! Camera! Interactive Action!

NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Movie audiences across the country will now be able to physically interact with content on the movie screen. Audience Entertainment, the innovative entertainment technology company leading the charge into big screen interactive, today announced an alliance with Screenvision and the installation of Audience Entertainment's proprietary iD (interactive Dimension™) technology into 100 Screenvision theatres. Audience Entertainment's breakthrough technology allows for the processing of group-based inputs such as motion and sound, opening exciting new doors for both content and engagement.

The initial content featured during the movie preshow, comes from truth^®, the nation's largest national youth smoking prevention campaign. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. The interactive content revolves around truth's recently announced "Finish It" campaign. The campaign calls on young people to be the generation that ends smoking for good, and provides teens and young people with the tools to make this a fight they can own and – ultimately – can win. For the interactive in-theatre game, the audience works together using their arms (waving them side to side) to collectively control a game designed to support the campaign's messaging.

"The iD technology adds a new dimension to movie pre-shows, exciting the audience through games and group interaction," explained Audience Entertainment CMO Adam Cassels. "But this is just the beginning. With the recent announcement of our SDK (Software Development Kit) - opening up our platform to developers and creators across the world - we expect to see all kinds of interactive content and ideas coming forward that enhance the cinema experience. We are providing the technology and we can't wait to see what the creative community will do with it."

"We are extremely pleased to be working with Audience Entertainment to bring this exciting technology into our cinemas," said John McCauley, CMO, EVP & Strategic Alliances, Screenvision. "Compared to other media, cinema advertising produces unrivaled results in terms of awareness, engagement and intent. This groundbreaking technology will only serve to enhance these already stellar results."

Movies are a popular pastime with teens and young people, making it a perfect forum for a youth-focused campaign like truth.  

"truth always aims to connect with teens' passions and interests, choosing initiatives and channels where we know teens and young people like to be and where they connect with friends," said Eric Asche, Chief Marketing Officer at Legacy^®, the national public health foundation that directs and funds the truth campaign. "In the past, we've reached teens and young people at various music and action sports events, and through cinema advertising. Bringing our life-saving messages to the big screen through a technology that's new, interactive and fun for an audience is a terrific way for us to reinforce information about our campaign and involve more people to help 'Finish It.'"

In a recent independent research study commissioned by Audience Entertainment, and conducted after a preview of the advertisement, almost 90% of viewers enjoyed the interactive component of truth's cinema campaign, with three quarters of viewers saying that they would participate in something similar again. This is a testament to the overall power of cinema advertising that has been enhanced with the addition of interactive component. 

In the past five years, Audience Entertainment has implemented its technology, which reads and reacts to audience movement, in movie theatres, arenas, stadiums and concert venues in eight countries and on four continents. By physically engaging the audience, Audience Entertainment is creating new and exciting opportunities in advertising, alternative content, movie trailers, movies, and much more.

For a list of participating theatres, more information, imagery, or to speak with executives from Audience Entertainment, Screenvision, and/or the truth campaign, please contact Mark Ballard, 646-391-0453 or [email protected]

About Audience Entertainment
Audience Entertainment is a New York-based entertainment technology company that makes big screens interactive through its proprietary iD (interactive Dimension™) technology that reads and reacts to audience movement. In the last five years, Audience Entertainment has implemented its technology in movie theaters, arenas, stadiums and concert venues in eight countries and on four continents. The technology has opened new doors in advertising, alternative content, movie trailers and movies. Past clients include brands such as Coca Cola, Disney Cruise Lines, Nokia, Orange Mobile, Samsung, Sony, Volkswagen, and Volvo, among others. http://www.audienceentertainment.com  

About Screenvision
Headquartered in New York, N.Y., Screenvision is a national leader in cinema advertising, offering on-screen advertising, in-lobby promotions and integrated marketing programs to national, regional and local advertisers and providing comprehensive cinema advertising representation services to top tier theatrical exhibitors presenting the highest quality movie-going experience. The Screenvision cinema advertising network is comprised of over 14,200 screens in 2,200+ theater locations across all 50 states and 94% of DMAs nationwide; delivering through more than 150 theatrical circuits, including 6 of the top 10 exhibitor companies. For more information: http://www.screenvision.com.

ABOUT truth
truth^® is the largest national youth smoking prevention campaign. The campaign exposes the tactics of the tobacco industry, the truth about addiction, and the health effects and social consequences of smoking. truth gives teens facts and information about the tobacco industry and its products, allowing them to make their own informed choices about tobacco use. Research-proven as an effective public health intervention, the campaign is credited with keeping hundreds of thousands of teens from starting to smoke. To learn more, visit www.thetruth.com. truth is directed and funded by Legacy, a national public health foundation located in Washington, D.C. Legacy was created as a result of the November 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) reached between attorneys general from 46 states, five U.S. territories and the tobacco industry.

SOURCE Screenvision