Originally published 2024. Stats refreshed 2026.
Australians remain among the most committed cinemagoers in the developed world. Despite streaming, box-office continues to draw substantial domestic audiences for blockbuster releases — and cinema advertising continues to outperform every other paid medium on attention.
The numbers
- $1.2 billion Australian box office in 2019 — third-largest year on record (ABS 2019)
- #1 medium for attention capturing (Kantar Global Media Reactions 2023)
- Most cinemagoers travel less than 10km to the cinema they attend
- Cinema audiences skew 16–44 — the highest-value brand-receptive demographic
What changed since this post first ran
Cinema attendance dipped during the pandemic but has stabilised at high-attendance levels for major releases. Audiences who returned are more selective about what they see in cinema, but more attentive when they do — making cinema advertising’s attention-capturing advantage stronger, not weaker.
What this means for advertisers
Cinema retains its position as the highest-attention paid medium available in Australia. For brands pursuing local catchment + brand-building objectives, cinema delivers measurable ROI that has compounded across decades of OzCoWilliams clients.