National CineMedia and Unique X Announce New Long-Term Deal, Launch Advertising Accord Software in U.S.

Cinema advertising network National CineMedia (NCM) has reached a new, long-term deal with movie channel software technology company Unique X, it was announced Wednesday (Feb. 17). The agreement includes the launch of an upgraded version of Advertising Accord, the cinema advertising management software solution, which the companies have tailored for the U.S. market.

The new iteration of Advertising Accord will manage all inventory for NCM’s Noovie pre-show and movie theatre lobby products across the company’s network of 57 national and regional theater chains including AMC, Cinemark, and Regal Entertainment Group. As a result, the platform’s reach will extend to 20,600 screens in more than 1,600 theaters spread across 190 U.S. markets (including all of the top 50). That brings Advertising Accord’s total footprint to 40,000 screens across four continents.

The new Advertising Accord system provides delivery optimization, inventory management and monetization, intelligent dynamic scheduling, increased flexibility, and workflow automation. Using cloud technologies, it is additionally capable of producing up to 30 million playlists per week. Under the pact, NCM clients now have the option of buying cinema advertising in broadcast weeks in order to take advantage of early film openings.

“The implementation of our new Advertising Accord cinema advertising management system in partnership with Unique X will make it more effortless for brands to work with us to get in front of world-class movie content, and will allow us to compete directly with major digital ad platforms,” said NCM CEO Tom Lesinski in a release. “This new streamlined end-to-end process will result in significant operational efficiencies for NCM, while giving our advertising partners the ability to buy our cinema inventory the same way as they are used to buying other premium video and digital options.”

Added Unique X CEO Roger Harris, “The long-term partnership with NCM further validates and underlines the market leadership of Unique X in the optimization of advertising revenues for the cinema channel, and NCM’s confidence in Unique X’s development capability and proven expertise in this area is clearly demonstrated by our significant long-term agreement.”

Today’s news follows other significant developments for NCM over the past two weeks. At the beginning of the month, the company announced it had struck a long-term cinema ad agreement with Harkins Theaters, the fifth-largest exhibitor in North America. And last week, the company revealed it had reached a deal with restaurant technology platform Ziosk to provide its content on over 150,000 tablet screens at restaurants across the U.S.

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