Films, News, Research, Statistics

MPAA Report 2016: 52% of Movie Audiences Are Women & Other Takeaways

Women continue to make up the majority of moviegoers: According to the MPAA’s recent findings, women comprised 52 percent of all 2016 moviegoers — an increase from 2015’s 51 percent. That’s right, women (51 percent of the population) continue to outnumber men at movie theaters, which makes the gender disparity onscreen and behind-the-scenes even more frustrating.

Specifically, women were the majority of the audiences for three of the top five grossing films in 2016, the MPAA writes. “‘Finding Dory’ drew the largest proportion of females, with 55 percent of its box office coming from women.” Female audience members also dominated “The Secret Life of Pets” and “The Jungle Book.”

Further, a lot of so-called niche audiences actually overrepresented at the cinema in 2016. According to the report, Asian viewers and/or viewers of an unspecified ethnicity “overrepresented the most of any group in share of movie tickets purchased (14 percent) relative to their share of the population (8 percent).”

At 23 percent of frequent moviegoers, Hispanic audience members also continue to overrepresent. (Hispanics comprise 18 percent of the population.) The MPAA also reports that the overall number of African American and Asian/other frequent moviegoers increased since 2015.

This in contrast to Caucasians, who make up 62 percent of the population and 59 percent of moviegoers, but still somehow comprise more than 86 percent of lead film roles.

So, consider this yet another wake-up call, Hollywood. Women and minorities are your most faithful customers. It’s time to start reflecting that onscreen and behind-the-scenes.

Here are the highlights from MPAA’s 2016 Theatrical Market Statistics report:

  • 71 cents of every dollar continues to be made outside the U.S. and Canada. (The MPAA groups the U.S. and Canada together.) The global box office grew one percent from last year, and is now at $38.6 billion. China remains the top international box office market, even though it dipped to $6.6 billion. Japan is the second largest foreign market with $2 billion. The U.S./Canada market grew two percent from 2015 ($11.1 billion) to $11.4 billion.
  • 71% of the U.S./Canada population went to the movies at least once in 2016 — a two percent increase from 2015.
  • Women are 52% of the moviegoers and 50% of the ticket buyers.
  • 24% of the top films in the U.S. and Canada in 2016 were women-centric: “Finding Dory,” “Rogue One,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Moana,” “Ghostbusters,” and “Bad Moms.”
  • 18–24 year olds were the highest per capita audience. (12–17 year olds were the highest per capita audience in 2015.)
  • Hispanics continued to be overrepresented in the population of frequent moviegoers. In 2016, the number of African American and Asian/other frequent moviegoers increased compared to 2015. The number of Caucasian frequent moviegoers declined.
  • In 2016, Asians/Other Ethnicities reported the highest annual attendance per capita, going to the cinema an average of 6.1 times in the year.
  • In 2016, the 18–24 age group was the most overrepresented age group in terms of tickets sold, accounting for 10% of the population and 16% of tickets sold. The 12–17 and 25–39 age groups are also overrepresented for tickets sold (13% and 24%) relative to their share of the population (8% and 21%).
  • The average domestic ticket price is $8.65.
  • People who go to the movies at least once a month (11% of the U.S./Canada population) buy 48% of all domestic movie tickets.
  • Frequent moviegoers tend to own more technology products than the general population of adults 18 years or older. 79% of all frequent moviegoers own at least four different types of key technology products.
  • 718 films were released in 2016, an increase of one percent from 2015. 139 are from MPAA members or their subsidiaries (a 5% decrease). 579 were non-member releases.
  • There are 40,400 screens in the U.S. 85% of those screens are at venues with five screens or more.

You can read the full MPAA report here.

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