A Glance Back at Cannes Film Festival 2024: The Industry Wants Data

Cats, Andres and Ollie at Cannes Film Festival 2024

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film, held from May 15 to 19, was brimming with energy and a focus on innovation. This year’s festival was described as the busiest ever with over 15,000 attendees. Team usheru was in the midst, represented by CEO Oliver Fegan, COO Catherine Downes, and CTO Andres Macias Oliete. These are their key takeaways from the event.

1. The Demand for Data Keeps Growing

The industry voiced a clear need for more comprehensive data around film audiences, and a deeper understanding of tracking viewer preferences and behaviours.

 

As we know, it’s essential to leverage this kind of data for the most effective film marketing and audience engagement. The discussions we had at Cannes with partners and industry leaders made clear the high demand for concise, accurate and actionable data.

2. AI in the Spotlight

Artificial Intelligence was a hot topic at Cannes, particularly in discussions about marketing and promotion. The usheru team attended the “AI in Marketing & Promotion” session hosted by Microsoft, which emphasised the ways that AI is a tool to enhance creativity, not replace it. This perspective is crucial for the industry, suggesting a balanced approach to integrating AI into creative processes. Explore our insights into AI for the film industry

3. A Shift Towards Long Term Audience Building

There was a notable shift towards the cultivation of audiences and the growth of communities around films. The main focus over the next year will be using data to not only market films more effectively but also to foster long-term audience engagement.

4. usheru’s Industry Roundtable

A standout moment for usheru was hosting a meeting of national film body leaders from 3 continents at Scandinavia House. Here our guests explored the effective use of data in film strategy, resulting in highly positive and constructive discussions.

Year on year we continue to see an increase in the industry’s sense of urgency around effective data, but never before as high as this year. Our partners and clients are exploring data in new ways to propel greater success and we continue to enhance our solutions to stay one step ahead of the industry’s needs.

 

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