National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI) executives told investors the company made “meaningful progress” in 2025 by investing in its advertising platform, expanding inventory access through programmatic and self-serve tools, and strengthening exhibitor relationships, including a new agreement with AMC announced earlier in the year. Management said those initiatives helped drive fourth-quarter revenue and profitability growth despite a box office period that came in below industry expectations.
Fourth-quarter results: revenue up 8%, Adjusted OIBDA tops guidance
Chief Executive Officer Tom Lesinski said NCM delivered total fourth-quarter revenue of $93 million, “in line with our guidance range,” and nearly 8% higher than the prior year, while Adjusted OIBDA was $37 million, above the company’s guidance range and up 6% year-over-year. CFO Ronnie Ng provided more detail, stating fourth-quarter revenue was $93.2 million, up 8% year-over-year.
Lesinski said fourth-quarter attendance across NCM’s network rose about 7% year-over-year to 107 million, while advertising revenue rose 9% over the same period—allowing NCM to grow ahead of attendance trends. He added that advertising revenue per attendee increased even with the additional week included in the quarter.
Advertising demand, premium inventory, and impressions growth
Management emphasized continued advertiser interest in cinema’s “premium, high-impact” environment. Lesinski said 18 advertisers ran campaigns at or above the $1 million level during the quarter. Total advertising revenue increased 9% year-over-year to $90 million, led by retail, wireless, and travel, with growth also cited in entertainment and media, pharma, and technology.
Ng said national advertising revenue in the quarter was $76 million, up nearly 10% from $69.2 million a year earlier. He attributed results to stronger demand for premium units and benefits from standardizing the national footprint following the amended AMC agreement. He also detailed gains in impressions sold per attendee:
- National impressions sold per attendee increased 27% year-over-year.
- Platinum impressions sold per attendee increased 72% year-over-year.
- Post-Show impressions sold per attendee increased 53% year-over-year.
Ng said national revenue per attendee increased to $0.71, supported by demand and pricing optimization, and on a comparable basis increased 10% versus the prior year period.
On local and regional advertising, Ng reported fourth-quarter revenue of $13.8 million, up 2% from $13.5 million, with strength in gaming, retail apparel, technology, and healthcare. Lesinski said local revenue increased year-over-year and the company made deliberate local investments, including hiring a new senior leader and tightening accountability and targeting across the sales organization.
Platform initiatives: programmatic and self-serve growth
NCM highlighted rapid expansion in programmatic and self-serve advertising as a way to broaden demand and increase inventory utilization. Lesinski said programmatic revenue doubled year-over-year, and the number of programmatic advertisers in the quarter rose 2.4 times compared with the prior year, aided by additional supply-side platform partnerships and improving industry standardization for cinema inventory classification.
Self-serve revenue grew 64% year-over-year in the quarter, according to Lesinski, who said the upgraded platform includes generative AI-enabled tools intended to speed creative development and shorten time-to-market. He also said the company is routing smaller transactional opportunities to self-serve and programmatic options while directing higher-value accounts to sales teams.
Lesinski highlighted an example of the company’s “Bullseye” AI-enabled creative localization tool, saying a large national retailer produced more than 70 localized creative executions within one campaign, generating over 15 million impressions. He added that third-party measurement showed a 34% lift in foot traffic to retail locations.
Box office trends, make-goods, and Spotlight acquisition
Lesinski said domestic box office performance in the quarter was “mixed,” with the quarter falling short of expectations but improving in the “middle and tail end” driven by major franchise releases and holiday attendance. Ng also pointed to the weaker-than-expected box office but said advertisers continued to value NCM’s audiences.
In the Q&A, Lesinski acknowledged that lower box office results between Thanksgiving and Christmas led to “a higher amount of ADUs or make good than we traditionally had in other fourth quarters.” He said those make-goods are expected to be fulfilled over the next two to three quarters, ranging from the first through the third quarter of 2026.
Lesinski also discussed the strength of the week between Christmas and New Year’s, which was included in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter this year. He said that week’s total ad revenue was “multiples higher” than the comparable week experienced in 2024, and added that if that week were included in the prior-year quarter, comparable revenue per attendee would have been up in the “low double % area.”
On network expansion, management said it acquired Spotlight in November to add “high-end luxury” screens and audiences. Lesinski called Spotlight a “high-end luxury option” and said the strategy is progressing as planned. Ng noted the company drew on its revolver to fund the acquisition, resulting in $12 million of total debt at quarter-end.
Full-year 2025 results, capital returns, and Q1 2026 guidance
For full-year 2025, Ng reported total revenue of $243.2 million, up 1% from $240.8 million in 2024. National advertising revenue increased 3.5% to $194.5 million, driven by a 21% increase in national impressions sold per attendee and a 3% increase in attendance, which was partly due to the extra fiscal week.
Local and regional advertising revenue was $34.6 million for the year, down from $39.1 million in 2024. Ng said the decline was primarily due to a “trade-related pullback” earlier in the year in pharma, travel, government, and automotive, which he said has since normalized.
Ng also said the company decreased national advertising CPMs by 18% year-over-year in 2025, citing a mix that included programmatic strategy and efforts to broaden advertiser categories. Full-year Adjusted OIBDA was $39.1 million, down from $45.7 million, which he attributed primarily to the first-half advertiser headwinds.
Regarding shareholder returns, Ng said NCM returned about $33.6 million in 2025, including $11.3 million through a reinstated dividend and $22.3 million through share repurchases. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.03 per share, to be paid March 23, 2026, to shareholders of record as of March 9, 2026. Ng said the company repurchased 4.1 million shares in 2025 at an average price of $5.41.
For the first quarter of 2026, Ng guided to revenue of $32.5 million to $36.5 million and Adjusted OIBDA of negative $13 million to negative $10 million. He said comparability will be affected by the absence of the holiday week (shifted into fiscal Q4), reduced beverage revenue due to contractual adjustments and an exhibitor changing the number of beverage spots, and a tougher February comparison due to the Winter Olympics. Ng stressed the outlook “does not reflect any change in underlying demand,” adding January revenue was in line with the prior year despite the loss of the holiday week.
Looking further out, Lesinski said the company is seeing strong early demand indicators for 2026 and characterized the upcoming slate as more consistent across all four quarters. In response to analyst questions, management said upfront bookings were up year-over-year and indicated early signs of additional inventory being purchased into Q2 and Q3. Lesinski also said the company is optimistic about political advertising as a potential upside opportunity, noting interest from select exhibitors and that some cases require an approval process.
About National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI)
National CineMedia, Inc is a leading U.S. out-of-home media company specializing in cinema advertising. The firm operates a proprietary network that delivers high-impact advertising content to moviegoers across a broad footprint of theaters, offering brands a targeted and immersive way to engage audiences in a captive, distraction-free environment.
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Centennial, Colorado, National CineMedia began as a joint venture among several major exhibition chains.
