17/06/2010

Younger and elder Norwegians go more often to the movies than a decade ago, according to a new analysis of cinema audiences published by TNS Gallup for the Norwegian Cinema Association Film & Kino.

Following a drop in admissions among younger audience at the beginning of the decade, cinema attendance stabilised at an average 2.7 visits per capita in 2009. Youths aged 15-19 are the most avid cinemagoers, with 4.9 visits last year, against 1.7 for Norwegians over 60.

Over the last decade, a larger share of the Norwegian population has been going to the cinemas, a level that peaked at 71% in 2009. The level reached 95% among 15-19 year-olds last year, and 50% among the 60+.

“It’s a myth that cinema-going is only for youngsters,” says Birgitte Langballe of Film & Kino. “Statistics over the last decade show that older people tend more and more to keep their cinema-going habits throughout their life or brush them up when they become much older.”

For TNS Gallup, the wider choice of films and the event movies – popular among the younger generation for whom catching a movie is a social activity – explain the increase in cinema-going habits since the early 2000s.