MGM is expected to spend more than $35 million to promote the new James Bond movie No Time to Die by the end of October, according to advertising intelligence company MediaRadar.
The spending follows a long-quiet period by movie studios as COVID-19 kept people from attending films in theaters.
MediaRadar said MGM has spent $20 million to promote No Time to Die from July through September. The spending is primarily centered on traditional TV--mainly ESPN, NBC, MTV, Adult Swim, CBS and ABC--with a small digital premise.
No Time to Die, opening Friday, was originally expected to hit theaters last April. From December 2019 to March 2020, MGM spent more than $9 million promoting the film, trailer aired on Fox, NBC, CBS, ESPN, TNT and Comedy Central. A very small percentage of spending was dedicated to digital advertising in outlet including Snapchat, E! News, Vulture, Fandango and NHL.com.
“Last year, the ad spend never really ramped up once COVID-19 emerged,” said Todd Krizelman, CEO & co-founder, MediaRadar. “The initial delay helped in that it pushed the release to April. In early March, it was clear that release schedules might adjust so the studio was able to avoid spending too heavily on marketing.”
