Last year, Germany’s national film funding Body FFA, for the first time analysed the cinema attendance specifically for documentary films, supporting existing trends and revealing a few surprises in their long-term study.
Documentary films develop largely independently of the overall market in the cinema and appeal to their very own audience. In all, from 2011 until 2016, between 1.2 and 2.3 million people purchased tickets for a documentary film at the cinema box offices in Germany. However, more than three-quarters (78%) of them also saw only one documentary film a year, even though the target group is disproportionately made up of heavy users who on average attend movie theatres about 16 times a year.
It is also of note that documentaries take considerably longer to develop a following in the cinema. While around two-thirds (66%) of films of all other genres put together are seen in the first three weeks after the film launches, one-third of documentaries reach their viewers only three and a half months – or even later – after they are released.
German documentary films are extremely popular: In the six-year comparison, they had a market share of well over 50 percent in this market segment. In 2012, eight out of ten tickets (81%) were sold for a German production at the box office for this genre.
More details from the study:
• Typical viewers of documentaries are fundamentally interested in sophisticated films (77%) and inform themselves regularly about the current cinema program (59%).
• Two-thirds of all viewers of documentaries (65%) are older than 50.
• The most successful documentary film in 2014 was the World Cup soccer film "Die Mannschaft" ("The Team") with almost one million viewers – nearly as many as documentaries that attracted viewers in total in the following two years. Although it played to very mixed critical reviews, the hype around the German national soccer team's journey in the 2014 FIFA World Cup made it a box office success.
• Over the course of the period observed there were varying thematic focuses in documentaries. From 2011 until 2013, successful documentaries highlighted nature, music, and history. In 2014, the focus was on "The Team" and thus sports, while in 2015 and 2016, biographies and current events were at the forefront.
• Viewers of documentaries eat far less and less often than others in the cinema. Fewer than every third (29%) viewer spends any money at all at the movies on snacks or beverages and then for an average of €4.75, compared to €7.18 spent by more than half of theatre-goers for all other genres.
For 25 years, the FFA has regularly published studies on the structure of cinema attendance and developments in viewer behaviours. The basis of the evaluation is the Media*Scope individual panel by the Gesellschaft für Konsumforschung (GfK), which provides its film industry data exclusively to the FFA. The panel includes 25,000 respondents and is representative of the German population aged 10 and up.
The German study "Der Kinobesucher von Dokumentarfilmen 2011-2016" is available for download on the FFA website.
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Image: poster for The Team
