1 theater · 12 screens
Cinema advertising on 12 screens in San Mateo, CA.
The Mandalorian & Grogu
May 22
Toy Story 5
Jun 19
Moana (Live Action)
Jul 10
The Odyssey
Jul 17
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Jul 31
Coyote vs. Acme
Aug 28
The Cat in the Hat
Nov 6
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Nov 20
Avengers: Doomsday
Dec 18
Dune Part Three
Dec 18
Jumanji 3
Dec 25
Poster art courtesy of IMDb · © respective studios · used for editorial reference.
San Mateo sits in one of the most valuable advertising markets in the country. The median household income is $152,669, and 57.6% of residents hold a bachelor's degree or higher. This is an educated, affluent audience that's selective about where they spend. Cinema advertising reaches them in a high-attention environment with no skip buttons.
The city has one theater, Century 12 San Mateo, with 12 screens and an estimated 38,400 monthly moviegoer impressions. That concentration means every campaign dollar works within a single, well-defined venue serving a dense, high-income Peninsula community. A 4-week campaign runs $2,976 to $5,952 depending on format and placement. For brands targeting the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose metro corridor, San Mateo offers a precise, cost-efficient entry point with an audience that outperforms streaming and social media on nearly every attention metric.
Real ranges for a 4-week :30 campaign. Final pricing depends on theaters selected, seasonality, and the 2026 film slate.
| Buy type | 4-week cost | CPM range | Reach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single theater | $2,980 – $5,950 | Tier 1 market rates | up to 38,400 imps/theater |
Add-ons (Streaming Extension, Lobby Network, Digital Retargeting) priced separately. Not available for alcohol, tobacco, firearms, cannabis, or political advertising.
Choose what fits your campaign — on-screen, in-lobby, and digital extensions.
Your brand opens the show
Plays early in the pre-show sequence, before trailers begin. Best for awareness and reach.
Peak attention, before the trailers
Plays in the mid-pre-show pod when theater attention peaks. Our most-requested slot.
The last ad before the feature
The premium position — the final commercial before the feature begins. Highest recall, unskippable.
Digital signage throughout the theater
Full-motion placements on lobby plasma displays. Extends brand presence beyond the auditorium.
Retarget moviegoers on CTV and OTT
After cinema exposure, retarget the same moviegoer audience across premium streaming services using verified attendance data.
Banner & mobile reach for your moviegoers
Display and mobile ad retargeting to the verified moviegoer audience. Geo, demo, and behavior layers.
A 4-week campaign at Century 12 San Mateo runs between $2,976 and $5,952. The final price depends on ad format, screen placement, and whether you choose on-screen spots before the film, lobby placements, or both. San Mateo falls in the Tier 1 CPM range of $70 to $85, a rate tied to the market's high household income and strong advertiser demand.
Local and regional advertisers use cinema across a wide range of categories: auto dealerships, financial services, real estate, healthcare, dining, and retail. Auto campaigns have shown 34% increases in foot traffic, and retail advertisers have documented 53% incremental visits. For premium brands and considered-purchase categories, the high-income San Mateo audience is a strong fit.
Yes. Alcohol, tobacco, firearms, cannabis, and political advertising are not accepted through this network. If your business falls into one of those categories, cinema is not an option. For every other category, placements are available across all 12 screens at Century 12 San Mateo, with no restrictions on creative messaging beyond standard content guidelines.
Cinema delivers 6 to 16 times the attention of social and digital formats, and outperforms CTV and YouTube on verified attention metrics. In a market where 60% of moviegoers are cord-cutters or cord-nevers, cinema reaches audiences that TV and streaming ads routinely miss. The screen is large, the audio is full, and there is no scrolling past the ad.
The standard campaign unit is 4 weeks, matching typical film cycles and giving advertisers consistent exposure across multiple visits. Campaigns can run for additional 4-week periods if longer reach is the goal. With 38,400 estimated monthly impressions in San Mateo, a single 4-week flight delivers solid frequency among a concentrated local audience.
Nationally, the cinema audience has a median age of 30, with 62% identifying as multicultural and 50% attending as co-viewing families. In San Mateo, that audience skews higher-income, consistent with the city's $152,669 median household income. These viewers chose to be in that seat. They're not passive scrollers, which is why attention scores run 2 to 6 times higher than live sports.
Call for pricing tailored to your dates, film slate, and targeting.
