The story
Formation
Before its formation, Digital Cinema Media was known as Rank Screen Advertising, a firm owned by The Rank Organisation. It was then renamed to RSA Advertising in Fall 1992, and again to Cinema Media in September 1995, although the RSA name remains as an in-name unit.
Following Carlton's purchase of RSA from The Rank Group, Carlton Screen Advertising was formed in 1996, with the identity launched in 1997. The new company supplied cinema advertising for Odeon and Cineworld, as well as ABC and UCI Cinemas, before their respective takeovers by Odeon. In 1999, cinema operator UGC joined the business following its buyout of Virgin Cinemas. However, its UK business was taken over by Cineworld in 2004.
On 11 July 2008, CSA was sold from ITV plc to Cineworld Group and Odeon Cinemas as a 50:50 joint venture, and was rebranded as Digital Cinema Media, thus marking the return of the "Cinema Media" name for the first time since 1995.
Carlton Screen Advertising's operations in Ireland were spun off, and in 2014, would become Wide Eye Media (which is, as of 2022, the Irish branch of Pearl & Dean). It supplied idents for the UK sites of Cineworld and Odeon; the new look and identity first came into force on October 1, 2008.
A deal signed in 2010 saw all Vue Cinemas sites included in the business from 1 January 2011; this has resulted in the company supplying advertisements for nearly 90% of UK cinemas. In April 2011, DCM changed their on-screen identity for the second time. In September 2012, DCM became the first UK cinema advertising company to 'go digital', though some older cinema sites, mostly those operated by Vue, continue to use standard film.
On 25 January 2013, DCM changed its idents and company logo, and also introduced a brand new strapline - 'Dynamic Advertising'. The old idents were still in use until early March 2013. In January 2014, DCM hosted a College Project in which students had to design a new ident for DCM. In December 2016, DCM was awarded a contract with Everyman Cinemas, becoming the chain's commercial partner.
On 7 September 2022, Cineworld, which owned 50 percent of the company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. However, the bankruptcy had no affiliation with Digital Cinema Media, and the company is continuing to operate as normal.
In 2025, DCM was awarded a contract with the UK-based cinemas of the Irish chain Omniplex Cinemas, replacing their previous partner Pearl & Dean. However, Omniplex's Irish sites remain with the Irish branch of Pearl & Dean.
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Identification history
DCM has used three different idents. Usually, a 10-second version of the ident is seen as the first clip seen at the start of the cinema reel. A 15-second version is later seen before the trailers begin, around 10 minutes into the cinema reel.
The first ones, which debuted in UK cinemas on 1 October 2008, was made by CDT Design, showing a montage of film clips and images with a cinemagoer, accompanied by electronic music done by Red Custard Music. These idents were in use until 3 April 2011, when they were replaced again.
By April 2011, the previous idents were replaced with the 'lantern' version of the DCM logo and a remixed version of the music, produced by Jump Design. These idents were used until March 2013.
In 2013, the "Dynamic Advertising" idents by Fearlessly Frank were introduced. The tagline was short-lived, however, and was changed to "Welcome to Our World" in October 2013. These idents were uploaded to YouTube on January 23, 2013, and were officially adopted two days later, though some cinemas did not adopt them until a few months later. "Laughter" and "Suspense" were temporarily dropped in January 2014 leaving only the "Amazement" ident, and then partially returned to some cinemas in December that year. However, they did not return to all cinemas until 2017, with the music on the "Amazement" ident being changed to a different one later that year (with some cinemas retaining the original pre-2017 music).
Originally, at the end of the idents, the company's then-slogan, "Dynamic advertising", was seen at the end, and since 2014, the current slogan "Welcome to Our World" has been used. Generally, "Amazement" is mostly used, with "Laughter" being used before an animated or comedy film and "Suspense" before a horror or action movie.
From Wikipedia’s article on Digital Cinema Media, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4