Air Pollution May Affect Movie Theater Attendance

Published on 2018/02/25 | Source

Air pollution may have a direct effect on movie theater attendance, analysis of data suggests.

The Chosun Ilbo looked at air quality data in Seoul from Jan. 1 to 21 in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and stats from the Korean Film Council to see if there is a correlation between them.

It found that the worse the air qualify, the more people go to the cinema, perhaps to escape the pollution outside.

From Jan. 1 to 21 in 2016, the average density of fine dust in Seoul was 50 ㎍/㎥, and 3.26 million people went to the cinema in Seoul.

A year later, the average density of fine dust was 54 ㎍/㎥, and the number of moviegoers went up to 3.68 million. This year, air quality worsened again as the average density of fine dust was 59 ㎍/㎥, and 4.44 million people went to movie theater.

Market analyst Kim Hyung-ho said, "News relevant to fine dust seems to affect people who go to cinema".

The news section in Korea's largest portal Naver had 3,674 news articles on smog from Jan. 1 to 21 in 2016, whereas the number shot up to 13,436 in 2018.