Do movie studios not advertise movies as much as they used to?
When my parents told me they saw the new "Downton Abbey" movie today, I responded, "Wait, there's a new Downton Abbey movie out? When the hell did this happen? This is literally the first time I'm hearing about this." And it's true; prior to today, I hadn't seen a single advertisement for it anywhere. In fact, this is something I'm seeing more frequently nowadays; I'll hear about a movie that just came out in theaters that I didn't even know was coming out.
It was way different back in the '90s when I was a kid. I pretty much knew EVERY movie that was coming out and when it was coming out because I would see tons of ads on TV and in the paper in the months leading up to its release. This was especially true for Disney; when "The Lion King" came out in 1994, you literally couldn't go ANYWHERE without seeing it advertised. If you turned on the radio, there was Elton John singing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." If you went to Toys 'R' Us, there would be Lion King toys EVERYWHERE. If you wanted to get a chocolate bar, there you'd find a special Lion King Nestle bar (I can still taste them).
Fast forward to 2025 and I find out there's a new Disney movie through an Alex Meyers video. Literally no advertisement or buzz leading up to its release.
So what's going on here? Did the streaming age and/or COVID change the way studios advertise upcoming movies? Or do algorithms only show us ads for movies they think we want to see?
Posted Sep 13, 2025, 10:41 PM UTC