Asians, as an ethnic group, had the highest movie theater attendance per capita in 2016, going to the movies an average 6.1 times last year compared to 4.9 times in 2015, according to a Motion Picture Association of America study.
The study showed per capita annual attendance for other ethnic groups were lower — in 2016, Caucasians had an average of going 3.2 times, African Americans had an average of going 4.2 times, and Hispanics had an average of going 4.6 times.
Only a group categorized as ‘other,’ comprising those who self-identify as a “mixed race or ethnicity” or “some other race,” had a similar movie theater attendance as those of Asian descent.
“In 2016, the Asian/Other category overrepresented the most of any group in share of movie tickets purchased — 14 percent — relative to their share of the population — 8 percent,” the study states.
In regards to frequent moviegoers, which the study defines as people who attend the movies at least once a month, Caucasians made up the majority of this group in 2016 with 18.3 million, still a decline from 2015’s number of 19.3 million. On the other hand, the number of Asian frequent moviegoers increased from 2015’s number of 3.2 million to 2016’s number of 3.9 million.
The MPAA hired Opinion Research Corporation International to figure out the demographics for movie theater attendance in the U.S. through a survey with a national probability sample of 3,999 adults consisting of 2,001 men and 1,998 women.
