Consumers are more “emotionally attached” to movies than they are TV shows, newspapers or the Internet.

So says the Cinema Advertising Council, which on Tuesday released results of a 2009 study by third-party research firm NewMediaMetrics revealing that nearly 44 percent of “consumer packaged goods and foods” consumers identify themselves as emotionally attached to movies, compared to just under 29 percent for TV.

The study polled 3,000 persons ages 13-54 and asked them to rank how impacted they are by various media platforms on a “Spinal Tap”-like scale that goes from 1-11.

The study claims that 44.5 percent of health and beauty category consumers identify high emotional attachment to theatrical features (meaning they posted a 9 or higher for “movies), compared to only 29.6 percent for TV, 21.2 percent for radio and 20.6 percent for magazines.

In the fast food/casual restaurant category, movies led again, with consumers registering a 43.9 percent strong attachment to the medium.

Also of note: according to the study, the movies have a higher EA quotient (41.5 percent) than the Super Bowl (39.7 percent), the Summer Olympics (26.3 percent) or the Oscars (16.1 percent).

Of course, while the veracity of engagement metrics are difficult to confirm, the Cinema Advertising Council remains on a mission to prove itself to Madison Avenue, and those grow a fledgling revenue stream for theater chains.

In 2008, advertising revenues for CAC members grew 5.8 percent to $571.4 million, with figures for 2009 still pending.