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How Does MoviePass Make Money?

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Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#21

Post by schizoidboy »

throwaway287391 wrote: post #13
schizoidboy wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article quotes AMC about why they're complaining: they worry that if MoviePass fails, people will sour even more on theaters and that could be their death knell (btw, love the use of harrumphed!): > The largest theater chain in the US instead described MoviePass as as an existential threat . “That price level is unsustainable and only sets up consumers for ultimate disappointment down the road if or when the prod…

I did read that and understand the potential downside for them in the long term. I still think publicly complaining about free money is a really bad look and just exposes them as the curmudgeonly dinosaurs they are.

It's amazing how curmudgeony they've been. Their comment that MoviePass is an "existential threat" is fascinating as a window into the minds of people just trying to survive rather than thrive.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#23

Post by draw_down »

schizoidboy wrote: post #3

I thought their business model was like a gym: hope that most people won't use it. (Source: I have MoviePass and I'm seeing less than 1 movie per month because I'm too busy :-D) Instead, this article claims it's: 1. Studio of movie $M pays MoviePass $X to market it to subscribers. 2. Subscribers see a movie they otherwise wouldn't pay for. MoviePass eats this cost ($Y). 3. Subscribers' word-of-mouth network effects b…

If people don’t use it then MoviePass won’t get any data for analytics.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#24

Post by nxc18 »

eloisant wrote: post #17
libertine wrote: post #6

I still remember when movie theaters provided a different experience - and I'm in my late 20's, so it was not that long ago. Movie theaters became just another living room - people go there chat, comment and eat during the movie just like they were at home. It became such an obnoxious experience, where people are shoved into a room and door is closed. This goes to say: movie theaters had a lot of distribution costs r…

I've seen that kind of behaviour in the US (and that was 10 years ago already). I've never seen it in Europe however, I just thought that's the way Americans enjoy a movie in a theater (a way that really turns me off, actually).

Where in the US have you been watching movies? I’ve never experienced this. The worst I’ve seen (and it bugs the heck out of me still) is people clapping when something big happens, but that is still quite rare.

I’ve seen films in upstate NY, SF, SD, LA area, and beautiful New Hampshire.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#25

Post by txsh »

bunderbunder wrote: post #8
dingo_bat wrote: post #2

Because the marginal cost for a theatre to show a movie is virtually zero.

The marginal cost to a theater, sure. But, as the 3rd paragraph points out, MoviePass is paying those theaters full price for each ticket. They're losing money hand over fist. They can't just solve this by squeezing theaters, either. They're already struggling, if not barely surviving. If MoviePass simply tries to strong-arm them into accepting less than full price, without offering some other source of revenue in re…

If you believe what MoviePass is saying, they’re not losing money hand over fist. They claim most people stop going to the movies after the first couple of months. If someone doesn’t see 12 movies in a year, they aren’t losing money. They say the average is closer to 4.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#26

Post by gambiting »

eloisant wrote: post #17
libertine wrote: post #6

I still remember when movie theaters provided a different experience - and I'm in my late 20's, so it was not that long ago. Movie theaters became just another living room - people go there chat, comment and eat during the movie just like they were at home. It became such an obnoxious experience, where people are shoved into a room and door is closed. This goes to say: movie theaters had a lot of distribution costs r…

I've seen that kind of behaviour in the US (and that was 10 years ago already). I've never seen it in Europe however, I just thought that's the way Americans enjoy a movie in a theater (a way that really turns me off, actually).

Same here - and I've been to theatres in multiple EU countries. People definitely don't talk, absolutely don't talk on their phones(they would be kicked out if they did), and eating - meh, just the standard popcorn stuff. I've been to one theatre which also served proper food but you actually sat at a table not in a theatre seat, it felt more like a restaurant with the film playing in the background.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#27

Post by j1vms »

txsh wrote: post #25
bunderbunder wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The marginal cost to a theater, sure. But, as the 3rd paragraph points out, MoviePass is paying those theaters full price for each ticket. They're losing money hand over fist. They can't just solve this by squeezing theaters, either. They're already struggling, if not barely surviving. If MoviePass simply tries to strong-arm them into accepting less than full price, without offering some other source of revenue in re…

If you believe what MoviePass is saying, they’re not losing money hand over fist. They claim most people stop going to the movies after the first couple of months. If someone doesn’t see 12 movies in a year, they aren’t losing money. They say the average is closer to 4.

> They claim most people stop going to the movies after the first couple of months.

Which of course hurts the ads/analytics side of their business. Not going to any movies means little or no data generation.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#28

Post by utnick »

mschuster91 wrote: post #16

> Helios and Matheson, an analytics company which has a majority stake in MoviePass This here is the juice: Big data. The more customers they have, the better - they have validated full names, birthdates, addresses and CC numbers (and most likely also ethnicity) linked with the data when they visited what movie and even if the customers repeatedly visited a movie. MoviePass has, effectively, four distinct customers:…

Is that data that valuable though? Its not that unique, off the top of my head there are several companies that have similar datasets, Every movie theatre chain, every online movie booking service, every movie review site

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#29

Post by mschuster91 »

utnick wrote: post #28
mschuster91 wrote: post #16

> Helios and Matheson, an analytics company which has a majority stake in MoviePass This here is the juice: Big data. The more customers they have, the better - they have validated full names, birthdates, addresses and CC numbers (and most likely also ethnicity) linked with the data when they visited what movie and even if the customers repeatedly visited a movie. MoviePass has, effectively, four distinct customers:…

Is that data that valuable though? Its not that unique, off the top of my head there are several companies that have similar datasets, Every movie theatre chain, every online movie booking service, every movie review site

Yes, because:

- the theatre chains only have mostly generic datasets (the audience for movie X is mostly young white males) while MoviePass can do far more detailed analysis (and, in theory, could pass detailed questionnaires after you watched a movie, thus gathering more personalized data)

- online movie booking services (at least in my social bubble) are only used for movies where people think they don't have a chance to get a ticket without an early reservation

- movie review sites only have tiny bits of data about the readers, and the reviewer dataset is skewed - it only provides data about the people caring enough to do a review.

Re: How Does MoviePass Make Money?

#30

Post by criddell »

j1vms wrote: post #27
txsh wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you believe what MoviePass is saying, they’re not losing money hand over fist. They claim most people stop going to the movies after the first couple of months. If someone doesn’t see 12 movies in a year, they aren’t losing money. They say the average is closer to 4.

> They claim most people stop going to the movies after the first couple of months. Which of course hurts the ads/analytics side of their business. Not going to any movies means little or no data generation.

When the subscription price was higher, they have fewer members and the people that signed up went to a lot of movies and MoviePass was losing a lot of money. When the dropped the price, a lot more people signed up and most of these were casual movie goers.

In every way they are better off with two million subscribers that go to 8 movies a year than a hundred and fifty thousand subscribers that go to 25 movies a year.

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