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Topic: Meet the Lone Loser in MoviePass Hitting 1 Million Members
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 02-11-2018 04:33 AM
quote: Jack Ondracek
I'm not saying it can't be done. I'm saying MP hasn't published a hint as to how it would work or, for that matter, how their claimed 1,000 independents are making it work now.
That's why we figure it out for them. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
The 1,000 independents is a bullshit marketing number. Probably to please their (potential) investors to show they're working on fixing their cash-drainage. If they had 1,000 theaters hooked up, the least you'd expect is a page on their website explaining how it works.
quote: Mike Blakesley
Now they're running a "sale" where you get the subscription for $7.95 a month (if you pay for a year in advance) and you also get streaming of "Fandor's library of 5000+ movies," whatever that is.
Getting those $95,40 from new subscribers is obviously a trick to get some quick cash in the short run.
Fandor is like a NetFlix for alternative content. Most content on there is from indie film producers or International film content. A subscription will set you back $90 a year.
I doubt there is much overlap between the average MP user and average Fandor user, but getting both MP and Fandor at $95,40 a year sounds like a killer deal... or a last ditch effort to bring in some cash for this Ponzi scheme.
quote: Mike Spaeth
I read the $3.00 cut to moviepass as a discounted ticket price. Kind of like most chains do with their bulk tickets. Instead of $10.00, Moviepass would pay $7.00, ring up a $7.00 ticket, pay $4.55 film rental at 65%, have $2.45 left over. Still a bit tight, but the studio takes 65% of the haircut, instead of the theatre taking 100% of the haircut as in the above example.
For this to work correctly, the patron has to identify itself as a MP user at the box office, because the patron has to get a special, discount ticket. Then again, MP could limit the available amount for the transaction to just above the reduced ticket price. In that case, the sale of a non-discounted ticket would fail. Not really an elegant solution though...
quote: Martin Brooks
And really, what data are they really going to be able to sell? They presumably know the address of the user, what theater they go to and what movies they see. Maybe they also know their gender and age. So what? Most of their users go to see hit movies. Big surprise. What is anyone going to do with that data?
Well, the idea of "big data" is that you can now put all the data you collect into a big super computer and in that way, find new correlations between the data you put in there, especially if you combine it with data from other sources, they might have access to.
For example, they could deduce that people who watch a lot of Jackie Chan movies are really into Chinese food. They could sell this information to Panda Express at a premium rate, because they can now target-advertise to a more "closed target group".
This example is certainly rubbish and 100% over-simplified and sure, it's a lot of smoke and mirrors. But right now, Big Data is hip and a lot of money is thrown at it.
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Jack Ondracek
Film God
Posts: 2348
From: Port Orchard, WA, USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 02-11-2018 03:15 PM
quote: Mike Spaeth
I read the $3.00 cut to moviepass as a discounted ticket price. Kind of like most chains do with their bulk tickets. Instead of $10.00, Moviepass would pay $7.00, ring up a $7.00 ticket, pay $4.55 film rental at 65%, have $2.45 left over. Still a bit tight, but the studio takes 65% of the haircut, instead of the theatre taking 100% of the haircut as in the above example.
If MP has access to the theatre's POS, then I suppose that could be made to work. Not sure how it could if not though.
It would also require a contract waiver from the studios. The boilerplate requires percentage calculations on highest available price for a particular class. If I read that right, my $10 ticket and MP's $7 would both require the higher percentage to the studio... unless they change the language or ignore it... which some, but not all have been known to do.
Unless the studios play along, the theatre still takes the haircut.
I think the thing that makes this so suspicious to me is that there's been no whiff about how this works for the theatre which, if there truly are 1,000 independents out there, you'd think you'd have heard something by now.
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Mike Blakesley
Film God
Posts: 12767
From: Forsyth, Montana
Registered: Jun 99
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posted 02-12-2018 03:26 PM
I wonder if they're going to send their 2 million subscribers a check for $24, now that they've devalued their membership by that much...? I mean, since they have plenty of cash and all. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
MoviePass Cuts Price Again, Bundles Subscription With Fandor
3:56 PM PST 2/9/2018 by Paul Bond
The company will lower its price to $7.95, and the new price includes free access to Fandor, a streaming service.
MoviePass, already criticized by some theater owners for cheapening the moviegoing experience, is taking it to the next level: It is further lowering its price and adding streaming into the mix, making it a cut-rate competitor to Netflix and the others.
The service that offers a movie ticket each day to subscribers who pay just $9.95 per month said late Friday that it will lower its price to $7.95, and that the new price includes free access to Fandor, a streaming service that boasts the biggest collection of independent films.
The partners said Friday it was a "limited offer" and the Fandor subscription would run out after a year. Plus, there's a $19.95 "processing fee" that brings the one-year total to $115.35, which customers must pay for up front.
MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe told The Hollywood Reporter he hasn't yet decided how long the limited offer would last. "We're having fun. We're energizing the movie industry; constantly experimenting."
“MoviePass is not only a phenomenon in the entertainment industry, but it has sparked a movement, now 2 million people strong,” said Ted Farnsworth, CEO of Helios and Matheson Analytics, the service's parent company.
MoviePass says it is responsible for 5 percent of the nation's total box office nowadays, as it mostly pays full price for the tickets that its 2 million subscribers use.
“With this new offer, we can make the movement even more accessible to moviegoers," said Farnsworth. "I believe our annual subscribers will become influential movie consumers and an amazing asset and bellwether for the film industry as a whole.”
The news announced Friday came as several MoviePass users took to the internet to complain that their subscriptions were canceled after being accused of abusing the service. Some complainers, though, accused the company of canceling them because they simply were seeing too many movies.
Lowe told THR that the cancellations were for subscribers who were using MoviePass to pay down the cost of seeing Fathom Events or Imax content, which is not allowed. Some, he said, were also using their MoviePass cards for a free ticket then cashing them in for gift cards minutes later.
The emails received by some users Friday reads: "Your account has been canceled effective immediately for violating the terms of service by using your MoviePass card to purchase part of a premium ticket. You cannot sign back up for MoviePass."
Hollywood Reporter
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Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
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posted 02-12-2018 06:04 PM
quote: Mike Blakesley
I wonder if they're going to send their 2 million subscribers a check for $24, now that they've devalued their membership by that much...? I mean, since they have plenty of cash and all.
Well, I guess they will be eligible to switch to the yearly pre-paid option. The one with the hidden service charge of $19.95, which is almost 3 months of service at the discounted price. Although I somehow get the feeling their site won't let you. The thing seems to be barely functional, their blog for example, only produces a database error: Error establishing a database connection
quote: Steve Guttag
I suspect Fandor is going to be MP's step into the streaming market and will lead to getting day-and-date releases. My prediction is that it starts with non-Hollywood movies. So the art/indie houses will be the first hit of "pay us our cut or we'll take "our" customers to "our" streaming service to show the same movie for a lot less. If that works, they'll have the data to then show Hollywood that their scheme works.
It would be interesting to know how many of the art-house clientele are MP subscribers, especially because many of them don't strike me as the most avid smart phone users.
If you check the MP Terms of Service, then you'll see they've been set-up to become a movie streaming service from the very beginning. There is more in it regarding a Netflix-alike streaming service than the actual services they're offering.
I'm wondering what's in it for Fandor though and how much of the subscription fee they're getting from MoviePass and whether it's a flat-fee deal per user or if they're paying a fee per actual stream to Fandor.
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