Movie Goers Rejoice
If you haven’t heard of the monthly subscription service MoviePass, it is simply amazing and quite honestly, you’ve been missing out. And even if going to the theater hasn't been on the top of your to-do list recently, the new and innovative Moviepass membership program is bound to get more people going to the theater than ever before. (At least they hope it does.)
And of course whenever an innovative and revolutionary idea or concept comes along, there are always bound to be other competitors and copy cats jumping on board to cash in on the craze. For every Netflix there is a Hulu or Amazon Video ready to swoop in on customers. And the same goes for the idea of watching unlimited films in theaters. In this blog, Hollywood Branded discusses what you need to know about Moviepass’ competitors including Sinemia and AMC Stubs A-list.
What Is MoviePass
For those of you who are unfamiliar MoviePass is a monthly subscription program that lets you view one movie a day at a pre-selected number of movie theatres throughout the country for just $9.95 a month. Or at least, that is their last iteration of their membership offerings.
Of course there are other limitations such as not being able to view newly released movies on opening week or not being able to view 3D or IMAX movies but the general gist is that you can essentially watch one new movie a day for a month if you possibly could or wanted to. I don’t know about you, but that seems like a steal of a deal…...to me at least. Especially since I equate half of the excitement of new movies to the experience of actually going to the theater and watching them with other enthusiastic like minded individuals. Many may not share the same view point, but for me it was definitely one of the biggest staples of my childhood.
In fact, check out this blog our team wrote: How MoviePass Uses Data Collection To Generate Sales to learn even more about MoviePass.
MoviePass Competitor: Sinemia
First up we have Moviepass’ first competitor Sinemia. Sinemia Premium bills itself as "a monthly subscription service that gives you access to 2D-
To begin with, their service is billed annually instead of monthly which makes those hard-to-commit individuals less likely to sign on. So instead of being billed a certain amount every month they would just bill their users an upfront total payment for the year when they sign up making it difficult to cancel their membership.
They have about 4 different levels of subscription services each with their respective advantages and disadvantages. The cheapest subscription service they offer is at the $4.99 level but it only allows users to view one movie per month not including IMAX, 3D, or 4D service.
With Moviepass’ standard $9.99 pricing allowing users to view a movie a day for a whole month, we’d say that it makes Sinemia basic subscription look well……..basic.
At the highest subscription level they allow their users to view up to 3 movies a month with IMAX, 3D, and 4D services included which is similar to AMC’s service only that AMC allows users 3 movies a week which essentially comes down to being able to watch up to 12 movies a month.
Aside from the fact that Sinemia’s service allows subscribers to view movies at more high end exclusive theaters such as Arclight and being able to re-watch movies we’ve already seen we’d say that the benefits don’t quite outweigh the costs for avid moviegoers in comparison to MoviePass.
MoviePass Competitor: AMC Stubs A-List
Next we have AMC Stubs A-list which hit the market in June 2018. Rumors had been going around that AMC was shopping some form of a premium subscription program around to studios since last fall and now it’s finally here. And it's probably one of the big reasons they've put up such a fight with MoviePass.
Although at a higher price point than that of MoviePass and Sinemia at $19.95 a month, it does offer some enticing benefits that outshine its competitors in a few ways.
Let's look at the top 4 reasons why it is a stand out currently:
1. For one, the fact that it only allows you to watch 3 movies a week for the month is nothing to be mad at especially considering the fact that they also allow you to watch movies in 3D/IMAX format. And let’s be honest, most people may watch at the most 2 movies a week if that.
2. With a single IMAX 3D movie ticket that is close to that of the monthly price we’d argue that it’s still a great deal! Of course one of the only downsides being that users can only view movies at participating AMC locations which we imagine can’t be that difficult since most of them are within 10 to 15 miles of each other if you’re in a big city (speaking from experience living in LA all my life).
3. The program also incorporates a points system which rewards their members points for every dollar spent at concession stands which they can later use for discounts on future purchases.
4. And lastly the A-list program allows members to watch all 3 weekly allotted movies in one day if they’d like and can also re-watch previously seen movies. We imagine that would be a big plus for any hardcore Star Wars or Marvel fan.
Until the Next Showtime...
While the race to become the best monthly movie-goer subscription service is well under way we can’t imagine anyone coming close to the type of benefits that MoviePass currently offers if you want unlimited movies, at most theaters. AMC Stubs A-List definitely has a lot of bang for their buck too, for the movie conneseur who wants a higher end movie experience - with 3D and IMAX included.
MoviePass' low price point coupled with the fact that it allows one movie per day should work for those who love the unlimited movie concept, and it will be interesting to see how other movie subscription services will choose to compete. Until then, see you guys at the movies!
And if you are interested in having your brand actually APPEAR in the movies that you are racing to the theaters to watch, then consider product placement opportunities to organically and realistically have your brand embedded into the storyline.
Check out some of our other agency blogs that talk about best marketing practices for product placement and brand integration partnerships:
- 4 Common Myths About Product Placement Debunked
- 10 Surprising Reasons Why Brands Do Product Placement
- 8 Ways To Use Product Placement Assets To Amplify Your Brand Into Sales
- 3 Important Steps In Planning Product Placement Strategy
- Thinking Product Placement Cost Is High (It Isn't!)
Ready to learn more about product placement and promotions for your brand? Then check out our Guide To Product Placement & Promotions 101! It is chock full of information that will help you on your path to leveraging millions of eyeballs who watch their favorite content, and see your brand as part of the story.
Check out our Product Placement guide below!
