MoviePass founder’s next act: Watch ads, see free movies

By  | 

Via AP Business




Q: Why change moviegoing?

A: If you do not evolve with the times, you will wake up and find you’re like a record store or a video (rental) store. To keep cinema at the forefront, we need to be innovating.

Q: You get a free movie ticket after watching at least 15 minutes of video ads on your phone. What’s to stop me from just leaving the ads running on a table?

A: We had to build in facial recognition so that you can tell that the person actually watched. If I look away, it can detect that. It’ll pause if it doesn’t see me for five seconds.

Q: Whoa, that sounds creepy.

A: Nothing is recording. It’s a motion detector. There is nothing leaving your device, nothing stored. (All advertisers get) is this many people watched these spots.


A: You actually get the time to go into a story. It should feel like you’re being entertained versus you’re sitting through painful ads. The more time you spend focused on an activity or brand, the more you’re likely to spend your money.

Q: How’s starting PreShow different from MoviePass?

A: We were trying to figure certain things out, like how much do you charge and how much are they going to eat (use the service)? There were people going every day, and there were people who maybe didn’t use the service. There were regions behaving differently. The ad businesses are more straightforward. Facebook and others have figured it out.


A: We’re expecting to run this business such that you’re paying your way (through ads) to go to the movies. The way to do that is to let in a few people, and you have certain advertisers to start, and you grow over time.

The investment community wants smarter businesses. There’s not the same tolerance to, “Oh, we’ll figure it out.”


A: Do something that you know you love so much, you’re your own kind of expert at it. I’m not going to do this for sporting events or online gaming because I don’t know these worlds. But I know cinema.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Hold dit netværk orienteret

Please Donate To Bitcoin Address: [[address]]
