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Struggling MoviePass Kills Off Its Annual Plan -- Even If You Already Paid For It (nypost.com)
Slashdot reader nolaguy quotes the New York Post:
Movie subscription service MoviePass has pulled the plug on annual subscriptions, telling those subscribers that they will have to adhere to the same terms as monthly subscribers. The service made the announcement Friday in an email to those members and offered them prorated refunds if they want to cancel their annual memberships.... Until Friday's announcement, subscribers to the $89 annual plans had been able to see a movie a day.
CNET reports that MoviePass "is now forcing you onto its monthly three-movie-a-month plan -- effective immediately...and you'll receive up to a $5.00 discount on any additional movie tickets purchased." They're plannning to apply the $89 annual fees toward the $9.95 monthly fees, but.... To add insult to injury, MoviePass says you'll only have until Aug. 31 -- a week from today -- if you want to get some of your money back in the form of a prorated refund, which you can only get by canceling your plan. And just to make things more ridiculous, MoviePass is preying on your FOMO by saying that if you do take the refund, you won't be able to sign up for MoviePass again for nine months.
CNET's article ends with a link to their list of "the 11 times that MoviePass altered the deal," adding "This is getting sad. And a little shady."
CNET reports that MoviePass "is now forcing you onto its monthly three-movie-a-month plan -- effective immediately...and you'll receive up to a $5.00 discount on any additional movie tickets purchased." They're plannning to apply the $89 annual fees toward the $9.95 monthly fees, but.... To add insult to injury, MoviePass says you'll only have until Aug. 31 -- a week from today -- if you want to get some of your money back in the form of a prorated refund, which you can only get by canceling your plan. And just to make things more ridiculous, MoviePass is preying on your FOMO by saying that if you do take the refund, you won't be able to sign up for MoviePass again for nine months.
CNET's article ends with a link to their list of "the 11 times that MoviePass altered the deal," adding "This is getting sad. And a little shady."
I don't understand how someone could ever think this could work.
They were depending on people like me. See, I subscribe to Netflix...but I watch approximately 20 hours a year, so Netflix makes a solid profit margin on me. There are probably enough Netflix subscribers like me where the binge watchers are subsidized, and it all evens out because both of us want to pay a flat rate.
The problem Moviepass had was that they lacked balance. People like me weren't going to sign up because the half-a-dozen times a year I go to the movies is about the same cost as an annual Moviepass subscription - I'd have to go to the movies more often to justify it. The people who were going to jump on the deal were the people who were already going to the movies very regularly, so selling them movie tickets for less than half of what they were already paying just wasn't going to go their way.
Moviepass could have fared better if they limited themselves from the beginning - "$10 for 10 movies a month, but while you pick the days, we pick the show times". They could have partnered with the movie theaters to better distribute crowds during off-peak showings and banked on making up the balance at the concession stands, or at least having the seats available during prime time for full-priced customers. It would help limit the exposure of the theaters, it would set an expectation, and could be beneficial for everyone involved.
I'm unsurprised that the service, as advertised, ended up here.
If they signed up for a year, for $89, and they saw 8 movies or more then they got their money's worth. I don't think they're getting screwed. These customers presumably imagined originally that they were screwing MoviePass.