MoviePass Lost Me As A Customer And Won't Get Me Back Easily

I love going to movies in the theater. I love the smell of popcorn, the experience of seeing a film on the big screen. And I don't mean just watching the big budget movies, but also the smaller ones that are playing in art houses.

That's why I was thrilled to discover MoviePass in October 2014. The ability to watch a movie in theaters, 1 per day for $30 a month, meant that I could justify the expense. Even if I didn't go to enough movies one month to justify the expense (3-4 movies), I would probably go to enough the next month.

Living down the street from a movie theater, I ended up going more often than normal, but saw a lot of great films in the process. I even ventured out to see obscure films, in theaters that were off-the-beaten path, because of MoviePass.

That all changed on June 29, 2016 when MoviePass sent me an e-mail, changing their unlimited plan from $30 a month to $99 per month. The justification in pricing didn't wash out (an average movie costs $10, which would mean I'd have to go to 10 movies per month in order to just satisfy the subscription cost).

So, I dropped the subscription service.

This is an example of over-pricing without thinking of your customers. And MoviePass probably knows that they screwed up, because now, less four months later, MoviePass has changed their unlimited plan to $49.99 per month.

So, for the past 4 months, MoviePass subscribers who stayed with the subscription service were paying a $50 per month surcharge to watch unlimited movies, or they likely dropped the service altogether, as I did.

Pricing Consistently

Given how quickly the price changed at the MoviePass unlimited rate, I doubt there was much measurement factored into pricing metrics at all. When we price arbitrarily for entertainment, something that people can do without if needed, we tend to either harm the brand or lose customers in the process.

MoviePass started promoting a $15 per month model as well during the summer, in order to attract more customers with a lower price. It shows that they don't understand the value of their product, and instead are fixated on discounting features not quality.

The whole concept of MoviePass should be able fans being able to gain more access to movies in theaters for less money overall. That's what any buyers club does in general. A buyers club hedges its bets that the majority won't actually use the product beyond the point paid, but will find the price satisfactory to the amount used. While there will be a few outliers of customers gaining more product than the subscription rate offered, they won't be the majority.

MoviePass either doesn't get that, or doesn't understand how often its customers went to the movies within a month, without the subscription service.

Where's The Data Backing The Pricing?

There are several ways that MoviePass could have figured out movie theater customer habits, as well as shown a greater benefit to each national chain: By tying into the rewards card systems, in order to look at frequency of visit, as well as overall spend by each customer on specific concession items.

If MoviePass did that, which I doubt, they would have generally not priced themselves so far out of the marketplace. Whether it be with me, or with customers in general. Movie tickets in New York or Los Angeles skew way different than those in the Midwest. I don't see how any customer could justify a breakdown of $10 per month for even 2-3 films (lower plans) when their local movie theater may charge $8 in Omaha or Colorado Springs.

This shows how bad pricing can affect the brand. For my part, until June 29, 2016 and even now, I was a brand advocate for MoviePass. I told everyone I knew about the great standard deal of a movie a day for $30 a month. 

What Price Is It Now? Or Yesterday?

Even when they raised the price to $35 per day in 2015, I didn't care, because a 17% increase was within the margin of a standard price increase due to inflationary costs. But to go from $35 to $99, a 183% increase in price, was outlandish. And only 4 months later, to drop that price by 50%, makes the entire episode even worse.

Because you cannot trust MoviePass on its subscription prices, as it may go up and down without warning. Why pay more if the service will eventually drop the pricing further in the next few months? Or re-enlist only to see the service jack up prices once again?

Sorry, MoviePass, you've lost me as a customer for a while now. I do miss going to the movies, but I'll just wait until each of them comes out on Amazon Prime or Netflix; both services have increased prices in the last year, but not to the astronomical level of MoviePass. Perhaps there's something to be learned for that, if only MoviePass starts listening to its customer base.

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Troy Kirby has helped generate revenue for three college athletic departments and professional teams. Owner of The Tao of Sports, which focuses on Sports Sales & Revenue Analytics, Kirby has interviewed over 600 sports executives for a three-times per week podcast and writes daily about sports business, including the secondary market. Founder/President of NAATSO, the only college ticket association, as well as the creator of The Sport Sales Boot Camp. Kirby is also a frequent contributor to The Association of Luxury Suite Director's quarterly publication, SEAT Magazine, and Ticketing Today.