Sinemia, a Would-be Rival To MoviePass, Shuts Down US Movie-Ticket Subscription Service (variety.com) 28
Sinemia, a would-be rival to MoviePass, is closing down its U.S. operations -- telling customers it could not find "a path to sustainability" amid legal headaches, competitive pressures and the challenging economics of the business model. From a report: The company announced the shutdown in a notice on its website Thursday. "While we are proud to have created a best in market service, our efforts to cover the cost of unexpected legal proceedings and raise the funds required to continue operations have not been sufficient," Sinemia said in the statement. "The competition in the U.S. market and the core economics of what it costs to deliver Sinemia's end-to-end experience ultimately [led] us to the decision of discontinuing our U.S. operations." From the notice, it's not clear whether Sinemia will be extending refunds that may be due to subscribers.
Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Just a month ago, Sinemia rolled out a new Always Unlimited plan, which was supposed to let subscribers to see one movie (in 2D) every day for $14.99 per month.
So... unless you can get cinema tickets for less than 50c a shot, I don't see how that could ever make profit. Hell, if you could get them for $1 each, you'd probably profit somewhat from the way that not every member would use them every time, but... that's still ridiculous.
You charge a regular subscription on something that has a permanent fixed cost to you way below the total annual (or whatever) cost of the subscription. You don't charge a subscription to something that you have to pay all the underlying costs for and probably can't afford to pay for even one month of use like that from each user.
Bad business models abound, but this one really takes the biscuit.
Re:Really? (Score:5, Insightful)
Neither Sinemia nor MoviePass can be compared to standard ticket prices.
To a theater, empty seats are lost potential sales. Making anything on a seat that would otherwise be unfilled is positive.
The internally difficult parts are a) potential full-price sales lost and b) arrangements for box office proceed splitting (which are by percentage, though there may be some minimum). Those aren't public knowledge (though someone knowledgeable could comment on it.
The externally difficult parts are contracts that make it impossible to implement and other businesses that see your model as a threat.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Neither Sinemia nor MoviePass can be compared to standard ticket prices.
To a theater, empty seats are lost potential sales. Making anything on a seat that would otherwise be unfilled is positive.
The internally difficult parts are a) potential full-price sales lost and b) arrangements for box office proceed splitting (which are by percentage, though there may be some minimum). Those aren't public knowledge (though someone knowledgeable could comment on it.
The externally difficult parts are contracts that make it impossible to implement and other businesses that see your model as a threat.
I don't think these kinds of companies, or at least MoviePass, expect to actually make money on the ticket subscriptions. Those were just meant to get people into using their service. I seem to remember MoviePass's goal was to eventually gather data on and offer a whole "movie night/date night" experience. So basically, they would track where people tend to go before or after movies, aggregate that data, and then sell it, providing ads-er, um "suggested activities"-for restaurants, bars, etc for before/a
Re: (Score:2)
Bad business models abound, but this one really takes the biscuit.
Don't forget, combined Social Security and Medicare have unfunded liabilities now over $200T (on an economy of about $18T GDP per annum).
Too bad Sinemia didn't have a printing press to hyperinflate their economy.
Re: (Score:2)
Similar to Health Insurance then?
"Competitive pressures" (Score:1)
From what, common sense?
Sinemia (Score:2)
See... spelling counts.
Company name reminds me of this line in Pixels [wikipedia.org]:
Matty:
Yeah, my dad cheated on my mom with his 19-year-old Pilates instructor.
Her name's Sinnamon, with an "S" -- which really tells you all you need to know about her.
LOLZ (Score:2)
*Spits in spatoon* (Score:2)
*spits in spatoon* This here poorly conceived business model ain't big enough fer tha two of us.
What a strange idea to steal (Score:1)
This company decided that they really needed to get in on that action.