Jerry Brito

More on Mark Cuban’s movie challenge

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Recently Mark Cuban challenged his blog’s readers to come up with a way to increase theatre attendance without spending more than the cost of a ticket. My suggestion was to not charge for admission to movies. To my way of thinking, this would guarantee butts in every seat, every night. Today Cuban responds to the suggestions made and has this to say to those of us who suggested discounts:

Discounting in any of multiple incarnations wont do the trick. True, price is always an issue, but the true aggregate costs of getting the sitter, gas, ticket, popcorn, parking, etc arent impacted enough with ticket and/or concession discounts to make people say they want to go see a movie they otherwise didnt want to see. This has been shown time and time again as matinees , coupon books, frequent buyer programs, and multiple ticket package coupon books are important, but not primary drivers of getting people out of the house. These are what I call blocking and tackling promotions. EVERY theater has to do them and do them well, and most do.

I’m not sure he’s right. For one thing, the coupon books, points, and other schemes are too complicated. Not charging admission at the door, as I propose, is simple. Second, he does have a point that there are other costs to going to a movie than just the price of admission. However, I think that the ticket price is the highest single component of the cost. Getting a sitter might be higher, but I don’t think the demographic he’s trying to reach requires sitters. In the same post today he outlines his (I think brilliant) plans for two new types of theatre chains. One to show only children’s movies and stocked with movie-related merchandise for sale, the other geared at 16- to 25-year-olds. Free tickets, I think, would do the trick we these groups.

Jul 31, 2006 | Comments