Boxoffice® Pro - March 2014

tickets go on sale earlier and there’s really an
event-type scenario built up for each one of
these big movies.”
Fandango has enjoyed similar growth
thanks to the event marketing that dominates
today’s film industry. The company has
partnered with exhibitors and studios to offer
“SuperTicket” bundles for select films that
can include concession rebates, a pre-purchase
of a digital or DVD copy of the film, and the
opportunity to see a highly anticipated film
days ahead of its wide release.
The rise of mobile devices like smartphones
and tablets has redefined consumers’
approach to e-commerce, and online
ticketing isn’t an exception. MovieTickets.
com experimented with a podcast as early as
2005, developing its mobile presence through
the release of their first mobile ticketing app
in 2007. Fandango launched a WAP site in
2005 and entered the Apple App Store in
2009. The Fandango app reached 39 million
downloads across mobile platforms by the
end of 2013.
The online ticketing business, however,
doesn’t provide an established blueprint for
success. Examples from outside the United
States signal the different routes that businesses
can take in claiming a share of the market.
AlloCiné maintains a dominating presence
among cinema-oriented web portals in
France. The company began as a telephone
service for show times in 1993 before selling
tickets through their service in 1994. A website
followed in 1997, during the dawn of the
Internet, eventually becoming the Internet
resource for cinema in France. AlloCiné announced
a partnership with French retail and
event-ticketing giant FNAC at the
2011 Cannes Film Festival.
The companies
would join forces in
entering the online
ticketing industry
during a time when
French exhibitors
had begun making headway with proprietary
e-ticketing technology. The new venture
snapped up ticketing rights to the iconic Le
Grand Rex theater in Paris, a popular site for
big premieres in the country. The project hit
a stumbling block, however, when the idea
failed to gain traction among the country’s
top exhibitors, falling short of its goal of
becoming a universal solution for online
ticketing in France. Le Grand Rex concluded
its relationship with the AlloCiné-FNAC
venture and the project was scrapped shortly
thereafter.
Clearly, maintaining successful relationships
with exhibitors is vital for e-ticketing
providers to thrive. “We really look at ourselves
like relationship experts,” says Cohen.
“We only do movie ticketing from an online
and technology perspective; that’s our core
competency and we want to bring solutions
to the theaters so they can focus on their own
day-to-day business.”
Paul Yanover says he shares that philosophy
and considers Fandango “as much of a
B2B company as a B2C company.” He points
to Fandango’s media partnerships as part of
that strategy. “We are powering the ticketing
for IMDb, Yahoo Movies, AOL
Moviefone, MSN Movies, and
others as well,” says Yanover.
“We want movie ticketing to be
available wherever and whenever
people are talking or even thinking
about movies.”
Spanish e-ticketing leader
Entradas.com adopted an innovative
solution to spread the appeal
of online ticketing in its home
country. Leaders at that company
made their product work with existing
technology that consumers
already trusted in order to build
and expand their brand. Among
other distribution options, the
company offers ticket-buying and pick-up
services at more than 11,000 ATMs across
Spain, partnering with some of the country’s
top banks in the process.
Yanover emphasizes the importance of the
consumer, noting Fandango’s efforts to make
the e-ticketing experience as streamlined as
possible. “We look at how we can maximize
efficiency for the consumer in finding information,
transactions, and delivery of tickets.”
To do so, ticketing providers have
increased their content offerings
to include trailers, movie news,
behind-the-scenes features, show
times, and accurate maps. These
data points are the bread-andbutter
of the market, the basics
that no company can overlook.
Regardless of how you reach
the consumer, whether it be via
mobile apps or a bank’s ATM, the
success of any business still hinges
on providing the consumer with
the necessary comfort and confidence
to make a transaction.
The studios have already realized
the earning potential of the international
box office. We are living in a time when a flop
in North America can mean big business in
emerging markets like China and Russia. The
international market offers alluring opportunities
in the online ticketing industry, as the
global growth of the middle class has sparked
a new boom for the exhibition industry.
MovieTickets.com is an experienced player
in international expansion, with a presence in
17 countries, including the United Kingdom,
Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and Canada.
JOEL COHEN
CEO
MOVIETICKETS.COM
PAUL YANOVER
PRESIDENT
FANDANGO
Cohen is quick to underscore the importance
of his company’s current relationship with
exhibitors when it comes to launching a new
venture abroad.
“We work with our exhibitor partners who
have a presence there to get a good understanding
of a specific market. Once we are
established, we work to get additional exhibitors
in that particular area,” says Cohen. “In
some areas, one of the positives is
that the consumer buying activity
is a bit more advanced than in
the United States. We will do
larger percentages of advance
and online ticket sales in some of
those countries when compared
to U.S.”
As the case study from France
shows, however, expanding into
a new country can coincide with
exhibitors’ efforts at developing
their own online ticketing
systems. Cohen recognizes this
as a challenge when working
abroad. “Many exhibitors have
established successful solutions
on their own,” he says. “I’d say one of our
challenges has been to convince some of the
international markets that there is a need for
an aggregator like there is in the U.S. with
MovieTickets.com.”
Fandango’s Yanover says he shares that
outlook and views the role of online ticketing
providers as part of the film community as a
whole.
“The broader reality of Fandango is that
we are just as relevant to moviegoers
who are not buying online. We
are more than just a ticketing utility;
we are a discovery, information,
and ticketing environment.
I think we benefit the industry
in a really broad way. While I’d
love everyone to buy their tickets
through us, we’re important in
the moviegoing ecosystem as a
decision-making vehicle for all
ticket-buyers, regardless of where
they make their purchase.”
The online ticketing business
has been transformed by the
emergence of digital technology
and the rising popularity of e-commerce
among consumers. As a result, these services
have become an integral part of contemporary
cinema culture. The digital box office
isn’t merely a transactional environment, but
a place where the moviegoing experience as
a whole is promoted and celebrated. The
Internet and digital technology might be the
source of many headaches for the exhibition
industry, but when it comes to online ticketing,
it is a welcome solution to providing
audiences with a better experience.
MARCH 2014 BoxOffice ® Pro The Business of Movies 19