Has MoviePass Finally Realized That it’s Business Model Isn’t Sustainable?

What’s happening with MoviePass?  First, they give us an incredible deal and get everyone on board with it.  Once they do, they decide to make some changes?  Maybe they’re being forced into making these changes, but regardless, they can’t seem to sustain their too-good-to-be-true original offer.  The original offer was one movie per day for $10 a month.  It brought in 500,000 subscribers in 30 days alone.  But their finances are showing that they are struggling.  On top of that, they’re still shaking off the fact that their CEO went on record saying that the company tracks its customers.

But that’s not all.  They recently downgraded their available new subscriber plans to a three month, $30 limited time offer.  This offer included four movies per month and a three-month trial subscription to iHeartRadio premium.  This offer is no longer just for a limited time.  But the bad news for consumers is that the movie-a-day original offer may not return as an option.

So let’s back this up for a moment.  MoviePass gave us quite the enticing offer, originally.  When this first came out there were a lot of movie theatres who were upset by this because they felt that this was going to undercut their business.  And it kind of was.  MoviePass was offering users the ability to see one movie, per day, for less than it costs to see one movie, period.  From a consumer perspective, that’s incredible.  But from a business perspective, it seemed shady, even then.  I mean, who is paying for the cost additional cost?  If I go to the movie theater 4 times this month and use my MoviePass, I am still only paying $10, and someone has to cover the remainder of $30 or $35, on average.

Who pays that?  Well, MoviePass of course.  But where are they coming up with the money?  I mean, if they were able to get 500,000 users in a month, sure, they’re starting with a good base amount in terms of income, but if each of those 500,000 sees at least 2 movies in a month, they’re already in the red.  Which is why there have been so many critics against this model.  And you can’t really blame the critics.  I mean, this isn’t exactly a way to get people on board with your service.  Nor is it a way to actually run a business.

This doesn’t seem to be a calculated move on MoviePass’ perspective.  I mean, it just feels like a failed business model.  Doesn’t it?  What we can’t figure out is if you can still go and see one movie per day.  There is some conflicting information out there about what you can still do.  Some pages say that you can still see one movie per day, and others are saying you can’t.  It looks pretty messy.  What will happen next with MoviePass remains to be seen.  Perhaps after all of this, they will go to a “normal” business model and try to get users in a different way.