Sinemia, a MoviePass competitor that launched four years ago in Europe, has introduced some super-duper low-cost plans for seeing movies in theaters. Here’s the breakdown:
- $4.99 per month: one ticket per month
- $6.99 per month: two tickets per month
- $9.99 per month: two tickets per month including 3D, 4D and IMAX
- $14.99 per month: three tickets per month including 3D, 4D and IMAX
Now, I know what you’re thinking, and it’s true. MoviePass’s $9.99 per month subscription lets you see nearly an unlimited number of movies every month (one per day).
But there’s no way I would take full advantage of the “unlimited” offering. And Sinemia CEO Rifat Oguz recognizes that I’m not the only person like that.
“Not everyone really needs an unlimited moviegoing experience,” Oguz told me. “The average in the U.S. is four movies per year.”
For me, at least, Sinemia is a more attractive offer because of one simple feature: advanced online ticketing. MoviePass requires you to be physically at the movie theater to purchase the tickets, and homie just can’t play that. There’s also the fact that Sinemia lets you see 3D, 4D and IMAX. That’s not the case with MoviePass.
While Sinemia pays full price to movie theaters for every ticket purchased through its platform, Sinemia makes up for that via advertising deals with studios and restaurants. For example, when you open up the Sinemia app, the three movies you see featured at the top are paid for by studios wanting to promote their movies. As of right now, 85 percent of the company’s revenue comes from subscriptions with just 15 percent coming from advertising.
In the next 12 months, Sinemia hopes to launch its services in countries throughout Asia. Sinemia doesn’t disclose monthly subscriber numbers, but says it’s growing more than 50 percent every month.
Earlier this year, MoviePass sued Sinemia for copyright infringement, alleging Sinemia copied many of MoviePass’s features. Specifically, MoviePass alleges Sinemia violated a patent pertaining to automatic authentication and one pertaining to a ticketing system. The litigation is ongoing, but Oguz said he generally likes competition and appreciates how MoviePass made this model popular.