A high ranking official of MoviePass disclosed on Tuesday that the app is using location data for monetization. MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe told a group of audience that the app is indeed collecting location information from users.
Why MoviePass collects your location?
“We get an enormous amount of information. We watch how you drive from home to the movies. We watch where you go afterwards,” Lowe told an audience at Hollywood event.
But Lowes revelation is no longer a company secret because the MoviePass app is owned by a data analytics firm. The company stressed that it is planning to use generated data from subscribers to make a profit.
It can be recalled that early February, Lowe told Recode, “There are dozens and dozens of businesses like ours that invest in building a large subscriber base.”
“Netflix buys $8 billion of content a year, and believe me, they have to borrow the money to do it. Or companies like Facebook — it’s free, but they’re monetizing all the advertising and all the data about you. That’s exactly what we are [doing],” he added.
What is MoviePass?
In case you don’t know, using MoviePass allows you to watch a movie in the various theatre for a price of $10 per month. It is a welcome development that the company has openly admitted that it would use the location data to make money. But users, however, are not aware as to the extent of the data that the app would be collecting.
Some possible data that the app would collect are ticket sales, movie choice, promotions, among others. A quick check of the app’s privacy policy reveals that the app wants to access the location of your selected theater. Hence, the app is actually requesting the location of your coordinates.
“At MoviePass our vision is to build a complete night out at the movies. We are exploring utilizing location-based marketing as a way to help enhance the overall experience by creating more opportunities for our subscribers to enjoy all the various elements of a good movie night. We will not be selling the data that we gather,” MoviePass said in a statement sent to The Verge.
“Rather, we will use it to better inform how to market potential customer benefits including discounts on transportation, coupons for nearby restaurants, and other similar opportunities. Our larger goal is to deliver a complete moviegoing experience at a price anyone can afford and everyone can enjoy,” the company added.
