Cinema/theatre industry witnesses substantial member acquisition through paid monthly membership strategy

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Loyalty plays a key factor in the cinema/theatre experience. Customers cherish quality time with their loved ones; therefore, an elevated cinema/theatre experience is essential for this cinema/theatre industry. If the experience is less than the customer's expectations, there cannot be loyalty. Thus, while designing a long-term loyalty program, movie halls and theatres cannot compromise on providing an immersive experience for the customers.

For spending quality time with the family, even against payment, customers are ready to pay a fee for enrollment in exchange for elevated benefits. This paid loyalty strategy has helped movie halls see significant growth in their businesses. For instance,

• In June 2022, Cinemark, one of the largest movie hall chains based in Plano, Texas, announced that it had crossed the 1-million-member milestone through its paid monthly membership program.

The movie chain, which now has around 3000 members in each theatre under Cinemark Movie Club subscription in the United States, states that its unique loyalty program has helped the company achieve this. Movie Club, which is a part of the Cinemark Movie Rewards program, is a tiered loyalty program that rewards one point for every dollar spent, which is redeemable for tickets, concessions and movie merchandise also.

In addition to this, the loyalty program is designed to provide a discounted price for companion tickets, the ability to roll over unused movie credits without expiring, together with 20% discount on concessions and other perks. The chain, which charges around US$10 a month for the loyalty program, saw the loyalty program members visit Cinemark theatres three times more often than the chain's average moviegoer. This clearly states that a correct loyalty program helps to maximize total visit revenue and continues to drive engagement post-purchase of the loyalty membership.

The theatre chain, which has constantly been upgrading its loyalty strategies, had increased big screen benefits for its loyal customers by introducing Movie Club Platinum in September 2021. Movie Club Platinum is a premium tier added to the Cinemark's monthly in-theatre membership program that rewards frequent visitors with savings.

Since the paid loyalty program has first-hand customer data, strategizing a correct loyalty program becomes easy. After extensive customer research, Cinemark introduced added benefits to the loyalty program, making it more exciting for loyal moviegoers. Since active Movie Club members were interested in an elevated reward-based tier with added benefits for frequent moviegoing, the chain introduced the Movie Club Platinum tier.

Therefore, to reward their customers, the movie chain designed the tier as when the loyal member will visit a Cinemark theatre 25 times or purchase 60 tickets within a calendar year, the member will receive the benefits of Platinum perks. Apart from the existing Movie Club benefits, these Platinum members will be able to earn two bonus movie ticket credits, receive an increased concessions discount of 25%, and also will be able to purchase five tickets at the member price. These added benefits will attract movie lovers with elite privileges, enabling the company to earn revenue over the long run.

Notably, members of paid programs remain highly engaged from the start and have a vested interest in the brand to utilize the investment. Thus, paid loyalty helps to differentiate the brand and fight customer churn. Paid customer loyalty programs help theatres track customer behaviors and thus, help them communicate better with customers through their owned channels. Cinemark, therefore, could maximize total visit revenue and continue to drive engagement post-purchase through their tiered program and hit the 1million milestone. Cinema/movie theatre loyalty programs, therefore, can bring a holistic, immersive experience with the right loyalty strategy to keep moviegoers engaged with the theatre. Since Covid, theater loyalty programs, from big chains to independent cinemas, have started employing loyalty strategies to bring a frictionless theatrical ecosystem for the customers.

To know more and gain a deeper understanding of the loyalty programs market in the United States, click here.