MoviePass rival Sinemia says business is booming as movie-ticket subscription wars heat up

You decide who is Sinemia
and who is MoviePass in this photo.
Universal Pictures

• Sinemia CEO Rifat Oguz talked to Business Insider about his
  company’s climb up the movie-ticket subscription service
  ranks. 
• He also explained how his company can thrive beyond movie
  tickets.

At this moment in the movie-ticket subscription wars, Sinemia is
in an enviable position.

The company was recently praised by the National Research Group
as having the
most popular subscription plan for moviegoers with its $7.99
a month for two films deal, and with MoviePass changing its plan
to three films per month for $9.95 after falling on hard times
financially, Sinemia stands alone as the only service that offers
an option where you can see one movie per day at any major movie
theater in the country.

After creating the first version of the app six years ago,
founder and CEO Rifat Oguz has launched Sinemia in numerous
countries — including Canada, Australia, Turkey, and the UK —
before landing in its ultimate location, the US, in 2017. He’s
now even made Los Angeles the site for the company’s main
headquarters.

And it turns out he showed up at the right time. Oguz said
subscriptions have grown 50% month-over-month for the last 14
months, and that growth has doubled since MoviePass dropped its
one-movie-per-day plan (Oguz would not divulge how many
subscribers Sinemia has in the US or globally, only stating that
75% of its subscribers are in the US).

He admits his investors are singing a different tune now compared
to over a year ago, when MoviePass announced its
one-movie-per-day plan for $9.95 a month and seemed to instantly
gain millions of subscribers.

“All my investors called me and asked if I was going to do the
same,” Oguz told Business Insider. “I looked at the data from the
other countries and decided we can’t.”

Instead of grabbing headlines and the ire of the movie business
like MoviePass did, Sinemia kept a low profile, focused on its
product (which is similar to MoviePass in that it provides its
members debit cards with fixed amounts on it so the tickets can
be bought, however, there is also a cardless option), and crunched
the data to come up with numerous plans that cater to all types
of moviegoers.

Currently, you can choose from a range of
subscriptions, from one movie per month for $4.99 to three films
per month for $9.99 ($17.99 and $12.99, respectively, if you want
the plan to include going to 3D or IMAX screenings). And unlike
MoviePass, with Sinemia you can buy any ticket in advance for an
additional convenience fee, and there’s a family plan.

In August, when MoviePass could no longer sustain its
one-movie-per-day plan, Sinemia introduced that an option as
well, offering a $29.99-per-month plan for one movie a day.

“We’re going in the path of Netflix and Spotify,” Oguz said. “We
are more focused on our product and technology.”

Oguz believes that, with that focus, he’ll soon have the Sinemia
brand used by its members for more than just movie tickets.

75% of Sinemia’s
subscribers are in the US.
Shutterstock

One part of that goal is implementing concession deals in the US
that are currently active in the Sinemia app in Europe, like
allowing members to buy popcorn through the app while in the
theater. Then, there are the more ambitious ideas, like making
deals with restaurants and stores so the Sinemia card could be
used to shop and dine anywhere.

“We need to create an ecosystem,” Oguz said. “Movie ticket
subscription is here to stay, it will become a major part of the
box office, but we want to make the Sinemia card available for
every need a moviegoer has.”

Oguz didn’t mention a timeline for the the rollout of these ideas
in the US, but, unlike his competition, he doesn’t have to
scramble to keep the lights on — he has the luxury of focusing on
the long game.

“We didn’t grow like MoviePass, with millions of subscriptions in
months, but we’re proud that over the last two months we are
doubling our subscribers,” Oguz said. “We are happy and our
investors are happy.”