Brief:
- Atom Tickets, the movie ticketing app owned by Disney, Lionsgate and others, added a feature that lets mobile users share their moviegoing plans on Snapchat, per an announcement provided to Mobile Marketer. After buying a ticket, app users will see a "Share to Snapchat" button to create a message they can send to other Snapchat users or post to a Story.
- Snapchat users who click on the message or Story are pointed to the Atom Tickets mobile website so they can also buy a ticket for the same movie, as demonstrated on YouTube. The ticketing app created the "Share to Snap" feature using Snap's software development kit, Chris Brucia, head of product at Atom Tickets, said in the announcement.
- Atom Tickets also is offering free movie tickets to Amazon customers who place an order through Alexa-powered devices from March 16 to March 29. The offer is limited to one ticket per customer, and orders must be placed through the Atom Tickets voice skill.
Insight:
Atom Tickets' integration with Snapchat aims to make the process of inviting friends to see a movie more seamless as people become increasingly reliant on their smartphones to connect with friends. The integration removes several friction points, such as requiring others to download the Atom Tickets app and search for movie times separately — although they still would need to set up an account with the ticketing service if they didn't already have one. Such social sharing may help Atom Tickets gain more customers and possibly drive app downloads.
The ticketing platform has worked to expand its user base by enhancing its compatibility with a wider range of platforms such as Snapchat and Amazon Alexa. Last year, Atom Tickets teamed up with movie search app Flikflix to let Apple TV viewers find movie tickets and make a purchase. The integration aimed to make ticket-buying more convenient for Apple TV users who base their movie selections on personalized preferences.
Atom Tickets' integration with Snapchat comes at a difficult time for movie theaters as the spread of the novel coronavirus dissuades people from public gathering places. The global film industry anticipates the global film industry could lose $5 billion in box office revenue because of the COVID-19 illness outbreak, per analysts cited by The Hollywood Reporter. Almost half (46%) of U.S. adults said they support the idea of all entertainment venues canceling or postponing upcoming events, researcher Morning Consult found in a survey.
