box-office bridge
Plex now helps sell movie theater tickets
Discovery data from Plex users will help studios, advertisers.
Plex, which made a name for itself by letting users share movies they own, is now helping sell movie theater tickets. The company is looking to monetize its content-discovery capabilities and expand its business beyond its media server software.
Plex partnered with Fandango, which has sold movie tickets since 2000, to drive ticket sales from people searching for movies to stream. Per the announcement:
Starting today, Plex users in the US will see a Fandango ticketing option on title pages for movies currently playing in theaters, allowing them to click through to Fandango to find showtimes and purchase tickets. The integration also enables direct attribution through Kochava, giving studios and advertisers greater visibility into how campaigns and audience engagement translate into ticket sales.
Fandango says it sells tickets for 31,000 movie theater screens in the US. The Plex deal allows it to leverage data from Plex’s streaming service (Plex claims users of the service “make more than 100 million streaming decisions each month”), including “ratings and cross-platform viewing” to gain “insight into audience intent,” the announcement said.
“Plex has a unique view into what movie fans are actively considering, from what they’re searching for to what they’re watching across services,” Jerramy Hainline, executive vice president at Fandango, said in a statement. “By connecting those discovery signals with Fandango ticketing, we’re making it easier for fans to turn that interest into a trip to the theater, while giving studios and advertisers a more direct, measurable path to ticket sales.”
Plex, meanwhile, is aiming to be “the place where people can discover what to watch, regardless of where that content lives,” Scott Olechowski, Plex’s co-founder and chief product officer, said in a statement.
Content discovery is a frequently cited challenge in the streaming industry, with various players, including smart TV OS operators, streaming service providers, and generative AI chatbots, trying to crack it. If Plex could use its user data to drive worthwhile recommendations, monetizing its content discovery could prove lucrative.
“For studios and advertisers, we’re also creating a more measurable path from discovery to purchase, helping marketers understand which campaigns are converting,” Olechowski said.
Plex’s Fandango partnership contrasts with its media server business, which lets users share movies they own with friends and family without paying Hollywood licensing fees.
The foray into movie ticket sales comes over two-and-a-half years after Plex launched its streaming service, where people can rent movies. Plex also launched a free ad-supported television (FAST) streaming service and has added social media capabilities to its platform.
These ventures give Plex additional revenue streams beyond its media server software. As it stands, the businesses coexist peacefully: Someone who only wants to use Plex for media hosting doesn’t have to use Plex’s on-demand streaming services. They can also opt out of some of Plex’s data sharing. (Notably, Plex says it collects data from media server users “searching on Plex.”)
On the media-hosting side, Plex has discussed challenges in making lifetime passes financially sustainable. Its new businesses may help fund advancements and/or maintenance to Plex’s media software. At the same time, the company appears largely focused on building out the non-server-software aspects of its business.
