Australian moviegoers can now access a website to find screening times, locations, trailers and other info for the majority of the nation’s cinemas.
An initiative of a coalition of the three major exhibitors backed by distributors, Movie Times was launched officially today at the Australian International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast.
While the site (http://www.movietimes.com.au) does not enable consumers to buy tickets, that process can be facilitated by a simple click through to the desired location's website.
Movie Times chairman Paul Johnson told IF that 350 cinemas representing 1,200 – 1,300 of the nation’s 2,000 screens have registered with the site. The intention is to sign up every cinema.
Distributors are supporting the site with advertising. There is no charge to the exhibitor. Johnson said the profits from the scheme will be ploughed into a campaign to promote moviegoing next year.
He said the rationale for launching Movie Times is the recognition that, as newspaper circulations continue to decline, cinemagoers increasingly are looking online for locations, screening times and other movie info. Users can pre-set preferences for their favourite cinema or via a post code or for a region.
The inititative is supported by the Independent Cinemas Association of Australia which launched the My Cinema – The Heart of the Community marketing platform and website in August.
The site will measure consumer behaviour including traffic, site search and conversion, which can then be used by studios and exhibitors to develop marketing campaigns. A MovieTimes app will be released for Apple and Android in the coming months
Mark Emerson is Movie Times general manager and Belinda Hilton handles marketing.