Fandango is bringing the movies to Facebook. The ticket retailer owned by NBCUniversal is partnering with the social network to sell film tickets directly via its platform.
Starting this weekend, Facebook users will be able to snap up tickets to the beefed-up remake of The Magnificent Seven, the animated comedy Storks, and the new concert film Kevin Hart: What Now? The tickets can be bought through each movie’s respective Facebook page.
According to Fandango president Paul Yanover, the move is part of a bigger strategy to integrate the service into more social platforms in order to target a younger demographic, specifically millennials. Aside from Facebook, the company is also planning an interface to target the one app that’s a swarm of millennial activity: Snapchat.
“I think these offerings we are unveiling are an important shift, not just for Fandango, but for Hollywood as a whole,” Yanover told The New York Times.
For its part, Hollywood will be closely watching the strategy’s roll-out. The movie industry is reportedly concerned about a drop in film attendance rates for millennials, and needs all the help it can get. The numbers don’t lie, and at present Hollywood is on track to sell the fewest U.S. tickets per person of any year since before the 1920s, reports The Atlantic. Whether it’s blockbuster fatigue, superhero saturation, or reboot rejection, the end result shows people simply aren’t turning up to their local theaters like they once did.
Fandango is hoping it can boost ticket sales by capitalizing on the social aspect offered by Facebook and Snapchat, the reasoning being that the communal activity enforced by these platforms will lead to more ticket sales. In Yanover’s words: “It’s not just about purchasing ease, it’s also about bringing along groups of people.”
On the other hand, the venture will likely also have an impact on Fandango’s existing web and app services. Another indication that its future lies beyond its standalone offerings arrived earlier this week in the form of its integration with Apple’s iMessage platform as part of the iOS update. Does this also mean we may soon see a Fandango Messenger bot?
This isn’t the first time social media users have been targeted by Hollywood. In March, 20th Century Fox launched a Snapchat ad campaign that allowed the app’s users to purchase tickets to X-Men: Apocalypse.
