Fandango: Getting Scalped In Ticketing

In the September issue of ScreenTrade Magazine, an article/analysis, of Fandango, the on-line cinema ticketing service, by CMG entitled 'New Fanbase', detailed why Fandango was in a downward spiral and destined to become a much less significant player in the cinema industry.

To bolster my analysis, I stated that Fandango's purchase of Rotten Tomatoes, the on-line movie critics service, was too little too late, as RT was no longer relevant given consumers use of social media and their own, instantaneous, reviews of movies.  It seems that this viewpoint has been validated as a recent study, conducted by the University of Southern California, and reported in last week's issue of Variety Magazine, found out just that!  The article in Variety, 'Rotten Tomatoes Scores Don't Impact Box Office', debunked the notion that Rotten Tomatoes had an influence on box office performance.

The study, conducted at the University's Entertainment Technology Center concluded that RT scores have a very small, if any, role in determining box office performance - good or bad.  "There is virtually no difference between Rotten Tomatoes' critical scores and audiences' scores and the more successful the film the smaller the difference" stated Yves Berquist, Director of the Technology Center, "which means that audiences are becoming experts at smelling-out bad films." To wit: they don't need Rotten Tomatoes for movie ratings and its use will eventually be rendered irrelevant.

For the full analysis go to the CMG post entitled 'Fandango's FanShop: A Bit Too Late' 3/18/17'

Jim Lavorato