The Future of Cinema: Data and Personalised Movie Recommendations

I’ve been thinking lately about how data is all around it. It’s literally everywhere we go; the Netflix algorithm uses our personal data to determine what we will like. Spotify recommends songs and artists based on listening trends. When I do my online food shop the supermarket even knows what I might want to buy.

I was in the cinema a few weeks ago and it got me thinking, about how cinemas adapt and use data to increase their sales?

The movie industry has always used data to make business-focused decisions. Popcorn is the go-to cinema snack for many of us. Not only because cinema execs realised that it’s a cheap, easy-to-make snack, but also because they investigated the data and saw cinemas that sold snacks made much more money than those that didn’t.

But data goes far beyond knowing how to upsell overpriced snacks. Data-driven advertising can be the key factor in improving ticket sales.

It’s not surprising that cinemas are busiest at the weekend, but when cinema trends are combined with effective marketing campaigns, they can increase ticket sales on their less busy days. Wednesdays used to be one of the quieter days for most cinemas until back in 2003 when Orange (now EE) launched their famous Orange Wednesday campaigns. Even though it’s no longer an active campaign, Wednesdays are one of the busiest weekday evenings for cinemas.

But this brings me back to my original question, how can cinemas adapt to algorithm recommendations to increase ticket sales?

Well, the answer seems simple. An app that recommends upcoming films based on your personal preferences. There are already apps that cinephiles use to rate movies, Letterboxd being the main one.

Letterboxd has over 9 million active users, a tiny number of users compared to the likes of Spotify (517 million) and Netflix (238 million). Now, the app simply functions as a movie rating app, you can share your reviews with friends. I’ve discovered numerous indie films through the app based on friends’ ratings.

There is a paid upgrade that adds some extra features that tell you when movies on your watchlist are added to streaming services, but I think they can go further. Creating an algorithm like Netflix and Spotify that tells you about upcoming releases you might enjoy would benefit the app, cinemas, and users all in one. Not just major blockbusters either, but smaller independent films in grassroots cinemas could benefit massively from something like this.

If not Letterboxd, I’m sure there will be another service offering cinema recommendations in no time. After all, in the UK alone over 1,200 people are working in the data space within the cinema industry, in fact, there are over 300 data analysts in London who have experience in cinema & film analytics looking for their next role…

Daryl is experienced in broadcast media as a Social Media Strategist, he excels in leveraging digital platforms to enhance brand visibility. With digital marketing and customer service expertise, Daryl now serves as the Marketing and Insights Manager at Orbition Group, overseeing strategic decision-making based on data-driven insights Read more.