The public might be fed up with Moviepass (PRIVATE: MOVIEPASS), with users' good will all but gone after a string of chaning policies and pricing. For the Helios and Matheson Analytics-owned company (NASDAQ: HMNY), Moviepass seemingly revolutionized the movie-going industry and then flamed out. It looks as though leaking user data, refusing to let people cancel their subscriptions, and changing passwords have combined to drag the company into a severe decline across almost all measures.
Workforce size has shrunk 50%
Moviepass was never a huge company, with 60 LinkedIn members listing the company as their employer in January 2019. But since then, that number has halved to just 30. In February 2019, the company laid off its entire business-development team, and since then it looks as though the bleeding has only continued. Helios and Matheson employees working on Moviepass are also dwindling, showing similar numbers trending down.
App reviews sinking
As Moviepass changed its terms of serivce, changed its fees, and theaters began limiting what customers could do with their memberships, customers vented the best way they could: via app reviews on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.
To Moviepass' credit, it acknowledged issues with its apps a few months back and vowed to fix everything moving forward. From the looks of things, it didn't work; the reviews on both app stores are scathing, and there's more than enough blood in the water for competitors to pounce. Rival Sinemia doesn't require a subcription, and if you've been to an AMC theater this summer you've seen the ads for Stubs A-List. These examples go beyond simple imitation, and offer different reasons to move away from Moviepass.
Social media woes
Twitter has become an extrremely powerful marketing tool for brands, so it's never a good sign when customers click that "Unfollow" button.
Last year at this time, Moviepass had nearly 75,000 faithful followers on Twitter. As of this week, that numnber is down to 63,000. That means Moviepass is losing about 1,000 followers every month.
Things aren't looking better for MoviePass on Facebook, either. At this point last year, the company had around 244,000 followers on the world's largest social network. Since then, it's lost 12,000 followers who've all unfollowed the slowly sinking company.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.
Further Reading:
- MAC and Estee Lauder buoyed by positive data as earnings crush estimates
- Target job postings slide, store count grows and the retailer takes on a new vertical
- How Candid is moving in on SmileDirect and Invisalign's teeth straightening game