Younger moviegoers usually tend to pay extra for good seats in theaters, new survey says

Younger moviegoers do not thoughts paying additional charges to see movies on the large display screen, if it means they get to sit down in the very best seats in the home, a brand new survey says.

The survey, from Morning Seek the advice of, discovered that 54% of Gen Z ticket patrons and 46% of millennials discovered dynamic pricing, a method seen within the live performance house that fees extra for essentially the most fascinating seats in a venue, “acceptable” at movie show chains.

Solely 32% of Gen X respondents and 22% of child boomers felt the identical, in keeping with the survey, which was carried out final week. Morning Seek the advice of polled greater than 2,200 U.S. adults.

The report comes practically two months after AMC Leisure introduced its plans to introduce “Sightline at AMC,” which is able to remove the one-price-fits-all method to promoting tickets. For instance, moviegoers who wish to sit in the course of the auditorium would pay a number of {dollars} extra and those that select the entrance row would pay a number of {dollars} much less.

The initiative, which confronted preliminary backlash from shoppers, is predicted to roll out nationwide by the top of the 12 months.

Representatives from AMC didn’t instantly reply to CNBC’s request for remark.

“Our knowledge is displaying that greater than half of Individuals have skepticism in direction of seat-based pricing,” stated Saleah Blancaflor, media and leisure reporter at Morning Seek the advice of. “However it additionally reveals that youthful generations, reminiscent of Gen Zers and millennials, are considering heading to the theaters no matter in the event that they must pay a number of additional {dollars} to get these higher seats.”

Blancaflor stated these youthful shoppers are “extraordinarily keen” in regards to the leisure they eat and are those shopping for the vast majority of live performance tickets, which even have dynamic pricing. In each generations, greater than 50% of respondents stated they’d be keen to pay a number of additional {dollars} for most popular seats.

In the meantime, solely 36% of Gen X and 25% of child boomers stated they’d be keen to pay additional.

Nevertheless, she famous that whereas the info may give different cinema chains confidence in altering their pricing, these youthful generations do have monetary issues and will balk if it turns into the norm. She additionally stated that film theaters should not disregard older generations, who’ve returned to cinemas within the wake of the pandemic for movies reminiscent of “A Man Known as Otto” and “80 for Brady.”

“Whereas catering in direction of youthful generations is necessary to the way forward for moviegoing, additionally they should not utterly ignore the older generations,” Blancaflor stated. “As a result of they could possibly be lacking out on folks in these teams that also have an curiosity in going to theaters however won’t be open to those newer initiatives that is likely to be unfamiliar to them.”

Already, cinema chains reminiscent of Alamo Drafthouse have stated they don’t plan to implement dynamic pricing of their theaters.

“We may put extra rows in our theaters and we do not,” Shelli Taylor, CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, advised CNBC final month. “We purposely sit in each single chair and we search for essentially the most optimum sightlines. So, our entrance rows are superior; there is not any cause for us to low cost them.”