4 ms·

This is an annoying meme. Are concession stands the flagship product of movie theaters? People use Google for search, email, maps, etc. And that's what the com

by Reedx 11y ago

This is an annoying meme. Are concession stands the flagship product of movie theaters? People use Google for search, email, maps, etc. And that's what the company was built for. If they had a better way to monetize than ads, they would certainly drop ads.

msh 11y ago
If that was how they made most of their money, yes.
- rtpg 11y ago
  So is McDonalds a drink company? It makes most of its money from drinks... The way a company makes its money is only weakly correlated to the service it offers to users. Think about it: if McDonalds stopped selling food, it would not have any customers. If Google stopped offering search, it would not have any users.
  - msh 11y ago
    Google is a ad company who uses search to attract customers. I don't see the McDonald's reference as the same, drinks are part of their food product. Ads are not a integrated part of search (google did not start out having ads).
    - ivanca 11y ago
      So, if set up a fashion magazine and then I fill it with ads, I'm in the fashion magazines business, or in the ads business? If someone asks, which of the 2 answers would be more helpful to them?
      - hanspeter 11y ago
        If your magazine starts handling ads in every other publisher's magazines too and then starts handling ads in TV and then starts putting up billboards by the highways, I'd say the answer isn't so obvious.
    - Drdrdrq 11y ago
      Sure they are - that is what separates AdWords from other advertising platforms.
  - visakanv 11y ago
    If we're going to simplify or generalize, I would simplify McDonald's to being a "sugar and salt" company. Those are the cravings in the human brain that it satisfies. But yeah, I agree with you. Businesses are more complex than individual touchpoints.
- ryanobjc 11y ago
  actually, movie theaters DO make most their money in concessions. eg: http://www.businessinsider.com/movie-concessions-drive-amc-earnings-2015-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/movie-concessions-drive-amc-e...
- ivanca 11y ago
  Nope. You don't say "Steven Spielberg is in the cinema popcorn-and-soda business", he is in the movie bussines. Yup don't say "Taylor Swift is in the online concert tickets business", she is in the music business. McDonald's not in the hamburgers-and-cokes business, its in the fast food business. Just because it's the way they make money it doesn't mean is the most appropriate classification.
visakanv 11y ago
Technically, movie theaters are in the business of selling "movie experiences", which include the movie, the dark room, the chairs, and yes, the concession stands.
- Reedx 11y ago
  True, it's not a perfect analogy. Popcorn is additive to the experience. Even if theaters could survive sans popcorn sales, they'd still keep it because it's part of the experience. Although originally theaters wanted nothing to do with popcorn: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-do-we-eat-popcorn-at-the-movies-475063/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-do-we-eat-pop... I was just referring to the fact that theaters make most of their money from concessions, but you wouldn't then call them a concession company. No one would go to a theater just for the concessions. They would (and do) go just for the movie though.
  - Stratoscope 11y ago
    That's a really interesting article! > "Movie theaters wanted nothing to do with popcorn," Smith says, "because they were trying to duplicate what was done in real theaters. They had beautiful carpets and rugs and didn't want popcorn being ground into it." Movie theaters were trying to appeal to a highbrow clientele, and didn't want to deal with the distracting trash of concessions—or the distracting noise that snacking during a film would create. > When films added sound in 1927, the movie theater industry opened itself up to a much wider clientele, since literacy was no longer required to attend films (the titles used [in] early silent films restricted their audience). [emphasis added]
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
s_kilk 11y ago
> Are concession stands the flagship product of movie theaters? Actually, yeah. I worked in cinema (as a projectionist) before getting into tech, and the management definitely saw the food counter as more important than the movies being shown. The place was run like a fast-food restaurant.

by Reedx 11y ago

msh 11y ago

If that was how they made most of their money, yes.

rtpg 11y ago
So is McDonalds a drink company? It makes most of its money from drinks... The way a company makes its money is only weakly correlated to the service it offers to users. Think about it: if McDonalds stopped selling food, it would not have any customers. If Google stopped offering search, it would not have any users.
- msh 11y ago
  Google is a ad company who uses search to attract customers. I don't see the McDonald's reference as the same, drinks are part of their food product. Ads are not a integrated part of search (google did not start out having ads).
  - ivanca 11y ago
    So, if set up a fashion magazine and then I fill it with ads, I'm in the fashion magazines business, or in the ads business? If someone asks, which of the 2 answers would be more helpful to them?
    - hanspeter 11y ago
      If your magazine starts handling ads in every other publisher's magazines too and then starts handling ads in TV and then starts putting up billboards by the highways, I'd say the answer isn't so obvious.
  - Drdrdrq 11y ago
    Sure they are - that is what separates AdWords from other advertising platforms.
- visakanv 11y ago
  If we're going to simplify or generalize, I would simplify McDonald's to being a "sugar and salt" company. Those are the cravings in the human brain that it satisfies. But yeah, I agree with you. Businesses are more complex than individual touchpoints.
ryanobjc 11y ago
actually, movie theaters DO make most their money in concessions. eg: http://www.businessinsider.com/movie-concessions-drive-amc-earnings-2015-2 http://www.businessinsider.com/movie-concessions-drive-amc-e...
ivanca 11y ago
Nope. You don't say "Steven Spielberg is in the cinema popcorn-and-soda business", he is in the movie bussines. Yup don't say "Taylor Swift is in the online concert tickets business", she is in the music business. McDonald's not in the hamburgers-and-cokes business, its in the fast food business. Just because it's the way they make money it doesn't mean is the most appropriate classification.

visakanv 11y ago

Technically, movie theaters are in the business of selling "movie experiences", which include the movie, the dark room, the chairs, and yes, the concession stands.

Reedx 11y ago
True, it's not a perfect analogy. Popcorn is additive to the experience. Even if theaters could survive sans popcorn sales, they'd still keep it because it's part of the experience. Although originally theaters wanted nothing to do with popcorn: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-do-we-eat-popcorn-at-the-movies-475063/ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-do-we-eat-pop... I was just referring to the fact that theaters make most of their money from concessions, but you wouldn't then call them a concession company. No one would go to a theater just for the concessions. They would (and do) go just for the movie though.
- Stratoscope 11y ago
  That's a really interesting article! > "Movie theaters wanted nothing to do with popcorn," Smith says, "because they were trying to duplicate what was done in real theaters. They had beautiful carpets and rugs and didn't want popcorn being ground into it." Movie theaters were trying to appeal to a highbrow clientele, and didn't want to deal with the distracting trash of concessions—or the distracting noise that snacking during a film would create. > When films added sound in 1927, the movie theater industry opened itself up to a much wider clientele, since literacy was no longer required to attend films (the titles used [in] early silent films restricted their audience). [emphasis added]

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

s_kilk 11y ago

> Are concession stands the flagship product of movie theaters? Actually, yeah. I worked in cinema (as a projectionist) before getting into tech, and the management definitely saw the food counter as more important than the movies being shown. The place was run like a fast-food restaurant.