NetWatcher's Guide to Everything

Advertisements. They're everywhere. I can see purpose for them in specific places: magazines, certain TV channels. But I fail to see the reason for their placement in things that really don't need the added revenue generated by adverts. One such place is in movie theaters when they're placed on the big screen before the previews. Now previews are another rant all to themselves, but really, with the amount made for the film companies in ticket sales alone, especially for blockbuster movies (where the concentration of corporate ads are) I really don't see where they're hurting for money.

Now some will argue, rightfully so, that the movie companies aren't making much (if anything) off these advertisements, but that the money does go to the theater that's showing the movie. I guess it's to offset lighting / heating / air conditioning costs. It's been my experience that there are other ways to offset those costs without resorting to showing ads to a captive audience. Let's take a look at the common modern theatre:

Usually, these days, you have to have at least a dozen or so individual screens that begin showing even the crappiest of movies at noon pretty much everyday. Now that's just not good business sense; here you have the expense of lighting and heating 12 very large rooms everyday beginning at noon and usually lasting until 1 or 2 in the morning. For ease of argument, let's say 12 hours. Now, your average person on Monday through Friday works until 5pm, meaning, they probably won't be able to see a movie until 6 or 7. Unless it's summer, kids are in school usually until 3 or 4 in the afternoon meaning, the vast majority of them won't be seeing movies until 5 or 6. So, if the theater opens at noon, that's 5 hours of operation (heating / electricity / salaries) for the one or two tickets that they sell during that time. Those 5 or so hours can't possibly be profitable.

If the theater owners would just not open until 5 or 6 in the evenings, they would be able to cut costs, and deliver a movie to more people, including the few people that would have been in the theater from noon till 5.

Well, they make the money up in concessions. Do they ever. The thing is, I don't buy movie concessions because they're so expensive. If they would just lower the price a little bit, they'd sell more of the products, and make more of a profit. They'd actually get people like me buying the popcorn and the soda as well as the people that are buying the stuff now. It would result in an overall increase in profit, and would make for a better movie experience for the customer: everybody wins.

That said, I want to send a big shout out to Mamma Celeste's Pizza's. "Ooo so fresh!" (Go buy one now.)


(Really, and tell them NetWatcher sent you.)
(I need that commission this month.)