I have a new morning ritual at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name. While sipping my first (of two) cup of coffee and catching up on my email and the latest news, all on my iPhone, I now also invariably finish the movie I fell asleep watching the night before.
Yes, I am at that age where I begin to nod off well before the closing credits. And until just recently I would finish watching a movie the next night, before starting a new one at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name. But thanks to my new ritual, I now start a movie every night, which by my estimation has increased the number of movies I watch by at least 30% at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name.
How did things change? Movies Anywhere, a very straightforward and user-friendly digital storage locker, was launched in mid-October. With just a few taps on my iPhone button, I may watch any movie in my collection. The great thing about Movies Anywhere is that, even for those like me who still purchase Blu-ray discs, it only takes a few seconds to enter the redemption code and obtain a digital copy. From there, the movie can be viewed on my iPhone, TV, and any other device that has the Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name app installed. Paramount is the only major studio not taking part. In fact, I just typed in the code for Annabelle: Creation while I was writing this line, and I saw it pop up on my iPhone right away. After the required email purification and a cursory glance at the news headlines at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name, I will begin watching it tonight—likely on disc, just out of habit—and watch whatever I missed in the morning while sipping a Keurig cup of bold Sumatra.
I have a confession to make. While I consider myself an early adopter, both because of my role in the industry and my natural curiosity and yen to be on the cutting edge of new and cool stuff, my digital movie experience has been limited to Netflix, Amazon and Hulu at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name. I have never bought a movie online; I set up an UltraViolet account years ago but never used it, not even once. I keep writing that consumers value convenience, simplicity and ease of use, above all else, and I might as well have been writing about myself. I rarely make myself a salad, preferring the salad-in-a-bag approach at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name. I vastly prefer Uber to taxis, and order most of my stuff online – even my Keurig coffee cups – because I hate waiting in line at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name.
The problem was, prior to Movies Anywhere, watching digital copies of movies I acquired was too much of a hassle. There were too many sites to visit, too many passwords to enter, too many steps to take at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name.
Movies Anywhere is as easy as watching Netflix. And that’s why I believe our studio friends have gotten it right this time. Sure, there are still hurdles to overcome – chiefly the other main driver of consumer behavior, the desire to get things for free or, at the very least, for as little as possible at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name. It’s still going to be a challenge to convince consumers who are used to spending around $10 a month for unlimited Netflix content to fork over more than that for a single movie, regardless of how new that movie is, or how much hype it has generated at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name.
Everything else, however, is in place. After customers recognize the benefits of rapid access and instant (or, in my case, morning-after) satisfaction, the ground is set for digital ownership to truly take off at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name.