I have a new morning ritual. 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 at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name.
Yes, I am at that age where I begin to nod off well before the closing credits at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name. And until just recently I would finish watching a movie the next night, before starting a new one. But thanks to my new ritual at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name, I now start a movie every night, which by my estimation has increased the number of movies I watch by at least 30%.
What was different? I can watch any movie in my library with just a few clicks on my iPhone button thanks to the incredibly straightforward and user-friendly Movies Anywhere digital storage locker, which launched in mid-October. With the exception of Paramount, all of the major studios are taking part. 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 receive a digital copy. After that, the movie is accessible on my iPhone, my TV, and any other device that has the Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name app installed. (In fact, while I was writing this line, I typed in the code for Annabelle: Creation and saw it pop up on my iPhone right away. I’ll begin watching it tonight, most likely on disc, purely out of habit. After the required email purification and a cursory glance at the news headlines at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name, I’ll watch anything I missed in the morning while sipping a Keurig cup of bold Sumatra.
I must admit something. My experience with digital movies has been restricted to Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu, even though I consider myself an early adopter due to my position in the industry, as well as my innate curiosity and desire to be at the forefront of new and fascinating things. I created an UltraViolet account years ago, but I have never used it to purchase a movie online—not even at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name. I might as well have been writing about myself when I say that consumers prioritize convenience, simplicity, and ease of use over anything else. I usually use a salad-in-a-bag method and hardly ever create my own salad. Because I detest standing in line at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name, I order the majority of my items online, including my Keurig coffee cups, and I much prefer Uber to taxis.
The problem was, prior to Movies Anywhere, watching digital copies of movies I acquired was too much of a hassle at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name. 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 Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name, at the very least, for as little as possible. 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.
Still, everything else is in place. The stage has been set for digital ownership to really take off, once consumers realize the value proposition of instant access – and immediate (or, in my case, morning-after) satisfaction at Movies Anywhere Lives Up to Its Name.