By Priscille Panzu
The Netflix streaming service, which allows members to watch a wide variety of award-winning TV shows and movies, is having an unexpected effect: more and more empty seats in the cinema.
Netflix gained 7.8 million new subscribers since 2018, and the service now boasts up to 139 million subscribers worldwide. The USA is Netflix’s top market globally, with over 40% paid users. The company invests heavily in producing Netflix original content and big movie blockbusters.
A study by the www.cinemauk.org.uk compared the yearly average cinema ticket price in the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2019. It found that in 2016 and 2017, cinemas made a profit from £7.41 to £7.49 per ticket, compared to the annual average price in 2018 where the cinema made £7.22. The website www.cinemauk.org.uk said that 2018 average yearly price has to be the lowest it has since 2015.
“I can see that cinema tickets have been expensive for a very long time, that’s one of the reasons has why people are subscribing to Netflix,” said Louis Santa Marta 24, a tourist from Barcelona.
Santa Marta said that lowering the cost of cinema tickets may help to draw more people in. “Maybe decreasing the price is just a way to attract more people, as not many people are going to the cinema” as in the past.
But others thought that lowering ticket prices wouldn’t have a big effect. “Honestly I don’t think it’s only Netflix. There are many websites online like Putlocker and 123 movies where you can watch movies at home, so you don’t need to go to the cinema,” said college student Eugene Johnson 20.
Although 2018 saw lower cinema ticket sales, the lower price of tickets had a positive effect on box office sales, according to reports. Last year, ten movies earned more than £30 million in the UK.
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