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MoviePass, a service allowing users to watch movies for cheap, is returning – but will come with a somewhat concerning twist.
If you want to "buy" movies with digital currency earned by using their upcoming app, you’ll need to watch adverts. However, you can’t just put on the ads while you make a coffee – instead, the app will have eye-tracking software ensuring you are actually watching. Look away, and it will pause until it has your undivided attention.
“It’s a way to close that loop and make it far more efficient of a system,” said Stacy Spikes, co-founder of MoviePass, reports Motherboard.
“I want to be able to see it for free. Advertisers have put a pre-show together not unlike what you’d normally see when you go to a movie theater but this is customized for you.”
MoviePass states the intention is to prevent advertisers’ content from going unseen, whilst providing users the opportunity to directly purchase movies from watching ads.
“We had an early version of this where you know what happened. People put the phone down and left and didn’t pay any attention to it. Right now 70 percent of video advertising is unseen. This is a way that advertisers get the impact they’re looking for but you’re also getting the impact yourself,” continued Spikes.
The technology will constantly utilize your phone camera and facial recognition to ensure your eyes are exactly where advertisers want them. Through this, the user will earn credits that go into their own wallet, which can be used to buy movies, products on the app, and possibly even stake in the company in the future.
MoviePass will launch with the new app this Summer. Would you let your eyes be tracked for cheaper movies?
