MoviePass Relaunching This Summer with Eye-Tracking Technology, Users Watch Ads to Earn Credits for Movies

MoviePass has announced it will be relaunching this summer with an improved app that includes eye-tracking technology. The new MoviePass will have users watch ads to earn credits for movies, while also allowing them to see 3D and IMAX films.

MoviePass is coming back this summer with eye-tracking technology. Users will watch ads to earn credits for movies.

Image courtesy of MoviePass

Before closing down in 2019, MoviePass, a relatively short-lived service that enabled moviegoers to see an unlimited number of movies for a single charge, is preparing a comeback this summer with some potentially contentious technology.

According to Motherboard, MoviePass 2.0 would be unlike its predecessor in that it will not only be a web3-style program, but it will also enable users to earn credits for movies by watching advertising. However, there’s a catch: users must keep their smartphone cameras turned off, since MoviePass will monitor their eyes to guarantee they’re truly seeing the ads.

MoviePass 2.0’s relaunch was outlined last week by co-founder Stacy Spikes, who went to the stage at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center in NYC to persuade moviegoers and investors that the latest edition of the service would not be a letdown like its predecessor. MoviePass 2.0 customers gain credits by viewing advertising, and these credits are referred to as virtual cash.

MoviePass 2.0 wants to track your eyes to make sure you’re watching commercials (Motherboard)

The new MoviePass capitalizes on all of Silicon Valley’s newest buzzwords, like web3, wallets, and play-to-earn methods. Spikes, dressed in the black turtleneck, jeans, and tennis shoes worn by Steve Jobs and Elizabeth Holmes, revealed that MoviePass is heading toward a system in which users watch advertising to earn virtual cash that they can then use to purchase movies.
All of this, according to Spikes, will take place locally on the user’s phone. “From a web3 viewpoint, part of the way we’re going is, this is occurring just on your phone, specifically to you, and the credits that are earned are your credits that go into your virtual wallet that you get to spend,” he said. “So you’re paying with your own money?”
The new MoviePass will also utilize the cameras on your phone to make sure you’re truly viewing the commercials. “It’s playing back right now while I’m looking at it.” “But if I stop and don’t pay attention to it, it really stops the material,” Spikes stated during the presentation while viewing an ad.
“You know what occurred in an early version of this.” People placed their phones down and walked away, paying no attention to them. Currently, 70% of video advertising goes unnoticed. This is a method for marketers to achieve the effect they want while simultaneously allowing you to receive the impact.”