Nickelodeon Theaters Inc. of San Diego County has become the first U.S. theater chain to accept automated teller machine cards at the box office.
ATM cards branded with the regional Explore mark, plus cards with Maestro and Interlink marks, have been accepted at three theaters in the California county since June 24.
The introduction of debit acceptance coincided with the release of Disney's blockbuster animated film "The Lion King."
During the first six weeks, Nickelodeon and Star System Inc., which runs Explore, promoted ATM acceptance in its theaters with signs that said "Explore our latest movie with the king of cards."
This fall the chain will toss in free candy to people who use their ATM cards to pay, supporting the promotion with newspaper and radio ads.
"We're giving our customers the opportunity to have as many [payment] options as possible," said Katherine McKeever, Nickelodeon's director of advertising and marketing.
MasterCard and Visa have targeted movie theaters, which gross $6 billion in ticket sales and $1 billion in concession revenues annually, as a new market for credit card acceptance. The emergence of debit acceptance at the box office signifies that there's plenty of cash displacement to be had.
Nickelodeon has pushed ATM at the point of sale by offering customers the option of getting back as much as $40 above the price of a ticket, so that they'll have extra cash to use at the concession stand.
Maestro, MasterCard's global, on-line point of sale debit subsidiary, cited research from the Metrum Group predicting more moviegoers will want to use an ATM card for payment. One-third of those surveyed said they are more likely to go to a theater that takes ATM cards. And surveys at the theater show that 75% of responding moviegoers will use an ATM card on their next visit.
Scott Carter, vice president of small-ticket markets for MasterCard, said debit is not infringing upon a new credit card acceptance category. "What we'll see now is existing cash customers converting to debit," not credit card customers. Plus, it will draw new customers, he added.
Indeed, in the weeks after Nickelodeon began accepting debit, the theater chain saw an increase in new customers, said Ms. McKeever. But, she added, ATM acceptance there coincided with one of the best summers the movie business has had.
