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Hoping to capture movie audiences to boost shrinking ads, The New York Times will start giving away a pocket-sized movie magazine to each ticket buyer.
The free magazine, OnMovies, will be distributed for now only at Loews Cineplex theaters in the chain's largest markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Dallas and Seattle.
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The Times said its magazine, about the size of the theater program Playbill, will cover all movies, even flicks showing at competing movie chains.
Stories, reviews and celebrity coverage will be developed or recycled from the newspaper's cultural pages.
The Times will pay Loews chain an undisclosed amount to distribute 1.25 million copies of each issue at box office windows.
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The first issue will be handed out Dec. 16. The publishing frequency depends on movie release schedules, with some months having two issues, such as February, March, June and October, while other months would have just one issue.
To prevent movie-goers from just discarding the magazine as theater-floor clutter, promotion deals are being developed to encourage readers to take home the magazine.
That could include swapping a magazine or two for an exclusive movie opening gala or free products, which also would give marketers ways to measure the magazine's clout.
Wow, happy birthday to the cinetrix. How ennobling for the critics of the august Gray Lady to have their deathless prose swept up with popcorn and Gummi Bears after every showing of King Kong.
