They were a service that was uniquely suited to the time of general widespread cellphone usage but pre-smartphone usage. You'd call the Moviefone number and get a phone tree for local theaters and then movie times. They were uniquely positioned to grab people and pitch them a movie at exactly the moment they were trying to find a movie (which doesn't sound revolutionary, but at the time the overall culture of movies and trailers wasn't nearly what it is and people were relying on the local paper for times).
As a result, they were charging millions for ad placements - it's entirely possible that on a cash basis that AOL made their money back from the purchase simply because they were able to bundle advertising packages.
Studios spend stupid amounts of money to promote their movies (look up how much Kevin Hart was paid for single tweets to promote movies).
As a result, they were charging millions for ad placements - it's entirely possible that on a cash basis that AOL made their money back from the purchase simply because they were able to bundle advertising packages.
Studios spend stupid amounts of money to promote their movies (look up how much Kevin Hart was paid for single tweets to promote movies).