Industry News

Consumers able to buy movie tickets via voice commands

Movie ticketing firm Fandango has linked up with Google to give customers the opportunity to purchase their cinema passes via voice commands.

Google Assistant, which powers voice interactions on the Google Home smart speakers, as well as Android phones, TVs and other devices running the software, now allows people to access Fandango’s online ticket sales using their voice.

Those looking to use the technology to make the purchase can say, “Okay Google, let’s buy movie tickets,” in addition to asking for specific films like, “Hey Google, let’s buy tickets for ‘Black Panther’.”

While voice activation allows consumers to select a film, nearby theatre and showtime, it does not complete the transaction. Once these selections have been made, the Google Home software then sends a link to the user’s phone to complete their purchase.

“At Fandango, we’ve built ticketing innovations for a wide variety of mobile, social, AI bot and voice-activated platforms, so we can super-serve moviegoers at scale, wherever and whenever they are thinking about and planning a trip to the movies,” said Fandango president Paul Yanover in a statement.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Google once again, bringing movie discovery and ticketing capabilities to users on the Google Assistant, and giving them access to the widest choice of theatres from their living room or while on the go.”

Image: ec_times