Dive Brief:
- AMC and Zoom struck a partnership to create Zoom Rooms for enterprises to host companywide meetings and in-person events, the company announced Monday.
- “Using a Zoom Room at AMC, meeting and event organizers will be able to bring together decentralized workforces or customer bases and significant numbers of people from different markets, but together at the same time for a cohesive, both virtual and in-person meeting experience,” Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Theatres, said during the AMC's earnings call on Tuesday, according to a SeekingAlpha transcript.
- AMC said it plans to launch Zoom Rooms in as many as 17 major U.S. cities in 2023.
Dive Insight:
AMC was already in the enterprise meetings market, making $20 million annually from business meetings hosted inside theaters, but the company was limited to one movie theater at a time, according to Aron. By partnering with Zoom, AMC can link theaters in different cities, widening the pool for potential enterprise clients with dispersed workforces.
Despite existing interest in the meetings market, the latest partnership originated with Zoom’s CEO, Eric Yuan.
“[Yuan] called us up and wanted to share with us his idea [about] how Zoom could make AMC Theatres a compelling entry in the meetings market,” Aron said during the company’s earnings call. “The second we heard the idea, we were all for it and we think the financial opportunity is big.”
In June, Zoom announced the launch of its Zoom One offering, an all-in-one product aimed to reduce user toggling between apps. During its yearly user conference Tuesday, the company announced the beta launch of calendar and email services hosted by Zoom, accessible within the company’s main platform.
The software company has faced pressure to sustain its pandemic boom. To maintain momentum, Zoom has added capabilities and partners to extend its customer base and retain pandemic-era enterprise deals.
