Plex Starts Selling Movie Tickets Inside Its App

Plex has added a feature that sells movie theater tickets directly from its app. Ars Technica reports that it relies on discovery data from users, meaning what they watch and search for, and that this data also serves studios and advertisers.

Plex is popular with people who want a streaming setup of their own instead of the large services, often because they distrust how those services use viewing data. This feature suggests Plex is not so different on that point.

I do not find that automatically a bad deal. Something is rarely really free, and if you are given a service in exchange for your data, it is not a bad trade as long as you are aware of it. I would have no problem if the data is treated anonymously and Plex is clear about it. The open question is whether Plex meets those two conditions.

I could not read the full Ars Technica report, and I did not find an official Plex announcement describing exactly what data is shared or whether it can be switched off. Until Plex spells that out, the details here are the ones Ars Technica reports.

Look at Plex’s privacy settings and policy to see what is shared before you turn anything on.