Never again will patrons at a comedy theatre in Barcelona pay full price for a show with a lull in lols. The Catalonian city's Teatreneu has started using facial-recognition technology to figure out how much to charge its customers - based on how many times they laugh during the performance.
The comedy club has fallen on hard times in recent years, after the Spanish government raised the tax on tickets from 8% to 21%. Since 2012, dwindling ticket sales have seen the theatre and its comedy troupe struggling to fill seats on a nightly basis.
So the group partnered with an advertising agency and came up with an innovative way to charge customers by the laugh, by installing tablet devices on the back of every seat to observe the faces of the audience.
Each smirk sets back patrons a reasonably cheap 30c, and gets capped at a maximum of €24, meaning every burst of laughter after your 80th is free of charge.
And in a clever viral marketing ploy, spectators can also share how much they enjoyed the show, as an app lets you track your laughter-rate and spread the word on social media.
Early results have put a smile on the face of the theatre-owners, who say that they’re bringing in an extra €6 per ticket, and a 35% increase in attendance.
The BBC reports that other struggling Spanish theatres are now considering adopting the scheme.
You can see the system in action here – and don’t worry, your smiles are free for now:
