Similar to Gmod Theater, I think if people are going to watch videos in your game for long periods it’d be nice if they could get some payouts based on time spent watching a single video. (As opposed to allowing players to stick up a movie, immediately skip to the end, and make money.)
This would encourage players to be patient with the video suggestions of others, would make watching videos more engaging and appealing, (that giant plaza cinema is never used) and it would also encourage players to use Tower Unite as their destination to watch videos together, which would lead to a higher player count.
Would this matter too much if payouts earned were tied to the duration people spent watching? For example people could very well AFK, (because they are watching a film, there’s no need for them to necessarily be moving about) but the amount of money they would be earning would be comparatively low compared to other activities over the course of hours, that it wouldn’t be all that effective if players left their PC’s up watching a queue of films over a long time. They could earn a bit, but not a game breaking amount.
Media players are a big part of TU experience. I agree that I’d love to have more people using the theater, but I think it would be better to improve media players (full screen mode, more reactionary features for appropriate moments in videos, etc.) than to give payouts as a cheap solution.