Movie ticket seller Fandango reports success with its paperless ticketing program, through which moviegoers can have their tickets sent directly to their mobile device to be redeemed at the theater.

According to a recent article on Mobile Commerce Daily, 50 % of Fandango moviegoers utilize mobile ticketing, and 2011 saw a 73% year-to-year increase in mobile ticket sales; furthermore, Fandango claims that 40% of the company’s traffic comes from mobile devices.

Mobile ticketing is currently offered at 1,200 theaters, with another 1,000 to be added this year. The article describes the program:

“Once users buy a movie ticket, they are sent an email with a link that they can use to have a mobile ticket sent to them via SMS. Consumers can also sign up for mobile ticketing by checking an option when they purchase tickets.

To redeem the mobile ticket at theaters, consumers need to tap on the link that is included in the SMS message.

The link takes users to a mobile landing page with a mobile bar code on that users show to an employee at theaters.”

Fandango also offers movie alerts via SMS. Users can text a zip code to “FNDGO” or enter a mobile number on the Fandango site, and they will receive back a text with local showtimes.  Users can also sign up to receive text message alerts for promotions and advanced ticket sales.