Apart from increasing mobile and broadband penetration, what makes the online movie ticketing business a virtual sell-out?
Selling movie tickets online is passé but ticketing portals are increasingly embellishing the experience to hook more and more movie buffs to the virtual domain.
So all but savouring the caramel popcorn and steaming samosas, you can pick your seats, read movie reviews (sometimes even write one), check out film merchandise and download film posters, soundtracks and videos too.
The movie ticketing business is huge with an average 4 billion tickets sold every year. Of which online sales contribute a miniscule share. But industry experts feel the business has huge potential.
Utpal Acharya, Vice-President, Programming and Distribution, INOX Leisure, says, “Multiplexes can sell blocks of inventories through online ticketing sites. There have been instances where we have had to shut down our website due to heavy due for popular films.”
Online movie ticketing sites are also an effective tool to market films before their release. It’s a symbiotic process: while the website promotes a film, the producers enable co-branding options on these sites.
But, of course, constant upgrading is the name of the game; which is why websites such as bookmyshow.com and KyaZoonga have kept evolving since they were launched. With a presence in over 40 cities, KyaZoonga is backed by a $10-billion New York-based hedge fund that has multiple investments in cutting-edge e-media companies.
Bookmyshow, a part of Bigtree Entertainment Pvt Ltd, is a ticketing, information and analysis solutions provider. Bigtree was founded in 1999 with the help of investment by Chase Capital Partners JP Morgan.
It is India’s first entertainment ticketing company and now has interests in software sales and support, ticketing services, box-office tracking and analysis as well. The TV18 invested in the company in March 2007.
Ashish Hemrajani, Founder and CEO, Bigtree Entertainment Pvt Ltd, says, “Online movie ticketing has democratised the business of film ticketing. We have been able to curb black marketing of film tickets outside cinema halls to a great extent. We have encouraged consumers to go online and block tickets in a legitimate manner.”
Film communication of various types forms the bedrock of the online film ticketing business. These sites also form the marketing arm in the sales mix of selling movies.
For instance, Bookmyshow.com launched the above-the-line (ATL) campaign for films like Dostana, Wake Up Sid and Avatar by promoting them on TV and in the online space. The site also promoted online contests to engage audiences with the films. KyaZoonga has partnered with various films like Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Kambakkht Ishq and Quickgun Murugan in the past.
The site has now partnered with Karan Johar’s next My Name Is Khan for a co-branded campaign across television, radio, outdoor, print, online and mobile. Through this association, KyaZoonga users will be able to get instant alerts about booking My Name Is Khan tickets for the film on the site even before the Advance Booking window opens!
Hemrajani adds, “Our main task is to drive sales and provide media support, which is appreciated by film producers. Online ticketing also curbs piracy because we encourage people to watch films in cinema halls, which indirectly boost footfalls.”
The company, which had around 20 competitors when it was launched in 1999, enjoys a market share of 80 to 85 per cent and a footprint that now extends across 40 outlets in 60 cities in India.
As a testament to the growing success of the online ticketing business, Bookmyshow recently earned Rs 9 crore and Rs 6 crore by selling tickets of Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots and James Cameron’s Avatar respectively.
Neetu Bhatia, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, KyaZoonga.com says, “Online film sites provide the movie-going audience easy access and help exhibitors size up and scale their revenue share. We help a film by driving sales, which in turn increases box-office collections.”
Ticketing sites have various sales channels via platforms such as the Internet, mobile applications, on WAP or call centers. Tickets are also delivered to the consumer at an additional convenience fee of between Rs 10 and Rs 15. Being a single window for ticket bookings for movies, cricket as well as sporting events, they make things much easier for consumers.
Industry experts also point out that consumers who book tickets online tend to spend more at the multiplex. Research pegs this amount at 10 per cent to 12 per cent, which comes from the purchase of ancillary items such as food and beverages.
Research also suggests that in the top ten movie markets, almost 15 per cent of all tickets are sold online and almost 50 per cent tickets are sold in advance. For films with limited releases, around 25 per cent tickets are sold online.
There were reports a few years ago that IDBI Bank had planned to tie up with a company to vend movie tickets through ATM machines. However, the deal fell through as the Reserve Bank of India held up the stop sign.
Apart from movies, tickets for sporting events and concerts are also sold online. However, last year was a difficult year for these sites, thanks to the producer-multiplex impasse which blocked film releases for three months. Next, the IPL was played in South Africa, proving a further setback.
It was a blessing in the long run. According to Hemrajani, “After the strike last year, we experienced a shift in focus from films to other events such as concerts and live events. Today, almost 25 per cent of our revenue is generated by non-movie ticket sales, compared to less than 1 per cent a year ago.”
Sample the popularity of online ticketing for other types of entertainment. Almost 30 per cent of tickets for plays at the popular Prithvi Theatre in Mumbai are sold through Bookmyshow. While ease of booking has boosted occupancy at Prithvi Theatre by 20-25 per cent, footfalls in theatres have increased 70-75 per cent.
While considering demographics, ticketing sites receive the lion’s share of their revenues from the South – Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore – thanks mainly to high Internet literacy rates.
The major challenge hindering the growth of this medium is the current broadband penetration, which is pegged at 4-5 million in India. However, India has much better mobile penetration and is the third-largest growing mobile market in the world. No wonder most of these sites have strengthened their mobile platforms.
These sites also face competition from the websites of multiplexes, which already sell tickets online.
Do they have a strategy to counter this challenge? Bhatia says, “We offer services that aggregate every theatre and multiplex under one umbrella. It is more convenient for consumers to visit our sites than log into individual sites.”
Ticketing sites have also ramped up the retail aspect of the business by enabling cash transactions. Since smaller cities are reluctant to use credit/debit cards to shop online, KyaZoonga enables cash transactions through retail outlets like petrol pumps and café shops.
Also, according to a government regulation, only 30 per cent of movie tickets can be sold outside the box office in Maharashtra. The remaining 70 per cent must be sold at the box office window. To get around this, ticketing sites provide consumers with a transaction ID, which can later be redeemed at the box office counter for the physical tickets.
Bhatia concludes, “We have grown more than 20 times from where we began. As far as the online movie ticket business is concerned, the sky is the limit. We have only scratched the surface yet.”