India’s only pet festival back after 2 years, signals recovery in live events

After a two-year hiatus, Pet Fed, a festival for pets, is back and this time on a scale larger than in pre-COVID times.

Hit by the pandemic, the festival in 2020 had gone virtual and earned only 10 percent of the revenues seen before COVID-19. But this time Pet Fed founder Akshay Gupta is expecting business to surpass 2019 levels.

“It is bigger than pre-COVID times (in terms of scale) because during COVID times a lot of people got pets home. The market has increased tremendously for pets. So, at each venue we have taken one and a half times more space to accommodate more pets and pet parents that have entered the pet market,” Gupta told Moneycontrol.

Industry estimates suggest that there are around 32 million pets in India, up from 24 million in 2019. The pet population is estimated to be growing at over 12 percent per year.

Gupta added, “We are expecting about 30,000 people this time, up from 20,000 in pre-COVID times. The space has increased from 3 acres in each venue to 5 acres. We have increased ticket prices from Rs 400 to Rs 500 this year. So per-person cost has also increased. We are anticipating 50 percent more participation so we expect a 50 percent increase in ticketing revenue this year.”

From Rs 60 lakh in ticketing revenue from Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai in 2019, Gupta expects ticket sales to be in the range of Rs 1-1.5 crore from each city.

Sponsorship revenue will also see growth this year, said Gupta. “Interest from brands has been high for two reasons. One is because during COVID, a lot of pet brands got funded. The (pet) market expanded. So brands have the money to spend on marketing activities. (Pet food giants) like Pedigree, Royal Canin (both owned by US company Mars)—those guys are competing with brands that have got the funding. This year's title sponsor is Just Dogs and Nestle. Himalaya has also come on board as sponsor. The Bengaluru show is almost sold out in terms of stalls at the festival.”

Over 400 products and services from the Indian and international pet care industry will be on display during the festival.

The pet care market in India, which is estimated to touch Rs 10,000 crore in revenue by 2025, saw the entry of two big names—Nestle and Emami—this year. While Nestle acquired the pet food business of Purina Petcare India for Rs 123.5 crore, Emami in June had announced it was investing in pet-care startup Cannis Lupus Services India. Nestle India’s chairman and managing director Suresh Narayanan earlier this year had said that the pet care industry is one of the highest growing categories.

Betting on this growing pet care industry and more brands entering this space, Gupta expects to do overall business of Rs 10 crore this year.

“We get Rs 2.5 crore per annum from digital activations. We expect ticketing sales of Rs 5 crore from these three events (Pet Fed Festival in three cities) and other monthly events. We do about 75 events across the year. We are expecting Rs 3 crore from sponsorship revenue,” he said.

The Pet Fed founder noted that sponsorship deal sizes have increased post COVID as the total addressable market has expanded. “Earlier (sponsorship) deal sizes used to be Rs 20-25 lakh. Now, they are north of Rs 50 lakh for both digital and on-ground. Brands depending on their target audience choose the medium. Someone like Nestle wants to run campaigns on both (digital and ground) while a brand like Just Dogs, which is into retail, focuses on the ground event,” said Gupta.

While like Pet Fed many large-scale events are coming back after a forced two-year wait, their numbers remain limited.

“If you look at events that have happened so far, the number of people turning up is higher versus pre-COVID times. This is because the population is the same but the number of events has reduced. Earlier, there used to be events every second weekend but due to COVID, a lot of players (in the live events industry) have died out as they were not able to sustain,” Gupta said.

Many observers, though, expect the number of events to go back to pre-COVID levels by this year. The total revenue for the live events industry is estimated to have reached 50 percent of where it was in 2019, Amit Relan, co-founder, Woot Factor Brand Architects, an event management company, had told Moneycontrol in an earlier interview.

Revenues of the organised live events sector had dropped to Rs 2,700 crore in 2020 from Rs 8,300 crore in 2019, according to a FICCI-EY 2022 report. The industry saw 18.5 percent recovery last year.

“I am placing my bet that it (live events industry revenue) will be back to pre-COVID levels by this year. We have seen that in tourism and wedding space. We are hoping the same trend holds for live events,” said Gupta.