For entertainment ticketing platform BookMyShow, it was almost a no-show in the last two years as cinemas had to shut down due to COVID-19, and then faced capacity restrictions when theatres reopened and film delays. But it has been a happy ending for the platform with the audience back, little to no restriction, and successful film releases.
While business was weak in the first two quarters of FY22, the platform began to see some business recovery in October when it sold seven million movie tickets in nine days when occupancy restrictions were eased for movie halls in India. Sales crossed the 10-million mark in November, and in December the platform reached its pre-COVID numbers, selling 18 million tickets.
However, the business hit a pause in January and February due to the Omicron wave but March turned out to be a strong month for the film industry thanks to successful ventures like The Kashmir Files and RRR. Over 26 million tickets were sold on BookMyShow in March, the highest ever for the platform, with movie ticket sales surpassing the 22 million tickets that were sold in January 2020.
Cinemas cast a spell
“March was the only month when there were no restrictions and full inventory was available and even we were taken by surprise when RRR itself did over 10 million tickets. In FY23, I think business will surpass pre-COVID level. Looking at the content pipeline, month-on-month we will be far bigger than pre-COVID levels,” Ashish Hemrajani, founder and CEO, BookMyShow, told Moneycontrol.
Films lined up in the first quarter of FY23 include Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, KGF 2, Attack, Jersey, Beast and Heropanti 2 in April, followed by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ranveer Singh’s Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Top Gun Maverick in May, and Prithviraj, and Jurassic World Dominion, among others, in June.
Hemrajani added that the platform turned EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) positive in November for the first time in 40 months, with EBITDA positivity touching 22 percent in December last year and over 25 percent in March this year.
The platform also pointed out the top movies that contributed to the recovery of the cinema business including RRR that saw the second-highest movie ticket sales on BookMyShow, after Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. Then comes The Kashmir Files which crossed 6.5 million in ticket sales with the platform contributing 50 percent to the overall box office revenue of the film.
Among other ventures, Pushpa: The Rise crossed six million tickets, Spider-Man: No Way Home sold over 5.6 million tickets, Sooryavanshi sold more than 3.4 million tickets and Gangubai Kathiawadi crossed 2.6 million tickets on the platform.
In terms of languages, Hindi and Telugu accounted for more than 60 percent of ticket sales, followed closely by Tamil, English and Malayalam.
Along with the film ticket sales, the platform is seeing recovery in the live entertainment business which too was hit hard due to the coronavirus outbreak. In the last six months, audiences in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune and Goa have been stepping out the most for live entertainment experiences.
Revival in live entertainment
Starting with comedian Vir Das’ multi-city show called The Wanted Tour in May, BookMyShow has a pipeline of three more large-format international artistes and experiences in music and comedy in 2022-23 starting September-October.
On live entertainment, Hemrajani said that when it comes to restrictions Maharashtra has lifted all and Delhi is in the planning mode. However, there is a lag effect, he added.
“When we were planning tours, everything was ambiguous (last year). There was no certainty in terms of booking venues, artistes. Globally, a lot of shows were getting cancelled because of the second and third wave and that affects the supply chain in terms of artistes, equipment. But when supply became available, then the US sucked up all supply and the next will be European tours that will start," he said.
While recovery is slow on the live entertainment side in terms of large-scale music and comedy events, sports is seeing a strong comeback. The platform, which was the ticketing partner for ISL 2022, sold over 13,000 tickets.
Along with football, the platform is betting big on cricket with BookMyShow becoming the ticketing partner, gate entry and spectator management partner for the Tata IPL 2022. The platform is expecting a 60-70 percent contribution from IPL 2022 to overall sporting revenue. Hemrajani is also hoping for capacity in stadiums for IPL 2022 to increase to 70-100 percent. The Board of Control for Cricket in India recently increased capacity from 25 percent to 50 percent.
Streaming online
While BookMyShow’s focus in FY23 will be outdoor entertainment, the platform continues to bet on online segments like BookMyShow Stream which was launched last year when cinemas remained shut due to COVID-19.
The platform will increase its content line-up for the transaction video on-demand segment by three times, said Hemrajani. “We have done about 2,000 titles since launch and 30 percent of around 250 titles are only on the platform,” he said. This year, BookMyShow Stream will release big ventures like Uncharted, Morbius, The Batman, King Richard, and Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, among others.
