Salman Khan’s Radhe launch set to make ‘pay per view’ way to go as COVID wave hurts theatres

Pricing has to be perfect

While Girish Wankhede, senior trade analyst for films and OTT, thinks that this is an attractive price, he pointed out that, in India, the preferred price points would be in the Rs 99-Rs 199 range.

This is because India is a price-sensitive market, say experts.

“Audience has no benchmarks (except some DTH platforms which have run PPV movies in the past) on pricing, and, hence, will develop their preference based on specific content. But anything more than Rs 100-150 can come across as prohibitive," said Shailesh Kapoor, CEO, Ormax Media, a media consulting firm.

Pricing is a crucial factor for the PPV model as industry players say it is very difficult for a critical mass to pay for a single piece of content.

This is why the PPV model still hasn't received strong traction in India. However, pricing is not the only reason.

Content is key

Kapoor pointed out that the content being played on these (ZeePlex, ShemarooMe Box Office and BookMyShow Stream) platforms is relatively niche.

"Radhe is the first mass content on the TVOD (transactional video on-demand)/ PPV model in India. It will need some audience education to make them understand this model, as there is no exposure to PPV at all, and India is a price-sensitive market. So, while we can say that it’s a start, it’s a long way to go before PPV/ TVOD gathers steam in India," he said.

Players entering the PPV space

TVOD hogged the limelight last year when theatres had to shut down due to the Coronavirus-led lockdown. That's when Shemaroo Entertainment decided to launch its TVOD service called ShemarooMe Box Office in July.

Despite offering content in the Rs 80-100 range, things have neither been good nor bad for ShemarooMe Box Office.

In an earlier interview with Moneycontrol, Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment, had said that the numbers in terms of revenues are small for PPV.

The company declined to comment on the traction and the number of bookings it has seen so far on ShemarooMe Box Office.

As for ZeePlex, Shariq Patel, Chief Business Officer, Zee Studios, said that after launching in October last year, the platform has offered 14 films across five languages. However, he did not share data around bookings for the content offered under the PPV platform.

The latest entrant to the PPV space was BookMyShow, when it launched the BookMyShow Stream in February 2021. The platform, which started its journey with 600 movie titles, shared data around streams for content offered under the TVOD model.

Since its rollout, BookMyShow Stream has recorded more than 1,75,000 streams (bookings). Content on the platform is available in the Rs 40-Rs 700 range, depending on renting or buying.

The platform saw one of the highest tractions for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which registered over 100,000 streams (including pre-booked streams) within three days of release.

BookMyShow had sold over 31,000 streams in pre-bookings, surpassing all previous movies on the platform, including total streams for Tenet. The film was available for Rs 149.

Radhe will be the real test

This shows that content is an important factor for the growth of the PPV model in India.

This is why Wankhede said that the litmus test is Radhe. "If it clicks, it will set the trend. The pay-per-view model will work only when it is pushed and marketed like a regular release, which ZeePlex is doing to some extent. With cinemas closed and we being a star-struck nation, this model will work because we all love star-studded, larger-than-life blockbusters. But it will work only because there is no other option."

Zee Studios has spent over Rs 200 crore to buy the digital, theatrical and satellite rights of the film. This means that a lot is riding on Radhe’s earnings from the PPV platform, ZeePlex.

It is important to note that theatres are shut in most states because of the rising cases of Coronavirus. In addition, not much is expected from the overseas theatrical revenues as the word is grappling with the COVID-19 situation. In fact, international theatrical revenues saw a fall of 89 percent while domestic theatricals fell 78 percent owing to the pandemic.

While the PPV model is in its early days and it has to be seen whether Radhe will be a success for the TVOD model, Kapoor is confident more films are expected to take the PPV route “simply because theatres are likely to be shut for a few more weeks, if not months.”