But single-screen theatres see 70% turnout.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) frenzy is likely to take some time before it catches up with the multiplex audiences. Most of the 200 multiplex screens, where the matches are being screened live, have received lukewarm response this year.
Pramod Arora, president, PVR Cinemas, said, “The response is quite bad but frankly we did not have any expectations. There is never any big ticket Hindi movie release during the IPL season. So we will not see any revenue drop because we will make up for it over the next couple of months when several movies are lined up.”
“Going by the dismal response, I think perhaps next year onwards, production houses will line up big ticket releases during the IPL season as well,” Arora added.
According to multiplex owners, the occupancy rate for IPL matches currently is 15-20 per cent. On the opening day of the tournament occupancy had been around 25 per cent. “One of the reasons for lower occupancy rates is school exams. IPL has started slowly in multiplexes but we expect it to pick up during the semi-final and the final matches,” said a spokesperson of Inox.
“Though there have been very few film releases in the last two weeks, the collection from films is still marginally better than that of IPL matches,” he said.
Multiplexes, on an average, earn around Rs 80-90 crore on an average per month, according to analysts.
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Vishal Kapur, CEO of Fun Cinemas, is of the opinion that showing one match a day in its multiplexes is not even 10 per cent of the total number of shows. “A few matches are doing well where occupancy is around 25 per cent.”
“There is some inertia among the multiplex audiences in the initial phase, however, we are seeing good turnout in smaller cities and single-screen theatres,” said Sanjay Gaikwad, CEO and executive director UFO Moviez. UFO has the rights for satellite transmission of IPL matches in theatres and is presently showing the matches in 700 screens across India.
“Once there is the critical mass — a minimum number of people who come to watch matches in multiplexes — word of mouth publicity will lead to higher occupancies,” said Gaikwad.
He said occupancy in single screens, however, is as high as 70 per cent. “We are talking to corporates who might want to use watching matches in theatres as a team building exercise for their employees,” he said.
Farokh Balsara, media and entertainment analyst with Ernst & Young, said, “Screening of matches in multiplexes from this year was an experiment and any experiment takes about two to three years to settle down. The point here is, whatever money the multiplexes make during this period will be incremental revenue for them, because in any case the matches are not occupying too many screens or shows at any multiplex.”
IPL’s association with YouTube for online broadcast of matches this year has been fruitful. The number of hits on Youtube for watching IPL matches has gone up from 0.88 million on the first day of the T20 tournament (March 12) to 21.06 million today.