Online ticket bookings: Fad or here to stay?

ENTERTAINMENT

Booking of tickets through Mobile and SMSs to be the next innovation.

Online ticket-bookings have doubled in the first six months of 2007 for theatre chains. This form of ticket-booking accounted for 4 per cent to 5 per cent of the total ticketing revenues last year.

All the leading theatre chains Business Standard spoke to, said online ticketing now accounts for nearly 10 per cent of their total revenues.

For instance, when PVR Cinemas kick started the trend of online ticket-booking for their cinema hall back in 1999, the internet booking mode contributed to barely 2 per cent. Now the chain earns over Rs 25 crore annually from online bookings.

"Currently, Internet bookings contribute almost 11 per cent to our overall earnings via ticket sales," confirmed Ashish Shukla, CEO, PVR Cinemas.

This is simply one of the figures. While actual revenue figures are hard to come by, Cinemax India, Inox Leisure, Shringar Cinema's FAME are all in the race. Inox Leisure generates around 300,000 page views per month for the service re-launched a few months back, and FAME has over 100,000 registered users since they started a few years ago.

So what's in it for movie goers? Well, you no longer need to stand in the queue much before the show time without any clue on the availability status. "It is for the money-rich and time-poor," said Shukla.

All one needs to do is log on to the theatre chain's website one-two hours prior to the show, choose the movie, show time and also the seat. Payment is made via a credit or debit card.

However, all cinema chains charge an additional Rs 10 per ticket as convenience fee, out of which 2 per cent to 2.5 per cent is shared by the bank with which the chain has a tie-up. Metros are believed to contribute substantially higher compared to centres like Baroda and Nagpur.

Also other than Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai, Kolkata is emerging as a major contributing centre. It is mostly IT professionals and other corporations who are increasingly using the facility.

Some multiplexes are also bringing in more innovation in this mode of ticket-booking. For instance, FAME gives its audiences the choice of booking food combos also online without additional charge.

"We observed that during intervals people get impatient as they don't want to miss the movie. Therefore, we decided to introduce this service wherein one orders online while booking the tickets and is served at the seat," said Arshad Kazi, head of technology and systems, Shringar Cinemas.

The next buzz is expected to happen in the mobile booking, predict industry experts. Currently, only one or two players offer booking via SMSs.

However, most of the theatre chains already provide for booking through the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) technology.

An increasing acceptance of technology

72% of the Internet audience books tickets in advance

41% prefer multiplexes

23% of Internet users have purchased their tickets online at least once

Purchases of more than Rs 300 are most suited for online purchases

46% of Internet users are likely to buy movie tickets online whereas a sizeable audience 27% is sitting on the fence likely to be converted if marketed appropriately or given a positive online buying experience