The stock market sector suffered enormously in the years 2020 and 2021 from the lockdown caused by the Coronavirus and the resulting restrictions. The situation has improved over the past six months, but for moviegoers, watching a movie in a multiplex has turned out to be an expensive affair. Gautam Dutta, CEO of PVR Cinemas, recently spoke about this aspect and much more.
REVEALED: PVR Cinemas increases ticket prices by up to 23%, as opposed to the usual 5-7% increase in pre-pandemic times
In an interaction with Economic Times, Gautam Dutta said that PVR increased ticket prices by 5-7% every year in the pre-pandemic era. For 2 ½ years, the multiplex chain could not. Now they have increased ticket prices by up to 23%. He said PVR needed to do this to cope with rising electricity, rent and maintenance costs. Interestingly, the ticket price increase helped the company achieve its best-ever quarterly revenue of Rs. 1000 crore plus in Q1 of FY 2022-23. Visitor numbers in their cinemas are 87% of pre-2020 and India’s largest multiplex chain expects it to grow and reach pre-pandemic levels soon.
According to this article, PVR reported losses of Rs. 748 crores in FY 2020-21 and Rs. 488 crores in FY 2021-22, due to restrictions on cinema halls.
Advertising is also an important part of their revenue model. According to Gautam Dutta’s data, before the Covid pandemic, about 11% of the company’s revenue came from advertising. The number declined during the pandemic period and is currently at 68% of pre-Covid levels. According to Gautam, PVR expects to reach the pre-Covid figure in the third quarter of FY 2023. He also said they want to revolutionize cinema advertising. For certain advertisements, they plan to illuminate the side walls of the plywood screen. He also said that they play commercials for almost 16-18 minutes on every show in PVR.
Finally, Gautam Dutta spoke about PVR’s expansion plans. According to Dutta, the chain opened an average of 80 to 90 new screens a year before the pandemic. In 2022-23, they plan to open 100-110 screens. Some of these screens will be in seven such cities where PVR previously had no ownership. They also plan to spend Rs. 400 crores on the redevelopment of existing theatres.
Also read: Aamir Khan and PVR Sign Mega Deal for Laal Singh Chaddha; gets the upper hand in the presentation compared to Raksha Bandhan
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