Despite the current slowdown, the number of multiplexes in India grew by 80-100% in calendar year 2008, contributing to 28-35% of the overall domestic box-office collections.
However, experts say in spite of the growing popularity of multiplexes, at this stage of meltdown, direct-to-home (DTH) television, that currently counts one crore households in India and contributes 11% to box office revenues, is expected to reach 2.5 crore households in the next few years. DTH is seen as an alternative to multiplexes to release new movies.
As per Northbridge Capital Asia report, multiplexes will add 300-500 screens in FY 2009-10 and will be adding another 200-500 seats each in the next two years. On the contrary, analysts say that DTH will take another 2-3 years or more to make a strong presence in the market.
According to experts, where multiplexes have already captured the consumer?s eye, DTH is miles away to woo the audiences. At present, a middle class family can afford to visit multiplexes only once in a month due to the ticket rates being higher as compared to a single screen cinema, making DTH a good way to match budget constraints. The movie Oye Lucky Lucky Oye was released on the DTH platform at the time of terror attacks in Mumbai since the audiences were skeptical of visiting the multiplexes. In such cases, DTH is another way to generate revenue.
Agreeing to this, Vikram Mehra, CMO, Tata Sky said, ?The entire concept of pay-per-view channel is to tap revenue from day one. DTH comes in affordable rates and allows family to experience digital quality cinema, thereby killing piracy.
However, DTH as a whole will take time to catch up among the audiences. The challenge lies in educating the producers about DTH as it aims to generate big revenue in times to come.
After Oye Lucky Lucky Oye was released on the DTH platform, Tata Sky will now telecast the movie The President is Coming sometime this month.
Maneesh Mathur, COO, P9 Integrated, a 360 degree film marketing company (a division of Percept Limited) said, ?With recession hitting most players, businesses today have moved from business-to-business to business-to-consumer . The revenue earned through multiplexes is bigger as compared to that of DTH since it is easier to attract audiences.?
Tushar Dhingra, COO, BIG Cinemas said, ?Today?s audience is very smart and they want the best experience in exchange of the money that they spend. Multiplex is an entertainment house that provides a higher screen experience and cannot be compared to the video experience at home.?
Experts believe that the emergence of DTH will not affect the multiplex fever among the audiences at this period of meltdown or even in future as the quality of cinema is far excellent as compared to DTH.