BookMyShow to disrupt digital content consumption
Company’s transactional video-on-demand platform witnesses over two lakh streams within three months
Hyderabad: BookMyShow, which recently rolled out its transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) platform, is seeing traction, with over two lakh streams in the last one quarter, since its debut in February. As more people stay at home due to Covid-19 pandemic, the user base for video streaming is set to increase manyfold.
The platform, BookMyShow Stream, is based on the TVOD model, which essentially means that people pay only for the content that they watch, a prevalent trend in other global cinema markets. So far, this format had been untapped in India at scale, and the company wanted to nurture India’s content consumption habits, bringing them at par with global standards.
Ashish Saksena, COO-Cinemas, BookMyShow, told Telangana Today, in an exclusive interview, “BookMyShow Stream now houses over 1,000 movie titles of handpicked, specially curated library of some of the best, celebrated and award-winning content from around the world and India that users can rent or buy and watch. We have crossed over 2,00,000 streams in three months.”
BookMyShow Stream is a natural extension of the company’s cinemas business and has been built with the platform’s incisive data capabilities and deep consumer insights, making it a personalised proposition for users.
Platform creation
Talking about the strengths of the platform, Saksena said, “Developed in-house, by our product and engineering teams, BookMyShow Stream enables a personalised experience for content discovery including a seamless streaming flow and checkout experience across all formats of viewing. Our teams have worked extensively to handpick and customise content for different users’ basis their individual past transactions, search behaviour and interests as seen on BookMyShow for over 21 years, thus reducing the time spent on browsing and enhancing the discovery experience at the same time.”
BookMyShow Stream focuses on relevant and targeted content for consumers across specific film categories such as Premieres, Exclusives, World Cinema, Missed in Theatres, and dedicated Bundles. Within just two months since its launch, the TVOD platform has added 33 per cent of new transacting users to BookMyShow.
Users from metros including Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, NCR, Chennai and Kolkata as well as smaller markets such as Pune, Kochi, Vizag, Thiruvananthapuram and Jaipur are choosing the platform, he added.
Also, the TVOD platform has been tested on BookMyShow’s peak load benchmarks and can handle over one lakh concurrent viewers at any given point. Viewers can enjoy films from around the world with English subtitles in HD and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Some titles will be available for viewing in 4K video resolution as well.
Content collaborations
Saksena said, “We have partnerships with some of the largest global studios, production houses, world renowned film festivals, independent foreign film distributors and regional content providers to ensure that the existing and upcoming content pipeline on BookMyShow Stream is unlike anything Indian audiences have seen so far!”
The company aims to make the platform a preferred choice of content consumption format, providing access to some of the best and most popular world cinema spanning countries such as Spain, France, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Slovakia and Netherlands.
From Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, NBCUniversal and Paramount Pictures to independent film distributors such as PictureWorks, Superfine Films, Impact Films, Kahwa Entertainment and VR films as also key international film festivals including award-winning showcases at the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, American Film Market and Sundance Film Festival, BookMyShow Stream has key partnerships in place and is growing its content library, he added.
The platform also has films from major Indian production houses such as Viacom18, Shemaroo and Rajshri Productions and regional content providers such as Divo and Silly Monks (Hyderabad-based), amongst several others. “We are exploring all possibilities that may best serve consumers and all partners involved, as we continue to add over 10 fresh titles to the platform each week,” he informed.
Pricing model
BookMyShow Stream gives users the option to rent a movie for a finite duration or buy it for unlimited access with prices for movies suitable to all pockets, starting from Rs 40 to Rs 700, depending on the recency and scale of the movie on the platform.
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