What is the first thing that comes into your mind when I say BookMyShow??…. Movies!!! The days when you had to go stand in a queue for hours outside a theater are gone, we now have BookMyShow to do that for you (no, I don’t mean BookMyShow literally stands in a line for you, duh!!).
BookMyShow has changed the face of the Ticketing System for movies and events in India. It has brought cinema or rather movies, into the pockets of the masses. BookMyShow has also largely contributed to getting the masses closer to movies. It has actually managed to get the unorganized ticketing system, organized.
BookMyShow is like a complete package or a one-stop destination for any and every update about movies, from movie releases, show timings, theater availability and its details, movie details, movie songs, movie trailers, movie reviews to booking tickets, BookMyShow has it all!
The subjects BookMyShow illumines
It was in the relatively recent past that our predecessors need to remain in long lines just to get passes to their #1 motion pictures. You’ll likewise locate that just on showing up at the counter after a tiring stand by, they would be given the indication “HOUSEFULL”. Yet, our age is fortunate enough that we could book film tickets so easily and the driving force behind this idea is Ashish Hemrajani – Founder of BookMyShow.com.
About Bookmyshow
The company is currently India’s largest entertainment ticketing platform. BookMyShow started out in 1999 as a software re-seller for movie theaters and converted into a platform catering to cloud-based ticket booking of events, movies, sports, and plays. BookMyShow was known by the name of its parent company, Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., at the time of its inception.
It operates in 5 countries with more than 30 million customers. In sixteen years, BookMyShow has been through a roller-coaster ride, seeing all kinds of crests and troughs. From INR 25,000 in initial capital to INR 391 crores in revenue in FY2018, from the ‘Dot Com’ crash in the early 2000s to the global financial crisis of 2008. It managed to sail through tough times and emerged as a winner in the end.
The starting journey
This journey of Ashish Hemrajani started in the year 1999 when he went on a trip to South Africa. During that time, he was working for J. Walter Thompson, an advertising firm, after completing his master’s in business administration. This trip changed his life. He was sitting under a tree and listening to radio promoting rugby tickets when an idea struck him. He researched, understood the market, and contemplated a strategy. He then came back to India, quit his job, and decided to start his own company.
At the age of 24, he launched his first-ever internet venture “Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.” with his head office being his bedroom. Soon after, he persuaded his friends Rajesh Balpande and Parikshit Dar to join the company. Parikshit took over technology and Rajesh handled finance. Soon the trio began their journey together as entrepreneurs.
Searching for fund
As they had restricted money with them around then, they began moving toward speculators. In the wake of seeing their responsibility towards their reasonable confronted thought, they got their first speculator JP Morgan Chase and they got it by sending their proposition through fax. It was ONE-PAGE fax expressing only the plan of action and with that, they were persuaded and consented to support them with INR 2.5 crores. From that point onward, they began their endeavor under the brand name “Go For Ticketing” which they later re-marked to “India Ticketing” in 2002, preceding at long last being classified “BookMyShow”.
The difficulties in the journey
Now it was not an easy task to sell tickets online during that time because of obvious reasons such as no credit card, debit card, net banking penetration, poor broadband connectivity, and lack of e-ticketing software in theaters. With all the difficulties also, they were doing a good business and accounted for 150 employees. The Dot Com industry was booming as well.
There were only two options left for Hemrajani now; either to shut the business down and go with the jobs that were being offered to him by the headhunters or keep hope in the business, invest all his savings, and start all over again. Hemrajani’s confidence was not completely lost and he decided to stick with the business only to do things a little differently and mind you smartly as well.
“It is all about going out and trying. But don’t follow the herd. You have got to be very clear why your idea or you as a person will succeed in this environment. How disruptive your technology is.”, said Ashish Hemrajani, BookMyShow owner.
Rising again
They had to cut down on many employees’ salaries. They shut down all the offices along with their operations and only focused on the major cities of Mumbai & Delhi. Their team strength literally shrunk from 150 to 6. They had to tighten their business and its costs. Every rupee that they earned, they made sure to invest every single rupee into the business. The business was back to its basics with no investors from 2002 to 2006. There were times when they had no idea where the next meal will come from or how will they pay the salaries.
Having decided that, they moved forwarded to build the business again and went back to fix every broken piece, and soon things started turning in their favor. With the downfall they learned a very important lesson that anything given for free has no value, so now they started charging for the same. They began moving toward new financial specialists lastly karma supported them in March 2007 when Network 18 put INR 14.5 crores in their business giving them a 60% stake in their business. Presently it was the ideal chance to dispatch the tagging business again which brought forth an endless “BookMyShow.com”.
BookMyShow immediately picked up force and was in a real sense all over the place. They indeed played it so well that the worldwide money related emergencies didn’t influence them much. Indeed, they recruited some extraordinary ability during the worldwide financial crisis.
Business Model and Revenue Model of BookMyShow
BookMyShow has exclusive access to Vista ERP APIs that are used by movie theaters and multiplexes. It integrates these APIs with the backend of its app to show the real-time availability of movie tickets. The company opens up these APIs to other players for providing allied services parking, F&B, shopping destinations, retail stores, and security—for upselling and cross-selling.
- Ticketing revenue: This is the major source of revenue, contributing around 60% of the total earnings. It includes internet handling fees and commissions on ticket booking. The company charges a convenience fee over and above the price of the tickets.
- Non-ticketing revenue: Any company that wants to promote its artwork, which includes but is not restricted to films and short films, can approach BookMyShow to gain an “interest creation” boost with the online audience.
BookMyShow – Investors and Funding
After the boom in the internet facilities, infrastructure set up, debit and credit card facilities, etc the multiplexes grew in the country. Some of the investors of the company are as follows:
- Network 18 – Seed, 2007
- Accel – Series A, $18 million, 2012
- Saif Partners – Series B, $25 million, 2014
- Accel, Saif Partners, Stripes Group, Network 18, Series C, $81.5 million, 2016
- TPG Gropu – Series D, $100 million, 2018
- Capital 18 – Venture, 2019
Awards bagged by BookMyShow
Some of the awards of the company are:
- The Hottest Company of the Year – By CNBC Young Turks Awards, 2012
- The company to watch out for – By CNBC Young Turks Awards, 2012
- Best Omnichannel Customer Experience Brand – By OneDirect Quest Customer Experience (QuestCX) Awards
Future Plans of BookMyShow
BookMyShow plans to add various products such as tees, hoodies, and other apparel. Further, the company also plans to focus on the mobile segment as more than 25% of bookings are done through a mobile application.
