PVR is on track to open a total of 125 new screens during FY2023: Gautam Dutta

PVR Cinemas recently announced its latest innovation in the in-cinema advertising space since its come-back after the pandemic. It has introduced 270-degree on-screen experiential in-cinema advertising for the first time in India to drive higher excitement for brands. Maruti Suzuki has become the first advertiser to use this platform to launch its all-new 2022 Maruti Suzuki Brezza in cinemas. The experiential view of the product is being showcased at select PVR halls in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Bangalore for a week.

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This differentiated offering from PVR in collaboration with XPERIA Group, an OOH media company, involves using 3D Projection Mapping on the side walls, powered by hybrid technological integration. Projection mapping can actually convert ordinary commercials into highly attention-grabbing commercials and gives the content a new life.

 PVR recently announced its unaudited standalone and consolidated financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2022. The results stated that Q1 FY’23 was the best ever quarter in PVR’s history in terms of Revenue, EBITDA and PAT. The company recorded the highest ever ATP of Rs 250 for the quarter on the back of global and local tentpoles that resonated with the Indian audience. The quarter was marked by the release of some of the biggest domestic hits like KGF: Chapter 2 , RRR, Vikram, Bhool Bhulaiya 2 and Hollywood tentpoles like Doctor Strange and Top Gun : Maverick which performed exceedingly well at the box office. KGF 2 was the highest grosser ever for PVR with net box office of Rs 121 crore across its cinema circuit.

In conversation with Adgully, Gautam Dutta, CEO, PVR Ltd, speaks at length about the vision behind the in-cinema advertising innovation, how the cinema business has performed in the past year, trends in cinema content consumption patterns, and much more.

What is the vision behind the launch of the first ever experiential in-cinema advertising concept?

This time, cinema has been distinctly unique to break the inertia of inaction on advertising. Since its come-back, cinemas has been relentlessly working in the space of on-screen innovation to drive higher excitement for brands. Consumers are normally indifferent to advertising and the usual way of advertising on the screen doesn’t excite audiences and we needed to move away from this conventional approach. We needed to uplift our game to grab attention of audiences. In our conversations with clients, we were getting constant feedback as to build communication that is tailormade for cinemas and works the best in cinemas. Introducing experiential in-cinema advertising is one such effort towards that pursuit. Through this innovation, cinema advertising yet again has been successful in reinforcing the fact that it is an uber-effective medium for experiential advertising and brand engagement (unlike traditional media which are essentially passive in its consumer engagement).

How has the advent of digital technology led to the growth of the in-cinema advertising industry?

This launch of Experiential Cinema Advertising encompasses the following technologies & offerings under its umbrella. This 3D Projection Mapping, powered by hybrid technological integration will lead to a visual striking almost to a ‘magical’ effect helping brands to grab the attention of the audience by connecting with their emotions and feelings while narrating its story.

3D Projection Mapping

  • 270 Degree Screen Projection- It uses adjacent walls of Audis in addition to the Main Screen.
  • Laser Projection – For high impact  image creation on screen as well as adjacent walls
  • Mist Projection
  • Interactive and Innovative services for executing Product Launch / Dealers’ Meet / Corporate Events - Within auditorium.
  • On-Screen Advertising Innovation with Audience Engagement

There are numerous technologies available across digital & new age platforms like Holographic technology, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mobile Apps, RFID. In the Cinema Advertising space, there is Fog Screen Projection, Interactive Drumming among others.

The likely sectors that would be keen to experiment with this offering in the Cinema Advertising context would be mobile handsets, automobiles, FMCG, Consumer Durables and Apparels.

Who all have you partnered with for this in-cinema advertising?

The innovation in experiential cinema advertising is in collaboration with XPERIA Group, an OOH media company specialising in the experiential marketing space across different consumer touchpoints with different media of advertising.

What more can we expect from PVR with the in-cinema advertising space?

With this new offering, PVR is set to break the clutter and push the boundaries of on-screen cinema advertising to create a larger than life and immersive experience of the brand messaging. Experiential Cinema advertising increases recall value of existing video content that is getting played onscreen.

You also launched an NFT along with RRR, how did that pan out for you?

PVR launched exclusive ‘PVRRR’ NFT as part of its unique association with D.V.V. Entertainment, the producers of ‘RRR’. PVR gratified the winners of a contest on PVR and SPI Digital channels to own exclusive digital collectibles of the movie. This created in a new way of outreach, targeting a new generation of movie lovers. It allowed die-hard fans of RRR access to iconic digital collectibles of the movie and provided them an exclusive social experience to engage with the film digitally. The winners benefited by immortalising their movie viewing experience of RRR to own a timeless and unique digital art created on the movie.

What are the trends that you see in cinema advertising, and how have they evolved over time?

Cinema advertising has played strategically where traditional media seemed incapacitated, that is, active consumer engagement & experiential marketing through its ATL & BTL offering under one-roof.

There have been manifestations galore in cinema on various brand integrations and impact solutions. Lately, we witnessed an interesting case-study of brand integration and experiential marketing in our customer care program (PVR Care) where leading personal care brand Dettol has been brought on board as a hygiene partner and its brand gets organically integrated in the cinema environment to provide a Covid-safe movie viewing experience for our customers.

The off-screen experiential advertising, too, in cinema is finding its new high of popularity in a rapidly evolving and accessible digital world, where the relationship between brands & consumers is becoming more and more transactional and passive. Brand display, activation or product sampling at various consumer touchpoints like box office, lobby, washrooms or exit area in the cinemas are increasingly getting demanded to drive brand engagement and experiential quotient.

Through technology interventions, cinemas have started providing effective customer demography profiles to brands helping them to identify and create better traction with their TG and adding more dimension to their metrics and evaluation.

How has the cinema business fared so far? Is it at par with the pre-pandemic period?

In the year ended March 31, 2022, the company reported highest ever full year ATP of Rs 235 and highest ever full year SPH of Rs 124. Consistent flow of new content from end February onwards saw a quick bounce back in theatrical admissions in March’22 with several films crossing significant box office milestones. In March’22, we had the highest admissions (90.6 lakh) post pandemic.  We also had the highest ever net box office and net concession in the month of March’22.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2022, the company recorded the best ever quarter in PVR’s history in terms of highest quarterly Revenue, EBITDA and PAT. There was a strong bounce-back in theatrical admissions with 2.5 crore patrons visiting our cinemas during the quarter. There was strong growth of 23% in Average ticket price (Rs 250) and 32% growth in Average F&B spend per patron (Rs 134) as compared to the pre-pandemic period.

The company has revived its capex plans in a signi­ficant manner and is on track to open a total of 125 new screens during FY’23. About one-third of the new screen additions in this fi­scal year will be in Tier 2 and 3 cities. The company plans to enter 9 new cities during the year.

Which movies have garnered more revenue for the theatres – South or Bollywood movies?

Regional films are an important element of the Indian film industry and account for a large portion of overall box office receipts. The total number of films released in 2021 was 757, an increase of 71% over 2020. Only 84 films were released in Hindi, with Telugu (204) and Tamil (152) having the highest number of releases. Fewer lockdowns in the South led to markets rebounding faster and touching 59% of their 2019 release levels. The exceptional performance of regional movies dubbed in Hindi in the latter half of 2021 and in 2022 took the entire industry by surprise. Hindi versions of Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 (dubbed from Telugu) clocked Rs 108 crore; RRR (dubbed from Telugu) grossed Rs 274 crore; KGF-2 (dubbed from Kannada) became the 2nd biggest movie in India after ‘Baahubali 2’ collecting more than Rs 434 crore.

For the multiplex & the exhibition industry as a whole, this changing trend of multilingual content doing well at a pan India level reflects the growing acceptability of non-Hindi content amongst audiences. This is a welcome change that has emanated from the huge proliferation of OTT platforms and the subsequent consumption of foreign and regional content on these platforms over the past 2 years.

How has your partnership with INOX been? Is it panning out as planned?

The announced merger with INOX Leisure is progressing well. Both the companies have received ‘No Objection Certifi­cates’ from the two stock exchanges (BSE and NSE) on the proposed scheme of merger. We are on track to fi­le our application for the approval of scheme of merger before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in the next couple of weeks.

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