PVR INOX’s monthly subscription model ‘Passport’ is a fresh take on the movie-going experience and as per industry analysts it could be a winner for the value-conscious market like India.

However, some like Aarav, a 24-year-old student, may not be ready to spend on a packaged bundle. “I am personally a very research-based person who likes to decide based on every movie if I really want to go and spend on it. I only go to the hall when a movie is really worth it. Also, offers and discounts available on various third-party platforms impact my decision of the movie date, time, hall and location too,” he shared.

Multiplex chain PVR INOX announced its latest offering, the Passport. Starting October 16, 2023, subscribers have access to the 10 cinematic experiences a month at INR 699/- from Mondays to Thursdays, excluding IMAX, Gold, LUXE and Director’s Cut. This offer has been limited to the first 20,000 consumers as of now.

A recent BookMyShow survey has found that watching movies in the theatre remains the preferred choice of leisure experience for about 90 per cent of moviegoers. Hence, this is a known fact by now that the theatre experience can’t be replaced.

Other countries like the UK and Germany have come up with similar cinema-focused loyalty programs called ‘Limitless’ by Odeon or ‘UCI Unlimited Card’ by UCI but for India, a value-conscious pricing model like ‘Passport’ is probably a first.

Gautam Dutta, Co-CEO, PVR-INOX says, “This move has been an output of the merger. We truly believe that we can come up with some path-breaking products which are pro-consumer. Since this is a maverick product, we didn't want to go wrong and launched it only for a decent mass of people. So, we can study them for two-three months and come back with a stronger and tweaked product.”

Why was this needed?

While the big films do extremely well in the cinema, the small or mid-sized films don't get that traction, according to the executive. Keeping this consumer trend in mind, the multiplex wants to bring all cohorts of the audience back to the movie halls and not just for the commercial blockbusters.

Specifically, there are three target audience groups for PVR-INOX Passport that are ‘time rich, cash poor’ - the senior citizens, housewives, and students. “These people needed to be given an offer to propel the medium and the small films,” he added.

Rohit Ohri, Chairman and CEO, FCB Group India highlighted, “The PVR INOX subscription model is a great innovation that rides on the back of the 'Back to the cinemas' wave. With the back to back success of Gadar 2, Jawan and Rocky aur Rani there is renewed interest in movie hall viewing. This innovation will help rebuild the movie-going habit and not just rely on periodic blockbusters to do the trick. Additionally, I don't think this in any way will impact media consumption from sources like OTT.”

It’s tough to say this will be a big success or not but there will be some initial signs of respite because India is a price-sensitive market and people like to have products and services at discounted prices, opines Karan taurani, SVP, Elara Capital. Also, the success of this model depends on the quality of content that comes.

One big challenge, according to Taurani, is PVR INOX deals with exhibitors, distributors and producers. If you look at the distributor share which is 48 percent, I don't think producers will lower that share because it will be a loss for them. Exhibitors will have to shelf out 80-90 percent of distributor share of the new ticket price. Hence, the ticket price for the consumer may come down but distributor share will eventually go up.

“Other than this, it is a good business model since for multiplexes as 40 percent cost is generally fixed and whether there are 10 people in the hall or 20, it would not really make a huge difference on the business,” he added.

Will the terms and conditions impact the model?

Abneesh Roy, Executive Director, Nuvama Equities calls it a win-win for customer and PVR INOX. This move will help PVR INOX augment occupancy on weekdays when it is low. However, there are quite a few conditions that may limit its offtake.

On this, Dutta is of the opinion that this ideology is absolutely wrong. “If today an airline provides you a flight for Rs 3000 to Mumbai, do you think there won’t be any terms and conditions involved? Of course there will be. I am also running a business.”

“Consumers may want this offer to be valid on weekends or with a recliner or even IMAX. But that’s not how businesses run, we are into a profitable organisation. Hypothetically, if I remove a lot of the terms and conditions, will they be willing to pay me INR 1200 a month? The answer is no. Hence, I have to balance. Rather, we made sure the brand's campaign and communication hasn’t camouflaged the terms and conditions factor at all,” the executive added.

There are no revenue expectations with the launch of this model as of now for Dutta but is taking this whole project to be a big kicker on the marketing side.