MUMBAI – India’s world famous Bollywood film industry is reining back its production over the next two months to avoid a clash with the Cricket World Cup being played in the country. The World Cup is expected to prompt people to flock to the stadia or tune their television sets to sports channels, leaving general entertainment channels with fewer viewers and cinema chains with smaller audiences.
“For a multiplex, every show is a perishable item, so if they don’t use the multiplex screen for that three-hour period to the fullest, they lose … It’s like flying an empty plane,” said a Mumbai-based analyst who did not wish to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The World Cup will be held from Feb. 19 to April 2 and is being co-hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. This year the World Cup is likely to make the quarter even weaker as production houses delay movie releases. This year there are 23 films lined up for the months of February and March as compared to about 30 during the same period last year, with just a handful of them featuring big stars such as Priyanka Chopra and Akshay Kumar.
“We have consciously planned all our big film releases post April due to the World Cup,” Kamal Jain, Chief Financial Officer at Eros International Media Ltd, said. “It can affect viewership and we don’t want to take any chances.” Sunil Punjabi, chief executive at Cinemax, said the multiplex chain expects occupancy levels to drop to about 23 percent from the usual 26-27 percent during the World Cup.
The World Cup is expected to boost the available advertising revenue for print and electronic media. “However, general entertainment channels would have pressure on the ad revenues as major portion of ad spend have been diverted to sport channels, ESPN STAR and SET MAX,” Emkay analyst Naval Seth said in a research report. Advertising revenue from both the Cricket World Cup and the fourth season of the Indian Premier League is estimated to be at 17.5 billion rupees ($619 million), the analyst said, citing industry estimates.
Hotel chains, already in the middle of a boom due to corporate demand, are eyeing higher bookings as fans from across the globe line up to watch the World Cup, spread over several Indian cities including key metros. Many customers have even been put on the waiting list as rooms in some regions are fully booked, hoteliers said.
