With the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament and coming general elections set to dominate media space for the next 45 days, the entertainment industry is expected to lose up to Rs 200 crore worth of business in April-May.This is primarily due to non-availabilty of significant content across media platforms like television, multiplexes, home video, and theatre, among others.

No new films will be released in this period, partly due to the ongoing tussle between multiplexes and Bollywood producers. This may result in a loss of about Rs 150 cr for the major multiplex chains, that otherwise would have hoped to get some returns by running new films every Friday, said a film trade expert from Mumbai.

By industry estimates, at least 80 per cent of box office collections for Bollywood films comes from the 850-odd multiplex screens in the country. Last year, the gross box office collection for Bollywood films during IPL season stood at about Rs 110 cr, the lowest for these in the 2008 calendar year. This year, the multiplexes have already factored in the months of April and May as the period when returns may be the lowest for this calendar year.

However, Joydeep Ghosh Roy, general manager, marketing and sales, PVR Cinemas, says there are always lean periods for multiplexes, when theatres run on lower occupancy and blockbuster films are not released. “We can always run special festivals on our screens. Plus, there are films in the pipeline, including the Hollywood films that will keep coming even in April and May…On an annual basis, we do tend to make up for it from the good months, like the December-January period when Ghajini and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi were playing on 95 per cent theatre occupancy.”

Also, there are few takers for about 15 films lined for release on DVDs, say the home video companies. This may lead to a loss of about Rs 20-30 cr for these companies.

Says Hiren Gada, director, Shemaroo Entertainment, a company that releases films on DVDs and on home videos: “From 2006-07 to the current fiscal, the home video and DVD segment has witnessed a drop of 10-15 per cent in terms of value. We get a sense from the market that consumers are not too keen on spending on DVDs and home video, specially in the next two months.” Shemaroo will, however, release the DVDs of Slumdog Millionaire, Billu and Chandni Chowk to China very soon.

With general elections also overlapping with the IPL season, advertisers have divided their ad budgets between SET MAX, the host channel for IPL, and a clutch of news channels that will air election-related programming, leaving no room for ad spends on any other genre of television channels.

Media planners put this perceived monetary loss to entertainment channels due non-availability of additional ad spends at about Rs 20 cr for the period.
Source – business-standard.com