Indians Cannot Wait to Visit Cinema Halls But Want a Contactless Movie Experience Too

The Coronavirus lockdown and the subsequent restrictions still in place in many parts of the country are keeping people indoors. But as expected, there is a craving to step out, and in the post-COVID world, it seems Indians really want to go watch a movie at a cinema hall near them. A survey by entertainment platform BookmyShow suggests that as many as 54% of movie buffs in India are eager to get to theatres within 15-90 days of the lockdown lifting. Not surprising, because staying at home must really be getting on everyone’s nerves now. After all, how much Netflix can you watch and how many types of coffee can you try?

The latest BookmyShow survey suggests, “54% of Indian entertainment lovers are eager to get to theatres within 15-90 days of the lockdown lifting while the rest would prefer to step out after 90 days.” That said, as many as 98% of Indians expect cinemas to implement strict safety and hygiene measures to ensure a safe movie-watching experience. For this data, BookmyShow surveyed 4000 people who are regular users of the BookmyShow app for buying tickets, are aged between 16-years to 55 years and live across 235 cities in India including Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, NCR, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Vijayawada and Kochi.

After Contactless Dining, there is also a push towards a contactless entertainment experience. The data suggests that users want very little or no human interaction along the way. As many as 85% of consumers surveyed prefer purchasing their tickets online with the M-ticket & e-ticket option, rather than buying from a ticket counter. However, around 52% of the respondents clarified that they will not pay more for tickets if cinema halls charge more on the pretext that they will admit a limited number of viewers per movie screening. That being said, along with the tickets, more than 36% respondents are also willing to buy food and drinks online and have them delivered to their seats.

The data also suggests that users in South India miss their entertainment the most, with 56% of respondents from the region eager to catch their favourite movie or visit a concert post the lockdown. For experiencing live entertainment, 40% of Indians would prefer attending a music concert which host smaller groups of 50-100 people. Drive-in concerts, intimate tables for 2-4 people are some of the factors that consumers would prefer the most, while attending their favourite events.