No IPL impact on theatre occupancy: PVR Cinemas

ipl SEASON 5

New Delhi: Movie occupancy has been stronger in the first quarter of the current fiscal year 2012-13 than earlier years despite the Indian Premier League (IPL), Pramod Arora, PVR Cinemas president and CEO told NDTV Profit.

According to him, the World Cup last year affected occupancy as movie producers were doubtful about releasing films during a major cricket event. However, this is not the trend this year, he said.

"An IPL cannot compete with a world cup, which had an impact on occupancy," Arora said.

In the first few seasons of IPL, movie producers avoided to release movies during cricket season, which saw great popularity among masses. "Only small films came through last year," Arora said.

But, IPL viewership seems to be on a wane. According to Tam Media Research, Television Viewer Ratings (TVR) were down 18.7 per in the first six games, an average TVR of 3.76, as compared to 4.63 last season.

The trend has not gone unnoticed with the film industry which is releasing a lot more big-ticket films this year.Moreover, with BCCI not releasing rights for screening matches live in movie halls, IPL is not taking up screen time. "Now IPL impact has stabilized," Arora said.

According to PVR, the movie pipeline is also strong this year. "Most of the Hollywood franchisees are going to be released like Batman, and there are some good Hindi movies too," he said. However, analysts expect that occupancy rate is likely to be slower in the January-March quarter on account of exams.
Shares of PVR are trading over 2 per cent higher in early morning trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange while the BSE Sensex index is down 0.08 per cent.

In the last three months, it share price rose 10.5 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange. In comparison, the broader BSE Sensex gained 4.5 per cent for the same period.