Increasing BookMyShow's Revenue –Product Strategy
Product Strategy, Product Improvement - How would you increase the revenue of Bookmyshow?
Describe the Product
BookMyShow (BMS) is India's leading online entertainment ticketing platform, offering a one-stop solution to book tickets for movies, concerts, live events, sports, and even online streaming content. With operations in over 650 cities and a user base of about 30 million customers, BMS has achieved massive scale – handling ~4 billion page views per month and selling around 180 million tickets annually. The platform provides a seamless experience for users to browse show listings, select seats, and make secure payments, eliminating the need to queue at venues. It dominates the market with an estimated 75–78% share in online movie ticketing and about 55% in live event ticketing, as illustrated below. BookMyShow generates revenue through ticket commissions, convenience fees, advertising, partnerships, and corporate solutions, making it an important player in India’s entertainment ecosystem.
Despite its strong position and first-mover advantages (e.g. exclusive theater integrations and event rights), BMS faces growing competition from alternatives like District by Zomato (for movie tickets and events). BMS has begun diversifying its offerings with products like BookMyShow Stream (pay-per-view movie rentals) and BookMyShow Business (B2B event ticketing solutions for corporates). The challenge now is to further increase revenue in the India market, leveraging both user growth and higher monetization across all entertainment categories (movies, concerts, etc.), while maintaining BMS’s trusted user experience.
Clarifying Questions & Assumptions
Before crafting the strategy, I would ask a few clarifying questions and note the assumptions based on the answers:
Are we targeting growth globally or in a specific region?
A: Focus on India only, which is BMS’s primary market.Should we prioritize acquiring new users or increasing spend of existing users (ARPU) – or both?
A: Both are important – we aim to grow the user base and the average revenue per user to drive overall revenue.Should we concentrate on a particular vertical (e.g. movies vs. live events) or consider all offerings?
A: Include all segments of BMS’s business – movies, live events (concerts, sports, plays), and ancillary services (streaming, etc.) – for a holistic strategy.Any specific constraints on budget, resources, or timeline for this initiative?
A: No specific constraints given – we can propose bold ideas, assuming they are feasible and sustainable. (We will, however, prioritize low-hanging fruits and quick wins to show immediate impact.)
With these clarifications, the goal is set to increase BookMyShow’s revenue in India through a combination of user growth and improved monetization across all product lines, while ensuring we deliver value to users and partners.
Goal Definition
Primary Goal: Increase BookMyShow’s annual revenue (e.g. by ~20%) YoY in the next 1–2 years in the Indian market. This growth should be achieved sustainably by boosting ticket sales volume and average revenue per user, without compromising user satisfaction or market leadership. Also the growth should not come solely from heavy discounting or cash burn, but from genuine value-additions that users are willing to pay for.
User Segments
BookMyShow serves a broad audience of entertainment consumers. We can segment the user base in several ways; here are a few key user segments and their characteristics:
Frequent Movie-Goers (“Movie Buffs”) – These are cinephiles who watch movies regularly (often multiple times a month). They value the convenience of advance booking and seat selection. Many in this group have high loyalty to BMS and don’t mind paying the convenience fee for a hassle-free experience.
Live Event Enthusiasts (“Weekenders”) – Typically younger users (students or professionals) in metro areas who love going out on weekends for concerts, live shows, sports matches, comedy gigs, and the occasional movie. This group is more price-sensitive and tech-savvy: they tend to compare prices or deals between BMS and competitors like District by Zomato, hunt for promo codes, and coordinate plans with friends.
Occasional/Casual Users – This segment includes people who rarely go out for movies or events, or who still primarily buy tickets offline. They might be in smaller cities or older in age. Their usage of BMS is infrequent, perhaps limited to a blockbuster movie once in a while or a big event occasionally.
(Additionally, we have partners like event organizers and cinemas as a “segment” from a B2B perspective, but for increasing BMS’s revenue, the strategies will largely revolve around end-users, while keeping partners satisfied so they continue working with BMS.)
For our strategy, we will focus on the "Live Event Enthusiasts (Weekenders)" segment as the primary target. This segment is growing rapidly and has a high revenue potential per user (given the rising demand for live experiences post-pandemic).
Pain Points
Focusing on the Weekenders (Live Event Enthusiasts), let's identify and prioritize their main pain points when using BookMyShow today. These are the obstacles that, if solved, would encourage them to use BMS more often and spend more on the platform: