Sign up for IQ Index
The latest industry news to your inbox.
BookMyShow Online, a pay-per-view online event platform, marks the latest move by India’s largest ticketing company into the virtual entertainment space
By IQ on 01 Jul 2020
BookMyShow, India’s largest online ticketing company, today (1 July) launched a pay-per-view streaming platform for live events.
BookMyShow Online will showcase performances across music, comedy and the performing arts and will be accessible via the BookMyShow app and website. A subscription-based model will also be rolled out in the next few months.
One of the first events to appear on the platform will make its debut is Sunburn Home Festival, the virtual edition of Goan EDM festival Sunburn, which is taking place on 11 and 12 July with sets from Bassjackers, Vini Vici, Mattn and Ummet Ozcan.
Tickets cost Rs99 (€1.20) for one day or Rs199 (€2.40) for both days.
Other upcoming events include shows by Bang Bang Romeo and Electric Enemy, and theatre workshops with veterans like Puneet Issar, Rohini Hattangadi, Rakesh Bedi, and Anant Mahadevan.
During lockdown, BookMyShow has facilitated the discovery of online entertainment on its platform, with currently almost half a million viewers accessing virtual events via its service per week.
With BookMyShow Online, the company intends to put all events behind a paywall, with prices varying per shows and platinum options, including post-performance Q&As, available for a greater price.
“Our latest video streaming platform BookMyShow Online was born out of this need to make virtual live entertainment a frictionless and hassle-free viewing experience”
“Sensing the shift in our users’ appetite for entertainment during this lockdown, we were agile enough to change tack by introducing virtual in-home entertainment offerings in India and other global markets,” says Parikshit Dar, co-founder and director of BookMyShow.
“Our latest video streaming platform BookMyShow Online was born out of this need to make virtual live entertainment a frictionless and hassle-free viewing experience.”
The streaming platform will initially be able to host over 50,000 concurrent viewers per minute, with the company reportedly testing a feature to take this up to 100,000.
“The platform is built for scale,” says Dar. “This tech allows us the ability to spin multiple live events with our livestreaming capability, enhance the user experience, and provide a lightning-fast video player for streaming content.”
The company has partnered with global video technology platform Brightcove to power BookMyShow Online.
In May, BookMyShow announced cost-cutting measures including the lay-off or furloughing of 270 employees and company-wide salary reductions.
Read the Indian market report in the latest edition of IQ Magazine here.
Photo: Preeti Photography/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) (cropped)
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.