Expanding in a phased manner is a key discussion point in our partnership with IMAX: Ajay Bijli

An edited version of this Q&A first appeared in DNA Money edition on Monday June 17, 2013.

Actor Aamir Khan inaugurating PVR Imax theatre along with
Ajay Bijli, CMD, PVR Ltd, and Sanjeev Bijli, JMD, PVR Ltd

Sitting atop in the Indian film exhibition industry with 365 screens in 86 cinemas in 36 cities across India, PVR is targeting 500 screens by 2015. The company also launched the IMAX screen at PVR Phoenix Mills (Lower Parel, Mumbai) showcasing Hollywood blockbuster Man of Steel. Ajay Bijli, chairman and managing director, PVR Ltd speaks about the association with IMAX, merger/integration of Cinemax, and growth plans. Edited excerpts:

I noticed, your IMAX screens in Bangalore and Mumbai have Pepsi and Kotak as title sponsors. What is the rational behind this approach?

Film exhibition business primarily has three revenue streams viz theatrical, food and beverage and, sponsorship and advertising. We look at properties and opportunities wherein we can get a sponsor associated with anything that we do onscreen advertising. One such opportunity came post signing up with IMAX and we took it to a sponsor to see their reaction.

Worldwide, corporates, banks, beverage brands seek associations that offer a very unique experience. Since our investment is large and if we could get a sponsor it will eases off the pressure to some extent. But we pursue this approach property by property like for the IMAX Bangalore property we have Pepsi as the title sponsor while it's Kotak for IMAX at Phoenix Mills. The tenure for such deals is five years, I cannot share the commercials associated with it though.

Is there a commitment from PVR in terms of the number of IMAX screens in India?

We will set up IMAX screens wherever there is an opportunity. We can go up to 10 screens but I'm very particular about where these screens come up. Besides a perfect location we look for things like right demographic profile, liking for Hollywood films etc. We are primarily an exhibitor but wherever we feel can add value and give a much better experience by adding another attraction we'll do it.

In phase I, the potential exists only in those catchments where Hollywood films are well received and we represent about 45% of such films in India. However, I think IMAX has a great future and with Indian films also getting converted (into IMAX) there will be a huge propensity of people to watch such films. So phase II might see a much larger footprint with huge pipeline of Indian films. In fact, expanding in a phased manner is a key discussion point in our partnership with IMAX.

Cinemax recently got merged with PVR, could you throw some light on how are we going about the two brands now considering both enjoy great equity in certain key markets?

We are looking at economies of scale at different levels. There is no hurry for us to convert everything into PVR as conversion is an expensive proposition as well. We have done audits and are now looking at those areas where consumer experience can be improved first. People need to feel the presence of PVR even though name is not PVR.

So from projection, sound systems, food and beverage and online initiatives, box-office experience, advertising and marketing etc will have to be upgraded and extended to all locations to bring them at par with PVR. We are cherry-picking properties that have not been renovated for a long time. These I believe can be converted into PVR provided they are in the right catchments. Then there are certain brand new properties with PVR level standards like the five-screen Cinemax at Pacific Mall (Subhash Nagar, New Delhi) that has already been converted to PVR at a cost of Rs 67 lakh.

What are the possibilities of brand Cinemax getting completely phased out over 3-5 years from now? Or Cinemax could become a sub-brand?

Not really. I'm finding that Cinemax is also in great locations so we'll have to be very careful how go about it. I don't think the brand will get phased out completely as it is very expensive to change. Looking at economies of scale from a stakeholders perspective having one brand will be very fantastic but we will have to see how it goes. We might look at a prefix / hybrid option for some while others could be completely PVR. We are still thinking along those lines.

You are also adding a good number of screens organically. What are the plans like in this fiscal?

We have been consistently adding 50-60 screens in the last couple of years and the target for this fiscal is 90-odd screens. We adopt a very cautious approach to capital deployment and certainly not in a big hurry. We are pretty much on track and have already opened 25-odd screens. In another fortnight we will be opening 17 screens taking the total to 382 screens. We should be 500 screens in total by 2015.

On the revenues streams you'd mentioned earlier, what is the ratio like between the three to the company's overall revenues?

Films contribute the largest at 67% followed by 23% from food and beverage and 10% from advertising. Profitability-wise advertising is number one contributor to company's bottom-line. And with new screens getting operational, we see advertising contributing close to 15% to the overall revenues in the future. Interestingly, we probably have the highest (across the globe) per screen revenue generated from advertising.

People have expressed displeasure on facebook and twitter on the long duration advertising when watching a movie.

Advertisers look for big blockbuster releases and it largely happens with such films. So when Yeh Jawaani happened people have carried back that impression. I agree it was very long.

In fact, some people posted that it was 45 mins of advertising...

No no... 45 minutes to I will never allow... I've seen Ye Jawaani twice and I think maximum it was 12-14 minutes of advertising in the pre-movie stage and another 8-9 minutes in the interval. So all in all it would have been 20-22 minutes of advertising. One needs to understand that the company has been promoted by movie-buffs and I'd personally hate if there was advertising beyond a limit.

Also, there was a certain pent-up demand already in the market. Ye Jawaani came after IPL which already had a issue. So the pent-up demand was from everyone; consumer were dying to see a good movie, advertisers wanted to go back to the medium of cinema and exhibitors wanted to maximise the number of shows. So we were all basically waiting from something big to happen and that's why the increase in duration of advertising.

Could you throw some light on the ticket pricing trends, how's it looking like in this fiscal?

I think it would be the usual 10-12% hike in ticket rates mainly due to inflation. People take the highest ticket price paid over the weekend or the price for the last row as the benchmark. I'd look at the average ticket price (ATP) -- morning, evening, weekday, weekend -- and that is still low at Rs 175.

The F&B part of your business is also getting bigger by the day.

The F&B vertical has now reached Rs 300 crore in overall revenues and we believe it should really be PVR's focus along with cinemas especially something that's a very natural extension to the cinema business. So we won't do a standalone restaurants. The F&B eco-system will be built around the multiplexes and our intention is to have F&B outlets for pre- and post-movie viewing experiences especially in the newer multiplexes.

We may also end up creating a few brands in the quick service restaurants (QSR) on our own. The first one (a polished casual dining restaurant with an average per cover charge of Rs 1,100) we have done is our own brand. Others in the pipeline will be a mix of outsource, joint ventures and franchise. It will be too early to disclose details as talks are still on and we are evaluating the viability / feasibility.

How is the leisure vertical shaping up? Are there more concepts in the offering?

We have joint venture company that operated five bowling centres already and will be opening three more this year. The unit level profitability here is very good. Ice skating was something being explored but our market research showed that too many accidents would happen hence the idea was dropped.

You now have significant backing from L Capital and Renuka Ramnath's Multiples private equity fund holding 15.8% stake. So any future funding requirement will be done through them are some new names could join in?

I doesn't look like there will be any further funding requirement as of now. Also we work on negative cash flow and have close to Rs 300 crore in operating revenues (ebitda) which is good enough to meet any funding requirements. Unless there is another acquisition we may plan which is very unlikely. Cinemax was a very big deal and we need to digest it properly. So we need to be sensible about how to grow the company and there is no such hurry. We are already growing by 30-40% annually which is more than enough.