Paytm sold 52 Mn entertainment tickets in 2017, claims 6X growth but how

After a decade of sheer monopoly, BookMyShow has got a serious competition from none other than SoftBank-backed Paytm. The digital payment major has claimed to sell massive 52 million movie as well as event tickets in 2017.

With this, the company claims to have recorded 6X jump in selling entertainment tickets over 2016, reports Mint. However, Entrackr has failed (we might be wrong) to understand the metrics- how Paytm is claiming 6 times growth over 2016 since several media reports mentioned that it sold out 25 million tickets (here, here and here) in 2016.

Entrackr has sent queries to Paytm regarding growth figures. We will update the post as we receive responses.

Twenty months ago, Paytm had made an entry into entertainment ticketing space.

Currently, the company has a partnership with 4,000 movie screens across multiplex operators like PVR, INOX, and Cinepolis among various regional chains. Importantly, BookMyShow did not reveal any figure in 2017 but it claimed to sell over 100 million tickets in 2016.

Paytm seems to have been driving almost half of BookMyShow's 2016 annual volume. The Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company is eyeing to sell 100 million tickets in 2018.

It also claimed to contribute 25-30 per cent towards the opening weekend box office collection of major movies. The company also plans to collaborate with production houses for offering customised analytics and marketing solutions.

In June last year Paytm had acquired a majority stake in online ticketing platform, Insider.in. The Mumbai-based company is one of the leading ticketing platforms for events and properties, which includes the likes of Bacardi NH7 Weekender and TV series The Dewarists.

Notably, Paytm backer Alibaba had picked-up a majority stake in Chennai-based online ticketing platform TicketNew through its affiliate Alibaba Pictures in June last year.

Currently, the movie ticketing market in India is estimated to be worth nearly $2 billion and has been growing at 10 per cent annually. So far, the online movie ticketing market is only 15 per cent of the overall domestic market.

Paytm had identified movie ticketing as the next $1 billion gross transactions vertical, besides travel. According to Madhur Deora, chief financial officer and senior vice president at Paytm -  regional movies contribute 35 per cent of the company’s overall sales.