42% urban Indians influenced by movie ads: GroupM study

About 42% of cinemagoers in top Indian cities acknowledge the influence of cinema ads on their purchase decisions, according to the latest 'Profiling Cinemagoers' report released by GroupM. The survey captures changing audience preferences and the trends in the Indian movie entertainment sector across major metropolitan cities.

GroupM survey consisted of responses of 1,075 individuals aged 18-44 in Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune. The agency classified the cinemagoers in these cities into three groups: heavy viewers (23%) who watch more than four movies every month, medium viewers (57%) who watch 2-3 films per month, and light viewers (20%) who watch only one movie in a month.

On average, regular cinemagoers watch 18 films annually, with men outpacing women in terms of movie-watching. GroupM captured this data via ProCAT, a web-based platform that provides data-driven insights on cinema audiences.

The survey found that while about 42% of viewers prefer watching movies on the day of the release, 25% even opt for the first-day, first-shows. The survey found that evening has been the preferred screening time for most urban cinemagoers; nearly 75% visit cinema halls with their families and friends. Identifying cinema as a key advertising medium, GroupM study reveals that nearly half of all viewers mentioned that the in-theatre ads influence their purchase decisions.

India's cinema industry recorded 85.7 crore footfalls and 10,271 screens in the year 2024. The country's total gross box office collections (GBOC) stood at INR 12,300 crores last year. While the average ticket price in 2024 was INR 145, the highest ticket price per show reached INR 2,500. The month with the highest footfall was December 2024, which saw 9.7 crore footfalls and INR 1,746 crores in box office revenue. December also had the highest total viewing hours, with cinemagoers collectively spending 214 crore hours in theatres.

Among states, while Kerala showed over 20% increase in box office collections, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana showed a higher affinity for cinema relative to their population base. Bengaluru and Hyderabad emerged as top contributors to gross box office collections, while Mumbai and Chennai continued to have disproportionately high percentages of movie-goers, mentions the survey report.

'Pushpa 2 (Telugu)' was the record-breaker movie of 2024. In its opening week, it earned INR 750 crores in box office collections and 3.43 crores in footfalls. Pushpa 2's total GBOC in 2024 stood at INR 1,269 crores, and it garnered 6.5 crore total footfalls. The movie was simultaneously released in multiple languages, including Hindi, in different parts of India.

Regional films played a major role in driving box office performance. The Telugu film Hanuman and the Tamil film 'Amaran' also grossed over INR 300 crores each in box-office collections. The dubbed versions of Pushpa 2 and Kalki even outperformed their original language versions in the Hindi-speaking regions.

With the regional cinema and audience engagement driving huge box-office collections across the country, the industry exhibited a strong performance in spite of the conspicuous absence of big Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan in 2024.