BookMyShow-success-story- Bio, facts, Net worth, Business, Income, Growth, Investments, Challenges Faced. Personal life.
![BookMyShow-success-story- Bio, facts, Net worth, Business, Income, Growth, Investments, Challenges Faced. Personal life.](https://indiansuccessstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/4-10.jpg)
BookMyShow-success-story- Bio, facts, Net worth, Business, Income, Growth, Investments, Challenges Faced. Personal life.
Watching a movie can be done for a million different reasons, such as decompressing after a hard day, laughing out loud, spending time with friends, and much more. Audiences vary in what genre they enjoy; some are action fans, some are rom-com fans, teens are drama fans, and so on. There are always options. It's crucial to remember that there is something for everyone, though.
BookMyShow is one website that connects all moviegoers; it provides a wide range of ticket booking alternatives. BookMyShow covers movies, parties, events, and everything else you can think of. This initiative has made purchasing tickets as simple as ABC. However, becoming a profitable enterprise did not happen overnight for them.
![](https://indiansuccessstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/1-2.png)
![](https://indiansuccessstories.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2-10-1024x576.jpg)
Some highlights of her life :
- Childhood: Saroj, the eldest of three daughters and two sons, was born in 1961 to a Marathi Buddhist family in the village of Roperkheda near Akola, Maharashtra, India. Saroj's father was an Akola police policeman in the village of Repatkhed.
- Qualification: Her father insisted that she must at least be a "matriculate," therefore she only studied up to the seventh grade. Within our samaj, or community, girls were prohibited from attending school. There was additional opposition since I was a Dalit Buddhist. "Usko chulha chakki hi chalani hai (she has to work in the kitchen)," my family would remark, she says.
- Marriage Life: Kalpana Saroj lived in a Mumbai slum with her husband's family after getting married at the age of twelve. Her father saved her from physical violence at the hands of her husband's family, and she later left her husband and went back to live with her parents in her village. She tried to end her life after the locals shunned her. She returned to Mumbai at the age of sixteen to live with her uncle. In order to provide for her family, she began working at a clothing factory. She successfully launched a furniture store after starting a tailoring business with government loans for scheduled caste members.
BookMyShow: The Team and Founders
Three friends, Rajesh Balpande, Parikshit Dar, and Ashish Hemrajani, founded BookMyShow. They are former students of Mumbai University's Sydenham Institute of Management. At BookMyShow, Ashish Hemrajani serves as CEO.
Ashish Hemrajani
Ashish Hemrajani is a Sydenham native who holds an MBA in marketing. Asish was employed at J. Walter Thompson, an advertising agency, in the Account Management and Client Management divisions, respectively, before starting BookMyShow. He later made a change of direction with BookMyShow and is currently the company's founder and CEO.
Bigtree Entertainment, led by Ashish, managed to weather the Dot Com bust by selling the Vista ticketing software and offering back-end ticketing services to movie theaters. With the expansion of credit/debit card penetration in the market and the development of multiplexes, BookMyShow was launched. Seeing the chance, Ashish and his group successfully executed it.
Rajesh Balpande
Prior to investing alongside his friend Ashish in the business, Rajesh Balpande was employed at The Chatterjee Group as an investment banker. He continues to be referred to be BookMyShow's co-founder.
Parikshit Dar
Pasikhit Dar is an additional BookMyShow co-founder. Currently, Dar holds the positions of co-founder of BookMyShow and director of Bigtree Entertainment. Like the other founders, Dar studied at Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics, where he earned his MBA in 1997. Dar was involved in the technological aspect of the business and its website due to his knowledge in the field. Dar has made a significant contribution to BookMyShow, from creating the website to designing and developing the ticketing portal and the back-end technology!
BookMyShow - Overview
At the moment, the business operates the biggest entertainment ticketing platform in India. BookMyShow began as a software reseller for movie theaters in 1999 and later evolved into a cloud-based ticketing platform for plays, movies, sports, and events. BookMyShow was once known as Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., the name of its parent company.
With over 30 million customers, it operates in five countries. BookMyShow has experienced several highs and lows throughout the course of its sixteen years in business. From the 'Dot Com' crash in the early 2000s to the global financial crisis of 2008, the company's story is akin to David against. Goliath, having risen from Rs 25,000 in beginning capital to Rs 391 crore in sales in FY2018. It prevailed in the end after navigating through difficult circumstances.
BookMyShow: The Sector
In 2018, the Indian internet ticketing business brought in $28 million in revenue per quarter, according to a RedSeer analysis. Furthermore, according to RedSeer's "online ticket market updates" study, movies have generated half of the industry's revenue, with events accounting for the remaining 50%. The live entertainment industry, including concerts and sporting events, accounted for a substantial portion of the nearly $330 million in income generated by the internet ticketing sector in 2017.
The entertainment sector is predicted to grow dramatically, with total income estimated to reach an incredible US$31.23 billion in 2022, according to comprehensive research from Statista.
BookMyShow: An Initiation Tale
After completing his master's degree and working with J.W. Thompson, Ashish went traveling in South Africa and found inspiration. Alcohol proved to be the catalyst for change. It occurred to him when he was calmly listening to a radio advertisement for rugby tickets while seated beneath a tree. Ashish was so inspired by this concept that he quit his work and went back to India right away to dedicate himself entirely to achieving his goal. Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. was founded with the goal of revolutionizing the ticketing sector in its entirety.
Despite his parents' early reservations, Ashish turned his bedroom into the company's headquarters when he launched his internet venture, BookMyShow, at the age of 24. Overcoming challenges, he convinced his parents to back him, and together with co-founders Parikshit Dar and Rajesh Balpande, the three of them—dubbed the "three musketeers"—founded Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., the company that houses BookMyShow.
BookMyShow: Title, Catchphrase, and Icon
At first, BookMyShow was known as "Go For Ticketing." The business once went by the name "India Ticketing" in 2002 before settling on its current moniker.
In 2007, when the company was still called India Ticketing, it launched a competition for its employees to choose the name of the company. An iPod touch was handed to the contest winner. An engineering intern suggested BookMyShow as a moniker. This is how the project's name was chosen to align with its aims and objectives.
Services - BookMyShow
BookMyShow started out only selling movie tickets but quickly expanded into other markets.Tickets for almost every kind of entertainment, including plays, movies, fairs, sports, and more, are available these days. Additionally, tickets for international events and landmark exhibitions can be reserved on the platform. The company also introduced tickets for events in the vicinity.
BookMyShow's services are available via its mobile app or website. The app was initially released in 2012. It may be downloaded for Blackberry, iOS, Android, and Windows. The app is periodically updated and upgraded by the company. A 'progressive web app' was also released by BookMyShow in 2017. Users of the app may read reviews, watch trailers, purchase tickets, check show times, and do a lot more. Also, BookMyShow offers round-the-clock customer support.
BookMyShow: The Business Plan
Real-time movie ticket availability integration is made possible by BookMyShow's exclusive access to Vista ERP APIs, which forms the basis of its business strategy. The platform extends these APIs to offer complementary services including parking, food and beverage, shopping, retail, and security in order to facilitate upselling and cross-selling. Through particular interfaces and kiosks, the system also facilitates offline ticketing. The range of revenue streams and customer accessibility offered by BookMyShow are improved by this diverse approach.
BookMyShow's Business Plan
BookMyShow derives revenue from the following channels:
- Revenue from tickets: This is the main source of funding for the entire project. It covers internet handling expenses and commissions on ticket sales. The corporation adds extra fees for convenience on top of the ticket price. BookMyShow continues to be different. It gets paid a commission on ticket sales for events that aren't motion pictures.
- Income not from tickets: Any company that wants to promote its artwork—which includes, but is not limited to, films and short films—can get in contact with BookMyShow in order to improve "interest creation" with the online audience. The company that collaborates with BookMyShow advertises new performers and their items on the latter's massive page views. After money is received, a ticket is deemed sold. The ticket cannot be canceled or refunded after that moment.
BookMyShow - Issues Encountered
The route ahead of the organization was not easy. From the challenges of starting a new company to the financial crisis of 2007 to the 'Dot Com' bubble of 2002, BookMyShow has seen it all. At the time BigTree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. was established in 1999, online ticket sales were uncommon. The internet was still a dynamic, experimental space even then. The primary hindrances to ticket sales were the infrequent, if not nonexistent, use of credit card, debit card, and net banking services. Inadequate internet access and the lack of e-ticketing software in cinemas made the issues worse.
Once upon a time, BookMyShow bought tickets in bulk and sent out hundreds of employees to deliver them by bicycle to customers. However, due to the unscalable nature of the business model, the company was forced to abandon it.
At first, the majority of BookMyShow's business was done offline. With 150 employees dispersed throughout 12 call centers in 12 cities, the company was operating profitably despite the difficulties. The business's financial partner, Chase, sold News Corp.'s (Rupert Murdoch's company) share. Then, in 2002, it was rocked by the "Dot Com" crash. In the history of the business, it was the lowest moment. Due to the investors' withdrawal, BookMyShow was forced to buy back its business from News Corp.
To lessen the issue, BookMyShow cut significant costs, such as employee salaries. It even shut down a few offices and focused solely on the two biggest cities, Mumbai and Delhi. The skeleton crew had shrunk from 150 members to just six. Ashish, Parikshit, and Rajesh persisted in spite of these obstacles. With the closure of the 'Dot Com' scandal, there have been some good advances in the Indian business.
Both credit and debit cards gained popularity as internet accessibility improved. Multiplexes multiplied in quantity. BookMyShow desired to regain its firm foundation. It began by offering multiplexes automatic ticketing software as part of its software solutions business. Additionally, the business began operating call centers for its customers. BookMyShow made money bit by bit and was valued at Rs 24.1 crore in 2007.
BookMyShow: Expanding
Purchase of movie tickets was limited to the movie theater counters and only in theaters. Thus, by utilizing digital technology, BookMyShow surely brought about nothing less than a revolution in this situation.
In light of the expansion, it should be mentioned that BookMyShow is currently available in more than 650 Indian towns and cities, with over 5,000 screens. In 2016, the company ventured into the Southeast Asian markets and achieved success there as well.