BookMyShow appoints former Hungama executive as head of non-movies operations

Online ticketing platform BookMyShow on Monday announced it has roped in former Hungama executive Albert Almeida as operations head of the non-movies category.

In his new role, Almeida will report to Ashish Hemrajani, founder and chief executive of BookMyShow, who first worked with the former from 1997-1999.

In his previous role, Almeida was operations chief of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, where he led Hungama Mobile’s domestic and international businesses. Hungama Digital Media Entertainment offers virtual content across genres and languages in the form of music tracks, movies, music videos, and dialogues.

Almeida, who has over 25 years of experience, has also worked as executive vice-president with Sony Entertainment Television for over half a decade during which he led the Set and Max brands. Before that, he spent over a decade with advertising agency J Walter Thompson in various roles.

Reflecting on his new firm, Almeida said, “BookMyShow, over the years, has established itself as a loved brand with clear market leadership. As a loyal consumer of the service, I have seen how BookMyShow has constantly redefined the space it operates in and has set a clear vision and road map for the entertainment lifecycle of its customers. We see a huge opportunity in the non-movie entertainment space and are committed to driving the next phase of growth from here.”

The appointment comes at a time when BookMyShow is facing tough competition from digital payments major Paytm, especially in movie ticketing. Last week, Paytm announced the acquisition of online ticketing platform TicketNew for a reported $30-40 million.

BookMyShow financials
Market leader BookMyShow, operated by Mumbai-based Bigtree Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, posted a 27% rise in consolidated net sales for 2016-17. That's down from the 85% growth it clocked in 2015-16 and 61% the year before, according to regulatory filings and VCCEdge, the data research platform of VCCircle. 

In absolute terms, consolidated net sales rose to Rs 300 crore for 2016-17 from Rs 236 crore the year before.

The reason for the slowdown is not clear. However, it is not unusual for the growth rate to fall as the size of the business increases.

BookMyShow is one of the most heavily funded companies in the media and entertainment sector in India, having raised a total of $128 million. It counts New York-based investment firm Stripes Group, Reliance Industries-controlled Network 18 and venture capital firms Accel Partners and SAIF Partners as its investors.