A start-up offers cheaper cinema tickets to fill theaters

The idea came to them in 2019 in the middle of a cinema session. Three friends from Nantes, Sylvain Mante, Mélanie Canivet and Cédric Merouani, had gone to see yet another sequel to Spiderman and found themselves alone in the room. The experience made them think about the filling of cinemas and its optimization. The subject has become crucial since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to unprecedented disaffection for the big screen. In October, attendance, finally supported by a rich and varied film offer, reached 14.26 million admissions, a level equivalent to October 2021. But it remains well below the pre-crisis low level ( – 24% compared to the average for the months of October from 2017 to 2019).

New clientele

Thus was born Ozzak, a start-up that offers spectators to pay less for cinema tickets. “We are only partly inspired by the yield management [qui fait varier le prix en fonction de la demande], widely used in trains, planes and hotels, except that we only offer prices equal to or lower than the discounted prices or the prices offered by the subscription formulas”, explains Sylvain Mante. Ozzak aims “occasional consumers”, he says, those who rarely go to the cinema, do not buy a loyalty card and therefore pay a high price.

“We tested the site in Nantes for nine months before rolling it out on a larger scale,” explains Mr. Mante. For the time being, the start-up has only signed with 23 cinemas, including recently Le Grand Rex and l’Epée de bois, in Paris, independents or small circuits in the Pays de la Loire, Aquitaine and in the Rhône-Alpes region. No agreement is concluded with the big circuits like UGC, Pathé, CGR or MK2.

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For exhibitors, Ozzak helps to improve attendance at slower screenings during the day, for example, to fill previews, but above all to reach new customers. The start-up, which hopes to be profitable in three years, is remunerated through a commission on each place. It offers prices that vary, depending on the rooms and the sessions, between 3.50 euros and 8 euros (for Le Grand Rex).

source site-30