MUMBAI: Rentrak recently announced the launch of its India box-office tracking service, aiming to bring independently verified box-office data in the country. The announcement was made at the ongoing Mumbai Film Festival.
Talking to the Hollywood Reporter, Rentrak’s vice present for Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, Arturo Guillen said, “This can be a win-win situation for all parties involved — producers, distributors and exhibitors.”
Even with almost 11,000 screens in the country, the box-office data is still largely based on figures reported by distributors and producers rather than being directly sourced from cinema locations. The company will collect and analyze data from cinemas directly, according to media reports.
According to industry estimates, India clocks around 3.5 billion admissions per year with total revenues touching $1.5 billion. With the demand for Indian films getting huge overseas as well, Rentrak is already tracking Bollywood titles in 44 countries while the company’s India client base will include local arms of Hollywood studios that have become active in local productions such as Disney, Fox Star Studios and Viacom18, in addition to Indian banners, the report added.
“As we have seen in other markets, cinemas benefit from our data as it helps them track footfalls, which is helpful for in-cinema advertising and programming decisions,” said Rentrak India MD Rajkumar Akella, in an interview to The Hollywood Reporter.
“A leading Indian producer once told me that data is the basis to define reality,” added Guillen, referring to how data can also help in tracking consumer tastes.
This is Rentrak’s second attempt at entering India after its now-defunct 2007 pact with Mumbai-based Bigtree Entertainment, which provides entertainment ticketing applications and solutions.
