A startup offers cheap cinema tickets to fill theaters

They came up with the idea in the middle of a cinema session in 2019. Three friends from Nantes, Sylvain Mande, Mélanie Canevet and Cédric Merouani, had gone to see another sequel. spider man and found them alone in the room. That experience made me think about filling cinemas and its optimization. The topic has become important 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 diverse film offer, reached 14.26 million admissions, the same level as October 2021. But this is much lower than the pre-crisis low level (compared to the average of -months – 24% from October 2017 to 2019).

New customers

And so was born Ozzak, a start-up that offers viewers discounted cinema tickets. “We are only partially impressed Yield management [qui fait varier le prix en fonction de la demande], Widely used in trains, flights and hotels, except that we only offer discounted fares or fares equal to or lower than those offered by subscription formulas”. Sylvain Mande explains. Ozak looks on “occasional consumer”, Infrequent moviegoers, he says, don’t buy loyalty cards, so they pay more.

“We tested the site in Nantes for nine months before the big rollout,” Mr. Monte explains. For now, the start-up has only signed up with 23 theaters, including recently Le Grand Rex and l’Epée de bois in Paris. . No contract was made with major circuits like UGC, Pathé, CGR or MK2.

For exhibitors, Ozzak helps improve attendance at slower screenings during the day, for example, to fill previews, but above all to reach new customers. A start-up that hopes to turn a profit within three years is paid on commission at each location. It offers prices varying between 3.50 euros and 8 euros (for Le Grand Rex), depending on rooms and sessions.