The total number of screens exceeds 40,000 yuan, but the box office on a single screen is declining. How can theaters make money in the future?

"just like these cinemas in Yancheng, some of them must be eliminated. Many cinemas will be the same in the future, either find a buyer or close down. "

the intensification of competition is a microcosm of the operation of many cinemas in the past two years. Wang Zheng, chief media analyst at Everbright Securities Research Institute, believes that there are two core changes in the current film investment market. One of them is that while the number of screens and cinemas is still growing at a high speed, the overall operation of film casting and cinemas is more competitive and more difficult than before. < / strong > "the number of screens increased by nearly 10, 000 last year, by more than 3000 in the first quarter of this year alone, and now there are nearly 45000 screens in the country."

"Competition among the four major cities in the north, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen has intensified, and even in Shanghai, the cinema chain, which used to be absolutely dominant, has experienced a decline in its market share in recent years, which has been obviously impacted by competition. The current market concentration is relatively low, and we believe that this decentralized pattern will continue for quite some time. "

Wang Zheng believes that under the current situation, there are still three types of funds that are more active in the film investment M & A market: one is the medium and large film investment companies that want to further consolidate their share in the stage of intensified competition; the second is commercial real estate developers seeking consumer diversion through cinemas; and there are listed media companies that have a very strong demand for building an entertainment industry chain.

although there are still large companies that have demand for mergers and acquisitions, in Wang Zheng's view, the shadow investment market will become more rational, and participants will think more rationally in the process of mergers and acquisitions, "it would be better to operate capital and not to give too high a valuation. Now the main acquirer will be more rational in choosing the qualifications of the target of the merger, and the companies that want to sell the studio will also consider it more clearly. "

mergers and acquisitions in the industry are still continuing, but Wang Ruoyu, director of the cinema industry of the Media and Finance Department of far East Hongxin Co., Ltd., believes that the cinemas bought may not necessarily make money, and the expansion of the cinema line or film casting scale may not be able to achieve the effect of 1: 1 > 2.

Wen Guangkai, general manager of Hangzhou Handing Yuyou Interactive Entertainment Management Co., Ltd., is also skeptical about the expansion of cinemas: "will movie casting and cinema develop well when the scale is big?" I hold a conservative opinion. Even if some film companies have a larger market share in the future, I think some small films and cinemas still have room for differentiation. "

the boom in buying cinemas continues. Although Handing Yuyou has also been buying cinemas in the past two years, Wen Guangkai is also very cautious about the price. "everyone thinks that the film market and the total box office will certainly develop in the future, but some cinema chains and funds have pushed the price of cinemas very high in the past two years, and we don't know how to judge the true value of cinemas when we make acquisitions. I am now talking about several cinemas, the average PE (price-to-earnings ratio) is only about 5, we think that 5 times PE is a more reasonable value range for cinema assets. "

< strong > what cinemas will make money in the future: content" open source ", management" cut expenditure < / strong > "

in that day's forum, whether cinema operators, investors or investment institutions analysts, basically maintain the same point of view on the future business model of cinema. That is to say, it is very difficult for cinemas to have good business performance by relying solely on the box office in the future.

Wang Zheng pointed out that in the current increasingly competitive market environment, in addition to the online video business, < strong > private cinemas and on-demand cinemas that may be added to box office statistics in the future are more likely to have a significant impact on the current cinema operation. Operators of traditional cinemas also need to think more about how to enrich the audience's consumption experience: < / strong >

"Cinema scene upgrading will continue to occur for some time in the future. At present, one of the advantages of cinemas lies in their social nature, so for cinema operators, they should identify the audience more accurately and stack more consumption in the cinema in order to provide a richer experience for the audience.

with the upgrading of the cinema scene, more and more consumers choose to spend in the cinema. In Wen Guangkai's professional experience, a cinema in Shanghai impressed him: "A cinema rented 4000 square meters of space at that time, but only four rooms were rented, and the rest of the room was rented for catering. Not only did the film bring a good flow of people to the restaurant, but also the rent income was higher than the box office revenue."

"five years ago, movie tickets sold for 100 yuan, but now movie tickets sell for 30 yuan," Wen Guangkai said. "for cinemas, it is impossible for cinemas to make money. For cinemas, how to find good channels and ways to realize the flow of people is the main profit space for cinemas in the future."

Wang Ruoyu, director of the cinema industry of the Media and Finance Department of far East Hongxin Co., Ltd., also believes that at present, the audience's stay in the cinema is getting shorter and shorter, and it is difficult for cinemas to survive purely by selling tickets. < strong > cinemas not only need to build a "non-box office ecology", but also need to be more advanced in management: < / strong >

"Cinemas should eventually be a cultural complex in the form of" kitchen ", and non-box office ecology should be reconstructed. Not just a movie. Now the cinema is only an one-way transmission, consumers come to receive the one-way transmission of the movie screen, can we make an interactive transmission? After collecting financial data from the Shang Chao model and forming a consumption graph, it can provide customized two-way and different products for consumers so as to keep consumers in the cinema. "

< strong > "in addition, the management of cinemas should be more professional and information-based, so as to reduce the operating costs of cinemas. < / strong > at present, the management level of many cinemas is very low, there is no management software, financial software, no perfect enterprise management system, and lack of management personnel. If we want cinemas to have sustainable vitality, we must move from capital-intensive and labor-intensive to technology-intensive and knowledge-intensive when the economy develops to a certain stage. This is an economic law that cinema managers should not ignore. "

Edit: mary