Hindi
BookMyShow reveals how India entertained itself in 2017
MUMBAI: As the year comes to a close, BookMyShow looks back at what entertained India this year, from movies to plays, sports, events and music. In 2017, millions of Indians reached out to BookMyShow to meet their entertainment demands basis which the platform is delighted to present #Bestof2017*.
BookMyShow, Director, Parikshit Dar said, “As we near the end of 2017, we’d like that to thank all our customers who chose BookMyShow for all their entertainment needs. Through BookMyShow’s #Bestof2017, we have revisited a truly incredible year. With mega blockbusters like Baahubali 2, mammoth events like Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and classic productions like Mughal-e-Azam, this year the entertainment sector in India evolved and so did the audience. We are happy to have been a significant part of such an amazing journey and are now excited to embark upon the New Year with our customers, with the promise to open up the world of entertainment for them like never before.”
Movies
With over 1450 films that were listed on BookMyShow in 2017, it was clearly the year of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion with BookMyShow alone selling over 16 million tickets for the film which had consecutive run of 175 days at the box office! Following Baahubali 2, was Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Again and Akshay Kumar starrer Jolly LLB 2.
Here’s some more interesting facts and insights:
The first ticket for Baahubali 2: The Conclusion was purchased on BookMyShow for its Telugu version a month before the release of the film from Banki, a small town in Odisha
Sunday was the most preferred day to watch a film. Well, no surprises there.
Afternoon movie show times were most preferred. Did we all think it would be Night shows?
Hyderabad fans saw the most films this year and gave serious competition to and left behind movie buffs in Mumbai, Bengaluru and NCR in terms of total movie ticket sales
Drama, followed by Action, Comedy, Romantic Comedy and Thriller were the most popular film genres
Regional cinema continued to show impressive growth in 2017 with Gujarati cinema leading the way. Gujarati cinema registered over 44% growth viz-a-viz 2016 in terms of transactions on BookMyShow, followed by Malayalam cinema which registered 38% growth
Movie goers across India preferred Hindi cinema, followed by Tamil, and English cinema
Non-Movies (Including plays, events, and sports)
India went beyond movies and took to non-movie entertainment in a huge way in 2017. BookMyShow saw close to 20% increase in the total number of non-movie listings on the platform viz-a-viz 2016
Indians were highly receptive towards sports. This was clearly evident from the fact that this year the number of sports events listed on BookMyShow increased by over 55% v/s 2016.
Events, on the other hand, including concerts such as by Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran and A.R. Rahman shown immense promise and potential, registering over 45% increase in terms of ticket sales v/s 2016. A special mention goes to the 31st Surajkund International Craft Mela 2017 that saw lakhs of people who preferred booking their tickets on BookMyShow.
Among power plays of the year, right at the top is Feroz Abbas Khan’s Mughal-e-Azam that mesmerized the audiences in Delhi and Mumbai.
Mumbai, NCR, Pune, Kolkata and Bengaluru showed maximum uptake for non-movie entertainment in 2017.
Jukebox
BookMyShow introduced its audio entertainment service towards the last quarter of the year (September 2017) and here is what people listened to:
Majority of audio content was listened to around 5 pm and on 3G indicating the positive effect of data and smartphone penetration on the digital audio industry.
Hindi
GUEST COLUMN: Why film libraries & IPs are the new engines of growth
Unlocking value through catalogue strength and IP synergy
MUMBAI:In a media landscape defined by fragmentation, platform proliferation, and ever-evolving audience behavior, the economics of filmmaking are undergoing a fundamental shift. No longer confined to box office performance, a film’s true value is now measured across an extended lifecycle that spans digital platforms, syndication networks, and global markets. As content consumption becomes increasingly non-linear and algorithm-driven, film libraries and intellectual properties (IPs) are emerging as strategic assets, capable of delivering sustained, long-term returns. For Mohan Gopinath, head – bollywood business at Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd., this transformation signals a decisive move from hit-driven models to portfolio-led value creation. In this piece, Gopinath explores how legacy content, when intelligently repurposed and distributed, can unlock recurring revenue streams, why the interplay between catalogue and original IP is critical, and how media companies can build resilient, future-ready entertainment businesses.
For all these years, we thought that a film is successful if it performs well in theatres. There are opening weekend numbers, box office milestones, and distribution footprints that gave a good picture of how the movie has done commercially and also tell us about its cultural impact. However, there are multiple platforms today, always-on content ecosystem, which has caused a shift. Today, the theatrical performance is not the culmination of a film’s journey but merely the beginning of a much longer and more dynamic lifecycle.
Film libraries today are emerging as high-value, constantly evolving assets that deliver sustained returns well beyond initial release cycles. This becomes a point of great advantage for legacy content owners with diverse catalogues, to shape long-term business outcomes.
According to FICCI-EY, the media and entertainment industry of India achieved a valuation of Rs 2.78 trillion in 2025 which is expected to reach Rs 3.3 trillion by 2028 through a compound annual growth rate of approximately 7 per cent and digital media will bring in more than Rs 1 trillion to become the biggest sector which generates about 36 per cent of overall market revenues.
This shift is the expansion of distribution endpoints. We know how satellite television was once the primary secondary window but today, it coexists with YouTube, OTT platforms, Connected TV, and FAST channels. Each of these platforms caters to distinct audience demographics and consumption behaviors, helping content owners to obtain more value from the same asset across multiple formats.
For instance, films that had great reruns, now find continuous engagement across digital platforms. On YouTube, classic Hindi cinema continues to attract significant viewership, reaching audiences across generations and geographies with remarkable consistency. At Shemaroo Entertainment, this is reflected in our film library shaped over decades as part of a long association with Indian entertainment. From classics such as Amar Akbar Anthony to much-loved entertainers like Jab We Met, Welcome, Dhamaal, Phir Hera Pheri, Dhol, Golmaal, and Bhagam Bhag, many of these titles continue finding new audiences while retaining their place in popular memory. Their enduring appeal reflects how culturally resonant stories can continue creating value over time. Similarly, FAST channels have created curated, always-on environments where catalogue content can continue to thrive through star-led and genre-based programming.
This multi-platform approach has very well transformed films into long-tail IP assets which are capable of generating recurring revenue across advertising, subscription, and syndication models.
The evolution of audience behavior is equally important. Nowadays, it’s more important to find what’s more relative than what’s recent as viewers are more influenced by mood, memories, and algorithmic suggestions than by release schedules. Even if a movie was released decades ago, it can trend alongside a newly released movie, if surfaced in the right context. Thoughtful packaging, whether through festival-based playlists, actor-driven collections, or genre clusters, allows catalogue content to remain dynamic and continuously discoverable. Shemaroo Entertainment has built extensive film libraries over decades and its focus has mostly been on recontextualizing content for the consumption of newer environments. This process doesn’t just include digitization and restoration, but also re-packaging of films as per platforms.
Syndication itself has evolved into a key growth driver. In perspective, when looking at the domestic market, curated content packages continue to find strong demand across broadcast and digital platforms. Meanwhile, in the international market, especially in markets like Middle East, North America and Southeast Asia, the appetite for Indian content is opening up new monetization avenues. Here, the ability to package and position catalogue content effectively becomes as important as the content itself.
Importantly, the need to re-package catalogue content does not diminish the role of new content. In fact, originals and fresh IP are essential to sustaining the long-term value of a film library because they act as discovery engines that bring audiences into the ecosystem, while catalogue content drives depth, retention, and repeat engagement.
This interplay between the “new” and the “known” is what defines a robust content strategy today. While new films generate spikes in consumption, catalogue titles offer familiarity and comfort. These are factors that are increasingly valuable in an era of content abundance and decision fatigue. This is also shaping our strategy, drawing value from both a deep catalogue assets and a growing focus on original IPs to strengthen long-term audience engagement and build more predictable revenue streams.
There is growing recognition that long-term value in entertainment will be shaped not only by how intelligently existing content continues to live, travel and find relevance, but also by how consistently new stories are created to renew that ecosystem. In that sense, film libraries and original IP are not parallel bets, but reinforcing engines of growth. For media companies, the opportunity lies in making these two forces work together, because that is increasingly where more resilient and predictable businesses are being shaped.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
