Streaming, ticket prices, or content? The real reason audiences are skipping theatres

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As ticket prices soar, cinema halls across India are witnessing a sharp decline in footfall, affecting not just Bollywood but regional film industries like Kannada, Punjabi, and Marathi as well.

While higher ticket costs have played a role in keeping audiences away, industry insiders argue that the real culprit is lack of compelling content. With streaming platforms offering quick alternatives and theatre chains prioritising big-budget films, smaller productions are struggling to find their place—raising concerns about the future of regional cinema.

According to media consulting firm Ormax, Telugu theatrical footfall dropped by 12% last year, Kannada by 13%, and Punjabi by 20%. Also read: Why OTT original films are no match for long-running web series In 2024, average ticket price (ATP) for Kannada films rose to ₹116 from ₹103 the year before, for Punjabi films, to ₹110 from ₹102, for Malayalam films to ₹92 from ₹85 and for Gujarati films to ₹91 from ₹86, Ormax said.

Surge in ATP in Kannada and Telugu languages was driven by the implementation of a 2% cess on movie tickets in Karnataka, and the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana permitting higher ATPs for tentpole films for their opening weeks, respectively. “Footfall certainly dipped in 2024 as compared to 2023, which was a spectacular year, and the degrees of dip vary across languages.

However, the sense is that ticket prices will now stabilise as they have gone as high as they possibly could, so there wouldn’t be any further increase," Rahul Puri, managing director, Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cinemas said. Puri, however, argued that in case of languages such as Telugu, the issue was more content than price-related with Allu