For an undisclosed amount, Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Fandango is set to take a bigger slice of the growing film market with its purchase of Peru-based online ticket seller Cinepapaya. The acquisition by the largest online ticket seller in the U.S is the latest in a flurry of acquisitions by the company, all of which are in the name of expansion into Latin America.
Some of these purchases include Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes, thanks to Time Warner Inc’s (NYSE:TWX) Bros. There is also the M-Go, a site that allows users to buy and rent movies and TV shows online.
In November 2015, Fandango acquired Brazilian online movie ticketer Ingresso.com for $71 million. It is now set to enter the Mexican market, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
Latin America has potential for growth
Cinepapaya started out in 2013 as a single movie theater. This was followed by a $2 million investment by Brazilian Internet company Movile in 2014. It has been boosting the movie going experience for millions of users according to the company’s CEO Manuel Olguin. Exhibitors have also benefited from the fact that they use the platform to stay ahead of the latest technological trends. However, it digressed into e-commerce services for ticketing and payment.
But apparently, Latin America is a ripe market for growth. Thus, it is an attractive geographical area for Fandango. Paul Yanover, the company’s president, affirms, “This is a great opportunity to complement the efforts we’ve already put in place in Latin America. It allows us to expand to multiple countries and really get scale in the region…. It’s about acceleration.”
Increasing Demand For Advance Tickets
There is a growing predisposition for buying things online given the availability of Smartphones. Being the primary purveyor of advance ticket sales, Fandango could reap big from the recent boost of the need for advance ticket sales. Given that it also services close to 28,000 screens, it has increased its ticket sales by 40%. The company also confirms that about 70% of its sales are made through mobile devices. In the meantime, the box office continues to improve with its receipts increasing 13% last year to $3.4 billion.
