ozzak has signed with 23 cinemas, including the Grand Rex in Paris, and aims for an occasional clientele of the seventh art
by Nicole Vulser
The idea came to them in 2019 in the middle of a cinema session. Three Nantes friends, Sylvain Mante, Mélanie Canivet and Cédric Merouani, had gone to see yet another Spiderman suite and found themselves alone in the room. The experience made them think about filling cinemas and its optimization. The subject has become crucial since the end of the Cavid-19 pandemic, which led to an unprecedented disaffection for the big screen. In October, attendance, finally supported by an offer of rich and varied films, reached 14.26 million admissions, a level equivalent to October 2021. But it remains well below the avant-crisis low water ( – 24 % compared to the average for October from 2017 to 2019 to 2019).
New customers
Thus was born Ozzak, a start-up that offers spectators to pay cheaper cinema places. “We are partly inspired by Yield Management [which varies the price according to demand], widely used in trains, planes and hotels, except that we only offer rates equal to or lower than prices reduced Or at the prices offered by subscription formulas, “explains Sylvain Mante. Ozzak targets “occasional consumers”, he says, those who go little to the cinema, do not buy a loyalty card and therefore pay the high price.
“We tested the site in Nantes for nine months before deploying it on a larger scale,” explains Mr. Mante. For the time being, the start-up has only signed with 23 cinemas, including recently the Grand Rex and the Wood Sword, in Paris, independents or small circuits in the Pays de la Loire, in Aquitaine and in the Rhône-Alpes region. No agreement is concluded with large circuits such as UGC, Pathé, CGR or MK2.
For operators, Ozzak improves the frequentation of more hollow sessions during the day, for example, filling out the previews, but above all receiving new customers. The start-up, which hopes to be beneficiary in three years, is remunerated thanks to a commission on each place. It offers prices that oscillate, depending on the rooms and sessions, between 3.50 euros and 8 euros (for the Grand Rex).