How to build an Online Event Booking App like BookMyShow

Remember the last time you stood in a long queue to get a movie ticket? No right? Like who even does that nowadays, when you can book a ticket from the comfort of your house through an Event Booking App like BookMyShow? 

Technology has simplified our lives in ways we previously thought only magic could. There isn’t a single industry that hasn’t been aided by technology, and ticketing is no exception. 

Ticket booking app business overview
App category	Arts and entertainment
Average monthly active users	200 million
Average app downloads	50 million
Industry revenue in 2020	81.369 million
Popular ticket booking apps	Ticketfly, Eventbrite, Ticketmaster
BookMyShow competitors	JusTickets, Ticket News, Wave Cinemas, Book My Event
App development tech stack	Programming languages, frameworks, a database, front-end tools, back-end tools, and applications connected via APIs.
Basic app features	Registration and Login, Location, Home Screen, Show Booking/seat selection, Booking Screen,Payment Options

What is an event booking app?

An Online Event Booking app allows users to browse through various events, movies, plays, and more and purchase tickets for the ones they choose. Furthermore, an online ticket booking app solves the time-consuming challenges of making reservations either in person (offline) at the ticket counter or online.

Online Event Booking Apps like BookMyShow have taken the world by storm. Since their launch, over 100 million users have downloaded them, and over 12 million of them book directly through the apps each day. Not only do these apps make it easier than ever for people to buy tickets and attend shows, but they also make it possible for hosts to cut down some expenses and earn extra cash. Here I will show you how to build an event booking app like BookMyShow. 

Advantages of an Event Booking App like BookMyShow

Advantages to the host

1.Your company is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

When you use an online booking system, your company is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week without any extra labour cost. 

2.You can make the most of your reservations

Customers who make their bookings are more likely to show up, effectively eliminating no-shows. If a customer needs to cancel, the place automatically becomes available online for another consumer to book. You won’t leave any unused activity slots or rentals on the table if you maximize your reservations.

3.You are paid sooner

You can compel customers to prepay for events and rentals via an online booking system. This allows you to put money in your pocket more quickly. Tickets are booked in advance through online applications, which helps you receive the payments in advance and leads to easy revenue estimation. These pre-received payments can be utilized as per your needs. 

4. Less effort

A ticket booking app;

•  promotes your events, 
• gets the seats filled for the occasions, 
• collects payments from customers, 
• handles their doubts,
•  manages cancellations, refunds, etcetera. 

This way, you save a lot of labor costs and time. 

5. Less wasteful

Suppose you are hosting a drama in an intimate hall. The total capacity of the hall is 100 people, but what if only 45 people turn up? How will you cover the rent of the hall, cost of costumes, makeup, artists, etcetera? 

But if you use a ticket booking app, you know the status in advance.Furthermore, online ticket booking also saves the cost of printing tickets. 

Advantages to the customer

• Hassle and crowds free ticket booking
• Easy cancellations
• Exclusive offers/promotions
• Book tickets in advance 
• Select your seat 
• ease and flexibility

Features of an excellent event booking app like BookMyShow

Top features of the User Panel

1. Registration and Login

The registration and login feature helps the user create an account on the application. It collects the basic information of the user like phone number, email Id, etcetera.

2. Location 

 

Knowing the location of the user helps the app in providing optimized and optimum services. In our case, the app will show movies and concerts taking place near the user. Location can be collected manually or from GPS. 

 3. Home Screen Show 

The home screen is basically the content section of a book. It shows various options to the user on which the user can tap and land to a detailed page of the selected option. The home screen of an online ticket booking app usually has the options of movies, sports, plays, concerts, recommendations, top picks, and more. 

The show is listed with ratings, time, venue, discount, and the booking amount. 

5. Show Booking/seat selection 

Once the user selects a particular show, he is redirected to this specific screen which contains a graphical representation of the venue. The user can select the choice of his seats according to availability.

6. Booking Screen

This is basically the summary screen; the user gets the summary of his order, like the total number of seats, date, time, and venue of the show, any offers if applied, the total amount to be paid, etcetera. 

7. Payment Options

Finally, the user chooses a payment option through a debit or credit card or third-party apps like Google Pay, PayPal, Paytm. 

8.Reviews and ratings

This section enables the user to share their experience with the app, feedback, and rating. This makes the user feel that the business cares about the user experience.

Top features of the Admin Panel

Data Control

A dashboard is provided to the admin, giving him access to all the data about active users, new users, user behavior, etc. The panel also contains information about cinemas, movies, total booking, total earning, and more. The panel also allows the admin to manage shows and venues. 

Usage Analytics: 

The analytics feature allows the admin to know the real-time actions of the user’s journey. Analytics is one of the most valuable tools. It helps the admin in the following ways;

1. Understanding user behavior: Understanding user behavior helps the admin know the app’s strong and weak parts. It helps him understand where the app is lacking and what can be improved. 
2. Observe content requirements: Analytics helps the admin know which genre or show is doing better; this way, the admin can add more such shows to the list. 
3. The admin can collect, analyze, present, and visualize data to increase user engagement and product life-cycle.

How to build an event booking app like BookMyShow? (app development process)

 App development can be divided into these five stages;

1. Strategics
2. designing
3. development
4. test-ability
5. final app release

The first stage is figuring out everything from scratch, like what the app is about, potential customers, different technologies involved, and success metrics.

Stage 1: Strategise

1. Set goals and objectives for the mobile app

A mobile app should be user-friendly and should be easily accessible. You need to ask yourself what issues your app will tackle and how you expect to gain from it.

Know what kind of app you want. Do you want to go with an MVP(Minimum viable product), or do you want additional features? 

An app with MVP has the basic features which enables the app to launch as soon as possible. It is often suggested to launch an app with MVP and then increase the features gradually according to user feedback. 

2. Describe the target group 

The accurate population information, motivation, behavior patterns, and objectives of the individual of your users should be included in your study. It is vital to consider during the whole development process of the user lifecycle and its characteristics. This allows you to establish users who assist you in understanding the true aims and limitations of who is using the application.

Some of the ways you can use to do market research are; 

• Use a few ticket booking apps and understand the features it already provides and what more features it can provide. 
• Read the reviews and feedback given on the app, understand their plus and minus points. This will also let you know what exactly the user wants. 
• Conduct surveys and ask people various questions about their needs, likes and dislikes. 

Stage 2: Design 

It is now time to establish an engineering team consisting of product owners, project managers, business analysts, 2–3 application developers per platform (Android and iOS), backend developers, UI/UX designers, and 1-2 QA engineers. 

UI/UX is the most interesting part of app development, it deals with the visual aspect and tells you how your app is going to look.

If you have already thought about how you want your app to look, discuss it with the UI/UX designers, or if you have not decided anything, ask them to help you out. There are various color schemes, tips, and tricks that the designers know better, and these small things can make your app more user-friendly and stand out from the rest.

We at Idea Usher convert user stories into graphical representation, this gives our clients an initial idea of how their app will look like. This is an important step that most companies miss out on.

1. Requirements for clarification

The team studies the first data of the project and then questions specifically and in context during the meeting with the customer.

2. Planning for UX

At this stage, we develop an application architecture to grasp the concept better and prepare the mobile app’s future prototype with as much detail as possible: every button, pop-up, and a text field.

The staff will examine and classify all customer information, where appropriate, fill gaps. Once you have already started creating the project structure, building the user flow, and going through the boundary cases, go to the following UI level after the NDA agreement with the customer.

Stage 3: Evolution

We think cooperation is the driving factor behind the development of excellent software. The basis for the practical outcome is to build a trustworthy relationship between the customer and the team.

In the following phases, the development process may be described:

Depending on functional needs, we pick an application architecture that includes orientation, flipping, business logic, etc. There are fundamental forms of app architecture for Android and iOS: MVP, MVVM, Viper, Redux, etc.

If we grasp the aesthetic and non-functional needs, we examine if the backend supports the app’s functionality. We select frameworks, libraries, and off-the-shelf solutions for the app. Frameworks such as code authoring infrastructures for iOS and Android, including DI Binding. Infrastructures.

Stage 4: test-ability

Testing applications is a required practice and may save you cash if done in the early phases of app development. The QA team must evaluate a mobile application for usability, compatibility, safety, UI inspection, and performance.

Functionality is the priority, and design is second. The second and third elements may move – depending on the requirements of the customer. Implementing a few functions that work well is preferable to making a complete package with numerous problems.

Stage 5: Release of the application

The initial release often includes the priorities and functionality of the app for future versions.

The app is ready to launch but be aware of specific regulations of app stores to approve and check mobile applications. It is the final stage. After submitting the software in the Apple App Store, a review procedure can be conducted from several days to months, depending on the qualities of your app and how carefully the iOS development requirements of Apple are followed. Google Play app evaluations are different from the App Store, but frequently a few hours after the submission, your application will be on the market.

This table will help you in understanding the test phase in the most simplified way. 

App testing phases

Alpha phase: Alpha phase is the first phase of testing the software where all the bugs from an app are removed. (some bugs get fixed, some don’t in this phase) Developers generally test the software in this phase using the  white-box techniques. Additional validation is then performed by using the black-box or gray-box techniques,by the testing team.

Beta phase: This is the phase where all the leftover bugs are fixed in an app before the launch. Software in the beta stage is also known as betaware. Fixing the bugs before launch is crucial to get a good user experience and to avoid negative feedback. Beta release is the process of delivering a beta version to the users.

Test launch: Once the app is ready, it is launched for a few people, who use the app and give necessary feedback. According to the feedbacks, changes are made in the app before the final launch.  We at Idea Usher keep in mind while developing an app to grow in small parts and test the small pieces so that there are almost no bugs and the testing gets simplified and less time-consuming.

Once all the bugs are fixed, your app is ready to launch! Make sure you go through the iOS and Google app store guidelines carefully before launching the app. 

BookMyShow revenue model | How can you earn from an Event Booking App like BookMyShow 

BookMyShow Highlights

 

Customers	16 million+
Tickets sold per month	10 million+
Funding companies	Accel, Network 18, Stripes and Saif Partners
Downloads	30 million +

Ashish, Parikshit, and Rajesh founded BookMyShow in 1999. It initially started as a software reseller for movie tickets but gradually started operating in cloud-based events, sports, and movies. 

Cultural events, parties, concerts, performances, plays, fairs, and other worldwide events are all covered by BookMyShow. The corporation also introduced tickets for activities taking place in one’s immediate area. Booking has never been easier. 90% of the market share of BookMyShow consists of the entertainment sector. $330 million of revenue comes from the live entertainment industry, including sports, stand-up comedy, and other related events.

Convenience Fee

When you purchase a ticket via the BookMyShow website, you will be charged an extra fee known as the Internet Handling/Convenience Fee. This is essentially a service fee that you must pay to the corporation in exchange for the convenience of readily ordering tickets for any movie or event online. This eliminates the need to visit the ticket centre and wait in line physically.

Ticket Sales Commission

BookMyShow is one of the most popular ticketing websites. As a result, it charges a commission fee to movie theatres and event organizers depending on the gross value of total tickets sold through BookMyShow’s website. This is primarily determined by the popularity of the film or event as well as the ticket price.

Banner advertising and paid promotion

BookMyShow makes a lot of money through banner ads for upcoming or recent movies or events. It advertises the show or movie in the shape of a banner. It also makes a lot of money by promoting particular films and events to attract visitors and repeat customers.

How much does it cost to build an app like BookMyShow ? 

The cost of building an app majorly depends on the features of the app and the professional work hours that goes behind the development of an app. I hope this table gives you an estimate of the cost. 

Features

Professional working hours

 

User Dashboard	72 hours
Admin dashboard	72 hours
Payment gateway	60 hours
UI design	48 hours
UX design	64 hours
Ratings and reviews	36 hours
Events panel	64 hours
Registration panel	56 hours
Seat selection panel	52 hours
GPS or location track	62 hours
Customer service panel	54 hours

The final cost range varies proportional to tech stack and complexity of project. For a precise quote feel free to contact Idea Usher. 

How can you build a similar app with Idea Usher? 

With everything going digital, ticket booking is no exception. Standing in long queues next to each other during the pandemic does not sound like a safe idea but booking a ticket online definitely does! Thus, the ticket booking app is also a pandemic proof plan. 

If you have always wanted to build an app, there’s no better time than now. Get on a free consultancy call with Idea Usher and discuss your idea. Experts at Idea Usher help you from ideation to development to promotion to build your dreams at the most pocket-friendly prices. 

Also read:

What is Decentralized App Development or DApps? A beginner’s guide

Problems that Can be Solved by Mobile Apps

FAQs 

Q.What are the factors determining the cost of an app development ?

The cost of an app development depends upon the professional working hours and the features included in the app.You can feel free to contact Idea Usher to get a more detailed idea of the cost.

Q. Which are some of the top ticket booking apps?

Some of the top ticket booking apps apart from BookMyShow are Ticketfly, Eventbrite, Ticketmaster.

Q.Who are the competitors of BookMyShow?

JusTickets, Ticket News, Wave Cinemas, Book My Event are some of the competitors of BookMyShow.