FANDANGO ACQUIRES CINEPAPAYA, TOP LATIN AMERICAN ONLINE MOVIE TICKETER, EXPANDING FANDANGO'S BUSINESS IN THE REGION TO MEXICO, ARGENTINA, COLOMBIA, PERU, CHILE, ECUADOR AND BOLIVIA

LOS ANGELES and LIMA, Peru, Dec. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Fandango, the leading digital network for all things movies in the U.S., announced today it is expanding its business in Latin America, one of the fastest-growing global film markets, with the acquisition of top online movie ticketer, Cinepapaya.  Following last year's acquisition of Ingresso.com in Brazil, with cinema ticketing up 30% year-over-year, Fandango's acquisition of Cinepapaya will nearly double the company's consumer reach in the region and extend its ticketing business to seven new countries: Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia. 

"This is an exciting time at Fandango.  While our business in the U.S. continues to accelerate across online, mobile and social platforms, we are bringing our innovative moviegoing products and services to even more consumers across Latin America," said Fandango President Paul Yanover.  "We are currently experiencing tremendous momentum in Brazil, with Ingresso's significant growth, and with the addition of Cinepapaya, Fandango will emerge as a leading online ticketer throughout Latin America."

According to the Motion Picture Association of America, Latin America's box office grew 13% in 2015 with $3.4 billion in sales, and has increased 31% since 2011. Based on an online ticketing study published earlier this year by Grand View Research, the Latin American online movie ticketing market share is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 16% by 2022. 

"We are thrilled to be part of the Fandango family," said Manuel Olguin, Cinepapaya Founder and CEO.  "Expanding from a single movie theater in Peru in 2013 to more than 1,200 screens in seven countries today, Cinepapaya leads the way in mobile innovation and movie-related content in Latin America.  All along our team has been enhancing the moviegoing experience for millions of users, while helping our exhibitor partners stay ahead of the latest technological trends. We expect our growth to accelerate with this new ownership and are really excited about inviting even more people to love movies as much as we do."

Peru-based Cinepapaya engages millions of moviegoers across Latin America with movie-related content and an active social network that drives ticket sales across its online platform and popular mobile apps, supporting all major operating systems including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and others.  Cinepapaya also offers a turnkey e-commerce solution for theater owners, including ticketing and payment solutions, ticket validation and business intelligence software packages. Cinepapaya's exhibition clients include Cinemark, Cinepolis, Cine Colombia, Cinestar, Cine Pavilion, among others.

"Movile is very pleased to have served as a partner with Cinepapaya in its successful expansion from Peru to become a force in cinema ticketing throughout Spanish speaking Latin America," said Fabricio Bloisi, Movile CEO. "Through the sale to Fandango, Movile has proudly completed a full investment cycle in Cinepapaya, and we now look forward to working with other great entrepreneurial teams to create and grow additional mobile businesses with global potential." Movile had a minority stake in Cinepapaya.

Ingresso.com, Brazil's leading online movie ticketer, which was acquired by Fandango in November 2015, is experiencing record-breaking ticketing growth in 2016, with cinema ticketing up 30% year-over-year. Ingresso continues to expand its ticketing footprint across Brazil, having added hundreds of new screens over the past year. Ingresso has launched new ticketing products this year to make it faster and easier for consumers to purchase tickets to the cinema, including a new digital wallet with Pay Pal, and was the first online movie ticketer in Brazil to offer Visa Checkout. 

Fandango plans to leverage its ticketing innovations and portfolio of best-in-class brands and assets to serve Latin American consumers with all of their movie needs. Earlier this year, Fandango acquired the movie review site, Rotten Tomatoes, and is in the process of expanding the global presence of its world-famous Tomatometer™ rating system, which is used by millions of fans to help with their entertainment viewing decisions.  Fandango also operates Fandango Movieclips, the No. 1 multichannel network on YouTube for movie trailers and movie-related video content, with more than 16.3 million subscribers, including a strong global audience, and an average of 442 million video views per month. 

Fandango's ticketing in the U.S. is up 40% year-over-year, after a record-breaking 2015, with more than 70% of its tickets now sold on mobile devices.  Fandango recently announced some major moves in the social media space, launching new social ticketing innovations on leading social platforms, including Facebook and iMessage on iOS 10.

About Fandango
Fandango is the ultimate digital network for all things movies, serving consumers with best-in-class movie information, ticketing to 28,000 screens, movie trailers and original video content for movie discovery, and home entertainment.  Its portfolio reaches more than 60 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore, with 205 million app downloads, and includes popular movie properties Flixster, Rotten Tomatoes and the Tomatometer™ rating, and Fandango Movieclips, the No. 1 movie trailers and content channel on YouTube.  Its new premium on-demand video service, FandangoNOW offers new release and catalog movies and next-day TV shows on a wide variety of connected, over-the-top (OTT) and mobile devices.  Also part of the Fandango family is Brazil's leading online ticketer, Ingresso.com. Movie fans can find Fandango on Facebook at www.facebook.com/fandango, Twitter @Fandango, and many other social platforms.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20061016/LAM046LOGO-b   

SOURCE Fandango

Related Links

http://www.fandango.com