Fandango buys Brazil’s biggest online movie ticketer

Fandango, the Los Angeles-based online movie-ticketing service owned by NBCUniversal, is expanding into South America’s largest film market.

The company has signed a deal to acquire Brazil’s largest movie-ticketing company, Ingresso.com, for about $71 million, according to a regulatory filing.

Based in Rio de Janeiro, Ingresso.com is the entertainment ticketing subsidiary of Latin American e-commerce company B2W Digital, also based in Rio.

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The deal marks the first international expansion for Fandango, which has been growing rapidly and is the largest movie-ticketing company in the U.S. Fandango sells tickets to 27,000 screens nationwide. Its website also provides reviews, commentary, trailers and celebrity interviews.

Fandango’s move reflects the rapid growth of the cinema business in Brazil, which accounted for 40% of Latin American box office dollars in 2014, according to Rentrak.

The country has seen nine consecutive years of box office growth and represents the largest market in South America and the world’s 11th largest theatrical market, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA predicts that Brazil will constitute the world’s fifth-largest market by the end of 2020.

“We see this as an opportune moment to expand outside of the United States,” Fandango President Paul Yanover said. “Latin America presents the next logical growth area for Fandango, and we look forward to extending our leading online and mobile ticketing capabilities to Brazil’s entertainment fans.”

The Raine Group and G5 Evercore advised Fandango on the transaction.

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