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Eros International flexes its digital muscles with Eros Now

The online entertainment platform has lined up a slew of big movie premieres, fresh shows and a tie-up with Anil Kapoor's company to produce an adapted show

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Eros International flexes its digital muscles with Eros Now

Eros International flexes its digital muscles with Eros Now

The online entertainment platform has lined up a slew of big movie premieres, fresh shows and a tie-up with Anil Kapoor's company to produce an adapted show

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | July 17, 2015

erosnow

In a move to fortify its digital offering, Eros International has launched its online entertainment platform – Eros Now.

Eros International has also rolled out a campaign –TV se pehle (Before TV), TV se aagey (Beyond TV) – to create awareness about Eros Now. Movies like 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns', 'Badlapur', 'NH 10', 'Shamitabh' and 'Happy Ending' will be premiered on Eros Now.

Apart from film premieres, Eros Now will also roll out its original content strategy with three fiction shows:

'The Client', an action packed thriller that stars Bollywood actor Bipasha Basu and directed by Rohan Sippy.

'Khel', a drama surrounding the world of the Indian Premier League.

'Ponniyn Selvan', an epic period drama based on a Tamil historical novel by Kalki Krishnamurthy. The epic is an in-house production of Eros - South.

These shows will be produced Trinity Pictures, Eros International's production division. Trinity Pictures will also co-produce the Indian adaptation of a popular international sitcom with Anil Kapoor Film Company (AKFC).

Commenting on the changing dynamics of India's digital entertainment landscape, Jyoti Deshpande, Group CEO & Managing Director, Eros International Plc, said, “We are poised to take advantage of the briskly growing broadband penetration and the imminent launch of 4G technology to reach out to the potential audience offered by close to a billion mobile connections.”

Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO, Eros Digital, added here, “I am very proud to say that Eros Now has garnered over 19 million registered users in its pre-launch phase. Now we want to drive our subscriber growth with the launch of our marketing campaign to promote our groundbreaking online premieres before television. I believe Eros Now will differentiate itself not only by windowing premieres but also by the distinctive quality of its original shows.”

Trinity Pictures CEO Ajith Thakur remarked, “We want to produce content that is bold and edgy and not held by TRP ratings. If you look at the audiences, especially in Phase 3 and 4 markets, where most households have one TV, the youth is often forced to watch shows being viewed by their mothers. Young India has stopped consuming TV the way it did before. We want to reach out to this audience.”

Eros International will be investing $25 million in FY16, a major chunk of which will be spent on content acquisition and production.

In the initial phase, the service will be offered for free. Deshpande said, “The product features are endless. Depending upon the hierarchy of the full VAT package, it can be anything from Rs 50 to Rs 150 a month, which is less than a cinema ticket. On top of that, we will offer a whole day pack, as well as day and weekend passes.”

She further said, “It is inevitable that the big boys of television will have to embrace online. However, they may suffer a bit more cannibalisation, because it is a big section of the revenue for them. However, for us it is just carving out a window. The reality is that we have sold satellite rights of the films and the window is contracted after the Eros Now window. In the future, we don't rule out buying all non-theatrical rights of other movies, including satellite, music and digital.”

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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