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Tag: Eros Now

  • Eros International Media appoints Pradeep Dwivedi as CEO

    Eros International Media appoints Pradeep Dwivedi as CEO

    MUMBAI: Eros International Plc, a leading company in the global Indian film entertainment industry, today announced the appointment of Pradeep Dwivedi, as chief executive officer of its majority-owned subsidiary, Eros International Media Ltd (EIML).

    At Eros International Media Ltd, Dwivedi will be responsible for managing business growth and operations of the company and will also be responsible for all commercial negotiations and representations in various markets, forums, customers, vendors and regulatory authorities.

    Eros International Plc CEO and EIML executive director Kishore Lulla said: “We are delighted to have Pradeep Dwivedi joining us as CEO at Eros India. His energy, leadership credentials and relationships across multiple industries and deep understanding of media & technology business will be an asset in driving our growth. I am looking forward to working with him in successfully executing our strategy”

    Dwivedi said, “The Indian media & entertainment industry is poised for rapid transformation in the digital era and Eros India, with its strong legacy and innovative vision of Kishore Lulla, is all set to take advantage of the enormous market opportunities ahead. This provides a significant springboard to lead large-scale creation of value and business transformation. I am keen to work with all our stakeholders to accelerate growth and further success in the next exciting phase of its journey.”

    Pradeep Dwivedi, B Sc, MBA, is a senior media industry professional. He is an accomplished industry leader with an experience of over two decades in Advertising & Media Business, Telecom & Technology Enterprises, Banking & Financial services Institutions and Automotive sector, with established credentials in digital infotainment business as well as Print Publication, News Television channels and Experiential Events. He has a demonstrated track record in revenue growth, sales & marketing, value creation, joint ventures & partnerships, corporate investments, business operations & general management. In the past, he has been CEO of Sakal Media Group, Chief Corporate Sales & Marketing Officer of Dainik Bhaskar Group, and worked in leadership positions with organisations including Tata Teleservices, American Express, GE Capital, Standard Chartered Bank & Eicher Motors in India. He is an active participant in many media industry associations, such as Director of IAA (India Chapter) and a managing committee member of The Advertising Club of India.

    Eros International Plc has also appointed Vijay Vaishnav as chief finance officer at Eros Now, the premium OTT South Asian entertainment platform.  Vaishnav, BCom and CA, demonstrates exemplary expertise as evinced through the years of financial experience in established media & entertainment organisations such as Zee Entertainment, Viacom18 and Balaji Telefilms to name a few.

    Eros International Plc has further strengthened its legal team with the appointment of Bishwarup Chakrabarti as Legal-Head at Eros Digital. Bishwarup, a postgraduate from National Law School, Bengaluru has previously been associated with various law firms and media conglomerates such as Viacom18 and Sony. At Sony, he was heading legal and regulatory affairs for production across the network.

  • Eros Now brings season 2 of ‘Metro Park’

    Eros Now brings season 2 of ‘Metro Park’

    MUMBAI: Eros Now’s legacy of entertaining the masses is a well-trod territory and over time the premium OTT platform has developed deeper relations with the audience through captivating content. Continuing with what Eros Now knows best, which is entertaining the audiences, it comes as terrific news to the viewers with the announcement of the second season of the original show ‘Metro Park’. The announcement has been made, given the success the show enjoyed for its first season amongst the Eros Now subscribers both in India and those Indian’s residing overseas. 

    The series received several prestigious accolades and popularized the concept of e-pooja in many places, setting an all new trend in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Taking fun, a notch higher, Metro Park season 2 will have exciting new additions joining the hilarious clan.

    This Eros Now’s Original series begins by showcasing the quirks and eccentricities of the everyday life of desi Indians living abroad. The first season stars Ranvir Shorey, Pitobash, Purbi Joshi and Vega Tamotia in lead roles. A newly married couple, Kannan and Kinjal, who're expecting a baby, live in an apartment in New York and plan to shift to Metro Park in New Jersey which is close to Kinjal's sister's house (Payal). Kalpesh, Kannan's brother-in-law runs an "American" convenience store called "Pay and Run" in the heart of India-town in New Jersey and lives with his wife Payal who runs her beauty salon. As Kannan and Kinjal move into a neighbourhood where most of the residents are Indians, they find it difficult to adjust with the suburban atmosphere. The story takes the audience through various stages when the two couples find it hard to deal with different situations in their environment.

    Eros Group  Chief Creative Officer Ridhima Lulla said, “Given the success the show enjoyed for its first season, taking things a notch higher with season 2 was an easy decision for us! The worldwide popularity and viewership season one received was because the characters and milieu were modern and relatable. We are thrilled to have created such funny, charming, relatable characters, and we promise our viewers around the world will be delighted to have another season to look forward to.”

    Metro Park season 1 had premiered in March 2019, and the exciting new season 2 will be streaming soon. Stay tuned!

  • Eros Now partners with EUROSTAR Group

    Eros Now partners with EUROSTAR Group

    MUMBAI: Eros Now, the cutting-edge digital over-the-top (OTT) South Asian entertainment platform owned by Eros International, a global Indian Entertainment Company, has announced its partnership with UAE-based digital retail giant, EUROSTAR Group. The association enables the large diaspora from the Indian sub-continent and locals across GCC countries to access Eros Now’s vast content library of more than 12,000 movies, music videos, original shows, short format content quickie and more.

    The massive fan base of Indian entertainment content in the GCC markets can now take advantage of monthly and annual subscription packs of Eros Now from their nearest EUROSTAR-serviced retail outlet. The partnership promises to deliver entertainment and enhance customer convenience by offering seamless access to the premium OTT platform.

    Expats from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Egypt living in UAE and other GCC markets are massive fans of Indian entertainment, especially Bollywood movies and stars. Eros Now, apart from offering a huge Bollywood film catalogue, is also known as the one-stop destination for regional films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, among other Indian languages. The Company’s direct-to-digital offerings, ground-breaking original shows and short-format content category, quickie, further encourages GCC market consumers to avail subscription from EUROSTAR retail outlets.

    Eros Now chief executive officer Ali Hussein said, “We at Eros Now believe in constantly enhancing consumer experience and expand reach by partnering with relevant leading brands globally. The partnership with EUROSTAR is a testament to our endeavor in offering easy accessibility and unparalleled entertainment to the massive consumer base across GCC countries. We are confident that with a plethora of choices as well as regional languages to choose from, audiences in GCC will find there is no better place to go.”

    EUROSTAR spokesperson and executive director Shaan Jethwani said, “We are happy to partner with India’s leading OTT platform Eros Now to offer their bouquet of content to our audience. The increasing demand for Indian entertainment content in GCC markets is the driving force behind this decision. With EUROSTAR’s legacy on Pay TV distribution, we envisage to deliver its vast entertainment content to a massive consumer base across GCC countries.”

  • Eros Now Channel live on Wasu Media for Chinese users

    Eros Now Channel live on Wasu Media for Chinese users

    MUMBAI: Eros Now, the cutting-edge digital over-the-top (OTT) South Asian entertainment platform owned by Eros International Plc (NYSE: EROS) (“Eros” or “the Company”), a global Indian Entertainment Company, in 2019 had announced a partnership with Wasu Media, a major cable television, broadband network OTT and IPTV service provider in China. Eros Now is pleased to reveal that the service is now live on Wasu Media in China and able to deliver Bollywood and digital original series to the Chinese viewers.

    Eros Now further cements its position as a pioneer as it is the only Indian OTT player which will have live services for Video on Demand in China, including on Wasu Media and iQiyi.

    Wasu Media, which has a strong base in the country, reaches 125 million users via its Cable TV, OTT and IPTV distribution network to more than 100 cities in China is now providing Eros Now a platform to further expand its subscriber base. The partnership will enable Wasu Media to provide Bollywood content as a SVOD service to Chinese viewers and further enhance the demand that Bollywood content has seen in China over the last few years.

    There is a massive cultural overlap in the viewing behaviour of Chinese audiences with that of South Asian audiences. This has been demonstrated by the success of movies like Dangal, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Andhadhun released in China over the last few years with significant success at the Chinese box office. The trend now has escalated to digital platforms with Eros Now at the forefront with this transformation of building viewership of Indian movies with digital viewers in China.

    Eros Digital chairman & CEO Rishika Lulla Singh said, “Eros Now is the most popular destination for Bollywood & Indian movies across the globe. We are glad to go live in China in partnership with Wasu Media which caters to 125 million users in the country. The partnership with Wasu Media and uCast ties in with our ethos of connecting with Bollywood fans across the world. Through such alliances, we will continue to build on our global reach for Eros Now.”

    Wasu New Media Operations general manager Lu DanQiang said, “Wasu Media's partnership with Eros and uCast significantly promotes the development of Indian film and television in China, delivering more Bollywood content to Chinese audiences. Chinese film fans now have the opportunity to watch high quality Indian film and TV content, which is win-win cooperation for both parties.”

  • Eros Now joins hands with Ooredoo Qatar

    Eros Now joins hands with Ooredoo Qatar

    MUMBAI: Eros Now, the premium online video streaming platform, popular for its massive Bollywood, regional film library and captivating originals, has announced its partnership with Ooredoo Qatar–an international telecommunications company headquartered in Doha. Eros Now, through this partnership, promises to cater to Qatar’s wide audience base.

    Eros Now, the cutting-edge digital over-the-top (OTT) South Asian entertainment platform is owned by Eros International Plc, a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry.

    The Middle East region and Qatar in particular is home to a robust population of South Asians. The content in this region is consumed by both the South Asian diaspora as well as citizens of the country who are equally enthusiastic for watching entertaining content from Bollywood. The unprecedented demand for Indian content for both films and originals makes Eros Now a popular choice for consumers.

    Eros Now’s objective is to offer its wide array of content across genres and Indian regional languages to Ooredoo’s vast subscriber base. Eros Now and Ooredoo, who provides services in nine countries across the region including Qatar, also plan to replicate similar alliances in new markets in the future.

    Eros Now chief executive officer Ali Hussein said, “Eros Now’s content has a universal appeal and Qatar is one of the significant markets for the platform. The inconceivable demand for the Indian content in Qatar has enabled the two companies to join hands and offer audiences the finest films, originals, music and more.”

    Ooredoo director PR and corporate communications Manar Khalifa Al-Muraikhi said, “This partnership will not only strengthen our portfolio but also help us build bridges for connecting with our global audience. Love for Bollywood is just a conversation starter that seamlessly will turn into a topic of discussion, and we are thrilled to partner with an Indian OTT giant.”

  • OTT India 2019 – key trends and crystal ball gazing for 2020

    OTT India 2019 – key trends and crystal ball gazing for 2020

    While  creating this write up on something that’s as wide and far as India OTT we decided to be as objective as possible and use data to establish and talk about some key trends that we see both unique as well as interesting on how the sector is evolving.

    App Annie is a third-party app analytics tool that provides the starting point to map the market within the limitation of the methodology that they use. While it cannot be a gospel of truth, its a good indication of trends. Hope you find this useful high-level dynamics.

    Some caveats and assumptions that we have made:

    • Data is App Annie for Jan-Dec 2018 and Jan-Oct 2019 extrapolated for Jan-Dec 2019

    • SVOD classification: including Telco, International and few independent apps

    • AVOD/Freemium classification: including Broadcast and other independent apps

    1. How does the India OTT market compare with some of the countries emerging OTT markets?

    • In terms of the # of OTT players India continues to be the most competitive in the world.

    • In India, while a few players seem to have stopped reported by App Annie they have been replaced by another set of new players keeping the total number of players to 33 as reported the same vis-a-vis 2018

    • The India market continues to be represented uniquely by all 4 segments of players – Broadcasters who have risen well to the challenge, International players with deep pockets like Netfilx, APV and Apple TV, the telcos and finally a large number of independents like VIU, Balaji Alt, Eros Now, HoiChoi.

    • Other territories are less competitive (or benign?) vs India OTT with the International players dominating in most markets. With exception of the MENA region, hardly any broadcasters participating as vigorously as in India

    • Crystal Ball Gazing: It will be interesting to see how much consolidation accelerates in 2020 with Disney Plus and more activity from the defenders?

    2. How has the India OTT market progressed vs 2018 on downloads and on consumption?

    • The number of downloads has remained flat vs 2018 but the Minutes Consumed increased by 64%. Is there some sign of maturity and loyalty setting into the behaviour of the consumer now?

    • Indians are consuming on an average 118 billion minutes per month consuming on OTT apps in the country. Clearly that’s coming at the cost of more traditional video sources.

    • We don’t think OTT will kill TV but the challenge is now very real and visible. Is potential finally turning to reality?

    3. The most polarising part of the OTT business. What is the interplay between the SVOD and the AVOD services?

    • Downloads growth is flat between the two segments. On Minutes growth, the SVOD services seem to have made gains although they still lag the AVOD / Freemium in terms of absolutes.

    • Clearly the paying or free trial customer is making full use of the SVOD access. Depth of content, highly visible shows in terms of promotions by the SVOD players like Netflix and APV seem to be winning customers.

    App Annie data also indicates how skewed the market is towards the top cluster. In terms of minutes share, 90% of the total minutes is contributed by 6 apps with the remaining 27 players giving 10% of minutes share. These top OTT apps by minutes share are:

    While 2018 was a year of making a splash with never before seen production mounting on the OTT space, heavy marketing spends to support these launches 2019 did come across to be a year of and consolidating. Focus on revenue and recovery of investments (real profitability is still some time away) was high.

    Some bets on 2020:

    • Original content launches will be the flavour of the season with all the effort and our suspicion is that the hours of content here will rival that of a GEC channel producing and releasing first run content.

    • Regional will continue to grow. More regional OTT launches – be it from broadcasters or from International players will be seen and there will also be a few independents like in the case of Telugu launching services.

    • The “for whom” will assume a stronger accent on content productions. More TG focused web originals will emerge instead of GEC style of content catering to a wider base

    • Technology driven by personalization, AI powered discoverability to unearth content specific to viewers will take on a deeper play.

    • SVOD players will innovate on pricing or payment mechanisms to deepen penetration, AVOD players will push for innovation on monetization beyond inventory to realise their reach potential

    2020 promises to be a tough year for the players but an exciting one for consumers who will continue to be spoilt for choice.

    (Vishal Maheshwari is country manager, and DS Ramakant Raju is associate director, growth marketing at Viu India. The views expressed are their own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.)

     

  • Eros Now announces collaboration with YouTube Music

    Eros Now announces collaboration with YouTube Music

    MUMBAI: Eros Now, a premier South Asian OTT entertainment platform with more than 177 million registered users, today announced a collaboration with YouTube Music in India to introduce a special subscription package at INR 99 for 90 days for new users of YouTube Music Premium subscription. The offering will be available to all new users of YouTube Music Premium, Google Play Music in India. At the end of the offer, the customer will be charged separately as per prevailing plans for Eros Now and INR 99 per month for YouTube Music Premium.

    With a plethora of options to choose from, Eros Now’s content library of 12,000+ movies, TV shows, Eros Now Originals, short-format content – Eros Now Quickie, users will also get access to YouTube Music’s catalogue including tracks in English, Hindi and nine other Indian languages. This collaboration is certain to be a delight for both Bollywood buffs and music aficionados.  This collaboration promises to further enhance consumer engagement by offering the best of entertainment content and access to an extensive music library with user-friendly interface.

    “Eros Now’s collaboration with YouTube Music is inimitable and we are thrilled to have collaborated with YouTube as this will provide consumers a massive music library in conjunction with our premium film and other programming. Amongst several initiatives we deeply invested in growing the base of paid digital subscriptions in India and this strategic alliance with YouTube and Google is another example to ensure we are able to move the needle for the growth of this business in India, whilst providing for a super value to our consumers,” Eros Digital chairman and CEO Rishika Lulla Singh commented.

    According to the Counterpoint 2019 India OTT Video Content Market Consumer Survey, Eros Now has the largest share (59%) of users in the 25-39 age bracket in Tier II/III cities, highest among all major OTT platforms with a total of 68% of its consumers watching content on the platform daily. According to the FICCI KPMG Report released in September 2019, Movies and Music contribute to greater than 50% of the OTT content consumption on both matrix of unique viewers and time spent.

  • Eros Now partly assuages Eros International’s syndication declines

    Eros Now partly assuages Eros International’s syndication declines

    BENGALURU: Eros International Plc (Eros) reported 49.1 percent decline in aggregate revenue to $23.1 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2019 (Q2 2019, quarter or period under review) as compared to the corresponding year ago quarter’s $63.4 revenue. Eros explains that lower revenue was mainly due to lower syndication revenue for Q2 2020, which was partially offset by increase in revenues from the Eros Now business. “Our Eros Now business continues to ramp up and grow its paid user base worldwide, supported by one of the largest libraries of Indian movies, along with its unparalleled market position and brand name,” says a statement by Eros.

    In Q2 2020, the Eros film slate comprised 11 films of which 11 were low budget as compared to 17 films in Q2 2019, of which four were medium budget and 13 were low budget. In Q2 2020, the company’s slate of 11 films comprised two Hindi films and nine regional films as compared to the same period last year where its slate of 17 films comprised five Hindi films and 11 regional films and one Tamil/Telugu regional film.

    Operating adjusted EBITDA declined to less than a third (declined by 2.53 times)  y-o-y to $7.8 million in Q2 2020 as compared to $27.5 million in Q2 2019. Eros claims that the decrease in Adjusted EBITDA was on account of increase in administrative costs due to expected credit loss expense accounted as per default method under IFRS 9.

    Gross profit for the period under review declined 38.7 percent y-o-y to $15.5 million from $25.3 million in Q2 2019. Eros reveals that the decrease was mainly due to lower amortisation, marketing, advertising and distribution costs for Q2 2020 which was partially offset by increase in administrative cost.

    The company reported a lower operating loss of $13.6 million for Q2 2020 as compared to an operating loss of $261.9 million in the year ago quarter.

    The company says that cost of sales decreased by 55.6 percent to $16.9 million in Q2 2020 compared to $38.1 million in Q2 2019. Eros says that the decrease was mainly due to lower amortisation costs. Administrative cost increased by 72.2 percent in Q2 2020 to $29.1 million compared to $ 16.9 million in Q2 2019. The increase was mainly due to increase in expected credit loss accounted as per default method under IFRS 9.

    For Q2 2020, Eros’s net finance costs increased by 866.7 percent to $2.3 million, compared to $(0.3) million in Q2 2019 mainly due to increase in finance costs and reduction in interest income on account of unwinding of credit impairment loss.

    Eros says that as of 30 September 2019, Trade Receivables decreased to $189.8 million from $196.4 million as of March 31, 2019 after considering expected credit loss reserve upon adoption of new accounting standards during the period.

    Company speak

    Excerpts of a statement made by the company:

    “This quarter we generated $32.3 million of top-line revenue and $7.8 million in adjusted EBITDA. Our Eros Now business continues to ramp up and grow its paid user base worldwide, supported by one of the largest libraries of Indian movies, along with its unparalleled market position and brand name. As of 30 September 2019 our Eros Now OTT platform reached 23.5 million paid monthly subscribers and 177.7 million registered users, increases of 81percent and 39 percent, respectively, over the same period last year. This represents net additions of 4.7 million paid subscribers and 23 million registered users during the first half of Fiscal Year 2020. Eros Now currently garners viewership from over 150 countries around the world. Eros has a strong slate of films and original series scheduled for release over the coming quarters, and we expect this to help drive continued growth in our Eros Now business as well as box-office revenue.

    “For the full fiscal year 2020, we are reiterating our consolidated revenue guidance in the range of $200-220 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $80-$95 million. We have a healthy balance sheet with net debt of $112.6 million and $99.4 million of cash and cash equivalents.”

  • Ali Hussein promoted to CEO at Eros Now

    Ali Hussein promoted to CEO at Eros Now

    MUMBAI: Ali Hussein has been elevated to the post of chief executive officer (CEO) at Eros Now, the digital arm of Eros International PLC. Hussein joined the organisation as chief operating officer in 2018.

    His experience spans over 15 years in the media entertainment and digital space. Ali has been an entrepreneur and board advisor to Discovery Networks and other startups in the media and technology domain. The media professional has updated about his recent promotion on Linkedin.

    He was associated with organisations such as Google, Viacom 18 and Hungama where he has held key positions. His expertise comes from complex mandates across mobile marketing, content syndication and distribution.

  • Eros Now partners Microsoft to build next gen online video platform by leveraging Azure

    Eros Now partners Microsoft to build next gen online video platform by leveraging Azure

    MUMBAI: Eros Now, the digital arm of Eros International Plc announced a collaboration with Microsoft  to build a next generation online video platform on Microsoft Azure targeted at better consumer experience. The partnership will also help the latter to expand in the Indian market as it is one of Microsoft’s first forays into India’s crowded digital video space.

    “India is one of the fastest-growing digital entertainment and media markets worldwide, driven by the growth in online video content.  AI and intelligent cloud tools will be the next drivers of the media business and will impact everything from content creation to consumer experience.  We are very excited to work with Eros Now to redefine the online video watching experience for consumers,” Microsoft India president Anant Maheshwari said.

    Using Microsoft Azure and Azure Media Services, Eros will develop a new, intuitive online video platform. The new platform will provide seamless delivery of content for its consumers across geographies and languages, supported by a robust infrastructure including Azure Content Delivery Network (CDN).

    Eros will work to create new interactive voice offerings for consumers, powered by Azure AI tools, including OTT app video search experiences and voice search for video content across 10 Indian languages.

    “The online video market has brought a paradigm shift in the way technology is used and will be used to enhance the customer journey and user experience. We at Eros Now have been the earliest movers in the adoption of technology which is a core strength of the brand. The objective and the goal of this collaboration is to ensure we become the primary innovators for the video business and a gold standard for the others to follow. We have immense respect for Microsoft as a company to help us innovate and pave the path for the next generation of online video,” Eros Digital CEO Rishika Lulla Singh said.

    To increase consumer satisfaction and loyalty, Eros will create an engine to deliver personalised content recommendations for consumers by leveraging its own user data, combined with Azure AI, analytics, Cloud Data Warehousing solutions and Azure Media Services.

    Microsoft, Corp said, “As an innovator in on-demand video, Eros Now has been transforming the way millions of people access and consume content. By using our combined expertise across technology and media, we have an opportunity to build on that foundation and re-imagine entertainment for the rapidly growing audience of digitally-connected consumers in India," Rishika Lulla Singh executive vice president Peggy Johnson said.