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Tag: Jyoti Deshpande

  • China’s LeEco makes India debut; partners ErosNow & YuppTV

    China’s LeEco makes India debut; partners ErosNow & YuppTV

    MUMBAI: Internet and technology company and one of the largest online video companies in China LeEco has forayed into the Indian smartphone market with the launch of LeEco Max smartphone. What’s more, the company has inked content partnerships with over-the-top (OTT) players ErosNow and YuppTV.

     

    LeEco has launched their flagship superphones, Le Max & Le1s, in the Indian market. As their partner, ErosNow will be integrated within the Le ecosystem of internet enabled smartphones and smart televisions, showcasing ErosNow’s Bollywood films, music and Originals. Devices will include a one-year premium subscription to ErosNow service pre-bundled with the purchase of the phones.

     

    On the other hand, YuppTV will provide 250 live channels across 12 languages, offering entertainment, news, movies, music, kids, lifestyle and spiritual content.

     

    With a focus on maximum user engagement and satisfaction, the ErosNow service will be seamlessly integrated into the user interface of Le devices purchased in India.

     

    Eros International group CEO and MD Jyoti Deshpande said, “Content consumption is surging across consumers with patterns changing rapidly and internet entertainment networks becoming increasingly popular. Our partnership with LeEco is part of our philosophy to provide consumers entertainment whenever and wherever they want it.”

     

    “When content owners and platforms come together like Eros and LeEco, we provide a compelling consumer proposition. We are confident the LeEco range will be able establish its success in the attractive Indian market bundled with our premium content that consumers will love,” she added.

     

    LeEco Asia Pacific CEO Tin Mok said, “We are excited to be entering the attractive and vibrant Indian market and partner with some great companies here like Eros who is a proven market leader in Indian entertainment. We sold four million phones in China last year and our target this year is 15 million and we hope to replicate that success in India and wow the Indian consumer with our super phones and televisions packed with features. We are pioneers and innovators in the technology world and creating a seamless ecosystem has worked for us very well in China. We believe the Indian consumer will get great value and user experience from our cool phones at compelling prices with annual subscription of ErosNow built into the price.”

  • China’s LeEco makes India debut; partners ErosNow & YuppTV

    China’s LeEco makes India debut; partners ErosNow & YuppTV

    MUMBAI: Internet and technology company and one of the largest online video companies in China LeEco has forayed into the Indian smartphone market with the launch of LeEco Max smartphone. What’s more, the company has inked content partnerships with over-the-top (OTT) players ErosNow and YuppTV.

     

    LeEco has launched their flagship superphones, Le Max & Le1s, in the Indian market. As their partner, ErosNow will be integrated within the Le ecosystem of internet enabled smartphones and smart televisions, showcasing ErosNow’s Bollywood films, music and Originals. Devices will include a one-year premium subscription to ErosNow service pre-bundled with the purchase of the phones.

     

    On the other hand, YuppTV will provide 250 live channels across 12 languages, offering entertainment, news, movies, music, kids, lifestyle and spiritual content.

     

    With a focus on maximum user engagement and satisfaction, the ErosNow service will be seamlessly integrated into the user interface of Le devices purchased in India.

     

    Eros International group CEO and MD Jyoti Deshpande said, “Content consumption is surging across consumers with patterns changing rapidly and internet entertainment networks becoming increasingly popular. Our partnership with LeEco is part of our philosophy to provide consumers entertainment whenever and wherever they want it.”

     

    “When content owners and platforms come together like Eros and LeEco, we provide a compelling consumer proposition. We are confident the LeEco range will be able establish its success in the attractive Indian market bundled with our premium content that consumers will love,” she added.

     

    LeEco Asia Pacific CEO Tin Mok said, “We are excited to be entering the attractive and vibrant Indian market and partner with some great companies here like Eros who is a proven market leader in Indian entertainment. We sold four million phones in China last year and our target this year is 15 million and we hope to replicate that success in India and wow the Indian consumer with our super phones and televisions packed with features. We are pioneers and innovators in the technology world and creating a seamless ecosystem has worked for us very well in China. We believe the Indian consumer will get great value and user experience from our cool phones at compelling prices with annual subscription of ErosNow built into the price.”

  • Q2-2016: Eros revenue more than doubles; PAT up 80%

    Q2-2016: Eros revenue more than doubles; PAT up 80%

    BENGALURU: The Sunil Lulla led Eros International Media Limited (Eros) reported more than double the revenue (Consolidated Total Income from Operations or TIO) for the quarter ended 30 September, 2015 (Q2-2016, current quarter). TIO in the current quarter increased 110.5 per cent YoY to Rs 504.91 crore from Rs 239.90 crore and increased 6.9 per cent QoQ (quarter-on-quarter) from Rs 472.48 crore.

     

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

    All numbers in this are consolidated unless stated otherwise.

     

    Profit after tax (PAT) in the current quarter increased 80.1 per cent to Rs 90.30 crore (17.9 per cent margin) as compared to the Rs 50.14 crore (20.9 per cent margin) in Q2-2015 and increased 69.3 per cent from Rs 53.35 crore (11.3 per cent margin) in the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    The company is its earnings presentation says that it has already collected Rs 75.76 crore of receivables between 1 October and 7 November, 2015. Eros says that as on 30 September, 2015, its total receivables stood at Rs 629.96 crore as compared to Rs 524.74 crore six months ago on 31 March, 2015. The company plans to bring this figure down to Rs 525 crore by the end of the current fiscal. Receivables over 365 days stood at Rs 34.7 crore.

     

    Further, Eros’ days sales outstanding (DSO) improved to 119 days compared to 133 days on 31 March, 2015. This includes TechZone’s debtors, which have higher DSO due to delayed payments from telecom operators.

     

    Eros International Plc Group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “In spite of our strong business fundamentals and material changes since our March and June results, both of which were positive, we recently became a target of an anonymous attack resulting in great volatility of our stock price. We have already responded in detail to this attack. We expect to follow the strong growth and profitability showcased in our Indian subsidiary results with positive results for Eros International soon after these results.”

     

    Lulla said, ”We are pleased announce a continued strong performance in the second quarter backed by multiple record breaker Bajrangi Bhaijaan starring Salman Khan that became one of the biggest movie in Bollywood history, laugh riot Welcome Back and Mahesh Babu starrer Telugu film Srimanthudu that registered brilliant box office performances.”

     

    “The core building blocks of business strategy continues to be to having a balanced portfolio of films, strong presales, and healthy catalogue monetisation that leads to a high degree of predictability to our business,” he added. 

     

    “In this quarter, we are excited to release the much anticipated Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus Bajirao Mastani to light up your holiday season and the remainder of the fiscal has a string of high profile movies that include Tamil film, Surya’s 24; Telugu films Dictator and Pawan Kalyan’s Sardar and the much travelled film festival favourite Aligarh. We have also picked up momentum in the regional markets with releases lined up in Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam,” Lulla further informed.

     

     

    Revenue breakup

     

    The company says that growth in revenues was driven by a strong portfolio of films supported by a healthy contribution from theatrical, overseas, satellite and ‘others’.

     

    Eros breakup of revenue for Q2-2016: Theatrical Revenue – 59.1 per cent; Overseas Revenue – 11.8 per cent; Television and others 29.1 per cent.

     

    Release Mix

     

    Portfolio by Product

     

    Eros released a total of 20 films in Q2-2016 as compared to 21 in the corresponding year ago quarter. The mix in the current quarter comprised three each of high and medium budget films, and 14 low budget films as compared to one high budget, three medium budget and 17 low budget films in Q2-2015.

     

    Portfolio by Language

     

    In terms of language, Eros released 16 Hindi, three Tamil/Telugu and one other language films in the current quarter as compared to 15 Hindi and six Tamil/Telugu films in Q2-2015.

     

    In line with Eros’s de-risking strategy, the company says that it registered strong pre-sales from theatrical, satellite and music rights exploitation for various movies released during the quarter.

     

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Eros:

     

    Total Expenditure in the current quarter also more than doubled (went up 2.2 times) YoY to Rs 370.97 crore (73.5 per cent of TIO) as compared to Rs 168.19 (70.1 per cent of TIO), but declined 3.5 per cent QoQ from Rs 384.32 crore (81.3 per cent of TIO) in the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    Eros says that direct costs in the current quarter mainly increased because of increase in marketing costs due the mix of films comprised more high and medium budget films, increased amortisation charge as well overflows accrued to co-producers as a result of high performance of films.

     

    The company’s EBIT (Earnings before Interest and Taxes) increased 92.8 per cent YoY to Rs 139.01 crore (27.5 per cent margin from Rs 73.79 crore (30.7 per cent margin) and increased 44.4 per cent QoQ from Rs 96.27 crore (20.4 per cent margin).

     

    Employee Benefits Expense (EBE) in the current quarter increased 112.6 per cent YoY to Rs 14.29 crore (2.8 per cent of TIO) from Rs 6.72 crore (2.8 per cent of TIO) and increased 31.2 per cent QoQ from Rs 10.89 crore (2.3 per cent of TIO).

  • Eros joins hand with Excel & Dharma for ‘Baar Baar Dekho’

    Eros joins hand with Excel & Dharma for ‘Baar Baar Dekho’

    MUMBAI: Eros International has acquired the worldwide rights of Excel Entertainment and Dharma Production’s upcoming film Baar Baar Dekho. The film stars Katrina Kaif and Siddharth Malhotra and is the directorial debut of Nitya Mehra.

     

    Eros International Media Group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, ‘We are delighted to join forces with two of the most notable production houses, Excel and Dharma, for this very interesting love story. With such creative forces behind the project, audiences can only expect the very best. Through this partnership, we hope to drive together the strategy for creating, marketing and distributing the film on a global platform.”

     

    Excel Entertainment producer Ritesh Sidhwani added, “We are happy to associate with Eros International once again and look forward to our film getting the best release platform through their unparalleled reach and network.”

     

    Dharma Productions co-producer Karan Johar said, “We at Dharma are happy that we are joining hands with Excel for the first time and with Eros again, who make our old associates.”

     

    The film goes on floor in London on 1 September. It will be shot across several international locations and will be released in 2016.

  • Eros acquires worldwide rights of ‘Rock On 2’

    Eros acquires worldwide rights of ‘Rock On 2’

    MUMBAI: Eros International Media has acquired the worldwide distribution rights of Excel Entertainment’s forthcoming release Rock On 2.

     

    Eros International Media group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “With Rock On 2, we continue our synergy with Excel after our previous successes like Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Dil Dhadakne Do. The sequel promises to be another heartwarming story high on content and entertainment.”

     

    Excel Entertainment producer Ritesh Sidhwani added, “We are happy to associate with Eros International once again and look forward to our film getting the best release platform through their unparalleled reach and network.”

     

    Written and directed by debutant film maker, Shujaat Saudagar, Rock On 2 is the sequel to the rock musical drama, Rock On. While Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli and Prachi Desai will reprise their roles from the original film, Shraddha Kapoor joins the star cast to play the lead role along with Akhtar for the first time. 

     

    The film will be shot in Shillong, the rock capital of India.

  • Eros to propel digital play in July with campaign; defers Pay TV strategy

    Eros to propel digital play in July with campaign; defers Pay TV strategy

    MUMBAI: Indian entertainment company Eros International Plc is betting big on digital play with its over the top (OTT) platform ErosNow. Come July and the company will unveil its exclusive movie line-up as well as original shows on the platform.

     

    In order to push its offerings on ErosNow, the company will launch a marketing campaign around its movie premieres (pre-television, post-theatrical window), as well as original shows.

     

    What’s more, Eros has deferred its plans to launch pay TV channels as was planned earlier and will instead focus on strengthening its position in the OTT arena. The company had plans to launch a Hindi movie channel and a music channel.

     

    Even as the company’s television licensing revenues continue to be strong on the back of digitization and constitutes over 35 per cent of its revenues; in the light of its new focus on its OTT space, Eros’ strategy will be to premiere films on ErosNow and then syndicate them to television channels around the world after that window closes.

     

    In FY-2015, digital and ancillary segments of the company contributed revenues of $59.9 million as compared to $47.7 million in FY-2014. The company’s other two primary revenue streams theatrical and television syndication contributed revenue of $123.1 million and $101.2 million respectively in FY-2015 as compared to $107.5 million and $80.3 million respectively in FY-2014.

     

    Eros International managing director and CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “Our pre-launch phase of ErosNow has been very successful with 19 million registered users globally, up 35.7 per cent from the 14 million users we announced in February 2015. We believe the combination of being an early mover, our unique studio assets, and the high market share of our extensive library positions us to be the leading player in the Indian digital entertainment industry.”

     

    Eros International reported 20.7 per cent growth in revenue to $284.3 million in FY-2015 (year ended 31 March, 2015) as compared to the $235.5 million in the previous year. Currency comparable revenues increased by 22.4 per cent.

     

    For the quarter ended 31 March, 2015 (Q4-2015), the company reported 39.8 per cent (currency comparable revenues increased by 40.7 per cent) revenue growth to $88.5 million as compared to the $63.3 million in the corresponding year ago quarter.

     

    Eros reported 32.9 per cent increment in net income to $49.3 million in FY-2015 from the $37.1 million in FY-2014. Net income in Q4-2015 more than tripled (3.01 times) the $19.4 million as compared to the $6.4 million in Q4-2014.

     

    Deshpande added, “Our fourth quarter and full year results demonstrate the strength and scalability of our business, our dominant leadership position and our ability to capitalize on the growing and underpenetrated Indian media, entertainment and digital industry.”

     

    “Our growth from non-Diaspora international markets shows a growing appetite for Bollywood content in many new markets. One of our strongest potential markets, China, with a market size of $4.8 billion and over 23,600 screens, is projected to soon surpass Hollywood as the largest film market in the world. Our latest collaboration agreements with Chinese Film Corp and Shanghai Film Group to co-produce and distribute Sino-Indian films are important steps in maximizing our opportunity in China.”

     

    Eros’ television syndication revenue remained strong in fiscal year 2015, with an over 50 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter, with high and medium budget films helping Eros syndicate attractive bundles of new and library films.

     

    Eros group executive chairman Kishore Lulla said, “By creating the first studio model in India and achieving 20 times growth in the last ten years to now over $100 million in adjusted EBITDA, Eros has successfully completed its first pioneering effort in transforming the Indian film industry and becoming its global leader. Looking forward, our goal now is to pioneer yet again using the strength of our films and our exciting ErosNow platform to become the leading Indian digital entertainment company globally.”

  • BSE seeks clarification from Eros on movie channel launch plan

    BSE seeks clarification from Eros on movie channel launch plan

    MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has sought clarification from film production and distribution firm Eros International Media with regards to its plans of launching a movie channel and tweaking business verticals.

     

    The notice to Eros reads, “The Exchange has sought clarification from Eros International Media Ltd with respect to news article appearing in Mint on 6 April, 2015 titled ‘Eros plans new movie channel, acquisition of technology startups.’”

    The publication has reported that the film production company is looking at generating more content and acquiring technology startups.

     

    Eros International group CEO and managing director Jyoti Deshpande, in an interview to the publication, has said that the company is entering south India and newer areas of content creation and distribution. With Eros looking at producing 125 movies as compared to the approximately 70 it currently produces, Deshpande, is expecting a steady increase in margins for the current financial year.  

     

    The Exchange has sought a reply from Eros with regards to this news item and the reply is still awaited.

  • “The Rs 100 crore Bollywood film club is bullshit:” Mukesh Bhatt

    “The Rs 100 crore Bollywood film club is bullshit:” Mukesh Bhatt

    MUMBAI: The year 2014 will go down in history as one of the worst years for Indian cinema in recent times with poor box office collections. Movie economics were also adversely affected by dramatic reduction in demand for satellite rights by broadcasters.

     

    In an endeavour to produce bigger and larger movies, is the emphasis on quality declining? Are studios misreading audience tastes? Are movie budgets bloated beyond control? These questions were raised in a session of FICCI Frames 2015 moderated by Sikhya Entertainment founder Guneet Mongia with Viacom 18 Motion Pictures CEO Ajit Andhare, Eros International MD and group CEO Jyoti Deshpande, film distributer Anil Thadani, PVR Pictures president Kamal Gianchandani, Fox Star CEO Vijay Singh and Film and TV Producer Guild president Mukesh Bhatt.

     

    With a mere growth of 0.9 per cent, the film industry has reached its abysmal low. The panelists citied the major reason behind that as filmmakers getting carried away by big names and not sticking to the budget drawn.

     

    Deshpande opened up the discussion by aggressively protesting over budgeting. “We should immediately stop chasing big names and stick to quality content in order to make the industry prosper. Before green lighting content, we need to tackle a number of issues and better research can help the industry grow. Simultaneously, we also need to ensure that the number of screens increases as more screens mean more money.”

     

    Speaking on the shrinking number of screens, Gianchandani said, “While we are growing in some parts of the country, the fact is that there is stagnancy in some areas. The growth of multiplex depends on numerous factors, government and content being the two vital ones. We need to ensure that we have content that rejuvenates consumers and they reach the theatres.”

     

    It should be noted that in China a new screen starts in every three days and the industry is growing bigger and faster, whereas India is witnessing the exact opposite. Addressing the issue, veteran producer Mukesh Bhatt asserted, “In this business, if you don’t have the temperament to take a risk then you are on the wrong ship and you will certainly drown. Playing safe is not possible in the film industry and the perception that only the Khans can earn you money is ruining the industry. The Khans are good but they are 50 now and people won’t accept them singing romantic songs anymore. We have to discover new stars and new directors. All studios need to back raw and new talent. Moreover, multiplexes should have different pricing for movies that star newcomers. My father advised me that all my spending should reflect in the frame. However, nowadays our spends hardly reflects in the frame but satisfies the ego and arrogance of big names. The media given Rs 100 crore club is absolute bullshit and make no sense. I thank Viacom for green-lighting films like Mary Kom and Bhag Milkha Bhag and hope they keep it up.”

     

    Viacom CEO Ajit Andhare added, “I don’t recall when the film industry made profit or grew larger. The biggest challenge is to make people believe that spending more is not the key to success and one has to pay more attention to content and not green-light a movie going by the actor or director’s name.”

     

    Great content like Aankhon Dekhi, Dr Prakash Baba Amte and Chatuskone find it difficult to stay in theatres where glamour and big names keep knocking. Similarly, the scenario where a common man finds it difficult to afford a ticket needs to change in order to ensure growth of the film industry.

  • Eros International launches Trinity Pictures; Ajit Thakur to head

    Eros International launches Trinity Pictures; Ajit Thakur to head

    MUMBAI: Eros International has appointed Ajit Thakur as the CEO of its new motion pictures production division – Trinity Pictures.

     

    It may be recalled that in December 2014 Indiantelevision.com first broke the news about the former Life OK and Channel V general manager Thakur quitting the network and wanting to start his own label by joining Eros International.

     

    Thakur has joined the leadership team at Eros and will lead Trinity Pictures’ endeavor to invest in developing intellectual property in-house.

     

    Eros International group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said that while its acquisition and co-production model is all about scale, portfolio and market share, the Trinity label will be all about quality, success rate and building franchises with lasting value, which perfectly complements its overall content strategy. “We are excited about taking a big creative initiative with Trinity and warmly welcome Ajit to join the Eros family to drive this initiative with his wealth of experience and successful track record. We are fortunate to have David Maisel, the founder of Marvel Studios on the board of Eros International plc and are hopeful of recreating some of that franchise magic for Trinity,” Deshpande said.

     

    Commenting on his new role, Thakur said that it had been a dream to build a franchise based motion picture label and in Eros, he has found a perfect home to his dreams. “I am happy to be a part of the Eros family, India’s biggest film studio and hoping to create at Trinity something meaningful and of lasting value,” he said.

  • Rentrak partners with Eros International for box office reporting

    Rentrak partners with Eros International for box office reporting

    MUMBAI: Rentrak, a company that measures movies and TV everywhere, has announced its partnership with Eros International. As part of the deal, the company will collect box office information of Eros’ films across India. The first Eros film Rentrak will collect data on is ‘Tevar’, which released on 9 January.
                                                  
    “We are thrilled to work with Eros as we continue to grow our International coverage, which now includes the operation and collection of theatre-level attendance and box office information from 36 countries. The inclusion of Eros to our service is a powerful addition to our clients in India,” said Rentrak’s worldwide movie measurement business president Ron Giambra.  “Rentrak is thrilled to continue help India make its film production more transparent with our global box office reporting capabilities,” he added.

    Eros International CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “We are delighted to partner with Rentrak for box office measurement in India. I believe this tie up will help accelerate positive change and herald a new era of transparency in the Indian movie industry.”
     
    Rentrak’s Box Office Essentials and International Box Office Essentials are the movie industry’s source for comprehensive global box office intelligence and are used as the currency by every studio in the United States as well as distribution entities around the world. Boasting a global footprint of the worldwide movie market, Rentrak is able to provide its clients with real-time box office intelligence, through one unique system, which allows users to view real-time online reports from anywhere around the world.
     
    In recent times, Eros has also entered into Indian regional cinema with a strong line up of Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam releases this year. Eros is also one of the biggest international distributors for Bollywood movies with penetration in over 50 countries.
     
    India with 3.5 billion admissions per annum is already the largest consumer of movies in the world. As studies suggest, with seamless digitisation in the movies business, proliferation of multiplexes across the length and breadth of the country, Indian movies increasingly capturing the imagination of world markets, the Indian movie industry is set to make giant strides in terms of box office revenues and compete with the fastest growing markets in the world in near future.
     
    The Eros-Rentrak tie-up assumes greater significance in this transformative phase and will provide a positive thrust towards making the rapidly growing, vastly potent yet complex Indian movie industry, transparent.  

    The latest offering from Eros – Tevar stars Arjun Kapoor and Sonakshi Sinha in the lead. Eros’ upcoming films include Shamitabh, a film by R. Balki and starring India’s biggest super star Amitabh Bachchan.