Tag: United Mediaworks

United Mediaworks & K Sera Sera merge ops; set aside Rs 100 crore as investment

MUMBAI: K Sera Sera(KSS) Digital Cinema Private Limited and United MediaWorks (UMW) joined forces to become the third largest digital cinema player in the country.

The two companies have decided to integrate their full operations and technology and use their combined energies to develop and consolidate their market position. Post the merger across content, technology and operations, the new venture will serve their existing 600 digital cinema theaters across the country. KSS’s Satish Panchariya will be the Chairman of the new company and UMW’s Ashish Bhandari will be the Managing Director.

To fuel their expansion plans, both the companies plan to invest INR 100 crores over the next two to three years. This investment will be used to build state-of-art and scalable digital cinema technology and on ground servicing, while assisting in digital content security and distribution of the films. Over the next 2 years, the joint venture is aiming to capture 25% market share with presence in 2000 screens across India.

As part of their growth strategy, the two companies aim at reaching out to advertisers, targeting both, national and regional players and offer them pan India reach. Both the companies are working together to build a common technology platform for content acquisition, content processing and field servicing. The new platform will not only provide cost effective solutions to both multiplexes and single screen theatres, but also offer advertisers a wide reach across the country for better ROIs. Additionally, the companies will mutually work towards delivering best quality services and reaching out to the untapped market segments of India. They intend to serve the Indian cinema industry with best products and services. The exisiting workforce will remain unaffected in both of the companies.

Speaking on the joint venture, United Mediaworks co-founder & joint managing director Ashish Bhandari said, “We are really excited to partner with K Sera Sera, as our goal has always been to support the growth of the Media and Entertainment industry. With this merger, we are aiming to expand our presence across India and create a benchmark for the entire industry in terms of technology and quality services. This collaboration is also an effort to revive and support the single screen theatres that face tough competition from the multiplexes in the industry.”

December 17, 2015
United Mediaworks crosses a lakh seats per show across India

Mumbai: Secured digital cinema platform United Mediaworks (UMW) announced that its ad network had attained 1,10,000 seats per show. The company gets its revenue from content processing charges, content distribution charges and advertising revenues. With this seating capacity per show, UMW says that its offering makes for a cost effective proposition for advertisers to promote their brands in semi metro cities as well as tier 2 and 3 cities and reach out to these upcoming towns. Also, the company says that it has shown great support for social causes by showcasing ads for the same at highly subsidized rates across its network.

Commenting on the growing ad network of United Mediaworks, co-founder and joint managing director Ashish Bhandari said “We are delighted to witness the daily growth with our ad network. It is a pleasure to view this kind of response to the dedication and hard work of our team. We strive to provide the best services with a high level of security and aim to be one of the top digital distribution services in India. With this kind of response and growth, I am sure the day is not very far when we will be the first partner of choice when it comes to digital content and distribution.”

United Mediaworks recently screened election ad campaigns across its network. The company has been screening corporate ads and has a number of brands on board including LIC, Gillette, Fortune Basmati Rice, SBI Life, Rural Electrification Limited, Bajaj Allianz, Chevrolet Enjoy, Manyavar, Emami, Tata Sky, Rupa, UTI, among others,.

November 18, 2015
United MediaWorks targets expansion to 350+ cinemas by March 2016

MUMBAI: United MediaWorks’ patented product Digibutor, a digital cinema server is looking at expanding its reach across the country. The product, which so far had a presence in Gujarat and Bihar and tapped into Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Jharkhand and Maharashtra earlier this year, has now set its sight on the West Bengal and Karnataka markets.

The product, which was until now available in 150 theatres across Gujarat and Bihar, has expanded its reach to over 200 theatres under its belt. This includes . This includes movie halls in Karnataka, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.

The digital distribution platform aims to expand its reach to over 350 theatres all over India by March 2016.

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, United MediaWorks co-founder and joint MD Ashish Bhandari said, “We launched in West Bengal and Karnataka a week back and the reason behind choosing these states was to break the monopoly of digital cinema providers in the theatre market.”

According to Bhandari, 10 – 15 per cent of cinema houses in rural India still works on analogue mode. “Not just this, south Indian movies dominate the market and so for now we are focusing more on single screens and individually owned multiplex theatres, so that we can break the monopoly and enter the market,” he added.

The prime focus of Digibutor is to support the growth of media and entertainment industry with futuristic and scalable technology based products and services. It has a technology through which it encrypts content in 512 bit. The platform has a distinctive digital watermarking to get the highest level of security system. This can be installed in other digital cinema equipments at cinema halls, which helps curb piracy.

United MediaWorks is not spending directly on the marketing of the product, but has collaborated with many local distributors of various states who are connected with producers, who then market the product. “Cinema advertising currently stands at Rs 480 crore. All over the country, there are 10,000 screens, of which 10 to 15 per cent are multiplexes, so our main focus is on advertising in single screen theatres. Cinema advertising is more efficient than television advertising, since it has a direct impact on consumers,” said VP – media sales Satish Mundhe.

The company made an initial investment of $1 million and is now looking for investors. Bhandari said, “Before asking investors to invest, I wanted to set a benchmark for them so that it’s easy to grow from there. We are looking for investors from like minded people in the industry.”

Launched in 2011, Digibutor was developed in 18 months at United MediaWorks Software Development and Research Center based in the US in association with Software Labs.

“Digibutor is nothing but a digital cinema server. The product is different from others, as there is no central server. Not just this, the technology is extremely easy to use as compared to the other competing companies and its very user friendly as well,” concluded Bhandari.

July 20, 2015
United Mediaworks ropes in Satish Mundhe as VP – media sales

MUMBAI: United Mediaworks has appointed Satish Mundhe as its VP – media sales, where he will be responsible in getting newer associations resulting in advertising and marketing revenue.

Mundhe joins United Mediaworks after a stint of nearly a decade at Inox Leisure where he was a senior member in the ad-sales and marketing department. He was instrumental in carrying out innovative strategies for various clients and was also responsible in conducting premiers and special screenings for clients to generate additional revenue and get brand mileage.

Mundhe said, “I am very glad to join United Mediaworks. They have been doing some great work and now are looking to expand their presence across markets in India. This gives me an opportunity to apply my knowledge and expertise and help them build a stronger business model. I am looking forward to working with them.”

United Mediaworks co-founder and joint managing director Ashish Bhandari added, “We are glad to have Satish on-board with us. He is a highly accomplished and competent media professional. With his level of focus, dedication and commitment, we are sure United Mediaworks will achieve greater heights sooner than imagined.”

With more than 15 years of experience in the marketing and sales field, Mundhe has worked with a wide range of brands like Multi Screen Media’s television channels, Axis Bank and Adlabs Imagica amongst others.

June 22, 2015