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Tag: WASU Media

  • 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 Digital COO Ali Hussein on international partnerships for distribution & subscription

    Eros Digital COO Ali Hussein on international partnerships for distribution & subscription

    MUMBAI: As distribution plays a crucial role along with content for the business of over-the-top (OTT) platforms, Eros Now is betting big on partnerships in international markets to expand its reach in international markets. After recently striking deals with Vodafone Qatar and China’s WASU Media, the streaming player is also looking at such other partnerships. Although India definitely remains a large focus of the business, the company is trying to strengthen international distribution also.

    Talking to Indiantelevison.com, Eros Digital chief operating officer Ali Hussein spoke about the objective of the partnerships. He emphasised on the importance of two of the partnerships as both the countries are very important for the company.

    “We did an announcement for WASU in China which was our second partnership there. So, I don’t think any Indian OTTs really have any distribution partnership in China where we already have two. Moreover, China is doing a lot of investment in terms of market development on how to increase the further distribution of Indian programming or Indian content around the world. China is obviously a big market in terms of theatrical releases also and we are investing lots of resources trying to improve our digital distribution in China,” he commented.

    Talking about the Vodafone Qatar partnership, he noted that the Middle East is a focus area for the company. The company would try to penetrate better in the UAE and now in Qatar with the partnership along with Bahrain and some of the other countries.

    Hussein added that each market is unique in itself when it comes to content strategy thus requiring multiple strategies based on the market with localised approach like dubbing, subtitling, etc. Along with that, marketing is another area to get subscribers in conjunction with its partners also.

    Interestingly, these markets have two kinds of audience as Hussein shared. The Indian audience and South Asian audience  are watching a lot of South Asian content but it is some of the local audience watching Bollywood films. He also added that each market has a very different objective with different understanding of the audience behaviour. According to him, curating customer journeys, marketing the product and localisation of the product are also important factors.

    “Direct subscription we are doing anyway. This kind of telco partnership helps because they have the billing relationship with consumers. They are very accurate in customer profiling. As Telcos are more accurate in what is the type of customers looking to watch what kind of content, customer targeting is better done through these partnerships. So, I think both these efforts continue to go ahead hand in hand. We don’t segregate, it’s just different means of how do you acquire customers,” he commented.

    A recent KPMG report noted that telco partnerships contributed 30-35 per cent to the overall subscription revenues of OTT platforms in FY19. The report also added that although a majority of the subscription revenues are expected to come from direct subscriptions, the revenue from telco partnerships is also expected to achieve a robust growth, although slower as compared to direct subscriptions.

    “Our maximum growth actually has been coming from beyond the top eight cities. Some of our originals are also garnering a large amount of viewership from beyond the top six or eight cities. Actually, the number from metros is quite high but if you look at the growth percentage from tier-II, tier-III cities, that has been maximum for us,” Hussein commented on the subscriber growth of the platform.

    “Although user engagement also has a lot to do with the quality of network and quality of services, our time spent in terms of retention has gone north up of 75 minutes for most active users. A lot of original launches contribute to longer sessions. In general, we have seen a significant increase in time spent. For long-form episodic content, the company is trying to hit one original a month in the second half of the year,” he added.

    The company is now looking at the interactive video area. Other key areas the company is focusing on are Eros Now Quickies and short films.

  • Chinese giant Alibaba mulls part sale of film assets

    Chinese giant Alibaba mulls part sale of film assets

    NEW DELHI: The Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, which is now investing a major share in the entertainment sector, is considering selling of some of its start-up film industry assets.

     

    The businesses could be transferred to Alibaba Pictures Group (APG), the film production and investment company that has its own separate share listings in Hong Kong and Singapore. 

     

    Alibaba has major share stakes in integrated film and TV group Huayi Brothers Media, rival studio Enlight Media, Internet TV group Wasu Media, and online video platform Youku Tudou. 

     

    Alibaba chairman Jack Ma’s Yunfeng investment fund also has a major stake in Hong Kong’s Media Asia, according to Variety.

     

    “The possible business injection would be comprised of Alibaba Group’s (i) online movie ticketing business and (ii) financing and investment platform for the production of movies and other media content, both of which commenced operations in 2014,” APG said in a statement. 

     

    However, the deal is yet to be finalized, as APG said, “This new strategic direction calls for an integrated approach towards the funding, production, marketing and distribution of entertainment content.” 

     

    The proposed transfer would appear to exclude many of Alibaba’s larger and more mature film industry assets.