online

The entertainment business in India and abroad has been consistently hit by rampant piracy. This makes it difficult for movie and music companies to sustain the costs associated with making a movie or a music album. Where do they go now? No matter what, innovation can never be stopped. This piracy which was the bane of all entertainment companies has now shown us a way to sell and market movies in a different way. Companies like Netflix , Youtube and Hulu are actively exploring these options. Beginning with ‘ Super K ’, Shemaroo has now announced that they will be releasing their 3D animation feature free of cost to the public online on Yahoo! Movieplex instead of screening it at theatres. This marks the first time that a kids animation movie has been released exclusively online. We interacted with Mr. Jai Maroo, Director of Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd. to gain some insight into the company’s recent move. What is the idea behind releasing an online movie? Mr. Maroo:   Animation Industry in India is niche and only a handful of movies release every year. With big movies releasing every Friday, it becomes difficult for an animation movie, to get right slots in theaters. These slots are not conducive for parents with school going children. As a result, even though there is a demand, the weekend Box office collection fails for animation films. Under such circumstances, releasing a movie online brings relief for both the audiences who fail to catch the movie at the theater as well as the film makers who manage to make the movie reach to their target audience. Since most parents and children are present on the Internet and today’s children being extremely tech savvy, releasing the film online allows us to reach millions of film lovers any time, any place across many devices and multiple times. What is the scope of business opportunities for production houses that release online movies? Mr. Maroo:  Indian Animation industry is a niche market, which still needs to be explored. India is a young nation with over 64% of its citizens below the age of 34 years with literacy rate of around 80% amongst the age group of 15-24 years. (Source: IAMAI – 2010). Animation Films form less than 1% of total film business in India. Considering the young population of India the scope growth is tremendous. What is your take on online piracy of movies and how does releasing movies online combat that? Mr. Maroo:  The entertainment industry world over has been fighting against Piracy since long now. But still there has been no permanent solution found for this menace. Whether a movie is released in theatres or on DVDs or online, piracy hits all the platforms. By offering original high quality “Super K” FREE of cost to the end consumers, we are hoping to take away the reasons people have to view pirated versions. Bandwidth issues are a big constraint for the growth of this channel. Do you agree? Mr. Maroo:  With time the cost of bandwidth is reducing and so even a normal consumer enjoys higher bandwidth. This is also one of the reasons why consumption of entertainment on the online platform is gaining popularity. Also, with better streaming solutions and increasing Internet penetration in India, bandwidth is no longer a constraint. Do you think the monetary shelf life of movies will be longer once they are online? Mr. Maroo:  When a property is present online, the recall value of the product to the consumer is very high. The easy accessibility of the film makes it very attractive to the end consumers who can view it any time, any place and as many number of times as they desire. Also, there is better engagement and interactivity, which leads to a wholesome overall experience. This factor is not available in the other traditional mediums where the communication is one- sided. In the case of Animation films, they are inherently sticky properties and kids like to view them over and over again. This is a very bold and innovative strategy by Shemaroo and it further gives credence to the fact that it is indeed the beginning of the dawn of a truly Digital Age.