Now Showing,Virtually

The trend is mirrored by the emergence of several such online multiplexes over the past few months; while BIGFlix has been the most popular one around,a recent player is the Yahoo Movieplex.

Arun Tadanki,Managing Director,Yahoo! India,explains,“With the increasing demand for online video,consumers and content providers are looking for a trusted destination where quality content can be enjoyed in a piracy-free environment at their leisure. Through Movieplex,Indian movie lovers now have the best full-length movies available to them at their convenience.”

Jai Maroo,Director,Shemaroo Entertainment,points out that the transition to virtual mediums was inevitable. “There’s a dearth of quality content online and we are just trying to bridge the gap with our free video channel. We launched it in May 2011 with 20 titles from different genres. The response has been very encouraging,so we will be adding to the list,” he says.

Surender Suneja,head of acquistions for Eagle Home Videos,agrees that the online world holds a lot of potential. “We’ll launch our movie website by the end of this year. Initially,it will be a free-for-viewing model where we will release around 250 movies — a mix of Bollywood and some Miramax-owned Hollywood films. The ads will help us generate the revenue. Later,we’ll branch out into the pay-per-view model,” he reveals.

Amrita Pandey,Senior VP,International Distribution and Syndication,UTV Motion Pictures,says,that while they have tied up with several pay-per-view platforms to cater to its international (read NRI) audiences,they are going to be more cautious with the Indian territory. “For us,the time window between a movie’s theatrical release and its online release is very important,especially in India since it is our key market. So,we are still exploring the possibility of launching a free online movie channel / multiplex,” she says.

Not surprisingly,Yash Raj Films (YRF),too,has hopped on to the bandwagon. They recently partnered with YouTube to offer their recent film Band Baaja Baaraat online for a 30-day window,only within India.

They have also launched an innovative video property called YRF 30 Minute Movies,wherein the entire movie gets crunched into 30 minutes giving a fast online experience of the same film,apart from making YRF’s catalogue titles available on YouTube’s paid platform in the US.

“We aim to create a space in the audience’s minds that does not merely create awareness about our release,but goes a step further to ensure a ‘buy-in’ to the film by creating a sense of anticipation,” notes Anand Gurnani,General Manager,Digital & New Media,Yash Raj Films Pvt Ltd.

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