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Varma’s The Factory appoints Starcom as its digital AoR
MUMBAI: Bollywood production and distribution company, The Factory, today announced Starcom Digital as its agency of record for all online and offline interactive media.
With immediate effect the agency will look after planning, negotiation and evaluation of The Factory’s digital initiatives. The assignment also includes development of online communities and launch of future titles of The Factory.
The Factory is the new name for the merged entity between producer-director Ramgopal Varma’s Varma Corp. and K Sera Sera.
“We believe the digital medium has not been properly leveraged by the movie business. We liked the vision Starcom presented to us. We hope that working together, we can do some ground breaking stuff,” Varma was quoted in an official release as saying.
“This is like a dream come true for us. Varma Corp is known to be amongst the best in their business and we are really looking forward to working with them. This assignment comes to us at a very significant stage, since we are on the verge of relaunching our product offering with a new vision and new scope,” Pranay Anthwal, group head, Starcom Digital, was quoted in the same release as saying.
“For The Factory, we intend using the entire gamut of digital vehicles, from internet to offline media like screensavers and other desktop applications to mobile media such as mobile phones and PDAs. The opportunities are literally limitless,” Anthwal said.
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Paramount set to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $81 billion deal
Shareholders back merger, combined entity could reshape streaming and studios.
MUMBAI: Lights, camera… consolidation, Hollywood’s latest blockbuster might be happening off-screen. Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery have voted in favour of selling the company to Paramount in a deal valued at $81 billion rising to nearly $111 billion including debt setting the stage for one of the biggest shake-ups in modern media. The proposed merger, still subject to regulatory approvals, would bring together a vast portfolio spanning HBO Max, CNN, and franchises such as Harry Potter under the same umbrella as Paramount’s own heavyweights, including Top Gun and CBS.
At the heart of the deal is streaming scale. Executives have indicated plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into a single platform, potentially creating a stronger challenger to giants like Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video. Current market data suggests HBO Max holds around 12 per cent of US on-demand subscriptions, compared to Paramount+’s 3 per cent, together still trailing Netflix’s 19 per cent and Disney’s combined 27 per cent via Disney+ and Hulu.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has signalled that while platforms may merge, HBO’s creative identity will remain intact, stating the brand should “stay HBO” even within a broader ecosystem.
Beyond streaming, the deal would redraw the map for film production. Combining two of Hollywood’s oldest studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., the new entity aims to scale output to over 30 films annually, while maintaining a 45-day theatrical window. Warner Bros. currently commands around 21 per cent of the US box office, compared to Paramount’s 6 per cent, underscoring the strategic weight of the acquisition.
But scale comes with scrutiny. Critics warn that fewer players could mean reduced consumer choice, rising subscription costs, and potential job cuts as the combined company looks to streamline overlapping operations while managing billions in debt.
The news business, too, faces a reset. CNN would join forces at least structurally with Paramount-owned CBS, raising questions about editorial independence and positioning. The merger has already drawn political attention in the United States, particularly given perceived ties between the Ellison family and Donald Trump, though the company maintains that newsroom autonomy will be preserved.
If approved, the deal would mark another milestone in Hollywood’s consolidation wave shrinking the industry’s traditional “big six” studios to a “big four”, with Paramount joining Disney, Universal, and Sony at the top table.
In an industry built on storytelling, this merger may well become its most consequential plot twist yet.
