Film Production
Balaji Telefilms reported an income of Rs 119 crore for Q4 FY22
Mumbai: Balaji Telefilms has announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended 31 March 2022. The group posted an income of Rs 119 crore for the quarter and a loss of Rs 33.3 crore.
The group revenues for the year stood at Rs 337 crore and a loss of Rs 133 crore. Altbalaji contributed Rs 102 crore to overall revenues. It sold 3.88 million subscriptions in FY22 excluding subscribers on partner apps. Its direct subscription revenue stood at Rs 52.39 crore.
The TV business clocked 863 hours of production across seven shows for four broadcasters. There are two more shows lined up and should commence shortly.
Altbalaji added 13 shows over 12 months on its platform. Its reality show Lock Upp has crossed more than 500 million views. The watch time on the OTT platform stood at 15.75 billion minutes, with an engagement time of 66 minutes. Video views stood at 1.29 billion cumulative to date.
The company also has seven movie projects in the pipeline with leading actors and directors in the country.
“The movie business continued to make good progress in completing its productions given that normal operations were fully resumed on account of easing of restrictions,” said the statement. “Further, with the relaxations implemented in terms of re-opening of cinema theatres, the theatrical distribution business is steadily on its way to regain momentum and this has accordingly allowed the company to pursue its monetization strategies for completed productions in terms of theatrical launches as well as deals for direct to digital.”
The company has seven movies planned for release in FY23 and pre-locked existing deals on a few movies. As part of its strategy, Balaji Telefilms continues to control investments in movies and pursue pre-sales and co-production deals where feasible.
“The relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions and norms in this financial year allowed us to operate at our optimum efficiency levels,” said Balaji Telefilms Limited managing director Shobha Kapoor. “Altbalaji continues to drive subscription growth and we added 3.88 million subscriptions during the twelve months. We added 13 shows in the twelve months which included the highest watched reality show Lock Upp in OTT space signalling the reach of the business. We continue to have strong controls on the cash spend while driving overall profitability including some strong strategic content sharing deals which allows us to further our growth. Our TV business has shown good recovery in terms of production hours and we hope to improve this momentum as two new shows will commence. In the movie business, production for some exciting projects is at various stages of completion. We closely monitor the availability of theatrical releases and direct to digital launches. Overall, the year has been good and expected to continue the momentum.”
Film Production
Priyanka Kaur Dhillon joins SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution
A seasoned content dealmaker with 16 years in digital and satellite media joins the Bengali entertainment powerhouse as it pushes into the pan-India music market
Mumbai: Priyanka Kaur Dhillon has made her move. The content acquisitions and commercials veteran, most recently commercial manager at Sony Pictures Networks India, has joined SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution, stepping into one of the more interesting briefs in regional entertainment right now.
SVF is no ordinary regional label. Over 30 years it has built a formidable legacy in Bengali cinema and music, driven by culturally resonant storytelling and a catalogue that consistently punches above its weight. Its recent success with Chiraiya underlines the point. But the Kolkata-based powerhouse now has its sights firmly set beyond Bengal, most visibly through Legacy, a rap reality series produced in collaboration with hip-hop label Kalamkaar that signals a deliberate push into the pan-India music ecosystem.
Dhillon brings precisely the kind of muscle SVF needs for that expansion. At Sony Pictures Networks India, she led film acquisition and commercials and handled music licensing across the entire satellite network. Before that, she spent nearly 15 years at Hungama, rising to assistant general manager and leading strategic content licensing for the platform’s digital entertainment business, with a particular focus on international markets. Her label relationships span the full roster: Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, Believe International, Tunecore, The Orchard and a clutch of smaller aggregators. She has negotiated and closed deals with Hollywood studios, Bollywood production houses and regional content players alike, building pricing models and deal structures off data analysis rather than instinct.
Announcing the appointment, Dhillon said she was “thrilled to begin this journey with an iconic Bengali music label and content powerhouse,” adding that SVF’s “constant drive to push boundaries” was what drew her to the role.
SVF has spent three decades proving that regional does not mean limited. With a sharp commercial operator now steering its music distribution, its bid to go national just got a good deal more serious.
