iWorld
Eros International Plc reports massive bottomline gains for third quarter
BENGALURU: Eros International Plc (Eros) reported more than a 15 fold (15.4 fold) increase in operating profits for the quarter ended 31 December 2016 (Q3-17, current quarter) as compared to corresponding year ago quarter. Operating profit in the current quarter was $8.2 million as compared to just $0.5 million in Q3-16. The company reported Net Income of $11.5 million as compared to a loss of $2.5 million in the corresponding year ago quarter.
The company’s topline (revenues) however declined 5.3 percent year-over-year to $57.3 million in the current quarter from $60.5 million. Adjusted EBITDA in Q3-17 increased by 62.9 percent to $14.5 million, compared to $8.9 million in the prior year period.
Eros explains that the strong increase in margins and profitability vis-à-vis the slight decline in revenues was due to the negative impact of demonetisation on theatrical revenues in the third quarter partially offset by strong high-margin catalogue sales.
Company speak
Eros managing director and group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “I am very proud of the progress we have made over the past few months on our journey to transform our Company into a leading global digital distribution business supported by the power of our brand, premium content and unparalleled distribution capabilities. The momentum we highlighted in November continues to accelerate with the growing success of Eros Now, our OTT platform which reached 58 million registered users and crossed 2 million paying subscribers in December 2016.
As we discussed in our Q2 results last November, the rapidly evolving digital media landscape in India including increased competition from Western OTT players for digital rights has underscored the value of digital content in India. It also reinforces our overall strategy to focus on premium content with the widest possible appeal. In the long term the rising value of digital rights will make our existing content library more valuable and increase the demand for our new release digital content across all platforms – including satellite and cable.
The demonetisation efforts undertaken by the Indian Government in November have clearly had a short-term impact on many aspects of the Indian economy, especially consumer discretionary spending. To that end while the entire media sector in India has been temporarily impacted by these measures, we feel that the underlying push to digitisation will directly and indirectly benefit our company going forward in many ways. We have been working tirelessly to provide consumers with multiple payment options for Eros Now, from telco billing to digital wallets to mobile payment providers. The push to digitisation reinforces our strategy and we feel we are well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity.
Finally, our strong upcoming production slate of over 50 films has gone through a stringent green-lighting process for several months. The upcoming lineup includes highly promising projects including five films from Trinity, two Indo‐China co‐productions, a Shah Rukh Khan film from Color Yellow, two sequels from our own content stable like Vicky Donor-2, Badlapur-2, Munna Michael starring Tiger Shroff and Chanda Mama Door Ke starring Sushant Singh, amongst others.”
ErosNow
The company says that Eros International’s OTT Platform ErosNow has over 20 lakh (2 million) subscribers worldwide, it has 5.8 crore (58 million) registered users worldwide across WAPP, APP and the web. The platform has rights to over 5,000 films, 250,000 audio tracks with 13 music labels providing music content.
The company says that Eros Now has integration deals around the world with over 20 different telecom operators and nine different OEMs and connected devices. Further, over the past four months Eros Now has digitally premiered more than 15 films from the Eros International new release slate. Eros Now’s original content offering began with the release of ‘Salute Siachen’, India’s first ever celebrity high endurance expedition to the Siachen Glacier. In addition, Eros Now originals such as Flesh by Siddharth Anand, Smoke and Side Hero will be launched in FY-18.
iWorld
Epic Company launches unified Epic Studio for films and OTT
Vivek Krishnani to head films business; Samar Khan leads OTT & Television.
MUMBAI: Epic just merged its creative superheroes under one cape because when films and OTT need to fight for attention together, you don’t keep them in separate universes. The Epic Company has launched Epic Studio, a next-generation creative and production powerhouse that unites Juggernaut Productions and Movieverse Studio under a single banner. The move creates a streamlined, scalable platform for premium storytelling across theatrical films, OTT originals, television, digital-first formats and branded content.
Vivek Krishnani has been appointed chief executive officer, Epic Studio (Films), overseeing the theatrical and film business with a focus on culturally resonant narratives across Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and Malayalam cinema. Samar Khan continues as chief executive officer, Epic Studio (OTT & Television) and retains his role as chief content officer for Docubay and Epic On.
The Epic Company managing director Aditya Pittie said, “Epic Studio brings together our entire creative ecosystem under one unified studio vision. This is not just an integration of verticals, but the creation of a collaborative environment where writers, filmmakers, creators, and brand partners can seamlessly develop and scale stories across formats and screens.”
Vivek Krishnani added, “We are building an audience-focused mainstream film studio committed to delivering fresh, engaging, and innovative stories for both theatrical and streaming platforms.”
Samar Khan commented, “This alignment allows us to approach storytelling with a unified studio mindset. We are building IP under one creative umbrella, with scale and longevity in mind from inception.”
The unified structure eliminates silos, enabling ideas to flow fluidly from concept to screen while adapting to evolving audience behaviour. Epic Studio positions itself as a creator-led ecosystem championing purposeful, resonant storytelling with commercial strength.
In an entertainment landscape where stories now leap between screens faster than plot twists, Epic isn’t just building a studio, it’s crafting a single launchpad where every tale gets the best shot at soaring across every platform.
