iWorld
Eros Now leverages content to create a new culture for viewers
MUMBAI: Amid a cluttered over-the-top (OTT) space in India, Eros Now always faced less challenge than other players to differentiate itself. With Eros International’s deep-rooted history in the film industry, the digital arm played with a specialised strategy since the beginning. While the subscription-based business model in the Indian OTT market is still nascent, the company has always prioritised SVOD model. However, riding the waves of change, the company is also updating content strategy, even working on something very interesting from its business model perspective.
Recently, the leading OTT platform reached over 100 million registered users and 7.9 million paying subscribers worldwide with a 58 per cent quarter-on-quarter growth. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Eros Digital COO Ali Hussein discussed the factors that fuelled the growth along with what will be the content strategy going forward.
Talking about the significant surge in terms of paid subscribers, Hussein mentioned the combination of efforts including programming, marketing strategy, enhanced relations with telco partners and marketing alliance partners as key contributors to the customer uptake. The new movies added to the catalogue, as well as refurbishing content helped to develop a consistency from the programming perspective. Active marketing both at the digital level and brand level also played a key role.
While the OTT platforms keep adding subscribers, high churn rates are challenging for subscription video businesses. “Essentially we learnt from data that there are two kinds of significant components. One is the larger users experience on the product side and second is in terms of being able to kind of refurbish content. So, I think the combination of two efforts from the consistency of programming leads to a larger subscriber affinity and two is, in terms of being able to ensure that we are able to create a user experience at the core,” he says.
“Then there are certain other remarketing strategies we establish in terms of being able to cluster our audience better and ensuring that we get a month-on-month growth,” he added.
Though, since its launch, the OTT platform has been hailed for its rich movie library and currently is also working on the movie catalogue, the company is not willing to entirely depend on it.
However, despite originals being an important part of programming strategy, he does not believe in gambling all the money for it. The team is working on short-form content ideas also as a part of the overall content strategy.
In late April, Eros Now premiered its first direct-to-digital film Meri Nimmo kicking off a new trend of distribution as well as adding a new dimension to its content strategy. Viewers have responded well to the film. Moreover, it has helped to attract new users to the platform.
“From a qualitative point of view, it was a very good thing. Something that we will do going forward also in terms of looking at digital original film as a key part of content strategy,” he said.
The success of the first initiative in the genre has helped the company to fix focus on such projects. Currently, it is looking at multiple projects that will be released direct on digital.
Very recently, Eros Now launched a new brand campaign titled ‘Bolo kya dekhogey’. It claims that the quality of organic users coming on the platform has gone up drastically after the launch of the campaign. Usually, many players go to third-party digital agencies for marketing campaigns but Eros Now relied on in-house creativity.
“We are also a production house first; we develop a lot of creative ideas. So, people who worked on the quality movies over the years should be able to come up with good creative ideas itself to market around products. Historically, we have been the one marketing our movies also,” Hussein explains.
Since the beginning of this year, from appointing some new key executives including Hussein to launching new brand campaign, expanding content library, extensive marketing, the first half has been momentous for the streaming platform. The company is heading in a direction to reach about 12-15 million paid subscribers in next 12 months on the back of such focussed strategies.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
