Rentrak ties up with Eros to track movies in India

Global measurement and tracking firm Rentrak will keep tabs on Tevar

Global cinema revenue — box office and advertisement — measurement and tracking company Rentrak has tied up with Indian film production and distribution company Eros International.

Eros’s first film this year — Tevar, which released on Friday — will be tracked and its box office revenue reported through Rentrak’s services. It had started operations a few months ago; the first film it tracked was PK.

“We have partnerships with almost all the studios in the United States. Some of these, like Fox, Disney and Viacom, are present in India as well. We have tried to extend out partnerships with them into India. Eros however, is the first Indian studio we have tied up with,” said Rajkumar Akella, managing director, Rentrak India.

With 3.5 billion admissions per annum, India is among the largest consumers of movies in the world. Akella said while India is the largest and most diverse producer and consumer of movie content, the condition for Rentrak’s entry were available only recently. Digitalisation of Indian cinema screens is the biggest factor that encouraged Rentrak to enter the market.

“With the success of films like The Lunchbox (2013), the world is curious to know about India and the cinema it makes. However, the market is challenging. It is diverse like no other (market) and fairly fragmented. The digitalisation of screens and e-ticketing has helped streamline operations to a large extent at least in Bollywood. Now almost 80 per cent of the Bollywood market operates on e-ticket-enabled multiplexes on independent cinema chains. We intend to cover this section of the industry, and the remaining 20 per cent as well, though the latter will have to be done manually,” said Akella.

Rentrak’s Box Office Essentials and International Box Office Essentials are the industry’s source for comprehensive global box office intelligence and are used as the currency by every studio in the US as well as distribution entities around the world. The firm already tracks Bollywood in 44 countries due to the increasing presence of exports from the industry to territories beyond Indian borders.

Jyoti Deshpande, group chief executive officer, Eros International said, “We are delighted to partner with Rentrak. I believe this tie-up will help accelerate positive change and herald a new era of transparency in the Indian movie industry.”

Akella said once the measurement starts to flow, everyone in the eco-system will be convinced of the importance of standardised data and its advantages.

“Currently, since there is no standardised data available, a lot of the dealings in the industry are done on speculations. The risk is very high and the business model can get lopsided. Now, there will be data to help even the single screen owners to make the most of their property and attract clients for in-cinema advertising,” he said.

After Eros, the agency hopes to tie up with other national and regional studios. While it will start operations with Bollywood, Rentrak will, over the course of time, also extend its services to regional industries. With studio tie-ups, the agency will be sampling the markets that the partner studios have presence in, before approaching the independent players in that market.