YuppTV plans to raise $50 mn to expand content

Internet-based entertainment content provider YuppTV is planning to raise $50 million in a couple of months from strategic funds.

The funds will be used to add new content on their over-the-top (OTT) platform, according to the company's founder and CEO Uday Reddy.

"Due to the 4G revolution and affordable broadband services, we are hopeful that viewers on data would increase to 75 million in India. As there are very few players in the country, we are likely to have 30 per cent market share.

YuppTV currently has 6-7 million visitors per month," Reddy said. According to him, YuppTV has so far invested $25 million over the past 10 years. The Atlanta-headquartered firm has around 300 employees at present and plans to hire 200 more in the next 2-3 years.

The company claims 8.5 million mobile app downloads till now. It offers 200 TV channels, over 100 TV shows and more than 5,000 movies in 14 languages with daily, weekly and monthly packages. It has recently launched YuppTV Bazaar to provide web series, short films, movie trailers, music videos and movies.

The company intends to add more web series content on its OTT platform. It has introduced PPV (Pay Per View) concept in YuppFlix, a dedicated wing that offers new movies at a cost of $4.99 per view, right from the third week of the theatrical release.

The company has announced Telugu actor Mahesh Babu as the brand ambassador of YuppTV in Hyderabad on Monday. Mahesh Babu said, "As the PPV concept of YuppTV brings new movies at affordable cost, it can reduce the menace of piracy in the film industry."