Balaji expects digital to be bigger than TV biz by 2025

Balaji Telefilms expects its upcoming over-the-top subscriber video on-demand platform 'ALT Digital' to contribute more to the revenues than TV and movie business by 2025.
Balaji Telefilms had raised Rs 150 crore for ALT Digital via a preferential share allotment early this year.
At present, the company is focusing on right content strategy, building team and defining the platform to launch the venture during this fiscal year.
"Digital is the way forward and the whole space is growing very rapidly. By FY 2020, we hope to have our revenues split equally between TV, movies and digital. By 2025, I expect ALT Digital to be bigger than both our TV and movies businesses," Balaji Telefilms Group CEO Sameer Nair said in the annual report.

The company expects to expand over-the-top subscribers base to 105 million by FY2020 compared to 15 million in FY2015
An average web user consumes about 6.2 hours of media daily, which includes 102 minutes on mobile platform and 79 minutes on PC-based desktop. Of total time spent on digital media, about 21 per cent of surfing time is spent on audio and video entertainment.

"We aim to build is a genuine B2C brand - after having been a B2B business for so many years. We are hoping to get in early and build a complementary channel to our television business," Nair said.

"ALT Digital will help us tap into a world of on-the-go entertainment that is slowly opening up in the country, as telecom companies and speedier broadband connections change the way people keep themselves engaged," he added.
With ALT Digital, the company said it is gradually transforming itself from participating only in mass entertainment to also have a stake in on-demand entertainment.
"As we establish the digital platform, it will create value by redefining the terms of our intellectual property and exploiting new avenues of monetisation...Will give us complete creative and pricing freedom...," Nair said.
The company will create about 200-300 hours of original programming for its digital platform.

"The content will be initially created in English and Hindi. Later, we plan to add regional content too (Tamil, Bengali and Telugu) to cater to a wider spectrum of the audience. In addition to in-house content creation for all age groups, we are signing up with creative outfits, including online video producers, for co-branded content to be broadcast on ALT Digital," the company said.
The digital platform will offer multiple genres like thriller, comedy, dramatic love stories and kids programming.