I’m in Mumbai at FICCI-Frames at the moment. As a conference it probably isn’t my thing. Big panels arguing irrelevant points. You’re probably not going to learn anything at any of the plenary sessions. That’s not why you attend conferences though. It’s all about networking.

I’ve met some very interesting people but most interesting so far has been Smita Maroo from Shemaroo. Her company is a distribution, production, post-production house. They have been distributing Indian film and music video content for many years, branching out into post-production and then production. What makes them so interesting is how prepared they are for the world of digital distribution.

I’ve just gotten back from a tour of their post-production facility where they do up to 80% of all film related digital post for satellite and cable TV in India. They own a substantial catalogue of Indian films (in several languages) and are moving into substantial film production. What is most interesting is their approach to digital distribution. They are set up to provide niche language programming to the Indian diaspora. This might not sound like a huge opportunity but in fact it is. There are over 100 television channels in Mumbai. Once you’ve paid your local cable provider they are essentially free. Most of the channels play some form of original Indian content. That’s a lot of hours of programming.

For Indian communities overseas they may just be able to get one or two Indian premium channels in the countries they live in. It is just too expensive to set up niche programming channels on cable and satellite services. This is where digital distribution comes in. Shemaroo are beginning to set up deals enabling them to distribute their catalogue onto download and streaming platforms throughout the world. The cost of distribution is covered. Shemaroo simply take their share of the revenue. They are able to provide content to their partners in whatever form required. From there it is simply a case of watching the incremental revenues come in.

What is so special about that you might ask. It’s Shemaroo’s ability to grow its catalogue that makes their model so special. They are buying negatives from producers who are getting out of the business, producing their own films and creating programming out of pre-existing successful cultural forms like regional language plays. Mumbai has a vibrant dramatic and comedic performance scene. Many of the plays staged are in regional languages like Marathi or Gujarat. These plays are restaged in a TV studio multi-camera shoot. For very low production costs Shemaroo have another hour of niche language content to distribute internationally.

Shemaroo also understand that digital distribution means the market is global. They are purchasing rights to international films and repackaging for the local market. Be it Kurasawa or a B-movie you never heard of there are niche markets in India who are unable to get hold of the content they are after. Again distribution is niche, through online or ‘clubs’ where customers get regular catalogues sent out to them. They are also looking to develop projects as co-producers where they own some of the IP in international film and TV productions. All in all a very interesting business model.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2007 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Video, Business Models. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.