With 3500 films right in kitty, Shemaroo to launch online streaming app

With the growing penetration of smartphones and Internet, the consumption pattern and business opportunity for video content are attracting new players in the segment.

Another player that is planning to enter the segment is Shemaroo, which currently rents DVDs.

We want to grow our revenue fivefold in five years, Hiren Gada, the company’s chief executive officer, was quoted as saying to Bloomberg via BS. The firm plans to launch an online streaming app in next 6-9 months.

It further plans to offer services on all platforms. The platform holds the rights to 3,500, mostly older Bollywood flicks. Shemaroo claims to earn TV licensing fees as well as advertising revenue from nearly 40 YouTube channels.

It eyes to grow its movie catalogue 3 to 5 per cent every year and is looking to license out its library to other online platforms. In last five years, company's claims to have witnessed 18 per cent rise in revenue.

It aims to bring differentiation through its meticulously planned content to fight competitors such as Amazon, Hotstar and Netflix. As per last year report, Amazon Prime Video signed up 9.5 million active subscribers since its launch. Whereas Netflix has around 4.2 million a little over a year after its launch in India.

Meanwhile Hotstar’s India Watch Report 2018 revealed that consumption of online videos has registered five-fold growth over the past one year. It claimed to be the most downloaded video app with 170 million installs.

In next two years, India’s media and entertainment market is estimated to expand to more than Rs 2 trillion ($30 billion), according to a report by Ernst & Young LLP in March. According to KPMG, since the launch of Jio video streaming apps have witnessed a staggering 336 per cent rise in usage.

India is counted as one of the most important markets for online streaming players. Of late, India’s online media boom has also attracted many players such as ALT Balaji, Voot, Ozee and Viacom Inc, among others.