The Hindu Business Line : BigFlix to scale up; plans downloads thru set-tops

Home video
To enter 20 more cities in the next financial year.
Plans to sell DVDs; to exclusively premiere newly released movies
To set up microsites for movies by major film production houses

Sravanthi Challapalli

Chennai, Sept. 10 Movie rental service BigFlix.com plans to expand its presence in the ten cities it is present in now. The total number of stores in these cities will go up to 200 from 120 by end-2008, said Mr Kamal Gianchandani, Chief Operating Officer, BigFlix.com. A part of Reliance Big Entertainment, BigFlix will also enter 20 more cities in the next financial year, he said.

For its movie download division, which mainly has NRIs as its customers, BigFlix is planning to make the downloads available through a set-top box. As of now, downloads are available only through the computer. These downloads can be accessed only through a dedicated set-top box and not through existing ones, but the BigFlix box would be much smaller than those used to access direct-to-home broadcasting services, Mr Gianchandani said.

BigFlix’s rentals division has access to 17,000 DVD titles including movies and TV shows in 12 languages. Soon, it will start selling DVDs as well. The home video market is estimated at Rs 1,050 crore, including sales and rentals in the organised segment, Mr Gianchandani said. In India, this market is just about 10 per cent of the theatrical business, in sharp contrast to other countries where it’s as big as the theatrical business, he added.

The market is growing at 25 per cent year on year and he believes it may eventually become 25 per cent of the theatrical business, he said.

The exorbitant prices of tickets at multiplexes, and the large number of movies released every year, at the rate of 15-20 a month, makes it uneconomical for consumers to watch them on screen – these are the factors driving the market’s growth, he said.

nascent stage

The downloads business is in a nascent stage and can be exploited only by those with enhanced broadband speeds, so most of that business is in the US and the UK. Ninety per cent of the audience is NRI, Mr Gianchandani said. The number of downloads is between 50,000 and 75,000 a month. An ad-dependant model makes it possible for some free content to be streamed to viewers.

BigFlix is spending Rs 25 crore on a marketing campaign which includes Rs 20 crore for the domestic market and Rs 5 crore for the movie downloads business.

The advertising and marketing campaign in the overseas market will include advertising across 200 multiplexes.

Other plans for next financial year include exclusive premiering of newly released movies and setting up microsites for movies by major film production houses.

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