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Entertainment, media and communications company Percept Ltd is looking to monetise Sunburn, an annual electronic dance and music event property it created in 2007, by taking it to other Asian markets. Taking an IP-led approach, Percept will also seek to monetise Sunburn merchandise, besides launching Sunburn Club Lounges, music and video labels, and a television property.
Speaking to Business Line , Mr Harindra Singh, Vice-Chairman and MD, Percept Ltd, said, “In year five, by our cash flow projections, we see Sunburn becoming a $100-million (Rs 450-crore) property. We'll be taking it to Bali this year, and are also working out Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, and maybe Singapore. It is already the largest music festival in Asia, so we thought, ‘Why not take it to other Asian markets?'”
The first Sunburn Club Lounge will be opened in Pune, and negotiations are on for one in Delhi. The company is working out legalities around audio and video labels involving international performers at Sunburn.
“We're speaking to specialists on the merchandise front. Last year, we saw that people were buying the merchandise even at a premium. This year, we will actually make that a serious revenue stream,” explained Mr Singh.
Percept recently launched another property with an on-ground event in Pune, Bollywood Live. The attempt is to create a convergent model with Bollywood Live being a ‘one-stop destination for all things Bollywood' on the Web.
Back on Track
The company claimed capitalised billing of Rs 2,137 crore in FY '08, which subsequently slipped to Rs 1,877 crore (FY '09) and Rs 1,979 crore (FY '10).
Financial year 2011 saw billings back on track at Rs 2,489 crore. Besides regular channels such as its advertising business,
Percept will seek to grow through a mix of ‘advertiser-funded' movies, television content and live events, and monetising IPs, to grow to an ambitious Rs 4,575 crore in FY '12.
“Year 2010 was the only year in which we lost some money (since 1984), but we came back well last year. We decided to restructure a lot of the business, killed some non-performing divisions and focused on those that give us sustainability and scalability,” added Mr Singh.
Percept will continue to be in movie production (Percept Picture Company) but will adopt a ‘partnership model' and co-create films, revealed its MD, to mitigate risk. The company has three films slated for release this year — Raftaar 24X7, Yeh Hausla, and Carry On Pandu .
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