India’s oldest music label Saregama, an RP Sanjiv Goenka Group firm, is planning to develop its market share within the nation’s music market to 37-38% over the following three-five years from the present 16%, vice-chairperson Avarna Jain mentioned. In an interview with FE’s Mithun Dasgupta, Jain mentioned the corporate goals to launch 60 new movies and internet sequence episodes over the following three years, as demand for OTT companies stands robust with a everlasting shift in direction of watching content material on video OTT platforms. Edited excerpts:
Saregama’s income from operations rose by over 31% year-on-year at `580.63 crore for the final monetary 12 months, whereas web revenue surged by over 35% y-o-y at `152.65 crore throughout the identical interval. What had been the explanations behind this wholesome progress?
The firm’s music licensing revenue rose by 26% y-o-y for FY22. This was totally on account of elevated funding in new music and rising reputation of retro catalogue. Revenue went up in licensing verticals, together with YouTube, streaming apps, short-format apps and TV channels, and so on. Films, internet sequence and TV enterprise crossed `100 crore for the primary time. Yoodlee Films licensed three motion pictures and one internet sequence in the course of the 12 months. Also, Carvaan sale crossed 0.4 million for the 12 months.
The firm’s whole revenue grew over threefold to `615.54 crore for FY22 from `188.94 crore for FY15, whereas revenue earlier than tax noticed a whopping 13-fold leap to `204.41 crore. What had been the methods and measures you adopted for this robust efficiency?
Over the final seven years, Saregama has rebuilt its music enterprise brick-by-brick. This consists of digitising its whole music catalogue, creating wealthy metadata behind each track which helps in search outcomes, constructing information analytics power that enables predictive fashions to assist determine what content material to select, utilizing expertise instruments to trace IP (mental property) infringement and so on. We have began shopping for new content material aggressively, with a giant concentrate on regional content material. This has already began bearing fruit, with most of the new albums and songs changing into tremendous hits. We determined to increase our management in TV enterprise to digital movies underneath the model, Yoodlee. This enterprise has began gaining dimension, and now it additionally covers internet sequence. With Carvaan, the corporate not solely obtained a giant income spinner, but additionally grew to become the one music label to have a direct-to-customer enterprise. Also, Carvaan has helped repopularise the retro catalogue, which in flip helps the music licensing enterprise.
How is your music streaming enterprise doing at the moment and the way was it impacted in Covid occasions? What are your plans going ahead to extend income from this phase? Also, what’s the outlook for music licensing income within the subsequent 2-3 years?
Music licensing revenues have grown over 20% during the last 4 years. And this consists of the pandemic occasions too. While streaming numbers had been adversely affected initially (individuals not going to places of work), they improved with time. And, now with pandemic over, the streaming numbers have risen to a brand new excessive. The firm’s music is extraordinarily well-liked throughout all short-format apps, together with Instagram, Josh, Moj, Chingari and so on. This not solely helps promote the brand new songs but additionally generates income.
For higher monetisation (of current IP), partnerships with all OTT platforms are being launched and we have now entered into licensing preparations with all TV channels and types to be used of our catalogue music. The firm has constructed a browser-based search performance, utilizing the track metadata, serving to content material creators discover the perfect track match. We have plans to aggressively put money into new content material over subsequent 2-3 years and probably small- to mid-sized label acquisition for inorganic progress. Our goal is to boost market share of latest content material to 30% over subsequent two years, thereby rising music licensing revenue 23-25% over the medium time period.
What is the present market share of Saregama within the nation’s music market and the way does the corporate plan to extend it?
Overall, the Indian music business grew 17% in 2022 to succeed in `1,890 billion. The business is anticipated to develop at a CAGR of 11% within the subsequent two years. Saregama’s present market share is 16%. Our focused is to develop it to 37-38% over the following 3-5 years.
Yoodlee is making movies in regional languages to capitalise on the elevated demand for regional content material from OTT gamers. During the pandemic, such platforms noticed phenomenal progress. How many movies and internet sequence has Yoodlee Films made in the course of the pandemic occasions?
Since the pandemic set in (since April, 2020), Yoodley has to date launched eight movies and one internet sequence. One internet sequence (Mindscapes delivered to Netflix) is quickly to be launched.
How do you propose to broaden companies of Yoodlee Films? There is elevated competitors within the OTT house and it has resulted in reductions of costs for OTT companies. How do you propose to develop revenues on this house, going ahead?
Over the final 4-5 years, Yoodlee has launched 18 motion pictures (12 on Netflix, 4 on Disney Hotstar and a pair of on Zee5 and 1 internet sequence on Netflix). Over the following three years, Saregama targets to launch 60 new movies and internet sequence episodes. The demand stands robust vis-à-vis final 12 months of the pandemic, with a everlasting shift in direction of watching content material on video OTT platforms. For Yoodlee, focus is on internet sequence and regional movies.
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Source: www.financialexpress.com”