Direct to Home (DTH) players are finding new revenue streams in the pay per view (PPV) market, as is the film industry. To add more steam to the PPV subscribers this season, DTH biggies like Tata Sky and Dish TV will premiere Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (OLLO) on December 18, consequent to which the movie will be available for four weeks versus the usual 24 hours.
UTV Motion Pictures has cut a first kind of deal with two major DTH platforms on a revenue share basis, where OLLO will be first Indian Movie to hit DTH platforms in just over three weeks. Normally movies have been going to DTH platforms only after 6-8 weeks and sometimes after the first satellite telecast of the movie.
According to a study by Media Partners Asia, the total PPV revenues in India are expected to touch $18.5 billion by 2017, while subscriptions can fetch up to $12.3 billion, advertising revenues will grow up to $6.2 billion. Worldwide too, pay-per-view revenues have grown steadily over the past decade, accelerating during the past five years with the addition of new pay-per-view subscriber services. The main staple for most per-per-view services is feature motion pictures which have been released theatrically. Salil Kapoor, COO, Dish TV, communicated, "The premier of OLLO on Dish TV will enable our 4.6 million subscribers to enjoy the latest and best of movies in the comfort of their home. We are the only DTH platform to broadcast Bollywood and Hollywood blockbuster movies like Taare Zameen Par, Jab We Met and Spider Man 3." Dish TV believes that PPV on a long-term outlook will drive its revenues.
A Big TV spokesperson confirms the emergence of PPV as a revenue driver. "Specifically for BIG TV our strategy has been to provide subscription based bundled service called Subscription Video-On-Demand (SVoD). This is in contrast to industry practice, where the subscriber pays on per view basis." For Rs 50 as monthly subscription, Big TV provides the subscriber access to 40 Hindi and Regional films through SVoD channels from content library that is refreshed every fortnight. Big TV today boasts of a million subscribers within three months of its launch.
According to IRS survey, at 6.5 million, DTH households account for 10 per cent of Cable & Satellite households leaving aplenty room to grow in future. "With rising income levels and standard of living, C&S is growing at a rate of 19 per cent per annum, thus, providing additional base for DTH operators," adds the report.
Maneesh Mathur, COO of marketing communications agency P9 Integrated, a division of Percept, notes, "Even when a film festival of Big B or Shahrukh Khan is telecasted in various channels umpteenth times, the viewership exceeds any other content. I feel in the entire portfolio that PPV will offer films will definitely rule the roost followed by gaming." Mathur also adds that DTH opens a huge opportunity for the film sector where box office presently contributes around 60 per cent of the overall revenues. "DTH helps as alternate revenue model for film makers and content owners, wherein the content owner can monetise his content on this platform in a revenue sharing model or an outright sale model, which adds to a substantial amount in his kitty," Mathur reasons.
According to industry estimates, 45 per cent of all television households currently subscribe to basic services. Of these, 15 per cent subscribers pay a premium for additional services. Media Partners estimates that the overall PPV subscriber base will expand to 137 million by 2012 and 163.8 million by 2017.