Mumbai: Eros Multimedia has entered into a two-year minimum guarantee output deal with Hungama Mobile for the development, distribution, and marketing of Eros’s music, content for download on mobile phones.
Hungama Mobile will repurpose Eros content into desktop wallpapers, ringtones, games, song videos and other content that has appeal on the mobile format and monetize this content by distributing it to handset manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola and mobile service providers such as Vodafone, Idea, BSNL, Airtel, Reliance, du, SingTel, Verizon, Rogers, T-Mobile and MTNL.
The deal covers content from some major forthcoming releases from the Eros roster, including the modern day Aladdin starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Riteish Deshmukh; Toonpur ka Super Hero, starring Ajay Devgan & Kajol, Kambakth Ishq with Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor; Salman Khan’s Veer and Freeze starring Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha Basu. A venture, which is currently under production, featuring Deepika Padukone of Om Shanti Om fame and Saif Ali Khan, will also fall under the auspices of the deal.
According to a report by PwC, digital music in India grew by 33 per cent in 2007 and it predicts that it will grow by 26 per cent CAGR over the next five years to exceed Rs 2.5 billion by 2012. Mobile music currently accounts for over 88 per cent of the entire digital music market. This growth is being propelled by the increasing cell phone ownership in India, which has already exceeded 230 million.
Commenting on the deal, Eros’s New Media & International Sales senior vice-president Kumar Ahuja said, "Through this association, we are looking to maximize the mobile distribution potential from our premium content. The deal allows us to achieve full visibility of our mobile syndication revenues for the next two years from our film slate."
Hungama Mobile chief operating officer Saleem Mobhani said, "We have been working with Eros for many years as partners on our portal, www.bollywoodhungama.com and this association of exclusive mobile entertainment content for their future releases until 2010 only strengthens this association. Hungama Mobile gives immense value to studios and record labels for both promoting their films as also realizing revenues via the digital medium."
