MUMBAI: Moser Baer India will be launching a new initiative in content distribution in Cochin, marking the extension of the company’s maiden foray into the entertainment industry, through the Indian home video market in Kerala.
On 10 January, Moser Baer launched over 101 Tamil titles in Tamil Nadu.
Moser Baer will soon launch the new Malayalam film – Tiger, starting Suresh Gopi, Murali and Gopika, in both VCD and DVD formats. The company also plans to launch 100 other titles from its library of over 600 Malayalam titles, both from catalogue as new films.
While all the titles will be introduced in VCD format, 12 key titles are planned to be introduced in DVD format also.
The company has already lined up 26 distributors in Kerala and stocks will be available immediately in around 5,000 outlets to begin with. In order to generate awareness among people, Moser Baer will be advertising the concept of low cost, original VCDs and DVDs in local TV channels and press starting from 1 February.
Moser Baer executive director Ratul Puri said, “This initiative is poised to bring a paradigm change in the home video market in Kerala We clearly recognize the tremendous opportunity of the Malayalam cinema. We believe this will lead to much higher consumption of content on home video, and encourage people to build libraries and eschew piracy. We have planned distribution to reach virtually every town where there is a movie loving family. Our rich library, world-class packaging and production, and unbeatable value propositions for customers will surely propel Moser Baer and this new venture into the top end of the market in a very short time.”
According to recent research, India has over 26 million DVD / VCD users, growing at a healthy clip of over 25 per cent, and comprising about a fourth of all TV ownership in the country. Despite the huge potential market, home video accounts for a mere seven per cent of the total film revenues of Rs 79 billion (Rs 7,900 crores). The US home video market is almost the same revenue size as that of the theatrical market.
