Thakur
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Digital entertainment platform Hungama.com
believes as smart phones penetrations
increase, the market for paid content will also
scale up. The company, a subsidiary of
Hungama Digital, said it is planning to take
local content to Sri Lanka and West Asia
among others.
American venture capital firm BVP India,
along with existing investor and IntelCapital
has invested $40 million in Hungama Digital,
the parent firm of Hungama.com. Launched in
1999 as Hungama.com, the company has
businesses in mobile, gaming, online music
retail and so on. In an interview to
BusinessLine, Sidhharta Roy, CEO, Hungama,
said that the company will move to ‘middle
India’ (tier-2 and -3 cities) with its offerings.
Edited excerpts:
Most consumers are not keen to pay for
content. Do you see this as a challenge?
We are the largest aggregators of content with
over 2.5 million content pieces across genres
in the form of music tracks, movies, music
videos and mobile content.
We have over 10 million active users. We have
both free and paid models. Our service is
priced at ₹99. We believe the customer is
willing to pay for content provided the
experience is easy-to-use. While our audio
content is subsidised through advertisement
our video content is paid for.
How do you nudge a consumer to pay for the
content?
We first provide a free service and give them
an experience. This acts as a funnel to make
them pay.
We have tied up with Tata Sky, Airtel and
other DTH partners to expand our presence.
Connectivity is still a challenge both in terms
of costs and reach. How do you address the
issue?
Yes, it is a challenge. We have created
concepts where a consumer can use our
content, even if they are offline.
A customer can rent the concept or buy it and
listen to it offline. The whole idea is to get to
the customers’ wallet.
Payment gateways are still at a nascent stage.
How do you get consumers to spend money?
Our intention is to get more paid users. We
have billing relationships with 15 players. Plus
the customer can pay using the operators
wallet, both pre-paid and post-paid.
We have integrated with all operators. The
operator wallet is something like the top-up
that you do.
You can use it to convert it to buy a value-
added service like ours. Playing music while
offline is important for India, because of high
data cost. We are also looking at alternative
wallets like Itzcash or Oxygen or even a tie up
with bankers. The eco system has to evolve.
What is the roadmap for growth?
Smartphone eco system will move to the
middle India (smaller towns). The language of
choice will not be English, but regional. We
will undertake lot of innovation on that front.
We are also getting curated radio at the click
of a button. We are looking to get movies on
the mobile. ‘The customer will pay for an easy-to-use experience’ - The Hindu Business Line : Mobile Edition
believes as smart phones penetrations
increase, the market for paid content will also
scale up. The company, a subsidiary of
Hungama Digital, said it is planning to take
local content to Sri Lanka and West Asia
among others.
American venture capital firm BVP India,
along with existing investor and IntelCapital
has invested $40 million in Hungama Digital,
the parent firm of Hungama.com. Launched in
1999 as Hungama.com, the company has
businesses in mobile, gaming, online music
retail and so on. In an interview to
BusinessLine, Sidhharta Roy, CEO, Hungama,
said that the company will move to ‘middle
India’ (tier-2 and -3 cities) with its offerings.
Edited excerpts:
Most consumers are not keen to pay for
content. Do you see this as a challenge?
We are the largest aggregators of content with
over 2.5 million content pieces across genres
in the form of music tracks, movies, music
videos and mobile content.
We have over 10 million active users. We have
both free and paid models. Our service is
priced at ₹99. We believe the customer is
willing to pay for content provided the
experience is easy-to-use. While our audio
content is subsidised through advertisement
our video content is paid for.
How do you nudge a consumer to pay for the
content?
We first provide a free service and give them
an experience. This acts as a funnel to make
them pay.
We have tied up with Tata Sky, Airtel and
other DTH partners to expand our presence.
Connectivity is still a challenge both in terms
of costs and reach. How do you address the
issue?
Yes, it is a challenge. We have created
concepts where a consumer can use our
content, even if they are offline.
A customer can rent the concept or buy it and
listen to it offline. The whole idea is to get to
the customers’ wallet.
Payment gateways are still at a nascent stage.
How do you get consumers to spend money?
Our intention is to get more paid users. We
have billing relationships with 15 players. Plus
the customer can pay using the operators
wallet, both pre-paid and post-paid.
We have integrated with all operators. The
operator wallet is something like the top-up
that you do.
You can use it to convert it to buy a value-
added service like ours. Playing music while
offline is important for India, because of high
data cost. We are also looking at alternative
wallets like Itzcash or Oxygen or even a tie up
with bankers. The eco system has to evolve.
What is the roadmap for growth?
Smartphone eco system will move to the
middle India (smaller towns). The language of
choice will not be English, but regional. We
will undertake lot of innovation on that front.
We are also getting curated radio at the click
of a button. We are looking to get movies on
the mobile. ‘The customer will pay for an easy-to-use experience’ - The Hindu Business Line : Mobile Edition
