Lionsgate Play targeting double-digit share in Indian OTT market

Rohit Jain, MD, Lionsgate South Asia, said the Indian SVOD market has 50–60 million paying subscribers, and the number of such customers is expected to rise to 75–80 million in the coming years.

“If you keep that 75-80 million number in mind, we are on course to reach double-digit market share very soon,” Jain said.

He also claimed that Lionsgate Play would be among the top five non-broadcaster-owned OTT platforms in the country in terms of both subscribers and revenue. “We identify ourselves as a premium and targeted SVOD platform,” he added.

Jain revealed that the SVOD platform’s average revenue per user (ARPU) is a little over 50 cents (about Rs 41), while the average viewing time per user is 85 to 90 minutes.

“Our large screen consumption (connected TV) is 50%, whereas the industry average is 20–25%,” he said. Lionsgate Play intends to premiere at least one title in a week.

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Lionsgate Play is targeted at young urban audiences. It has built its content strategy on three key pillars – global titles, Indian titles, and local original shows.
In order to expand the reach of its international content, the platform dubs them in six Indian languages. On the original content side, the game plan is to do premium, large-scale format shows with A-listers from the entertainment industry.

“In the last two years, we have done more than 100 premieres of global titles. Next two years, we aim to do 150 premieres. We have done five Indian originals this year and intend to do six to 10 originals in a year,” Jain said.

Its distribution strategy has been to reach audiences through partnerships with telecom operators, broadband players, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and OTT aggregators like Prime Video Channels and Tata Play Binge.

“Our primary focus is to reach customers in a way that’s convenient to them. Figuring out the economics is back-end work,” he said.

Lionsgate Play has big ambitions for the Indian market in the next two years. According to Jain, the platform will be revamped next year to give it a new look and feel.

Lionsgate India recently unveiled an aggressive slate of films for theatrical release in 2023. The movie slate includes John Wick: Chapter 4, Golda, Plane, Bricklayer, About My Father, White Bird: A Wonder Story, and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

“Next year is going to be the biggest year for Lionsgate India as far as theatrical releases are concerned,” Jain said.