Exclusive | Movies shifting from theatre to laptops to mobile: Reliance Ent's Manish Agarwal

Reliance Entertainment Digital, known for bringing the first movie-on-demand service to India, is at the peak of innovation. From bringing some of the most well-known titles across languages, to creating a BIGFLIX app for Windows, iOS and Android, to recently launching a brand new user interface for its portal, the company has set glorifying trends that are here to stay. We talk to Manish Agarwal, CEO, Reliance Entertainment Digital for further insights. 

Adgully: Tell us about the recent developments at Reliance Entertainment Digital...

Manish Agarwal: Since inception, our aim has always been to provide digital innovation through our multiple business verticals.

We recognized at an early stage that mobile devices will drive consumer consumption for entertainment and other content. Each of our businesses has been built to leverage on the reach of the internet and mobile.

Today, Zapak as a brand and destination (www.zapak.com for PC & m.zapak.com for mobile) is synonymous with gaming. Zapak Mobile develops multi-platform games for mobile devices and is one of the few Indian studios developing games for a global audience. The focus towards mobile devices also brought about a shift in the business model of BIGFLIX. BIGFLIX is India’s first movie-on-demand service and has the largest catalogue of multi-lingual movies.

AG: Talking about BIGFLIX, it has been close to year since the service was launched. How has the platform grown?

MA: BIGFLIX, as a service has seen tremendous escalation in a span of one year. The core positioning of BIGFLIX is offering high quality content and a seamless viewing experience on multiple devices. It is your personal blockbuster theatre. You miss a movie at the theatre; you can watch it on BIGFLIX within 2-4 weeks of its theatrical release. We launched Jism 2 on BIGFLIX within a month.

The platform is also sans any distraction since there is no advertising. However, the catalogue is the king of our service. And at a price point of Rs. 249 for a one month subscription, makes for an extremely competitive product.

AG: BIGFLIX is known to offer a catalogue that is not only diverse but also presents the best assortment of films. Tell us more about the catalogue offerings.

MA: When we launched the service, we were catering solely to the Bollywood fans across the world. With progression, we realized that there is a demand for regional films as well. We began with select titles in Bhojpuri, Punjabi, etc. About 6 months ago we took a conscious decision to add South Indian movies to the service and began with the launch of our Telugu and Malayalam catalogues. To make the platform a holistic service, we have also acquired select international movies.

With a miscellaneous catalogue offering, we are catering not only to people in India but also Indians in UK, USA, Canada, Middle East, South East Asia, etc.

AG: When you launch a catalogue, what is that one thing that sets you apart from the other players in the industry?

MA: There are two kinds of viewers when it comes to movies – people who like the blockbuster entertainers and those who seek old classics or parallel/independent movies. For any movie based service to be accepted and profitable, it needs to cater to both sets of viewers, who some do overlap too.
At BIGFLIX, it is a clear mandate for the entire team to acquire titles of movies that people want to see, and catalogue need time to mature. Every time we have launched a new lingual catalogue, irrespective of the number of movies, a constant factor is the mix of movies we add to the service.

In addition of our catalogue, the seamless viewing experience provided by BIGFLIX across touch-points is one of our biggest strengths. Consumers love the fact that you can resume watching a movie on your mobile or tablet from the same point you stopped on the PC.

AG: The new user interface for BIGFLIX is quite impressive. Would you like to share insights of its new features and look?

MA: Online ventures need to be nimble in bring about quick changes to keep the entire product fresh and relevant to its TG. The new user interface has been developed to improve the interaction of subscribers with BIGFLIX.

It is contemporary, easy to use, offers features that are unique and in short, augments your movie watching experience. The feature that I would like to personally emphasize on is ‘Collections’. The ideology behind this feature is simple – categorization. A list of movies, consolidated under a particular category makes browsing easier and also lets you choose from a dedicated section.

AG: On the BIGFLIX.com website, one also sees collections of non-celebrities. How did that idea originate?

MA: Those collections are from personalities who are not essentially Bollywood celebrities, but are film critics, prominent media personalities and influencers on Twitter. When they display their collection, there is a sense of connect that builds between us and people who watch films on BIGFLIX.com. 

AG: Lastly, we are the end of the year, what were some of the trends that BIGFLIX has witnessed in the year 2012?

MA: Firstly, the most prominent trend is the shift of movies from theatre to laptops to mobile. Technology has updated to great extents. With an evolution in technology comes upspring of various trends. Watching films on your smartphone has become a cult.
From the business point of view, the movie-on-demand category is being tapped to its maximum. You have producers, wanting to extend their reach and launch their films on online portals. At BIGFLIX in specific, we had Mahesh Bhatt and Vidhu Vinod Chopra launching their catalogue on our portal.

It is a privilege to be associated with such renowned producers and directors. I am certain that together we will use the digital medium effectively to gratify the requirements of the movie watching audience.