HOOQ to Offer More Than 1,000 Shemaroo Titles on its Platform

Internet TV is the new kid on the block. Though it hasn’t seen a fast growth due to lack-luster Internet speeds in most parts of the country, Smart TVs have given it a push. Shemaroo Entertainment and video-on-demand service HOOQ have signed a partnership that will see the addition of more than 1000 movie titles across multiple genres and languages on the OTT platform.

In addition to the content library of over 30,000 hours, HOOQ will now distribute Shemaroo’s library that includes a mix of classics to super hit films, TV serials and fitness videos. The content catalogue includes titles like Hunterrr, The Dirty Picture, Ishqiya, Don, Kaalia, Khuda Gawah, Mughal-E-Azam, Nukkad, Shilpa’s Yoga and Bipasha’s Fit & Fabulous amongst others.

A report published earlier this month by Digital TV Research stated that the number of TV sets connected to the Internet will reach 876 million by 2020, up from 105 million at end-2010 and the 415 million expected at end-2015. The growth is vast, and that is probably the reason why we see companies tapping on to this sector, which we could still say is an ignored fragment. Most of the Smart TV owners in the country still have restricted the use of the set to watching videos on YouTube for free on the big screen. However, people are still hesitant to subscribe to and pay up for Internet TV.

Shemaroo Entertainment director Jai Maroo said, “We are excited to partner with HOOQ for Indian content. With increasing number of devices and its users, the consumption of content on these platforms will certainly see an upward swing. We believe that services like this will catalyze consumers’ shift towards premium paid services and thus will ultimately benefit content owners like us. The deal affirms our focus to deliver quality content to our consumers on a variety of media and a network of their choice.”

HOOQ chief executive officer Peter Bithos added, “Partnering with Shemaroo Entertainment, one of the largest content houses in the country will no doubt strengthen our ever-growing catalogue. We aim to satisfy the entertainment needs of the Indian consumers by ensuring that they continue to enjoy the largest and best catalogue of Hollywood and Indian content for only Rs 199 per month.” The prices are the same that were at the launch of the service in May this year.

As per the report of the Digital TV Research, there were only 31 million internet connected smart TV sets by end-2010, but this total will quintuple to 150 million by end-2015. As a proportion of total TV sets, this percentage will climb from 1.3 per cent in 2010 to 5.6 per cent in 2015 and onto 10.9 per cent by 2020. By 2020, this proportion will be higher than 10 per cent of TV sets in 34 countries.

Hooq at its launch kept various factors in mind like the Indian bandwidth and the fact that they wouldn’t spend much, keeping the price 199 per month for unlimited movies being streamed on 5 devices. Being the latest entrant in the league of big company owned channels like BoxTV, DittoTV, BigFlix and a few others, Hooq will have to stick on and press the right nerves in terms of advertising and marketing this product to an audience which is not a spender in the category yet!