The biggest inspiration for Yash Patnaik, who founded production firm Inspire Films in 2012, was starting his career working on the two most popular Hindi shows on TV at that time—CID and Aahat. A decade later, after building content for various television channels, he is keeping his fingers crossed for the launch of his company's initial public offering (IPO) on September 25.
Patnaik had first landed a project with TV network Zee Entertainment and later joined Fireworks Production, the makers of CID, one of the longest running TV shows, as well as horror series Aahat.
"I started my first company called Beyond Dreams with my wife in 2007. The idea with this firm was to do business across media and not just content. Then in 2012, we launched our content-focused company and that’s how Inspire Films was started. A show called Ek Veer ki Ardaas Veera was the first production under Inspire Films on Star Plus, which became an instant hit and ran for over three years. We have done 35-odd shows across TV networks including Sony, Star, Zee, Colors, among others," Patnaik told Moneycontrol.
Patnaik and Beyond Dreams Entertainment Private Limited are promoters of Inspire Films.
Building content portfolio
To expand the content portfolio, the company filed for IPO on August 14 and received National Stock Exchange (NSE) approval in September. The size of the IPO stands at Rs 21 crore.
"In the last couple of years, there has been a content boom on streaming platforms. We did our first show on (streaming platform (MX Player) called Tu Zakhm Hai, which was the most viewed show with 3.5 million views in the first week. The show did two seasons. In 2023, we did our second web series and so far we have done three other OTT (over the top platform) shows. In addition to TV content, we have more web series in development. The funds raised via the IPO will help us develop more IPs (intellectual property), create more shows. The idea is to create a pipeline for the next two years. There are four to five titles planned for launch in the next 12-18 months for both TV and OTT," he said.
The founder added that he expects the size of projects to increase. Currently, there are projects in the range of Rs 10-25 crore. “On an average, the per-episode cost is Rs 8 lakh for a 200-300 episode show," he said.
TV versus OTT
Patnaik said that while TV commands the lion's share in the company's revenue, he wouldn't be surprised if OTT surpasses TV. "It was only last year when we started monetising content on OTT. In 2022-23, OTT was close to 35-40 percent of total revenue and the rest came from TV. TV remains a mainstay for us as it lets us connect with a larger audience. But if you see the overall growth in the entertainment industry, OTT is expected to grow faster. While TV is estimated to grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 7 percent by FY26, OTTs are expected to grow at 29 percent CAGR," he said.
The OTT video services market (video-on-demand and live) in India is likely to post a CAGR of 29.52 percent to reach $5.12 billion by FY26, driven by rapid developments in online platforms and increased demand for quality content among users, the FICCI-EY 2023 report noted.
Betting on this projected growth, the company plans to create a homegrown OTT platform with its own content library, originals including web series, mini-series, direct-to-digital films, podcasts, shorts, chat shows and content by influencers, among others.
"Content innovation is not just in terms of stories, the way it is delivered also plays a role," Patnaik said.
Growth rate
While the company is focusing on building original content, this segment currently contributes marginally to overall revenue with 99.98 percent coming from content commissioned by TV networks and OTT platforms on which the firm receives a commission.
The production firm's revenue in FY21 stood at Rs 19.38 crore, growing to Rs 38.15 crore in FY22 and Rs 48.83 crore in FY23. Patnaik added that the pandemic impact posed challenges but also time to develop a content portfolio.
"When the pandemic-led lowdown began in March 2020, two of our projects were on the floor (in development phase). So the Covid-19 impact did hurt business. But that’s the time we invested in new ideas. What we are doing now is the result of the time we got during the Covid years. There was a temporary shortage of work but in the long run it helped us build the pipeline," he said.
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