Mumbai: Eros STX Global Corporation (NYSE: ESGC) (“ErosSTX”), a global entertainment company, announced today that Eros Now, a leading digital OTT South Asian entertainment platform owned by ErosSTX, has reached 36.2 million paid subscribers and 211.5 million registered users worldwide as of September 30, 2020. This represents 6.9 million net new paid subscriber additions over the past six months.
This subscriber growth has been powered by our investment in technology and our larger partnership with Microsoft. In a recently completed project, Eros Now uploaded content to a central content repository, built on Microsoft Azure, that can quickly process large volumes of data to distribute to hubs via satellite. Consumers then connect to these hubs to securely download content to their mobile devices without internet connectivity. By using this system, consumers in low connectivity regions can access Eros Now’s rich media content and pay for services in modes they prefer. Enabling video distribution via satellite could be game-changing for the OTT business in developing markets like India, South East Asia, and Africa where more than 50% of the population has intermittent access to internet and internet video.
Another major attribute of the growing popularity of Eros Now has been the Eros Now Original Series. The recently released and critically acclaimed original series ‘Flesh’, starring Swara Bhaskar, generated the highest ever time spent viewing by Eros Now consumers – more than any other original series launched on Eros Now so far. Overall engagement on the Eros Now platform has increased dramatically so far this year and is approximately double the “pre-lockdown” engagement.
This festive season, starting with Diwali in India, viewers, and subscribers have much to celebrate. Around this auspicious occasion, Eros Now has partnered with Paytm, India’s largest mobile wallet provider with a customer base of over 100 million, to offer 100% cashback to Paytm consumers in India who subscribe to Eros Now’s a monthly pack of Rs. 49 and to unlock, #DilwaliDiwali and enjoy the best of movies, original series, and more.
Commenting on the growth, Ali Hussein, CEO- Eros Now, said, “Eros Now’s strategic market expansion and its massive content library has resulted in phenomenal growth in 2020, a year which is witnessing unequaled digital disruption. We at Eros Now are committed to cater to the increasing global demand for online video streaming and play a pivotal role in the evolving dynamics of the SVOD ecosystem. We are continuously mapping the scope for growth in the OTT market to re-establish our leadership position globally.”
