Ag Talk | Meet Trigunayat; the man of 'action'

The way content is being consumed is becoming dynamic everyday .While the onset of digitization has changed the dynamics of broadcasting space. It also brings in other opportunities to hook the audience. While Broadcaster STAR India has launched a new proposition HOTSTAR for its 250 odd million viewers on the other hand an Industry veteran Ajay Trigunayat readies to launch a VoD platform soon. VoD which is emerging as a new kid on the block is for the uninitiated Video on Demand (VoD). Until now YouTube has played a key role in publishing assorted content, industry expert’s however prophesize the growth of Video On Demand in the near future.
.
As it is rightly said, where there is a will there is a way and when you have the right expertise and vision no hurdles can stop you from doing what you want to do. Ajay Trigunayat who successfully steered TTN in launching Movies Now and Romedy Now.(English entertainment channels from Times Television Network). After quitting in April last year started to give shape to his new dream of launching Video On Demand platform, Action Quality Time (AQT).

Adgully caught-up with the man of ‘action’ who is set to launch his entrepreneurial venture ‘Action Quality Time’. Edited excerpts of the interaction 

Adgully (AG): What prompted you to get into something like a VoD platform?
Ajay Trigunayat (AT): I have been conceptualizing this idea from quite some time now. And to be more précised I conceptualized this idea in 2007 when I stopped my professional career and switched over to the entrepreneurial side. Today with the growing penetration of Internet in the Indian market this space is really going to grow in the coming future.

AG: Internationally it is quite a successful phenomenon but do you think India is ready for the same?
AT: India will take some time to get into the correct flow. Also there are very few players in the market who are running this platform profitably. I feel this is the right time to enter the Indian market and establish the product with passion. What we need to understand is the fact that Indian consumers are different and their needs as well as demands are different too hence we will be keenly catering towards that by tailor making the product keeping in consideration those points.

AG: What market research went into before taking this decision?
AT: We took quite a lot of time to research and get our indicative data in place which includes the number of internet users in our country, our population, and the profile of the users, number of internet players and a lot more. After that we analyzed the entire data and then took a decision of getting Action Quality Time.

AG: Give us a sense of competition in the market?
AT: There is no competition in market for us since Action Quality Time is a premium product and it aims to develop the VODcategory. In total there around nine players like BigFlix or Box TV etc in the market but they are not witnessing that much of traction and tailor made it as per the need and demands of the consumers, if required.

AG: What is the time set for the launch?
AT: The AQT is set to launch in the latter half of the year that somewhere around October or November 2015. 

AG: If taken under consideration what kind of model will you be working on? Will that be somewhere similar to any of the International models? How will Action Quality Time be different from those in India?
AT: Our product will have more options as a lot of International players work only on subscriber VoD (SVoD) but we would not only be subscriber VOD but transactional VOD (TVoD), electronic sell-through (EST) and pay per view (PPV) too.

While with SVoD the consumers will have to pay a fee to consume the content on a monthly basis and with TVoD the customer has to pay for each program that they would want to view and can watch it for limited time in desired devices. Whereas in EST, consumers can pay a one-time fee and can download a media file for storage and the consumer can own that file like a DVD. In PPV model, consumers have to pay for the content every time they consume it.

AG: Have you put a team in place already?
AT: No not as of now but the process is going on….!

AG: What kind of content mix are you looking at? (Indian and International)
AT: Though AQT will be offering movies and TV series including both international and Indian productions but the focus will be a little more towards Hollywood. Also we will be available in all the possible languages.

AG: What kind of investment are you looking at? Are there any investors already on board?
AT: Can’t comment….!

AG: Are you intending to get into a partnership with any of the larger players in the market?
AT: No not really…But it depends upon the nature of partnership and as we move ahead we will see how the requirement arises…

AG: Since this is a new platform, how do you intend to market it?
AT: It is quite early to ask about the marketing plans as the focus as of now is to establish the product and later this year we will a set strategy in place for the same.

AG: What according to you will be the size of industry in the next two years?
AT: The industry is set to grow but as of now there are not even 10,000 paid subscribers out of the entire internet savvy users. We expect a good percentage of growth in the industry in the coming future. | By Aanchal Kohli |Twitter: @aanchalkohli