Hungama: From bust to boom to the pole position
NEW DELHI: The year was 2001. Internet businesses around the world started were falling apart. Hungama Digital, which streamed Bollywood songs on the internet, was struggling too.
Neeraj Roy and his four partners who co-founded Hungama decided to start another business vertical, one that would help brands engage with people who were using the internet (at the time a mere million people in India used the internet).
It later sold that marketing arm to British advertising firm WPP. “Had we just been a digital media company we wouldn’t have been around,” says Roy.
In 2007-08, Hungama rode the value-added-service (VAS) boom. Telecom operators were selling pictures, ringtones, caller tunes and short video clips, and Hungama played the role of content providor, for a 20-25% commission. By the end of 2011-12, most of the six-dozen odd VAS companies died. Over-the-top content companies such as Saavn and Gaana emerged. But Hungama survived.
Today, Hungaa is India’s largest digital entertainment company, and as of July, had 67.5 million users consuming audio and video through its websites, mobile site and app.
Roy and Hungama have moved into a bigger playing field. His competitors are no longer small players, they are the ilk of Hotstar of Star India, Voot of Network 18 and Liv of Sony. And now, Netflix.
Even telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have their own digital content platform. The competition does not unnerve Roy, not even Netflix. And not without reason.
“Hungama is India’s answer to Netflix,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO and chief analyst of Greyhound Research. “It is a company that understood the vibes of the country and delivered on it.”
Hungama’s sweet spot is that 50% of data consumption happens over video, Bollywood taking up the largest pie of it. But just being a large global digital company may not be enough.
Netflix started in India with 69 Indian movies. Hungama has 8,500 – 3,500 of them in regional languages.
World content is not neglected either. Hungama has 2,500 international movies. He has also taken a page from Netflix’s playbook with original and exclusive episodic content, mainly for male audience. By the end of the year there will be six such series.
Roy is also betting on the offline internet, which allows users to download songs and movies and own them . Add analytics to that mileau: if you book a flight ticket using your mobile, Hungama knows a two-and-half hour flight is coming up, and recommends movies based on your past browsing habit. The dots are all in place. All that remains is connecting them up. And chances are, you will do it.