UTV plans to spread its wings to overseas markets

NEW DELHI: Besides taking Rang De Basanti to the Oscars, UTV plans to spread its wings globally. The company is looking at entering the overseas market in the areas of broadcast, TV content and distribution.

The company is also betting big on diversifying into gaming and home video in the domestic market. Ronnie Screwvala, CEO, UTV told ET, “We want to be a Rs 1,000-crore company in the next three to four years from Rs 250 crore currently. I also believe that a large chunk of it will come by entering mainstream business space globally,” he said.

With the gaming industry in the country ready to take off, UTV has plans for that too. “We are studying the gaming industry and want to diversify as content developers for this space. We are not only looking at the mobile space but also console gaming,” Mr Screwvala said. He added that UTV will develop gaming concepts around the theme of movies, given its expertise in that area.

The company is likely to finalise its gaming plans in the next three-six months.

The company will look at organic and inorganic ways of growth to reach its revenue target of Rs 1,000 crore. “Currently, there are not many options in the media space in the domestic front, hence for acquisitions, we are looking at the international front,” he said.

To further expand its global footprint, the company is trying to get three-four new channels on board for targeting the global market. The media company also expects its overseas movie distribution to strengthen further.

“In the future new media is expected to contribute nearly 35% to our business. We are already very aggressive on the animation business.

Also we hope that the home video business will grow bigger in the future,” said Mr Screwvala. Currently, all four verticals of UTV — TV content, broadcast, new media and movies — contribute about 25% each to the company’s total revenues.