Eros Now becomes first Indian player to partner with Apple for distribution

Apple users can get Eros Now service bundled or à la carte across 109 countries outside India.

By Gaurav Laghate, ET Bureau | Updated: Mar 26, 2019, 11.04 AM IST

Eros Now holds the biggest Bollywood library with more than 12,000 Indian films.

MUMBAI: Just a few hours after Apple announced launch of its streaming service Apple TV+, Eros Now, the video over-the-top (OTT) service of Eros International, has entered in a partnership with the Cupertino-headquartered tech giant for 109 countries, outside India.

Eros Now becomes the first Indian player to sign such a deal with Apple.

“We are totally excited with this deal with Apple,” Kishore Lulla, executive chairman and CEO, Eros International, told ET. “Apple has a very strong distribution across these countries and our partnership will expand the reach of Eros Now manifolds.”

The deal will play out across US, UK, Europe, Canada, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Africa and more.

As part of the deal, Eros Now will be available across Apple devices and users can subscribe as part of bundled as well as a-la-carte service.

The partnership will multiply the reach for Eros Now’s content, which includes movies, web originals, music videos, and other short-form content under new category called Eros Now Quickie.

Most importantly, the deal will also help getting the benefit of a share in the subscription revenues. “While monetisation will evolve over time, we expect average revenue per user (ARPU) between $1 and $4 depending on market and plans,” Lulla said.

Eros Now holds the biggest Bollywood library with more than 12,000 Indian films in various languages as also original music, original series and short format content. The platform claims of serving more than 142 million registered users.

Eros Now has also made a recent investment of $70 million over 50 shows for Eros Now Quickie, which features short, on-the-go, snackable content.

In the past, the OTT platform has partnered with several companies such Virgin Media and netgem.tv for global distribution.

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