Movico plans global launch

In an exclusive interview, V.N. Saroja, co-founder and director of Movico, shares the company’s plans of launching its services globally this year with R Jai Krishna of CyberMedia News.

Movico’s products are available licensed-to-use for anyone involved in video content creation, aggregation, distribution and redistribution. It has a range of products in development products including Media Baron and Mobile VAS Solutions.



What issue is Movico addressing in the media industry?

Our studies have shown that digital asset management has not been a priority for most of the Indian producers. Not many have contemplated using one seriously. The reasons for this could be the high prices quoted by the international players or the slow move from analog to digital assets.

With new distribution channels like Mobile TV, Web TV, VOD/IPTV getting closer to being a reality, it is essential for a DAM product to be used. Indian film and TV industry is one of the largest in the world. Addressing the needs of this industry is important.



What are the Movico services/product offerings?

Movico has developed and launched India’s first video asset management product, which will provide end-to-end solutions for television and film producers. The product is conceived as one that will allow a producer to ingest and digitalize his assets from existing formats, archive it, create new productions for each distribution mode and deliver the same to the end consumer using the various platforms.

In addition to the product, Movico also offers back end services in digitization, archiving and re-purposing of existing films. This would not only enable the clients to reach markets faster with their media assets. While the services will be first offered to production houses and producers in India, the service will be rolled out globally by June 2008.

The capture and archival module – MediaBaron V.1.2 – will be completed in the first quarter of 2008. The plus broadcast server – MediaBaron Workflow – and the Distribution module – MediaBaron Premium – are to be completed with enhancements during second and third quarter of 2008, respectively.

What is the go-to-market strategy?

The product was launched at the Focus 2007 organized by Assocham and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The reception of the product was very promising. The product already has two users: one in India and one in Europe. Our focus in the next few months will be India after which we will go global. We are looking at both the direct as well as distributor-led sales. We are looking to have own offices in the major cities and representation through distributors and other channel partners all over India. We are also looking at global strategic partnerships with vendors to the industry including storage and replication vendors.

What is the business and revenue model?

All the products and services will be priced competitively. The product sales will include licensing and software update revenues. We are considering the merging SaaS model as well. The global market for DAM products is estimated at $70million. As a nascent market, we believe that the market has immense potential.



The Indian market currently is negligible, but we believe that it will be sizeable in the next five years.

The services market also has great potential since digitization and distribution of existing content will help producers monetize their dormant content. The service providers of new distribution channels are also looking for more and more content. The advantage of digital content is the relatively low storage to provide choice to consumers and address the “long tail” phenomenon.

Can you share plans for investments, expansion?

The company plans to back the product to the hilt. It will be spending over a million dollars in development and promotion over the next year. The plans include offices in major Indian cities, a global launch and global distribution network.

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