Mumbai: South Asian OTT platform Eros Now owned by Eros STX Global Corporation announced details of its amended partnership with Mzaalo, a gamified video streaming service owned by Xfinite Global Plc (“Xfinite”).
Aimed at bolstering Eros Now’s footprint in the emerging segment of advertising video-on-demand (AVOD), the partnership will allow Eros Now to continue building its core subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service. The agreement also provides ErosSTX with positive optionality on the potential growth in digital assets and blockchain technology, said the company on Wednesday.
One of the company’s strategic imperatives is to fully monetize the Eros Now platform and expand into ad-supported streaming and this partnership with Mzaalo does just that, highlighted Eros Now, CEO Ali Hussein.
“We have an opportunity to monetize more the 224 million Eros Now registered users who are fans of our content offering but are also price-conscious. Mzaalo joins our already-substantial ecosystem of Eros Now distribution partners, including Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Tata Sky, Apple, Amazon and Roku. The Mzaalo agreement is purposefully structured to provide ErosSTX with an appropriate mix of fixed and guaranteed cash payments and variable revenue participation as Mzaalo scales,” he elaborated.
ErosSTX is licensing majority of the existing Eros Now content library to Xfinite on an exclusive basis for global AVOD monetization. However, this agreement does not preclude Eros Now from launching its planned English-language service, Eros Now Prime, or from licensing content to other SVOD services.
The AVOD platform is also expected to play a key role in Eros Now’s future content strategy and facilitate innovative windowing options. The current plans are to offer premium original titles and movies in the first window to Eros Now paying subscribers.
Under the amended and restated agreement with Mzaalo, ErosSTX is entitled to a minimum guaranteed cash payment of $42 million over the remaining four-year license term, ending December 2024. ErosSTX has already received $18 million in minimum guaranteed payments under the original contract that started in 2018.
Additionally, ErosSTX will receive a 50 per cent share of any Mzaalo revenue generated above the minimum guarantee. Lastly, ErosSTX will receive 400 million XET Digital Tokens in exchange for access to Eros Now’s database of registered users,which totalled 224.0 million as of 31 March, 2021.
Mzaalo, Xfinite’s first entertainment application, provides consumers with free access to premium content including films, original series, short-form content from Eros Now, and other media platforms, as well as a range of interactive features.
