Bhoothnath Set to Take Web and Summer Box Office By Storm

Eros International, the leading integrated company within the Indian media & entertainment sector announced today the expansion of its presence on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut and MySpace with the launch of Eros branded community sites for the upcoming release of ‘BHOOTHNATH’.

Eros has lined up an exciting array of contests for autographed CDs and posters as well as interactive activities such as polls, discussions and exclusive images and videos for the Bhootnath community sites on Orkut, Facebook and MySpace. Eros’ development of film-specific communities on social networking sites supports the company’s ongoing strategy to connect online with Bollywood fans around the world.

“Eros was the first Indian media and entertainment company to partner directly with YouTube as we recognized early the rapid growth in popularity of social networking platforms. Bhoothnath is the perfect film for us to expand our social marketing reach and support as it has such great appeal across all segments of the market with the presence of a leading icon like Amitabh Bachchan as well as being a children’s film”, said Kumar Ahuja, VP International Sales & New Media for Eros International.

EROS INTERNATIONAL TIES UP WITH WAL-MART

In a major mainstream DVD distribution breakthrough, Eros International announced its collaboration with the retail giant, Wal-Mart, to sell Bollywood content through Wal-Mart’s distribution network in Canada.

Eros DVDs will be available in 27 Wal-Mart stores in Canada to start with. The distribution will subsequently be extended to the entire Canadian Wal-Mart network.

Eros International is one of the leading players in the Indian media and entertainment sector. Over time, Eros will make available through Wal-Mart a large number of titles from its catalogue of over 1300 titles as well as its 30-40 new releases every year. The Eros-Wal-Mart tie-up will give Bollywood an extensive reach to both Asian and Non-Asian market sectors in Canada.

EROS INTERNATIONAL RELEASES ‘HEYY BABYY’ ON BLU-RAY DISC FORMAT

Eros International, the leading company in the Indian media and entertainment sector announced today that in response to strong global consumer demand; it will release smash hit ‘Heyy Babyy’ to Blu-ray high-definition disc format on March 3rd. Eros continues to lead as the pioneer in Indian media and entertainment as this will be the first global release of a Bollywood film on Blu-ray disc format.
Eros’ exciting slate of Blu-ray Disc releases will begin with Director Sajid Khan’s ‘Heyy Babyy’ starring Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Fardeen Khan and Boman Irani, followed shortly by superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Om Shanti Om.
Driven by its mission to provide the greatest quality and leading products to their customers, Eros International long ago shared a vision with director Sajid Khan to bring this technology to India as this presents the film as never seen before. ‘Heyy Babyy’ has been mastered directly from the negative digital source under the supervision of Sajid Khan, with upgraded picture and sound. In addition to the film, the disc includes many extra features and a four hour in-depth documentary explaining everything about making a big budget Bollywood film.

“The proven Blu-ray technology has allowed us to take our films to new heights, fully utilizing the larger capacity and interactive capabilities for an incredible all-new consumer experience," commented Sunil Lulla, President of Eros International India.

Blu-ray discs offer next generation menus, 50 gigabyte storage capacity and incredible interactivity as soon as you put the disc in the player. For example, while watching the movie, you can seamlessly go to the pop up menu and navigate special features - pop ups, scenes and interactive director or star commentary.
"We are confident consumers will be astounded by the level of entertainment that can only be achieved by using the maximum capacity of the Blu-ray Disc format. We will soon be releasing “Om Shanti Om” and many of our all time classics that will appeal to the ever growing market of Bollywood and Indian film fans around the globe," commented Marcus Stuart Vannini, EVP of Corporate Development & Eros New Media.
The “Heyy Babyy” Blu-ray discs are on sale and available immediately through www.erosentertainment.com and will be available shortly in retail stores throughout India, Canada, United States and United Kingdom.

Eros announces advertising supported free on-demand content

Eros International, the London AIM listed leading integrated company within the Indian media & entertainment sector, today announced its pioneering advertising supported on-demand catalogue. With this, Eros for the first time will offer consumers free online content including exclusive content from the Eros movie catalogue of more than 1300 titles, 5000 music videos, behind the scenes, ‘making of movie’ footage, exclusive short form movie clips and events such as IIFA and more.

The advertising supported Eros on demand platform http://ondemand.erosentertainment.com will remain unique and exclusive with the unparalleled Eros content catalogue. “This is a pioneering model for the Indian film industry and we strongly believe in advertising supported business models. This initiative will give our plans to offer free online content a tremendous boost and benefit consumers largely”, says Manu Kaushish - SVP, New Media, Eros Entertainment.

“With the increase in demand for digital distribution and on demand consumption of content by users, this innovative step will help users take advantage of the absolutely free of cost instant access to the exclusive Eros movie content”, added Kumar Ahuja, VP – International Sales & New Media.

The revolutionary advertising supported Free Viewing will allow users to watch the Eros video content as a completely free stream. The video stream will be supported by periodic advertisements, a model similar to the television model. For users wanting to download and watch movies as a rental without advertisements, Eros has a paid download model where movies expire after first play. Alternatively users can also download and own the movie to watch through Eros’ paid downloads to own model format.

Eros is also in the process of working with other studios and content owners to offer additional Bollywood titles as well as TV content on the Eros platform. Currently the Eros roster of blockbusters include recent releases like Om Shanti Om, Partner, Namastey London, Cheeni Kum, Provoked, Gandhi My Father, Heyy Babyy and more. With Eros recently announcing the acquisition of 51% stake in Tamil film giant Ayngaran; it will also be adding Tamil content as part of the advertising supported free online content.

The novelty about video ad model would be unlike TV where brands pay for ads by reach of station, advertisers here would only pay for ads that have been viewed by a person on the Eros platform, making sure that every dollar spent results in views of the ad. For users, targeted ads mean that they will watch relevant advertising based on their demographic.

With this innovative initiative, Eros continues to add to its new media plans including the successful tie-up with YouTube for providing legal content and effectively generating revenues for the Eros content and consistently being ranked in Top 100 partners. Eros has generated over 16 million views to their short form content of movie trailers, short scenes, music videos and other exclusive content. The success of the YouTube free channel helped validate the demand and need for ad supported content and platform that Eros has just launched. Eros also recently announced partnering with Joost™, the world’s first broadcast quality Internet television service to provide more than 200 Bollywood movies and over 600 music videos from the Eros catalogue.