The media and entertainment business is poised for exponential expansion in the future years, with the OTT market growing at a CAGR of 25 percent or more. The sector's development may be evaluated by investments in developing original content in the range of $600-700 million, with 2600 hours of unique material available to viewers.

This is where FilMe checks all the boxes on the OTT uptake drivers and covers every crucial criteria such as any specific programme or movie watch, range of content, unique material, and content available onlyon the platform. FilMe is a paradigm shift that is the result of three years of study and testing with over 40,000 touch points. FilMe has effectively transformed movies into an easy-to-use retail product by utilising its innovative distribution mechanism. FilMe has created a hybrid retail strategy in which its unique QR codes are sold in conventional retail locations, e-commerce, and automated kiosks. FilMe provides content watching without the need for an app download, monthly/yearly subscriptions, or any sign ups at all. FilMe customers only pay for what they see.

FilMe was inspired by my personal experience with distribution issues when producing and directing films. It is extremely

difficult for small content creators to take their films to theatres due to the high expenditures involved. Apart from that, there are a limited nymber of cinemas in India, and movie watching is an expensive pastime; so, the idea of FilMe arose to provide movies to audiences at a cheap price. Also, in the after math of the epidemic, audiences are of the epidemic, audiences are very picky about the movies they want to see in theatres. This has led in a 73 percent decline in box office collections on average. These are some of the factors which motivated me to come up with a solution which is not dependant on the apps and subscription and available at inexpensive price”, highlights Abhishek Shukla, Founder and CEO about the inception story.

FilMe provides content watching without the need for an app download, monthly/ yearly subscriptions, or any sign ups at all. FilMe customers only pay for what they watch

A One-Stop-Shop for Entertainment
FilMe has a wide range of content available for the viewers in multiple languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi, Kanada and English that includes movies and web series. FilMe’s strong point is South Indian movie content available on the platform. The platform has done digital premieres of films like Jai Bhim, Thalaivi and Bhramam in UAE market. Apart from this, it exclusively distribute content of MX Player and Ullu in the UAE market.

The journey has been very overwhelming as FilMe has moved to the UAE market and established a substantial presence there. FilMe has engaged into significant collaboration agreements with Lulu Hypermarket and Khaleej Times in the UAE, and it is the market leader in the TVOD field in the UAE, with around 1 million usages in 7 months. FilMe services have had a very favourable response from the market, whether from end users, distribution partners, or content partners. FilMe's content catalogue has over 250 titles.

Going forward, we plan to expand geographically and open new untapped markets within India and overseas. FilMe plans to enter Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand Nigeria and a few other countries in the coming financial year. We are also looking to invest in technology and marketing initiatives with some unique partnerships in the coming months”, concludes Abhishek.