UFO and Qube to create joint ventures for Advertising and Content Services

One JV to focus on the commercial monetization and marketing of the combined cinema advertising inventory and the other to oversee feature film mastering, localization and content delivery.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges for the cinema industry. As the sector embarks on a long journey towards pre-pandemic vitality, new strategic initiatives are being formulated for enduring success.

Leading digital cinema companies, UFO Moviez India and Qube Cinema Technologies, have announced, subject to necessary approvals, their intention to forge a transformative strategic alliance, proposing two 50:50 joint ventures aimed at bolstering industry recovery. One joint venture will be focused on the commercial monetization and marketing of the combined cinema advertising inventory, on behalf of UFO and Qube in India, and the other to oversee feature film mastering, localization and content delivery within India and Nepal.

Advertising Joint Venture

Cinema advertising, currently a fragmented and duplicated market, has had limited opportunities for comprehensive market research, evaluation, and post-execution assessment. To meet this challenge and enhance services to the advertising community, the proposed joint venture will consolidate advertising inventory from both partners for on-screen, off-screen, and the mobile advertising of UFO's Caravan Talkies vertical.

The newly formed entity, once operational, will operate across approximately 6,500 screens, amplifying the visibility of in-cinema advertising as a key advertising medium. Leveraging a larger, unified Ad sales team, the venture will seek to broaden its reach and explore avenues, on behalf of UFO and Qube, for ad sales across various media.

Content Services Joint Venture

In an effort to streamline operations and increase efficiency, both UFO and Qube will jointly manage the business of mastering, localization as well as electronic and physical content delivery in a separate joint venture.

This will significantly benefit the film industry as producers and distributors will have a single point of contact for their DCI and Non-DCI mastering, localization and content delivery needs in India and Nepal. With UFO and Qube sharing similar infrastructure, the joint venture plans to optimize these resources over time to provide significantly superior services to the film industry.

Sanjay Gaikwad, founder and managing director of UFO said, “both UFO and Qube are in similar businesses, and thus have many similar processes and costs. Going forward, even as both companies continue to compete in the digital cinema market space, it will be our endeavor to optimize common costs and benefit from each-others’ best practices in the areas of the two proposed joint ventures. I strongly believe that this strategic alliance will lead to better services and market offerings to producers, distributors, exhibitors and advertisers, thus providing benefits to all stakeholders in the cinema value chain. A common advertising platform will provide significantly improved reach to advertisers and enable faster growth going forward.”

Senthil Kumar, co-founder of Qube said, “In forging this strategic alliance, we are responding with resilience and innovation to the unprecedented challenges our industry has faced in the recent past. I firmly believe that by harnessing the power of technology and combining our strengths, Qube and UFO can fundamentally transform the way we serve our industry stakeholders, including producers, distributors, exhibitors, and advertisers. Our unified effort aims to revitalize cinema, deliver more effective advertising platforms, streamline content delivery, and ultimately, foster growth and vibrancy in the industry. Technology stands at the heart of this transformation, enhancing our capabilities and paving the way for a more efficient, responsive, and resilient cinema sector. Together, we can and will create a brighter future for cinema.”

The proposed strategic alliance between UFO and Qube aims to rejuvenate and reshape the cinema industry, providing comprehensive benefits to industry stakeholders. This move marks a significant step towards recovery and growth in the post-pandemic world. Khaitan & Co advised and acted as the legal counsel.