HCL Technologies, an offshore IT and software development company, which reported revenues of $484.9 million for the last quarter, is keenly looking at expanding its presence in the media and entertainment (M&E) vertical.
The firm is currently in talks with a number of broadcasting media houses for a strategic alliance that would offer a range of services to the media and entertainment companies, especially in the US market. Karthik Murugan, group manager?media & entertainment and telecom, told FE, ?The delivery system has changed today from analog to digitalisation and the US M&E companies that were unitl now doing most of the IT work in-house have started opting for outsourcing. About two-three years back, Indian vendors would get projects in the range of $1 million, but now, we see projects worth $30-50 million and sometimes as high as $100 million.? This would be the third major alliance in the media space after NDTV and Genpact two years back, and Infosys and TV 18, last year. ?The alliance is still in a pilot stage and we might see it happening in another six months if things move smoothly,? he added.
The firm is also eyeing geographies other than the US, like Europe, which is slowly warming up for offshore activities in the M&E vertical. ?We are also keenly looking at having a presence in Macau, located in the coastal region south of China, which is a hub for casinos. We are currently addressing this market through Hong Kong for casino management system, lottery and video gaming.? said Murugan. The firm is also investing in creating IPs for this vertical.
The group has been experiencing a flat average growth of 5.7% for the last three quarters in the M&E vertical According to a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, globally, the end user spend in media and entertainment is about $1.6 trillion and is growing at a rate of 6.4% CAGR.