They’re venturing into allied companies, which vary from beginning expertise administration businesses to music labels to faucet into each attainable monetisable alternative to attraction to buyers.

IMAGE: Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in Motion Replayy.

Manufacturing homes are actually on the lookout for income streams past the manufacturing content material for the silver display to generate a gentle circulation of earnings.

They’re venturing into allied companies, which vary from beginning expertise administration businesses to music labels to faucet into each attainable monetisable alternative to attraction to buyers.

Nonetheless, movies do not take a backseat.

Sunshine Footage, which has produced movie franchises like Commando and Power and the Akshay Kumar-starrer Motion Replayy and Vacation, has launched its personal music label, Sunshine Music.

One other manufacturing home, Balaji Telefilms has began its personal expertise administration agency, Hoonur and launched an astrology-related app, Balaji Astro Information.

Dharma Productions, in the meantime, has taken full management over its expertise administration agency’s three way partnership with Cornerstone Sport and Leisure to relaunch it as Dharma Collab Artists Company.

This comes at a time when manufacturing homes anticipated satellite tv for pc rights and digital rights to stay subdued in 2025, in response to a report by Ernst & Younger and Ficci.

“Movie enterprise is just not a quarterly enterprise. Movie enterprise is a yearly enterprise, however music is a quarterly enterprise and it (music label section) turns into a really predictable income stream,” stated Vipul Shah, chairman and managing director, Sunshine Footage.

“We’ve got a strong funding plan for the music and we might be evaluating it each six months (for the primary two years). In a couple of years’ time, it is fairly attainable that at the very least 30 to 35 per cent of the income of the corporate might come from the music vertical,” Shah stated.

The income contribution may rise greater than 35 per cent in the long run, Shah added, as as soon as a music will get well-liked, its worth rises considerably.

 

Other than this, Sunshine Footage can be engaged on its digital section by means of its YouTube channel, the place it is going to be releasing microdramas, documentaries, brief movies, Net exhibits, amongst others.

“We need to diversify into a number of verticals in our firm to make it possible for we’re in a position to hold our firm very properly diversified,” stated Shah, including that such diversification helps the enterprise turn into extra seamless and investor-friendly.

Corroborating with Shah, Shilpa Malaiya Singhai, managing director, enterprise transformation providers, Alvarez & Marsal India, stated that in 2026, investor scrutiny is more likely to intensify additional, with a transparent divide rising between studios that function as trendy, technology-enabled media corporations and those who stay project-centric.

For Balaji Telefilms, the launch of Balaji Astro Information was prompted by eager curiosity of its promoter, Ekta Kapoor, together with an purpose so as to add a non-media enterprise vertical within the firm.

Nonetheless, Nitin Burman, group chief income officer, Balaji Telefilms, highlighted that the corporate’s determination to diversify was not because of uncertainties within the movie section. Whereas Burman didn’t specify the anticipated increase in income from the app, he added that its preliminary funds to launch and run Balaji Astro Information might be offered by the corporate.

“Like every other startup, we additionally plan to boost funds in future (for Balaji Astro Information). Movies proceed to be our focus, and we’ve got a slate of over 5 movies for 2026… We are going to proceed to discover alternatives inside and outdoors media area, which might be scalable,” stated Burman.

IMAGE: Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur in Airlift.

Diversification of enterprise for manufacturing homes is changing into a structural necessity, not an non-obligatory wager, stated Singhai, emphasising that that is being pushed much less by progress and extra by deepening structural stress within the content material ecosystem.

This comes after fast growth seen in 2020-2022, the place OTTs (over-the-top) fee corrected sharply, with business estimates pointing to a 20 to 25 per cent drop in authentic content material spends and longer deal cycles.

Because of this, it has left Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) to Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) of unsold or stalled content material on producer stability sheets.

“In 2025, the stability has clearly shifted towards margin safety quite than pure income growth. Diversification into mental property (IP)-led, brand-funded, stay, and digital codecs is due to this fact rising as a defensive reset designed first to stabilise economics and scale back purchaser focus. Incremental income progress follows, however restoring margin resilience is the first goal on this part,” she added.

IMAGE: Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar in Bathroom: Ek Prem Katha.

Consistent with the development, Abundantia Leisure, a content material agency, launched a brand new division, Abundantia aiON, in November to make use of synthetic intelligence (AI) to combine creativeness with intelligence to create movies, sequence, characters, and worlds.

By this, the corporate, which produced movies like Airlift and Bathroom-Ek Prem Katha, anticipates round 30 to 35 per cent of its income to come back from work generated absolutely by Abundantia aiON or supported by Abundantia aiON.

This follows a shift within the nation the place manufacturing homes are positioning themselves as IP homeowners quite than pure content material suppliers.

Singhai added that producer-retained IP in tv has risen from round 15 per cent to over 40 per cent previously three years, with the same improve on OTT platforms, citing business studies.

“The rationale is structural quite than aspirational. Proudly owning IP permits studios to maneuver past a one-time commissioning price into multi-cycle monetisation throughout regional dubbing, worldwide syndication, digital platforms, and brand-integrated codecs, whereas controlling the complete lifetime of the asset by means of built-in expertise and distribution fashions,” she stated.

“This considering can be shaping capital buildings, as seen in Saregama’s long-term, rights-led partnership with Bhansali Productions, which prioritises sustained IP management over project-by-project transactions,” she added.

“In the end, manufacturing is being reframed because the entrance finish of an extended IP lifecycle, providing optionality and resilience in a extra selective commissioning atmosphere.”

Pictures curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff