Expect higher contribution from streaming than theatrical side in FY26: Abundantia Entertainment’s Vikram Malhotra

How has FY25 been for Abundantia Entertainment given the volatility seen by the industry? What are the expectations for FY26?

Being financially disciplined and prudent has been one of the building blocks for us throughout our journey so far. It becomes even more important in an industry where risk is inherent and intrinsic. In FY25, we have seen a robust financial performance. In fact, if you look at our performance over the last five-six years, we’ve been consistently profitable at the EBITDA-level despite being in an industry where business tends to be unpredictable. 

Despite the volatility seen by the industry, we have consistently reported a strong topline growth. This indicates we continue to remain extremely relevant, not just at customer level, which are the streaming platforms or studios, but also at consumer level. Relevance and financial discipline are critical building blocks in our strategy. In FY26, we expect to witness a revenue growth of about 30 per cent over FY25. We are growth-focused, profitability-focused and most important consumer-focused.

Are you looking to raise funds?

Given our consistent growth, steady profitability and healthy order book in terms of content pipeline, we feel we have attained the right scale to take a quantum leap, for which we are looking at raising funds. The quality of the capital for us is as important as the quantum. We would want partners who can believe in our strategic vision and have the ability to add value to what we are building at Abundantia. That is when we can genuinely create and unlock value over a longer term and in a sustained manner. We have a couple of interesting conversations going on with both strategic and financial investors.

What are your plans in the near future and how do you plan to deploy these funds?

We have an order book, in terms of the content pipeline, which is in the ₹500-700 crore range for the next two-three years. We want to now go beyond and are looking to open up newer frontiers to cater to newer audiences both in India as well as overseas.

I have always believed that India, being a nation of storytellers, can be a very strong exporter of content. We have the ability to create content not only for the diaspora audience, but also for the international audience. So one of the key areas that we will focus is on exploring how we can create newer content outposts in the West or for the West to truly take our content global. We will focus on investing in those capabilities. We’ve already done genre-focused work indexing heavily on horror and youth segments. We want to continue investing in newer genres.

We are also exploring the short-form and micro-content space with a focus on the preferences of younger Indian consumers. While we are already collaborating with top-notch international talent for some of our current projects, we are also evaluating partnerships with very credible and large-scale producers to co-create content. We will focus on developing IP for the global market.

The Indian box office has seen a lot of volatility in terms of content pipeline as well as the revenues. What’s your view on the current market conditions?

There is a tectonic shift happening in the entertainment industry in India. It’s being driven by technology, which puts the control firmly in the hands of the audience in terms of what they want, where and how they want to watch content and how much they are willing to spend on it. There is also an absolute churn and an irreversible change in the tastes and preferences of the audience, which is driven by exposure and awareness of content from all over the world. This audience has become more demanding, not just in terms of what they want to consume in theatres, but also what they want to consume on their personal devices. 

I believe there has never been a better time than today to be in the business of entertainment and storytelling, because quality is being demanded. Quality is being rewarded, differentiation is being rewarded. Control on economics is being rewarded. A tight control on budgets, efficient way to market and take your films and shows to the audience is now in full focus. I believe that we’ve got what it takes to succeed in this market, given that our fundamentals are strong.

Is OTT content contributing a larger share to your revenues?

We are attempting to find the balance between theatrical and OTT segments. On the streaming side, you have the ability to be more consistent with your output and also the economics are steady. On the theatrical side of the business is where disproportionate value and franchise building lies. So we are walking the balanced path. But as per our current slate, we will see a higher contribution from the streaming side than from the theatrical side in FY26.