Excl: Amar Chitra Katha may set up JV/SPV to boost global digital presence

Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd, which owns the iconic Indian comic book brand Amar Chitra Katha, is in talks with media houses to set up either a Special Purpose Vehicle or a joint venture to boost its revenues in the digital and media space, sources told Techcircle.in.

At present, revenues from the digital and media space account for just 10 per cent of ACK Media's revenues, with the rest coming from comic book publishing.

ACK Media, the corporate name of the holding company, already has a small presence in markets like North America, UK and a few South East Asian countries.

Chief Executive Officer Vijay Sampat, declined to name the companies involved in the negotiations. "We are looking to partner an organisation who has a strong go-to-market platform for the global space, because we are an Indian brand and we are looking to create content with a global feel and capacity to sell globally," Sampat told Techcircle.in.

Sampat says, "We will be engaging in areas of new growth like films and TV in which the delta will be a lot higher"

ACK Media had entered into an agreement with the Turner Group's Cartoon Network, for  a television series 'Tripura: A tale of three cities' and animated movie 'Sons of Ram' , an animated movie which was released on 2 November 2012 with a budget of Rs 5 crore. Sampat says the company has already recovered the costs of these projects and is producing three more animated films.

At present ACK Media is selling close to 5 lakh and 2.5 lakh comic books of the Amar Chitra Katha and Tinkle brands, respectively. It is also in the process of creating a mobile app store to distribute these comic books via a paid-user format. The project is in trial phase.

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