The advertising post-production business of Prime Focus, a global visual entertainment services group, is going through an image makeover. In its efforts to grab a bigger slice of the pie, the BSE-listed company has revamped its existing facility in Khar (western suburbs of Mumbai) and launched it under the banner Prime Focus Commercials.

Spread across 10,000 sq ft, the new set-up boasts of a full-fledged high definition (HD) post-production studio which is well-equipped with facilities like off-line to online editing, grading and visual effects (VFX) in HD.

Bhaarath Sundar, chief executive officer, Prime Focus Commercials, India, is fairly confident that the revamped facility would be helpful in increasing its market share by another 50% at least by next fiscal-end. Prior to this revamp, the commercial business vertical had a market share of 50% in the advertising post-production and visual effects (VFX) business. With our new state-of-the-art facility up and running, we have now set ourselves a target of 75% to 80% market share in this business, said Sundar.

When asked about the timing since the market still remains sluggish, Sundar said post-production has traditionally been a vital cog in advertising. With technology changing drastically in the last few years, we thought it was the right time to revamp our set-up. The process started six months ago and we are now ready with the most state-of-the-art post-production studio for commercials, he said

With a growth rate of 30%, Prime Focus Commercials currently clocks in an annual turnover of close to `60 crore. The new facility, the company management feels, will not just carry the momentum forward, but also tap the potential in international markets. The company has also set up a 50-seater, dedicated visual effects (VFX) studio in furtherance of its goal.

The entire restructuring came at a cost of `4 crore which company officials said was fairly significant for their commercial operations. Expecting a flurry of action at its India facility, Prima Focus global head for client services (commercials business) has been relocated from London to Mumbai to help drive the advertising operations.

A lot of Indian companies go overseas to get their post production (advertising projects) done. With this facility, we want to make sure that all that business comes to us. The facility will also cater to the advertising-related work requirements from our London and New York facilities. This apart, given the cost advantage we are able to offer with the new set-up now, we will aggressively try to bag all the outsourcing work available in international markets, he said.

The company is optimistic about achieving its growth targets despite slowdown looming across European and US markets based on the savings on the overall post production costs they can offer the advertisers. We are positioned very uniquely in such a scenario as our facility can bring advertisers savings ranging anywhere in the range of 10% to 20% depending on the project without compromising on the quality of work done, said Sundar.

5D projects are being discussed along with 3D projection. We have bagged a large international project that has come from Japan, he said.

By - Team AnimationSutra.com