Balaji Telefilms downsizes ALTBalaji content team

Balaji Telefilms-owned SVOD platform ALTBalaji has downsized its content team as it revisits its business strategy. The development has been confirmed by multiple sources. 

According to sources in the know, the company has laid off up to 15 people from the content team. The total strength of the content team was 18. It has retained only three Creative Directors. Most of the employees who were asked to quit were at the Executive Producer and Senior Executive Producer levels.

"Balaji has sacked most of the people in the content team barring the Creative Directors. The impacted employees were at the Executive Producer and Senior Executive Producer levels," said a source.

Another source added that there hasn't been much action from ALTBalaji on the original content front in the last one year barring the reality show 'Lock Upp'. The platform recently launched Apharan 2 on 24th May and Code-M Season 2 on 12th August. The source added that a lot of new content is still in the planning stage.

"The company is in the process of coming up with a revival plan for ALTBalaji. Since there is not much work on a day-to-day basis, the company has decided to let go of most of the employees in the content team," the source added. 

An email sent to Balaji Telefilms remained unanswered till the time of filing this report. The report will be updated as and when the company responds.

Balaji Telefilms and ALTBalaji have seen a spate of big exits in the recent past. These include Balaji Telefilms Group CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya, Balaji Telefilms Group COO Zulfiqar Khan, and ALTBalaji SVP – Marketing, Partnerships & Revenue Divya Dixit. ALTBalaji Head of Content Snehil Dixit Mehra has also exited the streaming service.

In Q1 FY23, ALTBalaji's revenue was up by 78.17% to Rs 36.81 crore against Rs 20.66 crore. Operating loss narrowed by 23.31% to Rs 25.88 crore from Rs 33.75 crore.

For the quarter under review, ALTBalaji's cash burn reduced to Rs 6.4 crore (excluding Lock Upp) vs Rs 25 crore in Q1 FY22. The company had noted that it will continue to focus on reducing the cash burn going forward.

ALTBalaji's content library comprises 93 shows and 18 movies. The platform has been syndicating content to other video streaming platforms like ZEE5, MX Player, and Voot to recoup a large part of its content investments.

The platform sold 3.1 lakh subscriptions (including 1.62 renewals) in Q1 FY23. Direct subscription revenues came in at Rs 6 crore with 6.91 lakh active subscriptions at the end of Q1 FY23.