Book your ticket for a free feature length film screening on the all new,YouTube Box Office Earlier this week,online portal,YouTube launched its brand new property YouTube Box Office,and the first film to be screened free of cost,for a period of 30 days,will be Yashraj Productionss Band Baaja Baaraat,starring Ranveer Singh and Anushka Sharma. Its an exclusive channel and it will feature a premium blockbuster movie every month absolutely free of cost only for audiences in India, says Anand Gurnani,General Manager,Digital & New Media,Yash Raj Films,responsible for the distribution of Band Baaja Baaraat. According to Gurnani,its an interesting model,one which will maximise their touch point with the audience. YRF has been working with YouTube for three years and using it as a video destination for online activities and promos, he adds. The YouTube BO model,he adds,works exactly like paid films on satellite television. On YouTube,youll also be privy to extra songs,behind the scenes deleted footage and an interactive quiz, he adds. As for the buffering hassles,Gurnani assures that their model adapts itself according to the server its being viewed from. While India has a paid property,a similar model called The Movie Store has opened on YouTube across the US where the audiences has to pay and watch. The YouTube Box Office channel will also feature other popular movies which users can watch for free from the YouTube catalogue of movies (www.youtube.com/movies) which has over 1,500 titles including regional language films. We wish to create a destination for users which is easily discoverable and also help our content partners get more viewers for their premium content. With over 48 hours of content being uploaded on YouTube every minute,this is our attempt to create premium and exclusive content, says Gautam Anand,Director,Content Partnerships for YouTube Japan-APAC. Apart from offering tremendous reach,evolved digital platforms like YouTube enable the monitisation aspect through advertising revenues,while offering a great online viewing experience, adds Gurnani. After success with the IPL initiative,YouTube in India continues to grow in both users and premium content offerings from Bollywood and popular TV shows. A recent premier of mega hit Dabangg on YouTube got a phenomenal response from the users in India with over 1.3 million channel views. The YouTube Box Office channel will be available to all users in India and will be IP blocked for users in other countries.
