Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Expands in India

On-demand platform operator Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment (CSSE) has acquired a majority stake in Locomotive Global, an Indian production outfit.

CSSE owns Crackle Plus, which operates Crackle, Popcornflix, Popcornflix Kids, Truli, Pivotshare, Españolflix and FrightPix. Locomotive Global, led by Scott Anderson and Sunder Aaron, has a number of productions underway in India, including an Amazon original and a remake of Ray Donovan for Netflix.

“Expanding into India has been a top priority for us in our international expansion strategy, and we are excited to be entering the market with an ambitious company like Locomotive Global,” said William J. Rouhana Jr., chairman and CEO of CSSE. “This acquisition allows us to utilize Locomotive’s revenue, cash flow and presence in India as a base for further expansion in the region. We look forward to backing Locomotive’s expansion plans as we continue the rollout of our international strategy.”

“India is arguably the largest and most accessible media market in the world right now,” added Locomotive’s Anderson. “While we will continue to manage the business in India, as part of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment family, we now have the resources to capitalize on our ambitions and expand more quickly in this market.”

“There continues to be a major opportunity to produce high-quality content for platforms and services in India such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and others as they now compete for original movies and series so that they can better serve a rapidly growing OTT user base,” added Locomotive’s Aaron. “Production costs are lower in India than in most Western markets, and we can use our development and production capabilities here to meet this growing demand for quality content. We also aim to provide high-quality productions for Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment’s AVOD networks at lower costs. The AVOD business is primed for growth in India as broadband connectivity, FAST channels and usage of connected televisions are expanding rapidly. Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is the perfect company with which to partner so that we can seize hold of these burgeoning opportunities together.”