Amagi: A MediaTech Unicorn By IIT Dropout

Amagi, a small startup company launched by an IIT dropout, has changed the face of the Indian media industry by allowing multiple television networks and content owners to distribute and monetize content across several different platforms.

The company has digitized the whole broadcasting operation in our country and established itself as a media-tech unicorn. Curious to know about its success story? Well, in this blog, we will discuss the success story of Amagi and find out what inspired Baskar Subramanian to launch such a unique platform. 

Success Story Of Amagi

How Did It Begin? 

Baskar Subramanian, an IIT Bombay dropout, launched Amagi in 2008 along with two of his partners KA Srinivasan and Srividhya Srinivasan. Baskar was always passionate about technology and making software. In fact, he had established his own company while he was still in school. Hailing from a middle-class background, his parents could not afford a computer, and he used to spend most of his time in school labs, building software. Before starting Amagi, Baskar launched a wireless streaming solution provider, Impulsesoft Pvt Ltd. However, things didn’t go all too well for the team and the company was acquired by the SiRF Technology Holdings. 

Eventually, Baskar started wondering what to do next. Therefore, Baskar, along with his two friends, Srinivasan, and Srividhya started brainstorming about the new startup ideas. They were talking about the television industry and it occurred to them that why should the same advertising content go across the country? That’s when the trio decided to disrupt the television space by splitting the whole satellite. 

As a result, they chose ‘targeted advertising’ as their new business model because there was a real need for technology intervention in this sector, to democratize TV advertising and make it accessible to small-time advertisers. And that’s how Amagi was launched in 2008. 

Challenges Faced By Amagi

There are several obstacles faced by Amagi in their journey to success. One of the trickiest challenges faced by Baskar Subramanian and his team at the early stage of their company was collaborating with the operators who had a limited understanding of the technologies that they were building. Making those operators aware of the specialties of their product and its  potential and then bringing them on board was no less than a herculean task.

Earlier, in the advertising industry, it was necessary to convince the broadcasters to support the localization of commercials on their national as well as regional channels. And in order to approach those broadcasters, the Amagi team had to frequently purchase ad inventories at a premium cost and then sell them at a fraction of the cost. 

Amagi’s aim was to sell the same ad spot to as many local advertisers as possible and the founders wanted that the sum of the parts would eventually be greater than the whole. Fortunately, the idea worked well for them and Amagi was able to sell millions of ad seconds per month. All because of the effectiveness of their unique business model.

Success Of Amagi

Fighting all the odds, Amagi has now become the leading  Media SaaS platform in India. Today, it is supporting over 650 content brands, 800 playout chains, and more than 2000 channel deliveries on its platform across 40 countries. The company generated approximately 2 billion ad opportunities every month supporting OTT ad insertion for over 1000 channels.