Mumbai: Sony Max, the Hindi movie channel from Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), has made history of sorts by grossing Rs 50 crore in ad revenue from television premiere of the Salman Khan-starrer "Sultan".


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The Yash Raj Films-produced movie, released on July 6, has already raked in Rs 585 crore in worldwide box office collection (Rs 421 crore from the domestic market alone) and the channel claims this is the highest television premiere collection for the company ever.


The movie was premiered last night and the inventory was sold out days ahead of the show-time.


"It is one of the biggest blockbusters and it has been the biggest movie for us in terms of revenue. It is the highest grossing movie revenue which we have got, but we can't disclose the revenue," SPN President (Sales and International Business) Rohit Gupta told PTI in Mumbai.


However, according to sources, SPN has garnered Rs 50 crore from the premiere.


Gupta also declined to divulge the deal size for the movie rights but according to media reports, SPN acquired the satellite rights for Rs 61 crore for five years.


The broadcaster had sold all the inventory well before airing the movie last night.


The ad rates were Rs 10 lakh for 10 seconds for standard definition channel Sony Max and Rs 2 lakh per 10 seconds for the HD channel Sony Max HD.


Chinese handset maker Oppo and Reliance Jio were the co-presenters, while FMCG major Hindustan Unilever and auto major Mahindra were the co-sponsors.


Bajaj Auto, Colgate, Mondelez, Reckitt Benckiser and Samsung Electronics came on board as the associate sponsors, while Apple, eBay India, Ford India, Google India, Huawei Tele, Intel, Intex Technologies, Lenovo, L'oreal, Pernod Ricard, Raymond and Vivo Mobiles were the spot buyers.


Neeraj Vyas, business head for Hindi movies and music cluster at SPN, acknowledged that it is the highest SPN has ever done in the history of any film being premiered on the network in terms of revenue.


He added that it had hiked rates by 20 per cent since the last major television premiere of "Bahubali".


"We've had an increase in ad rates, which is why the numbers have gone up to what they have. It was 20 per cent higher over the previous large movie premiere that we had sold last year around the same time for Bahubali," Vyas said, adding this was the first time a movie was premiered simultaneously on Sony Max and Sony Max HD.


He further said "Sultan" will have at least two or three runs on Sony Max before being aired on the network's another channel Sony Waah.