Category: Over The Top Services

Mumbai : Animeta, an AI-powered tech creator company, has announced the appointment of Devdatta Potnis as CEO. This critical appointment comes on the heels of the recent launch of the AI-powered self-service creator tech platform, which aims to create and nurture the untapped potential of the Asian digital-creator economy through financial and analytical assistance.

As CEO, Dev will be responsible for Animeta’s growth, scalability, and team building. The company has already begun operations and will soon announce the names of its creator partners.

“Animeta is a forward-thinking organization in the truly democratized creator economy, and I am grateful to have received the opportunity to be its chief architect”, said Dev about his appointment. “We intend to bring the studio model into the creator economy space where we will be investing in the right creators and creating brands out of them. We will bring about multi-platform monetization, increase their community in regional & international markets, maximize their brand campaigns & empower them for social commerce;  all through our AI-powered creator tech platform”, he further added while detailing his role.

Dev has 15 years of experience in the media content business, from producing and financing original content for all leading OTT and Pay TV platforms to marketing films and branded entertainment to celebrity management for companies such as Star, Viacom18, Balaji, and Reliance, among others. Dev was most recently the Chief Growth Officer at Cosmos-Maya, where he was instrumental in securing content commissioning deals worth $100+ million across 25 TV series with 5000+ episodes worldwide.

During his tenure, the studio grew from a 30-person team to over 1000 people. Dev also brings a strong international network spanning the digital monetization value chain, having sold content in more than 120 countries. He was also in charge of launching a YouTube network with 35 channels, 90 million+ subscribers and 50 billion+ views.

Welcoming Devdatta, Animeta Founder Anish Mehta said, “Dev has the ability to build a scalable business, address an individual creator’s needs & manage investor relationships with equal passion & commitment. So he is the right person to spearhead Animeta on its growth path. I’m very happy to have him on board. He has also managed to put together a stellar team which we will be announcing soon.”

Mumbai: Prime Video, India’s streaming service, is all set to bring cricketing action LIVE to its viewers’ screens with the England tour of New Zealand beginning 16 February. The two teams will face each other on the pitch in a two-test match series which will stream live on Prime Video beginning 16 February. Viewers and fans will have access to a host of features like highlights, and fall of wickets shortly after the conclusion of every match on Prime Video.

The first test match, from 16 February 16th to 20 February, will treat cricket enthusiasts to a day & night pink ball match as England takes on New Zealand on their home turf, at the Bay Oval grounds, with Mount Maunganui as a backdrop. The second test match will be held from February 24 to 28 February , at Cello Basin Reserve, Wellington.

Bowler Kylie Jamison features in the New Zealand squad for the first time after he couldn’t play after his back injury last year. Ish Sodhi who has been the leading wicket-taker in the test series against Pakistan this January also features in the squad. In the England team, Rehan Ahmed, a promising young player, has been left out of the squad, while Stuart Broad is returning. Broad is supported by Matthew Potts and Olly Stone in the seamers department.

As part of the multi-year partnership, international men’s and women’s cricket matches played in New Zealand across all formats, are available exclusively on Prime Video India.

Mumbai : Zee5 is celebrating five years of providing extraordinary streaming experiences and quality watch-time to billions of people worldwide. Zee5, which debuted in 2018, has been instrumental in transforming the OTT landscape in India and around the world through a strong digital-first strategy backed by a strong content funnel.

Sharing his views on the milestone, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel)digital businesses & platforms president Amit Goenka, said, “Zee5 was launched five years back with a vision to take Zee into its next phase of growth through leveraging the rapidly growing digital ecosystem to bring audiences extensive content choices and enhanced viewing experiences across screens. Today, I am happy to see Zee5 emerge as India’s largest homegrown multilingual platform and the leading global platform for South Asian content representing the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of the region to the world. The journey has been enthralling with many learnings as we strengthened our presence across international and local markets in the last few years, and our teams have a lot to be proud of. The appetite for digital content with advancements in emerging technologies has catapulted the demand for OTT content, paving the way for us to step into our next phase of growth with a robust content-led digital-first strategy.”

On the occasion of the fifth anniversary, Zee5 chief business officer Manish Kalra said, “As a leading player in India’s OTT industry, we at Zee5 have helped in expanding the contours of entertainment business over the last 5 years owing to the large appetite of Indians for quality content across languages. We, as a customer focused platform, believe in delivering high quality content for consumers, as well as engage with creators that could propel sector’s growth and address the demands of the culturally diverse and discerning audiences. With innovative storytelling, evolved character arcs, compelling narratives and content that transcends all barriers of languages and geographies we have grown remarkably over last 5 years across SVOD and AVOD. Our investments on content development increased significantly as well, as we strengthened our regional presence making inroads into the smaller pockets of India. Charting the next course for Zee5, we will focus on producing good-quality stories, enhanced viewing experiences, creative collaborations, and increased choices for our viewers.”

Zee5 Global chief business officer Archana Anand,, said, “There really couldn’t be a better way to celebrate our 5th anniversary than on the back of the global leadership we have achieved this past year. We are the No.1 South Asian platform across all international markets including key markets like US, UAE, Australia and Canada, and leading in others like UK. We’ve been trailblazers on multiple fronts in the US, shooting ahead to category leadership in the shortest time. And the biggest testimony of our success is the love we get from our diaspora audiences on the back of our content offering and tech innovations. South Asia is shining today in all spheres, and we look to be at the forefront of this conversation, setting the tone for even more disruptive growth in the next phase.”

Zee5’s 5X Thank You campaign began on 13 February and will run until 19 February  in India to commemorate the five-year anniversary with consumers. During the campaign, audiences will have free access to 15+ premium SVOD titles in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla, Punjabi, and Marathi. Exciting titles such as ‘Vikram Vedha’, ‘Aparajito’, ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’, ‘Vikrant Rona’, ‘Bimbisara’, ‘Sohreyan Da Pind Aa Gaya’, ‘Prakashan Parakkatte’, and many more will be made free of charge, as will 30 new additions to Zee5’s World Hits library.

Zee5 viewers will also be able to watch Ankita Lokhande’s ‘The Last Coffee’, as well as a fun episodic release starring popular TV stars such as Shraddha Arya, Krishna Kaul, Rohit Suchanti, Shagun Pandey, Mugdha Chaphekar, and Ashi Singh.

This show, Zee5 5X Thank You Special, hosted by RJ Abhinav, will show fans their favourite stars in a never-before-seen avatar, reacting to some of their over-the-top scenes, engaging in fun team games and dares, sharing their journey and life stories with Zee5, and more. During the campaign, audiences can take advantage of a special discount on a mobile-only offer starting at Rs 399/-.

 

Mumbai: Grass Valley, a global leader in live production solutions, has appointed Tim Banks as Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Marek Kielczewski as chief technology officer (CTO), and Jim Kirkland as senior vice president global delivery and support.

These appointments support Grass Valley’s accelerated business transformation and long-term vision of assisting media and entertainment organisations in their digital transformation.

Tim Banks, who has over 25 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry, most recently as VP of sales EMEA at Grass Valley, has served as interim CRO for the past six months. Tim has established an exceptional sales and pre-sales presence in the region and has achieved impressive rates of revenue and market-share growth during his time at Grass Valley.

“I’m very proud of GV’s past and very excited by our future as we continue to help our customers create new revenue streams and drive operational efficiencies, leading the way through the media and entertainment industry’s ongoing digital transformation, “ said Banks

Marek Kielczewski joins Grass Valley with over 20 years of industry experience leading engineering organisations in broadcast, media and entertainment. Marek co-founded TVCoins, a streaming media startup, before joining Grass Valley. He was previously the CTO of SeaChange, where he oversaw the global R&D organisation’s consolidation and transformation.

Kielczewski commented, “I am thrilled to be joining Grass Valley at such a pivotal time not only in their journey, but the industry’s as well. Our new product strategy will have an incredible impact on our current and future customers and will realize the full potential of AMPP, it’s truly an exciting time for all of us!”

Jim Kirkland comes to his new position with over 15 years of senior customer-facing experience, having worked in service and pre-sales at Omnibus, Miranda and Grass Valley.

Kirkland said, “I look forward to elevating Grass Valley’s excellent reputation for customer service even further as we transform our Delivery and Support structure and continue to help our customers and partners succeed.”

Grass Valley CEO and executive chairman Louis Hernandez Jr. said, “I’m delighted that Grass Valley’s leadership is strengthened by the experience and market knowledge that Tim, Marek, and Jim bring to the team. They will be pivotal in reinforcing GV’s customer-centric culture and leading our ongoing business transformation.”

“We will continue to lead in media technologies and digital workflows, to create the future of media production, and to be the best partner for our clients as well as for channel and alliance partners,” added  Hernandez.  

Mumbai : OTTplay premium, India’s first AI-powered OTT recommendation, and content discovery platform, has expanded from 12 to 15 OTT platforms with the addition of three new platforms: Playflix, Dollywood Play, and PTC Play.

OTTplay premiere has collaborated with a number of OTT service providers to provide consumers with unique packages, allowing it to provide an enhanced experience to a diverse range of consumers eager to access great content. Bringing 15 apps under one roof eliminates the need to download and manage multiple apps and subscriptions.

Commenting on the new offering OTTplay co-founder and CEO  Avinash Mudaliar said, “Since our inception, we have been the front runners in offering the best digital OTT content. With the new partnership with Playflix, Dollywood Play and PTC Play, we are determined to touch new entertainment milestones. This intriguing offering is intended to make OTTplay premium consumer friendly by recommending our viewers with a new range of entertainment applications.”

The OTTplay premium recommendation engine tracks and analyses user activity on the platform before displaying tailored recommendations based on user preferences. Users can easily determine where to consume content of interest through its catalogue pages.

Mumbai: FanCode, India’s premier sports streaming platform, will exclusively live-stream the final round of the Hero Santosh Trophy starting February 10. It has also acquired the digital rights to live-stream the Hero Futsal Championship 2023, which began on 8 February . Both tournaments will stream on the FanCode mobile app (Android, iOS), FanCode TV app available on Android TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Jio STB, Samsung TV, and on www.fancode.com. Football fans can stream both tournaments for free.

All eyes are on defending champions Kerala in this 76th edition of the Santosh Trophy. The final round in Odisha will see 12 teams battle it out for the coveted trophy. The teams have been divided in two groups of six each. Group A comprises Kerala, Punjab, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha. Group B has West Bengal, Meghalaya, Delhi, Manipur, Services and Railways.

The second edition of the Hero Futsal Championship will see 14 teams going head-to-head. The teams are divided into two groups, each group with seven teams. It is taking place in the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi.

FanCode has added to its repertoire of football events with these tournaments. In domestic football, it is streaming the Scoreline Kerala Premier League and the Goa Professional League. FanCode has also streamed top-tier international football such as the Dubai Super Cup, featuring the likes of Arsenal FC, Liverpool FC, and AC Milan.

AIFF Secretary General Shaji Prabhakaran said “We welcome FanCode in this partnership to live-stream the Hero Santosh Trophy and the Hero Futsal Club Championship. FanCode is a well-known digital platform having an impressive footprint that will help us take the Hero Santosh Trophy and the Hero Futsal Club Championship to a larger audience in India. We wish them the very best.”

FanCode co-founder Yannick Colaco said “We are delighted to expand our football roster with the Hero Santosh Trophy 2022-23 and Hero Futsal Championship 2023.  The Hero Santosh Trophy is a part of Indian football’s heritage and it is a moment of pride for us to stream it for our users. We want to take grassroot and domestic football to a wider audience and foster increased interest and passion for football in India.”

Mumbai: Leveraging the growing popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) and in an attempt to allow untold stories to reach out to Indian viewers, MX Player’s content arm, MX Studios now brings for its viewers India’s first MMA Reality Series – Kumite 1 Warrior Hunt.

At the launch event of MMA, Indiantelevision.com caught up with Toyam Sports Ltd CMD Mohamedali Budhwani to talk about the show and its concept.

The show is being hosted by MMA enthusiast and Hindi cinema superstar Suniel Shetty. The MX Studios Original, Kumite 1 Warrior Hunt will witness 16 top male and female MMA athletes compete for a title while being trained by renowned MMA coaches – Bharat Khandare and Pawan Maan.

This series is being produced in partnership with Toyam Sports Ltd, Kumite1 Warrior Hunt has roped in SATSport News as the Title Sponsor. The series aims to build a stronger MMA community in India.

Commenting on the launch, MX Player chief operating officer Nikhil Gandhi said, “At MX Studios, we create innovative and engaging branded content to meet the contemporary entertainment needs of our viewers. We have partnered with Toyam Sports to present Kumite1 Warrior Hunt as we wanted MMA fans to find new and unique ways to connect with the sport, reflect the fighter’s competitive spirit and give them an unprecedented view of what it takes to be in this business. After the phenomenal success of Dharavi Bank, we are privileged to have Suniel Shetty as the host of the series. MMA is one of the fastest-growing sports in the world and this series is our foray into sports-based content.”

The six-episode series will give viewers a first-hand insight into the hardships faced by these athletes in their MMA journey with stories of survival, passion and courage, thus making the series extremely relatable. This series further showcases the hardships and emotions that MMA fighters deal with while balancing their personal lives and their desire to participate in MMA tournaments.

The show premieres on 12 February 2023.

Edited excerpts:

On the concept of mixed martial arts (MMA). How did this come about? How was the strategy and concept worked on?

MMA is a new concept in India, it has been around but we didn’t have a platform. I started the Kumite one league and I organised a match in 2018 with Mike Tyson as the brand Ambassador, India versus UAE. The problem here was that I could not find any sponsors but I did the event. I at that time came to know that in India there are almost a crore MMA fighters and they don’t get a platform because the only sport India then promoted was cricket.

Though MMA has been around there have been no takers for this sport as most platforms feel that it is a blood sport. So as I started my struggle in 2018, I thought, MMA has a very good scope as most fighters come from poor families or small towns. Our Crore fighter and UFC1 UFC, all want to come to India to promote MMA. in 2018, I started this and I spoke to a lot of channels. Finally, MX agreed and we also got a very good sponsor. Then we roped in Suneil Shetty to host the show. It has been a good hard journey. But nowadays MMA is getting good feedback in India and stars like Tiger Shroff is doing a lot of promotions. In two- or three years MMA will be the sport to look for in India.

On Sunil Shetty as the host for the show

Sunil Shetty was always there in my mind, also he’s a Bollywood actor. He is passionate about sports and especially MMA. He got trained for MMA internationally and when we were shooting he showed some punches and some kicks to the fighters also and they loved it. Our fighters and I have not trained internationally, but Suneil has. This is what shows and this was on my mind that I will take somebody who has a passion for it. He is somebody who is a celebrity and has the right vision and passion, and this will add strength to the show.

On the scripting and casting of the show

See, we did the audition before COVID and we got very good entries. We auditioned all over India and we were supposed to go to all the states and do the casting. But because of covid, we could not go and it was done. The scripting and the idea were worked on by our director Omkar.

On MX Player the right platform for the show

MX Player is the No 1 OTT platform and has a very good reach in India. Another advantage is that we can have free air. Our fighters, as I told you, they don’t have money to buy subscriptions and the show on MX Player free is a big boost to them.

On the interest shown by kids for poor families to excel in this sport

For sure, as I told you I brought Mike Tyson to India. When Mike was here he was invited for lunch or dinner by celebrities but he wanted to go and eat at a poor kids’ house because that was his roots. We have so many people here in India and this show will give a big platform to all those people who deserve it.

We would have Season 2 of the show and the first promo has been liked by all. We are hoping that it would be the number 1 show on MX Player.

Mumbai:  Warner Music India has signed a deal to acquire a majority stake in Divo, a leading digital media and music company in India with a presence across all four South Indian language music markets. This investment will help deliver Warner Music India’s strategy of having a leading presence in the entertainment sector across the whole country.

Divo offers online video, music distribution, publishing, digital and influencer marketing solutions for brands, celebrities and movies.  It has been working with labels, artists and musicians to help distribute and monetise their content across digital platforms, radio and TV stations. With a large presence in the Tamil market and a fair share of the Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu music industries, Divo released more than 30,000 songs last year.

Warner Music India has grown its presence across the vast majority of regions and cultures in the country with chartbuster releases and strategic partnerships with companies including Global Music Junction, Sky Digital, Tips Music and Ziki Media.  The label recently forayed into Marathi and Gujarati music with the release of official film soundtracks as part of its strategy to strengthen its presence in the regional music scene. The company also has a regional imprint with its sub label Maati.

Warner Music India managing director Jay Mehta said, “I’m so delighted that we’re able to bring the Divo brand under the Warner Music India banner.  This move will strengthen our presence in the south of the country, enabling us to have a truly strong Pan India presence.  Divo’s extensive portfolio will not only bolster our core music offering in South India, but its entire artist influencer ecosystem will further enhance our overall entertainment footprint.”

Warner Recorded Music president Alfonso Perez Soto said, “The acquisition of Divo is a major milestone in our Indian journey. We opened for business in 2020 and through a series of strategic deals and culturally relevant artist signings have fast established ourselves as a key player in the market. We’re excited to partner with Shahir and Vishu and the team at Divo, who have built an amazing company that operates at the intersection of four key music markets. Together, we’ll take South Indian music to a global audience.”

Divo founder & director Shahir Muneer commented, “It gives us immense pleasure to partner with Warner Music India. Having the backing of a global partner will put us on the map, helping us to be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to attracting talent and clients. Our music business will benefit from better access to Warner Music’s global footprint and that will help us drive growth for our artist and label partners.”

Divo director Vishu Ramaswamy added, “We are glad to partner with Warner Music India for the next phase of our growth. Our ideologies and long term approach towards expansion in India connected in the right manner and with this association we’re sure that we will become the biggest entertainment entity in South India.”

Mumbai: Prime Video has elevated Gaurav Gandhi from India vice president to Asia Pacific vice president. The company broke the news through the internal memo circulated in the organisation recently.

Gandhi will now lead APAC, which includes Japan and South East Asia in addition to India. He will assume this new position in April 2023 and will be based in Singapore. As Gandhi assumes this expanded role, Sushant Sreeram, currently director – SVoD business, will be promoted to country director of Prime Video, India.

Gandhi is a seasoned industry professional who joined Amazon in 2018. He has been in charge of Prime Video’s overall business in India, including SVoD, Marketplace (Prime Video channels and TVoD), and Sports.

Prior to joining Amazon, Gandhi held various leadership positions at Viacom18, NDTV Imagine, and Star India. He entered the video streaming space in 2015, setting up, launching, and running Viacom 18’s streaming service Voot as his final role before joining Amazon.

Sreeram has collaborated with Gaurav since he joined Amazon in 2018 as director of marketing and was promoted to director of SVoD business in 2022. As SVoD business leader, he was tasked with growing the subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) business through subscriber acquisition, growth, and engagement across B2B and B2C segments. Sreeram was the marketing director for Xiaomi in India before joining Amazon.