Category: Over The Top Services

Disney Advertising & The Trade Desk sign a significant advertising deal

Mumbai: Disney Advertising and global advertising technology company The Trade Desk have reached a landmark agreement to power greater audience activation at scale programmatically.

This deal enables brands to target automated ads across Disney’s linear and streaming properties – Hulu, ESPN+, Freeform, ESPN, National Geographic and FX. This announcement comes ahead of Disney’s launch of an ad-supported tier for Disney+ that would likely be another target for the deal.

This expanded deal marks yet another step toward transforming how advertisers access Disney’s portfolio of premium supply, rooted in secure data collaboration and powered by automation through Disney’s Clean Room technology. By offering clients more flexibility, choice and control across all deal types, Disney is delivering on its commitment to support addressability at scale.

This agreement will enable a first-of-its-kind integration between Disney’s proprietary Audience Graph and the open-source identity framework, Unified ID 2.0, within a secure environment. As a result, buyers will be able to discover more addressable, biddable inventory across the Disney portfolio, all validated by Disney’s proprietary Audience Graph.

“Disney Advertising had a bold vision backed by proven results from the start, and we’re thrilled to continue to deliver on our commitment to power greater automation and addressability for our customers through this expanded deal with The Trade Desk,” said Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution president advertising sales Rita Ferro. “We have spent years investing in our data and technology strategy to create innovative solutions for advertisers to engage their audiences with greater precision and accuracy in a privacy-focused way. This first-to-market capability sets the stage to empower access to the Disney portfolio, validated by powerful audience insights, in a way that’s automated and accessible.”

Disney continues to advance its efforts towards a data-informed, tech-enabled future rooted in audience innovation. For example, more than 40 clients and most major agencies across all major categories have engaged in Clean Room strategies in collaboration with Disney leveraging its Audience Graph.

Disney’s agreement with The Trade Desk is a key milestone in enabling greater interoperability with the programmatic ecosystem while setting the stage to power better audience activation and measurement. Moreover, it provides a path for advertisers to leverage their first-party data in biddable environments as the industry faces new disruption caused by the deprecation of third-party cookies.

“Disney is reimagining our advertising platform to support a global and addressable future. We are uniquely positioned to match the world’s greatest content with next-generation products and technologies, through a secure and unified ad platform, and one-of-a-kind first-party data. The growth of our relationship with The Trade Desk is a milestone in addressability and automated buying at scale, and the latest step as we use technology to enable advertisers to buy once to deliver everywhere across Disney,” said Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution president and chief technology officer Aaron LaBerge.

“With this agreement, Disney and The Trade Desk are pioneering a new approach to audience addressability in a post-cookie environment. By creating interoperability between Unified ID 2.0 and Disney’s Audience Graph, we are unlocking the opportunity for our customers to activate their first-party data at scale programmatically, against some of the world’s most premium content, across all channels. As a result, advertisers will be able to deliver relevant advertising, while ensuring consumers have more control of their privacy,” said The Trade Desk chief revenue officer Tim Sims.

Disney Advertising is implementing this expanded capability with advertisers over the next several months, while setting the stage to support interoperability across all demand partners and platforms.

July 14, 2022
BBC Studios builds commercial income, witnesses high sales growth

Mumbai: UK pubcaster and BBC’s principal commercial subsidiary, BBC Studios has announced results for the year 2021-22. It recorded its highest-ever sales (2020/21: 1,255 million pound), a jump of 30 per cent thanks to what it called a very healthy year for production and UKTV.

BBC Studios CEO Tom Fussell said, “Last year was stellar for BBC Studios, thanks to continued strong demand for our brands like Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing with the Stars, Time, Bluey, and the Planet series. Our creative and financial success is clear for all to see and I am so proud of our teams across the world who worked so hard to achieve this in extremely challenging conditions. With new freedom to invest, and a new commercial board, now is the time for the business to step up a gear. Despite an uncertain economic climate, we’re hugely confident about the opportunities ahead: and while this investment in future growth might impact on our profits over the short term, we know that we are building a business which can play a more significant role in the future of the BBC.”

Profit (Ebitda) was up 50 per cent year-on-year to 226 million pound (2020/21: 151 million pound). This marks the first time that the business has exceeded 200 million pound. A 135 million pound cash dividend (2020/21: nil) goes back to the BBC. Production sales were up by 56 per cent. Content sales were over 400 million pound. UKTV profit was up 105 per cent. 2400 hours of content were made in the fiscal. Furthermore, a quarter of that content was created for third parties. The pay gap report shows progress in reducing gender pay disparity.

“Looking ahead, the business has stretching targets to grow by 30 per cent. With these results, and new headroom in the business’ ability to borrow opening up opportunities to invest, BBC Studios has said that it is in a strong position to build commercial income in line with BBC Group priorities. Returns more than doubled to 353 million pound (2020/21: 137 million pound), as the business achieved its target of 1.2 billion pound over the first five years of the current charter, helped by strong cash generation and a dividend of 135 million pound. Investment in what it called high quality content was up 67 per cent year on year,” the company said in a statement.

It said, “This performance was driven by a rise in production sales, which were up 56 per cent, with a quarter of all new commissions from third parties. With 2400 hours of content made worldwide, BBC Studios was the most awarded UK producer, with 288 nominations and 55 awards for creativity and craft in the year, including multiple awards for Rose and Giovanni’s silent dance as part of their winning performance on Strictly Come Dancing.”

UKTV also had a record year, with profit (Ebitda) up 105 per cent as the advertising market bounced back to boost revenues, and thanks to increased audience share (and share of commercial impacts) at record levels. The channel performed very well with drama, gold and alibi increasing their share by 11 per cent, seven per cent and five per cent, respectively, in the 2021 calendar year, and dave upping its share of 16-34 year olds by 14 per cent as audiences responded enthusiastically to investment in new original content, while streaming service UKTV Play added one million registered users.

The company said, “Content sales were strong at over 400 million pound, thanks to key brands like Doctor Who and Top Gear, unscripted landmarks The Universe and Green Planet, alongside hits from our indie partners including The North Water, This is Going To Hurt and The Outlaws.”

BBC Studios continued to transform, welcoming global news, kids & family and scripted label house, maker of hit drama Sherwood, to its production business to drive opportunities for global customers. In the year, BBC Studios as part of the BBC, committed to science based net zero targets, signed the climate content pledge, plus 98 per cent of BBC Studios’ UK productions received albert certification.

BBC Studios also published recently its annual pay gap report, with details of pay gaps for gender, ethnicity, disability and LGBTQ+ employees broken down by career level band, as well as global analysis for the first time. The majority of career level bands show median pay gaps of within +/- 5 per cent, while the overall median gender pay gap is now below 10 per cent. In entry level roles (career level band A), new schemes to increase diversity are impacting some pay gap metrics, but this is important work for improving diversity across the business.

Fussell added, “We’re amongst the most transparent in the media sector for pay gap disclosures, with breakdowns for gender, disability, ethnicity and LGBTQ+ across all levels of the business, as well as new data this year for our global staff. While there is much to be proud of as our gender pay gap continues to fall, inevitably these figures paint a picture of a work-in-progress, especially where we are investing in the talent of the future. We know there is work to do to achieve the equality we seek across the board, and we will work tirelessly to make this happen.”

July 13, 2022
Shyft & Vistara partner to launch in-flight wellness content series ‘feel the pause’

Mumbai: Leading health and wellness platform, Shyft has launched ‘feel the pause’, a series of in-flight health & wellness content curated for full-service carrier Vistara, brought to you by TATA and Singapore Airlines.

The company will produce over a 1,000 minutes of health and wellness based content, which will be hosted exclusively on ‘Vistara World’, the in-flight entertainment system onboard Vistara aircraft globally.

The series will include four key libraries – sleep solutions, relaxing the body, relaxing the mind and working aid; and will comprise a variety of content formats including sleep inducing stories, in-flight stretches, breathing exercises, meditation and music tracks.

The content from Shyft will offer tools that will allow flyers to deal with insomnia and travel anxiety, with sleep stories based on classic tales such as the Pied Piper of Hamelin and tranquil music tracks.

Commenting on the partnership, Shyft founder Pooja Khanna said, “We’re delighted to partner with Vistara to launch ‘Feel the Pause’, and bring our expertise in health & wellness to add to the wonderful flying experience. As more people around the world start to increasingly focus on their health & well-being, we view this partnership as a tremendous opportunity for millions of flyers to experience Shyft.”

Vistara chief commercial officer Deepak Rajawat added, “We are excited to bring more elements of delight to our customers, and enhance their journeys. As we continue to find ways to elevate premium travel experiences, we are proud to become the first Indian airline to offer special ‘wellness-focused’ IFE content in partnership with Shyft. We are sure that our customers will appreciate this enhancement, and it will become yet another reason for them to enjoy travelling with India’s finest full-service carrier.”

July 13, 2022
MX Player wins ‘Best OTT platform award’ at Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence 2022

Mumbai: India’s largest advertising supported video on demand (AVoD) OTT platform MX Player received three awards at the recently held Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2022 for the platform and its original series Aashram.

While MX Player was awarded the Best OTT Platform, Prakash Jha was awarded the Best Director for web-series Aashram and Chandan Roy Sanyal was given the Best Supporting Actor Award for his portrayal as Bhopa Swami in Aashram.

Operating on an ad-supported model, MX Player has a large and diverse audience base in India and a global reach of 33+ markets and a keen understanding of the pulse of the audience. It has recently launched several record-breaking web-series like Aashram, Bhaukaal Matsya Kaand, Samantar, High and Campus Diaries.

MX Player is the only OTT platform to deploy H.266 technology that cuts down video streaming data consumption into half. According to the App Annie State of Mobile Report -2022, in terms of the downloads in video streaming, MX Player ranks #2 in India and #6 Worldwide.

MX Player chief operating officer Nikhil Gandhi said, “At MX Player, we believe that relevant and strong narratives have the ability to provoke thought and entertain audiences at the same time. Winning the Best OTT platform and winning two more awards for our successful series Aashram reaffirms our belief. Thank you, Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2022, for the honour in recognising our work in bringing hugely appreciated stories for our audiences in India, and across the world. Our congratulations to Prakash Jha and Chandan Roy Sanyal on their respective wins too.”

MX Player launched the third season of Aashram on 3 June 2022. With all the quintessential requisites of an entertaining show that combines politics, crime, and drama, Ek Badnaam… Aashram 3 revolves around the meteoric rise of godmen in India and how the masses blindly follow them in the name of religion. Beating its record of the previous two seasons, the latest season 3 garnered 100 million views within 32 hours of its release. Directed by Prakash Jha, the series features an ensemble cast comprising Bobby Deol, Aaditi Pohankar, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Darshan Kumaar, Esha Gupta, Sachin Shroff, Adhyayan Suman, Tridha Choudhury, Vikram Kochhar, Anuritta K Jha, Rushad Rana, Tanmaay Ranjan, Preeti Sood, Rajeev Siddhartha, Anupriya Goenka and Jaya Seal Ghosh in pivotal roles.

The Best Director award was received by Prakash Jha Productions (PJP) CEO Sunil Agarwal, PJP creative head Madhvi Bhatt and PJP producer Disha Jha.

On winning the Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2022 Best Director for the series Aashram, Prakash Jha said, “I feel truly honoured to be given Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2022 for Best Director for web series Aashram. It was indeed a pleasure working with the team of MX Player who supported us throughout all our decisions. Unfortunately, I cannot personally come and receive it due to unavoidable reasons. I would like to thank the Jury for considering me and giving me this award.”

Chandan Roy Sanyal won the Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2022 Best Actor in Supporting Role for the series, Aashram. On receiving the award, Chandan said, “This is my first award ever, and it is because of all your support and blessings of our ‘Father of Indian Cinema,’ Dadasaheb Phalke, that today I am standing here in front of you all. It is such a great feeling to receive an award like this. I would like to thank the team of MX Player, our director Prakash Jha Sir, Bobby Deol, and the entire team present here today who believed in me and showered me with their blessings and love.”

Dedicated to the ‘Father of Indian Cinema’, the Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards is given to the entertainment industry every year to recognise outstanding contributions in different categories. Celebrating the 151th Anniversary year of Dadasaheb Phalke this year, the 18th edition of the awards ceremony held in Mumbai had reputed producers, directors, actors, writers, musicians, technicians, distributors, exhibitors and studio owners from OTT, TV and films grace the event and be recognised for their work.

July 12, 2022
Netflix, The Duffer Brothers announce a new production company Upside Down Pictures

Mumbai: The Duffer Brothers announced its new production company Upside Down Pictures for film and television projects. This is a part of their overall deal with OTT platform Netflix.

Overseeing this operation is Hilary Leavitt, an executive who has helped develop such hit shows as Orphan Black and Ozark in the past.

According to a statement, The Duffer Brothers said, “The Upside Down Pictures will aim to create the kind of stories that inspired the Duffers growing up – stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism.”

The Duffer Brothers and Netflix also announced their growing slate of projects in active development including a new live-action television adaptation of the Japanese manga and anime series Death Note, a series from creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), a series adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub‘s The Talisman alongside Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Paramount Television to be created by Curtis Gwinn, a new stage play set within the world and mythology of Stranger Things, produced by prolific and multi award-winning producers Sonia Friedman, Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Billy Elliot, The Reader), and Netflix. Daldry will direct the series and 21 Laps will be the associate producer and lastly, a live-action Stranger Things spin-off series based on an original idea by The Duffer Brothers, with Upside Down and 21 Laps as producers.

The Duffer Brothers most recently released the fourth season of their hit Netflix series Stranger Things, which is now the number one on Netflix’s (all time) most popular English TV list with 1.15 billion hours viewed in its first 28 days – only the second series to cross the billion hour viewing mark, with the final tally expected to be higher as volume 2 reaches the 28-day viewing period.

The third season released in 2019 still holds at number three.

Speaking on the occasion, Matt and Ross Duffer said, “It didn’t take long into our first meeting with Hilary, where we bonded over films like Jaws, Home Alone, and Speed, to know we had found a kindred spirit. Hilary’s passion for storytelling is perhaps matched only by her passion for the storytellers themselves, for whom she is fiercely protective. No wonder so many writers and directors are drawn to working with her. She is a rare talent indeed, and we feel extremely grateful to have her at our side as we build Upside Down Pictures.”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said, “Matt and Ross are an exceptionally unique talent with a vision so crisp and clear. They are all about the details — it’s no accident that Stranger Things has pierced the zeitgeist to become the epic pop culture phenomenon it is today. We’re excited to continue telling new stories with them as they grow Upside Down Pictures and to welcome Hilary as creative partner.”

Leavitt added, “I remember the first movie I saw in the theatre, the first VHS tape I got for Christmas, the first international one-sheet I bid for on ebay because it was cooler than the domestic. And the first time I met Matt and Ross. All of these seminal moments have led to this ridiculously cool opportunity to build a company with the Duffer Brothers where we produce movies and television because we love movies and television. This love is at the core of Upside Down Pictures, where we’re able to collaborate with other artists on projects across the full spectrum of genre. We all love what we do and are excited to do more and more.”

July 12, 2022
Customer centricity is our single biggest USP, says Fantasy Akhada’s founder SK Jha

Mumbai: In the fast growing world of gaming there are several players in Fantasy Sport. Fantasy platform Fantasy Akhada, while being a late entrant, says that it has managed excellent growth. Backed by popular cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle, the company says that it is an initiative of hard core sports lovers who understand the fan and fantasy sports. Fantasy Akhada provides a platform, covering fantasy cricket, fantasy kabaddi, fantasy basketball and fantasy football, where users can come, play, and win contests.

The brand claims to have close to 2.5 million users currently. The platform has held 40 lakh contests and claims to have disbursed Rs 200 crore in cash winnings. Indiantelevision.com caught up with Fantasy Akhada founder Sumit Kumar Jha to find out more on the company’s plans.

Jha is an alumnus of leading universities like XLRI Jamshedpur and NIT Jamshedpur. Being a business enthusiast who strives for growth, he has a demonstrated history of experience in Product Management, Customer Analytics, Customer Life-Cycle Management, Loyalty Program Management, Mobile Internet, and P&L Management. Sumit Kumar Jha has profound domain knowledge and hands-on experience of over 8 years across different industries including Automobile, Telecom, Fashion & Retail industries and furthermore, earned 7 months of international project work experience.

He began his career with Tata Motors and after completing his MBA, joined the coveted Aditya Birla Group Leadership Program. He was deputed at Idea Cellular Limited (Now Vodafone Idea Limited) where he worked for 5 years prior to beginning his own venture-Fantasy Akhada. The rich experience that he gained in his professional journey has moulded a solid foundation of his entrepreneurial vision.

Edited excerpts:

On the traction that fantasy sports are getting vis-a-vis other areas of gaming and esports.

The love for cricket and the development of other sports, on the back of domestic leagues, has increased the level of interest in sports for all Indians. Fantasy sports share a very symbiotic relationship with live sports and thus the excitement of FS coupled with the love for sports is driving major growth in the Fantasy Sports market in India.

However, we believe that the growth of the overall gaming ecosystem will drive individual growths like fantasy sports, e-sports, etc. There must be an overall acceptance of the gaming community in Indian households; to ensure the next level of growth for this sunrise sector.

On the challenges that Fantasy Akhada faced as a late entrant

We believe that if we let the timing of entry into the industry bother us, Fantasy Akhada would not have been able to become one of the top five fantasy sports apps in the country. All of us, founders, were ardent fantasy sports users before launching Fantasy Akhada. We realised that there is a clear need for a platform that believed in the highest level of customer and sports centricity.

While we believed in our vision and the need for such a product, it took a lot of marketing push as well as the highest level of customer service to stand out amongst the clutter of the other 180 platforms. Post the IPL in 2022, on the back of a viral marketing campaign feat. Ali Fazal and Harsha Bhogle, we can confidently say that we have been able to make a significant mark in the space.

On the sports that the company is actively involved in

We currently provide customers with the opportunity to play four sports. The number was three until a week back; we added fantasy basketball in the first week of July. So as of today, Fantasy Akhada offers fantasy cricket, fantasy football, fantasy kabaddi and fantasy basketball.

On whether cricket dominates activity on the platform.

Cricket, no doubt, is by far the most loved sport on all Fantasy Sports platforms in the country. However, owing to our sports centricity, we have always done our 100 per cent towards each sport; and that shows in the numbers as well. Football, for example, contributes almost 15-20 per cent of our overall revenue and this has been made possible by hosting games, even in major leagues, that are exclusively available on Fantasy Akhada.

Kabaddi, also, was an excellent launch for us with the Pro Kabaddi League in December 2021. We are hoping to get some good traction on basketball as well, a sport that has been launched in response to rising customer demand.

On Fantasy Akhada’s USP is in a competitive arena where the entry barrier is very low

As mentioned earlier, our single biggest USP is customer-centricity. In the context of fantasy sports, it means doing the basic tasks well like instant withdrawal, 24*7 customer service to customer delight activities like international trips, regular leader boards with amazing prizes, etc.

Apart from this, we focus on our commitment to increasing sports engagement and ensure that all our marketing activities are in line with sports development.

On the impact of Covid on fantasy sports

Barring the first month of the worldwide lockdown, when the sport was either not happening or restricted to smaller leagues in countries like Belarus, etc. Covid has not had a very negative impact on our business.

Personally, for us at Fantasy Akhada, it was the time that we had just started, and it gave us the opportunity and time to work on a lot of things which we hadn’t envisaged before the launch. To summarise, we came out stronger and provided a better experience post with the initial Covid blip.

On the direction that regulation should take

We believe that more clarity on regulation will help the Industry grow multifold. The lack of clarity on the regulations hurts the business. We, along with other FS platforms, are working with the central government to build a well-structured framework that will help all platforms in the country.

On the role that Harsha Bhogle plays

Harsha Bhogle joined the Fantasy Akhada team in June 2020 as a brand ambassador and investor. Since then he has been, more than his role, a great mentor for the entire organisation. We have been lucky to have his guidance in various decisions and also his support in getting a lot of things done, which would have otherwise been very challenging for us.

On the activity seen on the platform during the recently concluded IPL

IPL is the highlight event for all FS platforms in India; primarily due to the love for cricket that the customers have and also the short duration of matches – which helps them rotate money quickly. Apart from the growth in value of transactions, it is one of the best times for user acquisition, not only for FS platforms but for brands across industries.

In terms of Fantasy Akhada, we had the biggest IPL, on the back of our first IPL campaign that went live on the Star Sports Network. The virality of the campaign, backed by our previously highlighted USPs, helped us catapult the growth of users to the next level. We had set out on a target of 100 per cent increase in our numbers over the two months of IPL, and we were able to comfortably achieve the same. Another great success has been that these users have stayed back with the platform post the IPL, increasing the overall base of our transactions.

On expansion plans abroad

Currently, we are present only in India – and allow only residents of India to play on our app. We have plans to spread our wings to other nations and currently, we are evaluating the right countries that fit our business and plans.

July 11, 2022
Mattel’s Masters of the Universe launched on NFT platform Cryptoys

Mumbai: The non-fungible token (NFT) platform that combines toys, gaming and entertainment to create an expansive playable universe Cryptoys has announced the launch of Masters of the Universe in a multiyear and global partnership deal with Mattel.

A new way for fans to collect and play with toy brands, Cryptoys are animated, playable collectibles that come to life the moment they’re unwrapped. The upcoming launch, timed to He-Man’s 40th birthday celebration this fall, will be the first to bring Masters of the Universe digital toys into a collectible, interactive world through the Cryptoys universe.

Masters of the Universe fans will have a first look at the Cryptoys and Mattel partnership at San Diego Comic-Con, where exclusive collectible lapel pins featuring iconic characters (including arch enemies He-Man and Skeletor along with Battle Cat) will be given away daily at the Mattel booth.

OnChain Studios CEO & co-founder Will Weinraub said, “The Masters of the Universe franchise is full of iconic, nostalgic characters that fans have been watching, playing with, and collecting for decades. Many of us grew up with Masters of the Universe, which is why we felt it was the perfect property to launch first on the Cryptoys platform as we partner with Mattel to bring new life to these beloved characters.”

July 9, 2022
Esports team GodLike Esports collaborates with blockchain-based fan engagement startup Stan

Mumbai: Esports organisation GodLike Esports has entered into a strategic agreement with Bengaluru-headquartered esports fan engagement startup Stan. This will enable them to provide officially licensed non-NFT digital collectibles for GodLike BGMI team’s fans and followers, among other services and rewards.

The key objective of the partnership between Stan and GodLike, which was facilitated by Numen Esports and Gaming, is to build an ecosystem for fans in order to connect with them actively and unlock new experiences for the fan base.

Following this partnership, Stan shall be giving access to GodLike fans to chat, play and even meet GodLike team members; furthermore, Stan users will also have a chance to visit GodLike’s Bootcamp, India’s largest gaming/esports facility.

Among the key players of Godlike Esports BGMI team with whom Stan has collaborated include: Chetan ‘Kronten’ Chandgude, Abhijit ‘Ghatak’ Andhare, Jonathan ‘Jonathan’ Amaral, Vivek ‘ClutchGod’ Abbas, Abhishek ‘ZGOD’ Choudhary and Suraj ‘Neyoo’ Mujumdar.

In addition, they have also collaborated with an influencer and an ex-professional player Kronten, GodLike owner, founder and director Abhijit ‘Ghatak’ Andhare (also an influencer and an ex-professional player).

Speaking on the partnership with GodLike, Stan co-founder and COO Nauman Mulla said, “Entering into a strategic partnership with the biggest organisation in India, GodLike Esports, was a no brainer for us at Stan, as want to give access to all the GodLike superfans, all of that Stan is offering. We aim to work with all the major stakeholders in this esports ecosystem, which is why we are very excited about this partnership. We intend to empower fans and connect them with their favourite esports athletes and creators; and to that end, now Stan users will be able to play a game, chat, make a live call, and meet GodLike members. We are proud to announce that Stan is the only platform today giving access to GodLike fans to meet, chat, play and also visit their gaming facility, and no other application or company are offering these services.”

Kronten said, “We are excited to partner with a brand as visionary and groundbreaking as Stan. Physical collectibles and memorabilia have been a part of sporting culture across the globe for so long and converting these to digital tokens using advanced technology will revolutionise fan engagement. All of us at GodLike are looking forward to engaging with our fans and community through Stan.”

July 9, 2022
TCH 2022: Experts discuss the significance of technology to create authentic content

Mumbai: The media & entertainment sector is facing an adverse effect of the Covid 19 pandemic crisis. During the lockdown period, most of the film production and entertainment houses had to shut down, in such a scenario, technology played an imperative role in generating quality production work by functioning virtually. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of technologies. The introduction of virtual productions, VFX, and game engines changed the film production business. The creation of content is improved by technological development and adapting to new trends.

On the sixth edition of Indiantelevision.com’s The Content Hub Summit 2022 held in Mumbai recently the media and entertainment industry experts shared their insights on the topic, ‘Tech-celeration of content: where have we reached?’

The session had the presence of Eros Now chief technology officer Lokesh Chauhan; Contiloe Group CFO and Illusion Reality Studios CEO Nitin Dadoo; EPIC ON & Stream-Sense chief operating officer Sourjya Mohanty.

The panel deliberated views on the development of tools and techniques for creating incredible content experiences. There has been immense development on the tech front that is changing the way content is consumed. Cutting-edge content is transforming the media & entertainment sector every day. Virtual production capabilities are becoming a key differentiator for content creators.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the entertainment segment leveraged technology throughout the entire virtual production life cycle to enhance the way content is created. It helped to improve production planning, increase shooting efficiency, and reduce the number of expensive reshoots.

The panel was also moderated by Plug and Play Entertainment media consultant & co-founder Anuj Gandhi.

The summit was presented by Viacom18, and co-powered by Applause Entertainment and IN10 Media Network. Aaj Tak Connected Stream is the association partner. Industry partners are Fremantle India, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, One Take Media, Pratilipi, Pocket FM and The Viral Fever. The Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) is our community partner.

Understanding the significance of technology for generating content was the starting point of the conversation.

When asked, Is content & technology limited to OTT and theatre? What has happened to the good old TV? Dadoo said, “I don’t think that technology is only restricted to OTT! Rather, it is highly helpful to all types of storytellers.” He explained that “the use of new technologies like Unreal and Cam, which provide DOP directors camera tracking as well as onset information with an unreal virtual background, has drawn viewers back to television. The amount of time spent has increased during the past three months.”

In addition, he also remarked on the availability of talent to handle such technologies, “The talent aspect is quite difficult. We came to the conclusion that we needed to hire a foreign crew since Indians are unprepared for these kinds of technologies. After a month or two of preparing the Indian crew for the new technologies, we had another difficulty: keeping them employed when other opportunities in the market were available.”

Another member from the panel, Mohanty added, “The problem is omnipresent. There is always a talent crunch in the industry.”

Chauhan also mentioned, “OTT platforms’ journeys are very distinct from those of traditional platforms.” He continued, “All of these systems, including LG, Samsung, Android, and iOS are constantly evolving. There are continually more changes occurring; these are not coming to an end. There will be immersive experiences that will necessitate the complete rebuilding of many of these services, many of which we currently consider to be quite stable. In light of this, you must constantly develop your skills and learn new things, unlike many other technologies.”

Sharing his view on the impact of technology on the creative side of the business, Mohanty said, “Today is the era where machines decide what we need to think and what we need to do. The basic recommendation engine which is driven by AI and ML decides the content that audiences would like to watch.”

Regarding the monetization aspect, Chauhan stated, “Right now in India, there aren’t enough individuals utilising these sites. Most of them run in the red. Players on OTT platforms are attempting to optimize their journey. The ugly truth is that Indian OTT services don’t have as much money as Netflix and Amazon do.”

Watch the full session:

July 8, 2022
Disney+ Hotstar’s Sunil Rayan joins Moloco as chief business officer

Mumbai: Machine learning platform for mobile apps Moloco announced recently that it has hired Sunil Rayan as the company’s first chief business officer.

In his new role, Rayan’s duties will include overseeing all commercial functions across Moloco’s products and platforms, ensuring the proper strategies are implemented. He will report directly to CEO Ikkjin Ahn.

As a pioneer of mobile ad performance marketing, Rayan brings over 25 years of global experience building commercial and product operations & leading go-to-market teams. He also brings a unique skill set and expertise in business strategy and scaling up large technology-driven businesses.

“Together, we will help customers grow significantly by helping them unlock the full value of unique, first-party data with Moloco’s world-leading machine learning and infrastructure solutions,” said the statement.

Prior to Moloco, he served as president and head of Disney+ Hotstar, where he grew the streaming business 8x to over 50+ million subscribers, scaled more than 20 markets internationally for Disney+ and Disney+ Hotstar across India, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa, and led the launch of the next-generation Hotstar streaming platform. Before joining Disney+, Rayan held leadership roles at Google for more than seven years, where he led the Global Mobile App ads business and helped build Google Cloud solutions for games. Prior to that, he was an Associate Partner at McKinsey, serving technology clients across a variety of functions.

“I am happy to welcome Sunil Rayan as our Chief Business Officer. He brings the expertise in enterprise cloud products, engineering, business development, and proven success building & scaling global sales organizations that will help Moloco accelerate its next stage of growth,” said Moloco CEO Ikkjin Ahn. “He is a humble and ambitious leader with a track record for successfully growing global businesses, and we are excited to have him join us on our journey.”

“Moloco is a generational company that is bringing the power of machine learning to programmatic performance advertising and enabling monetization for direct-to-consumer businesses of all sizes,” said Sunil Rayan. “Together, we will help customers grow significantly by helping them unlock the full value of unique, first-party data with Moloco’s world-leading machine learning and infrastructure solutions.”

July 7, 2022