MUMBAI: Zoom Video Communications has announced that Greg Tomb will join the company as president effective from 7 June 2022. Tomb brings more than 20 years of experience and comes to Zoom from Google Cloud, where he was most recently vice president of Sales, Google Workspace, SMB, Data & Analytics, Geo Enterprises, and Security Sales.
Reporting directly to Zoom’s founder & CEO Eric S. Yuan, Tomb will oversee the company’s go-to-market strategy, revenue efforts, and office of the Global CIO. Tomb will help shape Zoom’s next chapter as the company continues transforming into a multi-product platform that enables communication, hybrid work, and an expanding number of business workflows.
Yuan said, “I am so excited to welcome Greg to the Zoom team. Greg is a highly-respected technology industry leader and has deep experience in helping to scale companies at critical junctures. His strategic thinking, can-do attitude, and value of care he brings to customers make him the perfect addition to our strong leadership team.”
Tomb said, “I’m thrilled to join forces with Eric and the Zoom team to help drive growth. I strongly believe that Zoom has an impressive foundation with its multi-product platform, and I look forward to the tremendous opportunities ahead to help businesses around the world address their communications and collaboration needs.”
Mumbai: BBC Studios, the production arm of BBC group, has emerged as the preferred partner for over-the-top (OTT) platforms to create premium shows. It has partnered with OTT platform Zee5 for its latest release The Broken News directed by Vinay Waikul and starring Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat and Shriya Pilgaonkar. “The demand for scripted content on OTT platforms is extremely high right now and we’ve been servicing that demand,” remarks BBC Studios general manager Sameer Gogate.
BBC Studios has gotten off to a strong start to the year with its Disney+ Hotstar series Rudra: The Edge of Darkness marking Ajay Devgn’s OTT debut. Now, it is backing Sonali Bendre’s OTT debut with The Broken News. The studio first partnered with Zee5 for the Telugu-language thriller Gaalivaana directed by Sharan Koppisetty and starring Sai Kumar and Radhika Sarathkumar. The studio will continue its association with Zee5 by building its slate of Hindi originals across genres.
In terms of new projects, the studio is working with Amazon Prime Video for an unnamed project and Voot for Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan season four which has begun filming. It is also expecting the release of Hotstar Special Criminal Justice season three in the coming months.
“We’ve got a fairly busy slate this year and there are a few more projects I can’t announce yet because the OTT platform would like to announce it first,” says Gogate. He reveals that the studio is working on another project with Disney Star.
After a silent period in the TV production space, the studio is returning to work on a upcoming dance reality show. While the studio is mostly working on OTT projects, Gogate expects this trend could change in the next couple of years.
The Broken News is based on a UK series called Press, created and written by Mike Bartlett. While the original show was written for print media, BBC Studios India adapted the format for the broadcast news industry. “The show (The Broken News) highlights the role of the news producer who is the earpiece of the news editor. There’s a lot of work that went into the writing in terms of visiting news studios, meeting with anchors and catching up with news reports. The story is a reflection of what’s happening in society and thankfully when we pitched it to Zee5, they took it up right away,” recalls Gogate.
In the past, BBC has created the shows What The Love Netflix and Sons of the Soil for Prime Video. It has also worked on Out of Love seasons one and two for Disney+ Hotstar. As subscription driven streamers increase investments in original content in India, they’re on the lookout for production partners who can deliver premium shows that can help them differentiate from the clutter.
“By virtue of being a studio with a strong lineage and brand, we’ve been able to put up big productions that have been successful,” says Gogate. “I’m fortunate to have an experienced team that can mount big shows and handle that pressure which helps me sell more content to OTT platforms.”
Gogate is keen to work with all the subscription OTT platforms in the country including players like SonyLIV, Netflix, HBO Max and Lionsgate Play.
Mumbai: Jim Henson’s Family Hub, The Jim Henson Company’s online community for celebrating, supporting and connecting all kinds of families, has launched a new YouTube channel featuring full episodes, fun clips, weekly updates, and more. This kid’s safe channel (HensonFamilyHub) showcases titles from the company’s catalogue including Fraggle Rock, Sid the Science Kid, Word Party, Dinosaur Train, Splash and Bubbles, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss and more.
The Jim Henson Company’s series Pajanimals is one of the new titles offering free full episodes on YouTube.com/HensonFamilyHub.
On the launch of the channel, The Jim Henson Company VP global distribution Kerry Novick said, “Jim Henson’s Family Hub on YouTube provides the perfect place online for kids of all ages to enjoy the high-quality entertainment that has become synonymous with The Jim Henson Company. Parents can feel confident that these shows are appropriate for kids, as well as inspiring, engaging, and fun!”
Mumbai: In collaboration with Nifty’s, a platform for NFT-powered fan communities, Warner Bros. Consumer Products has developed a new story-driven blockchain programme around the “Looney Tunes” franchise. Digital art will be used as a new storytelling medium for “Looney Tunes: What’s UP Block?,” creating a fresh narrative for the franchise, revealed through NFTs.
Filled with antics and humour just like the “Looney Tunes” characters, the programme will offer fans access to participate in activities and games as the story unfolds, both digital and in real life while earning rewards and benefits along the way including virtual meet and greets, special access and discounts to “Looney Tunes” merchandise, exclusive never-before-been-seen content, new NFT drops, and much more.
As part of the yearlong celebration of Tweety’s 80th anniversary, the canary will be the first “Looney Tunes” character featured in the new collection, all to have expressions, clothing, and accessories that will allow collectors to build community and connect with other “Looney Tunes” aficionados. This summer, the public sale, as well as an early access sale for Nifty’s community members who currently own certain NFTs, will commence.
In a statement, Warner Bros. head of NFT commercial development Josh Hackbarth said, “‘Looney Tunes’ is a pop culture sensation, representing the golden era of animation with 80+ years of storytelling and laughs. From the recent success of “Space Jam: A New Legacy” to the classic cartoons from the 1940’s and 50’s, these beloved characters continue to spark nostalgia and excitement across all generations. Today, as digital engagement and technology evolve, the “Looney Tunes” collection will further expand the reach of the franchise, bringing fans together from around the world, offering unique experiences, community building, storytelling and a whole new way for them to engage. And what better way to kick things off with Tweety as his 80th birthday celebrations continue.”
Nifty’s CEO and co-founder Jeff Marsilio said, “NFTs have limitless potential, and we are just scratching the surface of what is possible. We’re thrilled to be expanding our partnership with Warner Bros., visionaries in storytelling and creative entertainment, to use NFTs in this innovative way that also engages users and connects them to a community of other ‘Looney Tunes’ fans.”
The Tweety avatars will be minted on the Palm Network, which features low gas costs and fast transaction finality. This is the third project launched by Nifty’s and Warner Bros. to create NFTs incorporating mainstream entertainment IP. Late last year, the two partnered to create the ‘Matrix Avatars’ NFT programme, which the parties state remains one of the largest PFP (profile picture) projects to date. In July of 2021, Nifty’s introduced a collection of limited-edition NFTs featuring characters from the live-action/animated film ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’, which reintroduced the popular ‘Looney Tunes’.
Mumbai: Jetsynthesys has appointed Girish Menon as chief strategy officer, according to his recent LinkedIn update.
He was previously associated with KPMG as a partner for its media and entertainment practice. Jetsynthesys is an IT services and consulting company specialising in gaming, esports and entertainment domain.
Menon is a professional with over 25 years of experience in mergers & acquisitions, strategy and consulting with a specialisation in media, digital, gaming & consumer internet domains.
He has been associated with KPMG for 21 years out of which 14 years were spent in the deal advisory practice covering strategy and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) advisory. He has also had an entrepreneurial stint heading a film studio venture and also held the role of head strategy at Balaji Telefilms.
Mumbai: Film and television actor-director Mrinal Kulkarni has joined Planet Marathi OTT as part of its board of founders.
“Kulkarni is aligned with Planet Marathi OTT’s vision as she comes with a mission to take Marathi web and OTT content to new heights,” said the statement.
Kulkarni has decades of experience in both Hindi and Marathi entertainment and is known for numerous roles in hits like Avantika, “Yellow”, “Farzand”, “Ye Re Ye Re Paisa” to name a few. She has written films like “Rama Madhav”, “Prem Mhanje Prem Mhanje”, “Prem Asta”, and “Ti and Ti”. She is most fondly recalled as Indian TV’s famous character ‘Sonpari’.
Kulkarni was recently seen on screen in “The Kashmir Files”. She has worked across genres and content formats and is one of the most talented professionals in the Indian entertainment industry.
“It gives me great pleasure to assume this honourable position. I understand the great responsibility which comes with this role,” said Mrinal Kulkarni. “Web content is a great space to showcase the potential and power since it is a global platform with few barriers. I applaud the Planet Marathi OTT team for setting high benchmarks, not settling for less and creating new avenues for the Marathi web space. With my new role, I am glad I will be able to share my ideas and experience to take forward the platform’s efforts. It brings me great pleasure to say, we are poised for the next level in the OTT space.”
“We are excited to have an industry veteran and expert like Mrinal Kulkarni onboard,” said Planet Marathi OTT producer and founder Akshay Bardapurkar. “With Mrinal joining us, we have upped the level of great expertise we have in our team. Mrinal embodies a sharp sense of business, innovation and craft, which is much needed in the OTT space. Her experience and vision will add to our mission of taking Marathi content to the world. She staunchly believes in the potential of Marathi content and it is an honour to have a powerhouse like her as a part of the Planet Marathi family.”
Kulkarni begins her role starting from June along with other board of founders at Planet Marathi OTT.
Singapore-based Vistas Media Capital is an investor in Planet Marathi OTT.
Mumbai: Brightcove announced the appointment of David Beck as its chief strategy and corporate development officer. Beck will lead strategy, business development and corporate development for the company.
Working closely with Brightcove CEO Marc DeBevoise, Beck will be focused on developing strategies that enhance current offerings and create opportunities to expand Brightcove’s existing businesses. His broad remit will also focus on enabling Brightcove to expand into new markets and lines of business utilizing its market-leading software platform.
“We are excited to bolster our executive team with the appointment of David Beck as chief strategy and corporate development officer,” said Brightcove chief executive officer Marc DeBevoise. “David is an exceptional strategist and operator with deep industry experience and a proven track record of architecting innovative strategies and initiatives for world-class companies and brands. I’m excited to get to work with David and have him help us realize our vision and crystalize our continued growth strategy.”
Beck brings two decades of experience in strategy, operations, and business development at elite digital brands, most recently having served as the executive vice president, head of content strategy and business operations at AMC.
At AMC, Beck led the strategy to accelerate AMC’s streaming business model transformation, including its integrated linear, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) (AMC+), and advertising video-on-demand/ free ad-supported streaming television (AVOD/FAST) services and partnerships for business-to-business (B2B) and direct-to-consumer (DTC) distribution.
He also drove the modernization of its core operations across AMC, BBC America, Sundance TV, IFC, and WE TV. Prior to his time at AMC, David served as the EVP, corporate strategy and operations at WarnerMedia, and chief strategy officer of TNT and TBS. He is also the co-founder of advisory and investment firm BRAVE Ventures, acquired by Turner (now Warner Bros. Discovery).
“Brightcove is an innovator and trailblazer in the video communications space, and I’m both energized and honoured to join the company at such an exciting time,” said Beck. “With a new CEO developing a focused vision, a fantastic team with building enthusiasm and ready to act, and a best-in-class technology platform to build on, I am incredibly excited to go after the opportunities ahead of us.”
Mumbai: discovery+ has announced the premiere of the new original My Daughter Joined a Cult, a docu-series produced by VICE Studios – the global production division of VICE Media Group about self-proclaimed godman, Swami Nithyananda in India exclusively from 2 June 2022.
The 3×45 series will be available to stream in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, English, Kannada, and Malayalam, and is directed by Naman Saraiya.
A mother wailing outside an ashram to see her daughters who have been barred from meeting her. A distraught father running from pillar to post to find answers pertaining to his missing children. A disillusioned devotee grappling with demands for nude pictures from the man she held in the highest esteem. A young man questioning the prevalence of sexual abuse and violence in a place meant for worship and reflection. These are but a few claims made by real devotees which make one wonder, who is lying and who is telling the truth? Or is there more than one version of the truth? Are these just allegations or is there something more than that? What really goes on inside a cult? Can someone claiming to be a Godman, actually turn out to be a Conman? Documenting claims made by ex-devotees and much more, My Daughter Joined a Cult follows the life of the controversial Swami Nithyananda, whilst giving a voice to individuals who were at the epicenter of it all.
The three-part series, captures the exposure of the self-styled Godman, who allegedly deceived his believers by luring them into joining his ashram and gurukul trust Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, and then later allegedly abused them. With a range of testimonies from devotees, lawyers, journalists and activists, the docu-series presents a narrative of the highs and lows of Nithyananda’s life in the pursuit of the reason behind his strong following despite being termed a fugitive by his ex-followers. Having lived the story themselves, the followers and ex-devotees provide an intimate perspective whilst revealing crucial details that help us better understand the entire narrative.
Warner Bros. Discovery original content head- south Asia Sai Abishek said, “Discovery has always been synonymous with content that is raw and real. Keeping authenticity at the core of our offerings, My Daughter Joined a Cult is yet another step towards bringing alive a story that has multiple layers. This series chronicles the journey of followers of Nithyanand, and examines the vulnerabilities of humans that make them susceptible to joining cults to seek answers, sometimes leading to devastating effects. We are certain that viewers will be intrigued by this series, built on the back of hard-hitting firsthand accounts from ex-devotees, along with commentary from observers of his rise and subsequent allegations of abuse and fraud.”
VICE Studios VP of content, APAC Samira Kanwar said, “My Daughter Joined A Cult is an uncompromising and unflinching docu-series about the internationally infamous figure of Swami Nithyananda. As is synonymous with VICE Studios, the series offers an authentic and compelling insight into a complex and controversial figure, using raw first-person testimonies and original production techniques. We are proud to be working with discovery+ to bring this series to a wide, global audience.”
Director Naman Saraiya said, “Such a comprehensive and complex investigation into Nithyananda and his religious movement would not have been possible without the trust and cooperation of each person we crossed paths with… be it former devotees, survivors, journalists, lawyers and police officers. I hope the series resonates with audiences around the world and generates greater awareness of the events that led to his fall from grace and the indelible impact on those left in its wake.”
He added, “My Daughter Joined A Cult has been one of the most challenging and rewarding projects of my career yet and I am incredibly proud of what the team and I have created with VICE Studios and Samira Kanwar.”
Mumbai: MX Player has signed five sponsors for the third season of its most-watched web-series Aashram. The sponsors on board include Vimal Elaichi as ‘title sponsor’, Goldiee as ‘co-powered by’ sponsor, Kent Mineral RO, Royal Green and Crax have been onboarded as ‘special partners’.
Aashram 3 is set to begin streaming on 3 June. As per the platform, the show was watched by 160 million unique users in its first season and the second season crossed 50 million views in 17 hours. The series has been consumed by more than 60 million users in the region of Maharashtra and Delhi NCR.
“Aashram is one of our tentpole assets. It has created an immense impact on our users. As India’s largest digital video platform, we are incredibly humbled to see the response that Aashram has received since its launch, and now season three only promises to get bigger and better,” said MX Media chief operating officer Nikhil Gandhi.
“It’s immense popularity and record-breaking views is a significant opportunity for brands to reach out to new audiences across Metro and non-metro users which is unique only to MX Player. We are very pleased with the clients who have grabbed this opportunity to associate with Aashram to get maximum impact of their investments.”
Produced and directed by Prakash Jha, the MX original series by stars an ensemble cast comprising Bobby Deol, Aaditi Pohankar, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Darshan Kumaar, Anupriya Goenka, Esha Gupta, Sachin Shroff, Adhyayan Suman, Tridha Choudhury, Vikram Kochhar, Anuritta K Jha, Rushad Rana, Tanmaay Ranjan, Preeti Sood, Rajeev Siddhartha and Jaya Seal Ghosh.
Mumbai: The number of original and exclusive titles in Netflix’s US catalogue accounted for more than 50 per cent of all available content for the first time in the company’s history in March 2022, according to a report.
Ampere’s Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) tracking data indicates that there are now over 3,700 original-branded (i.e. original and exclusive) movies and TV seasons in the Netflix US library, which has consistently offered around 7,000 titles over the last three years.
Among the major SVoD platforms, Netflix is second only to the much smaller Apple TV+ in its focus on original-branded content. It’s far ahead of fellow longstanding streaming incumbents Amazon Prime Video (9 per cent) and Hulu (4 per cent).
Netflix’s original content investment reached $6.2 billion in 2021. Originals have been a major focus of Netflix’s content strategy. In September 2016, when originals and exclusives accounted for only 5 per cent of its US catalogue, the then CFO David Wells set a target of a 50/50 split between original and licensed titles within the next few years. This transition to the majority of original titles is a product of Netflix’s market-leading spending.
Content data shows that the group has outspent every other SVoD company on original content each year since 2013 and has consistently increased its yearly investment. Netflix’s original content spend peaked at $6.2 billion in 2021, more than double the next highest spender, Disney+, with $2.8 billion.
Netflix owns some of the most-watched SVoD content, including Bridgerton. Such investment has helped make Netflix a prominent distributor of popular content. Ampere’s proprietary Popularity score indicates that across Q1 2022, Netflix originals and exclusives accounted, on average, for 12 per cent of the 100 most popular titles available on SVoD in the US, the highest share of any SVoD platform.
Notable titles include the final season of crime series Ozark and the second season of period drama Bridgerton, which recently became the most-watched English-language TV series on Netflix.
Ampere Analysis analyst Joe Hall said, “Netflix’s increasing content self-sufficiency is necessary for today’s streaming market. The rise of studio-led direct-to-consumer platforms has led to a shrinking pool of licensable content as studios prefer to keep productions in-house. Original content also allows platforms to offer exclusive titles internationally without additional licensing costs. This is particularly important as Netflix sets its sight on acquiring more international subscribers to compensate for maturity in developed markets.”
75 percent of titles on Netflix will be original or exclusive by the end of 2024. Under current growth rates, Ampere estimates that 75 per cent of the movies and TV seasons available on Netflix will be either originals or exclusives by the end of 2024.
