ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Series Mania and Beta join forces to launch Seriesmakers

    Series Mania and Beta join forces to launch Seriesmakers

    Mumbai: The international TV series industry event Series Mania Forum and European content powerhouse Beta Group have joined forces on Seriesmakers – a new creative initiative that will focus on feature film directors who venture into the world of series.

    Eligible for this initiative are teams of director-producer and/or director-writer, who have a first or second feature film screened in an official selection of A-list film festivals and want to create a new series project.

    Seriesmakers will allow ten selected teams with an idea for a TV series to participate in a tailor-made training programme focused on the development of a full pitch deck. Led by A-list directors, showrunners, writers, and producers, they will guide new series creators as they develop a series bible. “The objective is to support talents working on a new scripted series and will offer two of ten selected projects a €50,000 grant each,” said the statement.

    “Television series has become a desirable destination for feature filmmakers thanks to the dramatic evolvement of the industry which has witnessed an increase in the creative and production quality of programmes in recent years,” commented Series Mania general director Laurence Herszberg. “We want to help filmmakers as they embark on this journey into a new realm of creative opportunities, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Beta who have always supported high-quality storytelling.”

    At Series Mania Forum 2023, a special Jury will award two projects with a Beta Development grant of €50,000 each to further develop a pilot script and a full package. These two projects will also enjoy further support, such as script consulting and packaging offered by Beta’s content division, led by chief content officer Koby Gal Raday. The two winning teams will furthermore be invited to Series Mania’s prestigious Forum to present their projects to the industry’s most influential decision-makers, broadcasters, platforms, co-producers, and financiers. 

    “Beta was and is the independent European home for independent filmmakers who wish to realise their ambitious artistic visions,” stated Koby Gal Raday. “This initiative, focusing for the first time on feature film directors, will enable unique filmmakers to focus on the development of their new series in a supportive and encouraging environment.”

  • Know the story behind Netflix’s ‘skip intro’ button

    Know the story behind Netflix’s ‘skip intro’ button

    Mumbai: Streaming major Netflix, in a blog post, revealed that its ‘skip intro’ is pressed 136 million times in a typical day by its members. The platform claims that the feature has saved its members 195 years in cumulative time.

    The germ of the idea was conceived six years ago by the Netflix team. The intention was to help members get the most out of their experience on the platform, it said.

    “An idea was floated to add skip forward and skip backward buttons in 10-second increments,” stated Netflix director product innovation – studio product management Cameron Johnson. “The reason to offer a skip back 10 seconds was obvious: maybe you got distracted and missed a particular moment.”

    “But why skip forward 10 seconds?” Netflix asked themselves. “Well, you might want to skip the opening credits. But no one could come up with any other compelling reasons,” said Johnson.

    “At the same time, I was watching Game of Thrones, which has a famously long (and beautiful) opening credits sequence. I found the show so compelling that I wanted to skip the credits and jump right into the story, and I found it frustrating to try to manually jump forward to the just the right place. Sometimes I would jump too far, and sometimes I would jump too short. I wondered whether other people felt the same,” he added.

    Netflix research showed that 15 per cent of their members at the time were manually advancing the series within the first five minutes. “This gave us confidence that a lot of people wanted to skip the intro,” noted Johnson.

    Instead of building a general purpose solution that may help with several different needs, Netflix designed a single purpose solution that did one thing well.

    A little known hack unknown to many Netflix users is that they can press the ‘s’ key on the keyboard to trigger the ‘skip intro’ feature without having to move the mouse.

    “To find a name for the button, we brainstormed a few options including ‘Jump Past Credits,’ ‘Skip Credits,’ ‘Jump Ahead,’ ‘Skip Intro’ and simply ‘Skip’ and then started to test the feature with a random set of members,” recalled Johnson.

    Netflix initially tested the feature on the web across 250 series excluding films in the US and Canada. According to an engineer, “I’m not sure that if you put a button that said ‘free cupcake’ that it would get more clicks than ‘Skip Intro.’”

    “We quickly added ‘Skip Intro’ to TV in August 2017 and mobile in May of the following year. The rest is history,” said Johnson.

  • Zee5 highlights regional offerings in a new campaign

    Zee5 highlights regional offerings in a new campaign

    Mumbai: Video streaming platform ZEE5 has announced the launch of the second edition of its campaign- ‘Dekhtey Reh Jaogey’ starring Sara Ali Khan and Amol Parashar. Revolving around the FOMO theme, the campaign showcases the platform’s content library, particularly the regional offerings.

    ZEE5 currently features 160+ live TV channels and 500,000+ hours of on-demand content spanning over 3,500 films, 1,750 TV shows, and 700 originals, in 12 Indian languages (English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, and Punjabi), all available in a new subscription of Rs. 599.

    The SVOD viewers on the platform get access to the range of movies and web series behind the paywall, along with AVOD content before they are aired on TV. The AVOD content roster at ZEE5 includes catch-up episodes of the most popular TV shows on ZEE Network and other properties which are available for audiences to watch anytime, and anywhere.

    Over the past 12 months, ZEE5 has become the fastest growing OTT platform in India as per AppAnnie’s latest industry report. The platform’s monthly active users (MAU) rose to 101.9 million and global daily active users (DAUs) touched 9.6 million in December 2021. ZEE5 users watched an average of 201 minutes of content per month during the last quarter, with the platform releasing 51 shows and movies, including 11 originals during the period.

    ZEE5 has planned a high-frequency promotional outreach for the campaign across TV, social media, and the internet as part of a 360-degree approach.

     “At ZEE5, we have always aspired to democratise entertainment and provide quality content to our audiences at a price that is convenient for the majority of the viewers,” says ZEE5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra. “While ZEE5 has a large content library that spans across various languages, the second leg of the ‘Dekhtey Reh Jaogey’ campaign will help us exhibit our diverse content offerings, especially regional content and further our aim of deeper regionalisation by making deeper inroads into the country. With the new subscription package, viewers will have access to an endless supply of compelling and binge-worthy entertainment at an annual price of Rs. 599.”

    Lowe Lintas chief creative officer Sagar Kapoor adds, “Today, content has become the perfect conversation starter and enabler. Conversations are invariably peppered with references to dialogues and characters from content pieces across OTT platforms. It is the “conversation drama” that people miss out on when they miss content. We decided to build on this idea for ZEE5 to pull in their audiences every week to watch new shows and movies and stay above content FOMO, so they never miss out on the excitement on and off the screen.”

  • ‘Vilangu’ becomes the most-watched Tamil original series on Zee5

    ‘Vilangu’ becomes the most-watched Tamil original series on Zee5

    Mumbai: Zee5’s “Vilangu” has become the most-watched Tamil original series on the platform, the streamer announced on Wednesday.

    Starring Vemal in the lead role, the seven-episode series is directed by Prashanth Pandiyaraj and produced by Escape Artists Madan. The series began streaming on Zee5 starting from 18 February.

    The investigative drama has an IMDb rating of 8.1 that follows the protagonist Paridhi who is a sub-inspector in Vembur Police Station, Trichy. While trying to balance his personal and professional life, Paridhi is embroiled in a race against time to solve a mysterious crime. A special screening of the series was attended by the Kollywood fraternity and Tamil Nadu police, who praised the film on social media Twitter.

    “We are delighted to note the success and critical acclaim received by our original web series – ‘Vilangu’,” said Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd chief cluster officer – South Siju Prabhakaran. “With 20+ Zee5 originals, we have been disrupting the Tamil entertainment industry and growing our dominance in the market. Zee5 has been successful in churning out creative content for its viewers while experimenting with a wide range of genres for our audiences globally. From blockbuster movies and light-hearted comedy shows to dark crime-thrillers, the wide portfolio of shows has been instrumental in the surge in viewership appealing to both older and newer audiences. The response received by ‘Vilangu’ has strengthened our commitment to continue on this journey of engaging and entertaining audiences with ground-breaking content.”

  • Voot Select set to stream ‘Apharan 2’ on 18 March

    Voot Select set to stream ‘Apharan 2’ on 18 March

    Mumbai: OTT service platform Voot Select is set to stream the second season of “Apharan 2” on 18 March.

    Produced by Ekta R Kapoor and Jio Studios, the show features a stellar cast Arunoday Singh, Nidhi Singh, Snehil Dixit Mehra, Saanand Verma and Sukhmani Sadana and spans across 11 episodes. The show is directed by Santosh Singh, and it is written by Siddharth Sengupta, Umesh Padalkar, Anahata Menon.

    “Apharan is a cult series that was a runaway success,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures head SVOD and international business Ferzad Palia. “We couldn’t be happier than to bring the second edition exclusively to Voot Select members and play home to this popular franchise. Apharan Season 2 marks the start of a heavy line up of top-quality Originals with probably the most robust slate that India will witness in 2022.”

    A special screening was held for the launch of the show attended by industry honchos on Wednesday. The star-studded affair was attended by Ekta R Kapoor along with the entire cast of the show.

    “This is my first collaboration with Jio Studios and Voot Select and I am thrilled to associate with them for an unconventional show like Apharan,” said Kapoor. “After the overwhelming response received from the audience for the first season, it only made sense for us to take them by surprise with Season 2 by steering away from the mainstream action-thriller genre.  With never-seen-before plot twists, the sequel is sure to make many jaws drop. Be ready – Kyunki Sabka Katega Dobara!”

    Set against the backdrop of India and Serbia, “Apharan 2” follows the story of a cop Rudra who sets out on a journey to kidnap an intelligent criminal Bikram Bahadur Shah who wants to eliminate India from the world map. The trailer of the show on YouTube crossed 35 million views over 12 days, according to the streaming platform.

    “The Apharan 2 trailer has risen viewers’ curiosity for the sequel, but the wait is not too long now,” said actor Arunoday Singh. “Playing the character of Rudra Srivastava has been an unforgettable experience for me. The entire cast has kept every minute detail in mind while getting into the skin of our respective characters. We embodied their physical as well as emotional traits. All I can say is that it will leave you at the edge of your seat. Hoping that you guys like it.”

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  • SonyLIV bids high on South content, bags digital rights for two Malayalam films

    SonyLIV bids high on South content, bags digital rights for two Malayalam films

    Mumbai: With an aim to bring diverse content across languages and genres, streaming platform SonyLIV has bagged the direct-to-digital release of two new Malayalam films “Salute” and “Puzhu.” This is for the first time that father-son duo Mammootty and Dulquer Salman will be launching their films on the same OTT platform. 

    Dulquer-starrer “Salute” is the investigative drama, whereas Mammootty will be seen in the crime thriller “Puzhu.”

    Helmed by Rosshan Andrews, “Salute” marks the first association of Dulquer with the director as well as the writer-duo of Bobby and Sanjay. Produced under his production banner Wayfarer Films, it will also be the Malayalam debut of Bollywood actor Diana Penty and will also star Manoj K Jayan in a pivotal role.

    Dulquer will also be producing Mammootty’s “Puzhu” under his banner along with S George’s Cyn Cyl Celluloid. Helmed by debutante director Ratheena PT, the film will also star Parvathy Thiruvothu in the lead.

    “The story of ‘Puzhu’ excited me the most,” said actor Mammootty. “As an actor, it has always been my aim to keep reinventing myself, and to take up newer, more exciting projects. ‘Puzhu’ marks another step in that direction. We tried to tell a story that we believed in and put our hearts into. Hope the viewers like what they see.”

    ‘It was a great experience working on ‘Salute,’” said actor and producer Dulquer Salman. “I have always been drawn to roles that push me beyond my comfort zone and challenge me as an actor. Bobby and Sanjay have done a remarkable job with the script. It is an intriguing and taut thriller with the characters going through various emotional conflicts and bearing the consequences of their actions. I have always admired Rosshan Andrews’ craft, and it was an honour to work with him. This is very different from the other films I have done so far, and I cannot wait for the audiences to watch it.”

  • Women account for 28% of the country’s total app consumption, rural at 16.4%: Study

    Women account for 28% of the country’s total app consumption, rural at 16.4%: Study

    Mumbai: Indian women account for 28 per cent of the country’s total app consumption, with rural users accounting for 16.4 per cent. Together they drive over 70 per cent of purchasing decisions. Their purchasing power is reflected in key categories of app usage including social media apps, which increasingly convert sales, and e-commerce, according to a study from retention cloud platform CleverTap shared on Wednesday.

    Analysing the usage of over 300 different mobile apps with an average monthly user base of more than four million, the new study revealed opportunities in India’s mobile app market, led by women and rural regions.

    Women have major purchasing power, led by e-commerce

    Women in India drive over 70 per cent of purchasing decisions, with their purchasing power reflected in key categories of app usage including social media apps, which increasingly convert sales, and e-commerce.

    Based on the findings, the study suggests providers of ed-tech, social media, and fintech apps, in particular, consider marketing their apps to women. Women currently account for 37 per cent, 32.5 per cent and 31 per cent of usage, respectively, and are major consumers of products and services in these sectors.

    Indian women outpace men in E-commerce app usage, accounting for 54 per cent of all usage. Global e-commerce brands would do well to create highly personalised and relevant commerce experiences for Indian women in order to drive revenue growth and cement customer loyalty.

    Indian men account for a significant share of app interaction across several key verticals, including gaming (94 per cent), travel and transportation (84 per cent), on-demand services (78 per cent) and media and entertainment (77 per cent). Overall, men account for 72 per cent of mobile usage.

    Rural India – a massive opportunity

    Rural India is an underserved market on the cusp of seismic change. While app usage is currently 16.4 per cent, the split across verticals, CleverTap data shows consumers across cities and areas outside metropolitan centres gravitate to apps that can help them improve their education and quality of life.

    Edutech (19.2 per cent), media and entertainment (17.7 per cent) and fintech (17 per cent) stand out as verticals that attract a disproportionately large number of rural users.

    Adoption rates for health and fitness (13.2 per cent) are at the low end of the scale, but personalised strategies such as goal setting and reminder functionality can increase these numbers.

    Among urban users, adoption rates for health and fitness, e-commerce, and travel and transportation are nearing saturation levels (85 per cent and above). This dynamic underlines the importance of shifting focus to growth opportunities emerging in rural areas, where competition is lower, and returns are higher.

    User retention remains a challenge

    CleverTap analysis also confirms the pivotal importance of focusing on user retention. Uninstall rates are a challenge across all app categories, negating costly user acquisition (UA) campaigns and threatening companies’ potential growth. Uninstall rates are highest in the gaming (44 per cent) and social engagement (46 per cent) sectors.

    By contrast, sectors, where users perceive a high degree of value and convenience, have the lowest uninstall rates: On-demand services (21 per cent) and health and fitness (25 per cent). While these areas are better at retaining users, losing nearly a quarter of a subscriber base is still alarming. Data-driven offers, loyalty programs, and hyper-personalised marketing and messaging are just some of the ways brands and businesses can stem the attrition of these apps.

    “Global events have radically changed consumer behaviour, particularly among women, who now rely on apps as the go-to channel for all aspects of their lives,” said CleverTap global CEO Sidharth Malik. “Similarly, rural users have come to depend on apps to make transactions or continue their education, and now view apps as a means to improve their lives. Understanding the striking and significant differences among user segments and preferences is the critical first step for companies to connect, convert and ultimately grow retention and lifetime value.”

    Methodology

    A mobile-savvy country where apps drive commerce, communications, education and social interactions, India was the second-largest global market in terms of app downloads in 2021, according to a report by Data.ai. The CleverTap study demonstrates that mobile-first brands and businesses have an opportunity to reach underserved demographics in the world’s second-most populous nation and fastest-growing major economy.

    To understand mobile usage behaviour and identify trends in in-app consumption across India, the CleverTap data science team analysed over 300 mobile apps across different verticals, with an average monthly user base of more than 4 million. The usage behaviour was broken down by location (urban/rural); by gender across verticals (fintech, ed-tech, media and entertainment, health and fitness, travel and transportation, e-commerce, social engagement); by responses to engagement campaigns across different channels and verticals; and uninstall rates across verticals. More than 782 billion push notifications, 52 billion emails, and 10 billion in-app notifications were analysed for this study.

  • Disney+ Hotstar leverages the metaverse to promote new show ‘Rudra’

    Disney+ Hotstar leverages the metaverse to promote new show ‘Rudra’

    Mumbai: Disney+ Hotstar has partnered with Hungama Digital’s Web 3.0 venture Hefty Entertainment to create digital avatars of the cast of  its new show “Rudra – The Edge of Darkness.” The platform has created many firsts with this disruptive marketing strategy and innovation leveraging the metaverse.

    The marketing team has installed a hologram of Ajay Devgn with an illusion of him looking at passersby in Mumbai’s Bandra Bandstand. Additionally, in partnership with Smaash the platform created a gaming and entertainment centre with the theme ‘todphod’ playing the iconic catchphrase used by the actor in the show. The gaming room was designed similar to the show’s set.

    “A big part of building a deeper relationship with our consumers is to bring elements from reel life to real life and vice-versa,” said Disney+ Hotstar EVP and chief marketing officer Siddharth Shakdher. “With ‘Rudra-The Edge of Darkness,’ we did exactly that and deployed a unique experiential and immersive show marketing approach, bringing our consumers one step closer to the show, but importantly, also surfacing the show within emerging pop culture trends. With first-of-its-kind initiatives like Rudra Metaverse, gaming room, and hologram displays, we stepped up a notch higher to connect deeper with the audiences and fans.”

    Directed by Rajesh Mapuskar, “Rudra – The Edge of Darkness” features actor Ajay Devgn in the role of a cop who delves into the psyche of highly intelligent criminal masterminds to capture them.

  • Voot Select to stream original series ‘Halo’ from 24 March

    Voot Select to stream original series ‘Halo’ from 24 March

    Mumbai: OTT service platform Voot Select will be exclusively streaming Paramount+ original series “Halo” from 24 March.

    Based on the popular sci-fi video game series, “Halo” is set in a 26th-century universe dramatising a conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as ‘the covenant.’

    The upcoming nine episodic series features Pablo Schreiber of “Orange is the New Black” fame as the ‘Master Chief,’ alongside Natashca McElhone, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kenndey, Charlie Murphy and Danny Sapani. Also joining the cast as original characters are Ryan McParland, Burn Gorman, and Fiona O’Shaughnessy. Veteran Bollywood actor Shabana Azmi will also appear in a crucial supporting role in the series.

    “Halo defined the beginning of gaming culture in India and has a cult following across the world,” said Viacom18 head – SVOD and international business Ferzad Palia. “With Shabana Azmi helming a key role in the series, the show is even more special for Indian audiences. Having a series based around this legendary title will be looked upon eagerly by not only gamers but also sci-fi fanatics as well. We are delighted to be streaming this series and am certain that the outstanding production scale and enthralling storyline will surpass expectations establishing Halo amongst the best series of 2022.”

    “Working on this project has been a dream come true,” said Shabana Azmi. “The show deals in artificial intelligence, which is a completely new genre for me, hence it gave me the opportunity to learn and evolve. I thoroughly enjoyed working on set with stellar actors such as Natascha McElhone, Pablo Schreiber and Jen Taylor. The visuals in the series are stunning and I cannot wait for the release to see how it will be received by audiences across the globe.”

    “Halo” is produced by Showtime in association with 343 Industries, along with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television. The series is executive produced by Steven Kane, alongside Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television in association with 343 Industries, director Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture, and Kyle Killen and Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven. Kiki Wolfkill, Frank O’Connor and Bonnie Ross serve as executive producers for 343 Industries. 

    The series is distributed internationally by Paramount Global Content Distribution.

  • Discovery Plus, HBO Max to merge into one streaming service

    Discovery Plus, HBO Max to merge into one streaming service

    Mumbai: Discovery, which is expected to close its acquisition of WarnerMedia in the second quarter of 2022, confirmed its plans to combine its streaming service Discovery Plus and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max into one service rather than offer the two platforms as a bundle.

    Discovery chief financial officer Gunnar Weidenfels who addressed the Deutsche Bank 30th Annual Media, Internet and Telecom Conference said that Discovery is making preparations to combine the two streaming services. But before they are combined, the first step of integration will be some form of bundling as the company figures out the best way to merge the two platforms.

    On 11 March, Discovery Inc stockholders approved various matters relating to the acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T to create Warner Bros-Discovery Inc. The transaction will bring together WarnerMedia’s entertainment, sports and new assets with Discovery’s non-fiction, international entertainment, and sports business.

    Direct-to-consumer service Discovery Plus had 22 million subscribers, while HBO Max had 73.8 million subscribers at the end of 2021.