ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Joe Earley becomes Hulu’s new president

    Joe Earley becomes Hulu’s new president

    Mumbai: Disney has announced the appointment of Joe Earley as president of streaming service platform – Hulu. He previously served as executive VP of marketing and operations at Disney Plus and is headed to its sister service after joining the media company in 2019.

    Earley succeeds former Hulu chief Kelly Campbell, who left the company in October to become the president of NBCUniversal’s Peacock.

    In the new role at Hulu, Earley will be responsible for building on the service’s brand and will liaise with its various content studios. He will report to Michael Paull, who has been promoted to a new role overseeing Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Star+ as president of Disney Streaming.

    “I am excited to embark on this new era at Hulu, a streaming pioneer that over the past 15 years has distinguished itself with an unrivaled offering of groundbreaking, award-winning series and films from our talented content partners,” Earley said in a statement. “I have been a longtime Hulu subscriber and fan and have admired the unbridled creativity of the service’s content and culture, and I’m looking forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead, collaborating with our content studios, and tapping into the full power and strength of The Walt Disney Company.”

  • WinZO ropes in Youtuber CarryMinati as brand ambassador

    WinZO ropes in Youtuber CarryMinati as brand ambassador

    Mumbai: Homegrown interactive entertainment platform WinZO has roped in independent content creator Ajey Nagar who goes by the alias CarryMinati, as its brand ambassador. The New Delhi-headquartered interactive social gaming startup seeks to leverage its foothold within the gaming community in India with this strategic partnership. 

    As a part of this strategic collaboration, the Youtuber will generate gaming-centric content that is interactive, unique, and relatable for WinZO exclusively on his streaming channel ‘Carryislive’ and a solo integration on his primary YouTube channel CarryMinati, said the gaming company.

    “India is fast emerging as a critical market for interactive entertainment on the global grid. Gaming is also rapidly evolving and isn’t limited to only playing anymore,” remarked WinZO co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore. “The advent of live streaming and community engagement has resulted in the evolution of a 360-degree gaming ecosystem, which CarryMinati has been at the forefront of. We are thrilled to have him onboard. We collectively hope to further our vision of promoting the spirit of winning and culturally relevant content across Bharat.”

    According to the latest industry reports, the Indian gaming industry is generating over $1.5 billion revenue and is expected to exponentially grow to be a trillion-dollar industry by 2025. Interestingly, approximately, one in every five mobile game downloads worldwide is from India. Ahead of markets such as the US and Brazil, India was the leading country for the first half of 2021, reaching 4.8 billion downloads.

    “India is at the epicentre of a swiftly growing trillion-dollar global gaming opportunity. The country is the largest market for mobile games, contributing to nearly 40 per cent of the worldwide downloads, which speaks volumes about the untapped potential of the social gaming community,” stated CarryMinati. “Considering there is a similarity in WinZO’s and my core competencies and brand values, I would like to create multiple avenues via this partnership to connect people from the remotest parts of the country through culturally relevant and relatable content. It is important that visionaries in the marketplace join hands to discover and develop this untapped industry to build a robust ecosystem.”

    This announcement comes shortly after WinZO’s recent partnership with Ranveer Singh starrer Bollywood film “83” as the official sports brand partner. The brand also launched its multilingual brand campaign in close collaboration with Ogilvy’s global chief creative officer, Piyush Pandey.

  • Nazara acquires majority in ad tech company Datawrkz

    Nazara acquires majority in ad tech company Datawrkz

    Mumbai: Sports media company Nazara Technologies has entered an agreement to acquire 55 per cent stake in programmatic advertising and monetisation company Datawrkz valuing the company at Rs 255 crore (~$30 million) linked to CY 22 EBITDA performance.

    “Datawrkz tech offerings will enhance in-house capabilities of Nazara for optimising its customer acquisition spends as well as enhance yields on ad monetisation of its large consumer base,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. “The ad revenue monetisation is expected to assist many of the companies in the ‘Friends of Nazara’ network.”

    Nazara will acquire 33 per cent stake (Rs 60 crore payable of which Rs 35 crore is partly payable in cash and the balance consideration of Rs 25 crore will be paid either in cash or swap of shares) in the first tranche by 22 April. Nazara has reserved an option to acquire an additional 22 per cent in the second tranche that is expected to close in Q4 FY23.

    “We, at Nazara, are looking to build strong gaming ad tech offerings globally with the partnership with Datawrkz,” said Nazara Technologies CEO Manish Agarwal. “We strongly believe that growth of gaming-focused ad tech will be exponential in the coming decade across geographies with the growth of gamers and game publishers across freemium, web 3.0 and skill-based real money gaming.”

    He further added, “Ad tech companies with deep data processing capabilities and first-party data ownership will emerge as winners in gaming-focused ad tech and will help Datawrkz to create value for itself as well as for Nazara shareholders.”

    Datawrkz was founded in 2013 by IIM Ahmedabad alumnus Senthil Govindan and is a global advertising technology firm focused on accelerating user and revenue growth for clients through highly optimised digital advertising. It has offices in the US, Singapore, and India and functions as an independent trading desk to power digital media strategy, planning and execution.

    Datawrkz’s self-service product suite for advertisers – Vizibl includes a demand-side platform as well as a customer data platform. On the supply side, Datawrkz generates revenue for publishers through AdPrimus, its supply-side product that drives user engagement, mediates between demand sources and enables audience segmentation.

    For the calendar year 2021, Datawrkz posted combined revenue of Rs 90.7 crore (~$12.1 million) and EBIDTA margin of 12 per cent with around 70 per cent of its revenue coming from the US as per CY 2021 unaudited financial statements.

    “We had started this company with a vision to disrupt the digital advertising space,” said Datawrkz founder Senthil Govindan. “Datawrkz was already on a fast track to achieve our objective with rapid growth and satisfied clients around the world. Through our partnership with Nazara, I see our pace accelerating further. While Datawrkz will be able to immediately bring our natural strengths to bear within the existing Nazara fold, this also gives both sides a tremendous opportunity to build global advertising and publisher monetization products with a sharp focus on the gaming vertical.”

    “As always, it’s a great moment for us to welcome a new friend to our ‘Friends of Nazara’ network and I believe Senthil and the entire Datawrkz team will add great value to what we are building at Nazara over the next few years,” added Nazara Technologies founder and joint MD Nitish Mittersain.

  • Podcast Advertising: Opening new doors for marketers

    Podcast Advertising: Opening new doors for marketers

    Mumbai: With ABP Live, Clubhouse, and other similar platforms making the right noise, the long format of audio content has gained popularity, and drawn the attention of marketers too. Previously, podcasts were mostly extended content pieces coming out of radio channels because of their understanding of the medium. However, they have grown immensely over the last few years.

    According to KPMG, India is the third-largest podcast-listening market globally and is expected to be valued at Rs 176.2 million by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 34.5 per cent. The audio was also noted as the most preferred medium among listeners as well as advertisers last year. As per eMarketer’s report from April 2020, 49 per cent of users prefer using audio platforms. According to experts, the age group of 18-25 years has formed an important and growing audience set in the last year for this type of content, while the age group of 35-45 years is positively moving towards consuming podcast content, which is a great platform for brands to be present.

    ABP Live Podcasts: A new favorite for advertisers

    ABP Live podcast has found a loyal listener base too, proving its immense growth potential.  By offering advertising opportunities, the podcast is emerging as an influential platform. The key reason behind brands’ interest and increasing spending on podcast advertising is that it works, and it works more effectively compared to the traditional advertising mediums that have become increasingly less effective. It is a popular medium especially among millennials and GenZ as the medium lets them learn more about self-love, discover something new, cope with anxiety, or simply entertain themselves.

    As one of the leading players in the industry offering a comprehensive platform for advertisers, ABP Live brings a plethora of audio-based content, quenching listeners’ thirst for knowledge, entertainment, sports, news, health, and business. The popular podcast by ABP Live- ‘Car Mein Patrakaar’, has also won wide recognition.

    The podcasts provide a diversity of original content to the listeners that are smart, culturally relevant, highly information-driven, and filled with invigorating conversations. ABP Live has about 30 podcasts under its umbrella as of now which translates into 150 hours of audio content, which further opens doors for advertisers. Furthermore, the ABP Live Podcasts team has also been innovating in the podcasting space by fusing ASMR in their content and audio dramas, to provide the listeners with an immersive storytelling experience.

    Apart from podcasts on Personal Finance, Health, Explainers, Motivation, ABP Live includes “Car Mein Patrakar”– a talk show wherein ABP News’ star anchor Sumit Awasthi indulges in a candid conversation with a popular celebrity. “FYI-For Your Information”– a series of audio explainers which talk about everything under the sun that holds relevance for the common man. “Bollywood, Binge and Beyond”– an English podcast that gives  a detailed hawk eye view about everything from the world of entertainment. “Sange Suman” projects major news and debates from West Bengal, hosted by noted journalist Suman De.

    Opening Doors For Advertisers

    Considering the growing demand for podcasts in India, ABP Live has provided a significant opportunity for advertisers. However, before we decide whether to invest in podcast marketing, we must first understand what, how and what the results could be. Here are the things that make podcasts an ideal medium for advertising:

    ●      Great hosts make great deals : Listeners might skip what a 30-second spot is narrating but they pay high attention to unique, live ad reads narrated by their favorite trusted hosts.

    ●      Higher attention span than radio: Unlike radio listeners, podcast listeners are dedicated enough to tune in at a particular time to listen to their favorite show. Hence, they are much more likely to pay attention. They do not skip ads, simply because they do not want to miss out on any part of the show they’re listening to.

    ●      Hosts make a personal approach: Word of mouth is important in advertising and it becomes 10x more important when it comes from a trusted host. People tend to develop personal relationships with their hosts or podcasts personalities. It’s a psychological process that unknowingly takes place over time. Subsequently, the host becomes an important person to disseminate brands’ messages to the listeners.

    Podcasts like ABP Live podcasts have reached masses and seen tremendous results for early-stage brands who conduct marketing programs that are synergetic to their target profiles. Interestingly the channel has gone too narrow in terms of marketing. It has regional podcasts which allow brands to tap into niche marketing.

    An Opportunity To Tap Into Regional Market

    ABP Network has a language-first approach. Starting from the culturally rich state of West Bengal, the network serves regular content in Hindi, English, and Bangla and is equipped to handle content in all Indian major languages. In the past, ABP Live has created innovative audio content in Marathi and Bangla too. Also for a brand or advertiser, they get to deliver their message directly to their target audience in the language they speak and understand. This opens a big door of opportunities for regional podcasters who can leverage this by keeping a ‘language first’ approach.

    This format of regional language content creation is beneficial for the podcaster in terms of reach maximisation and also revenue growth. Regional podcasters can create their own set of loyal audience bases and can attract brands and advertisers to be associated with them. Going forward, we expect podcasters to grow by exploring innovation in the audio content space.

     

  • Disney+ Hotstar to launch OTT exclusive season of ‘Bigg Boss Tamil’ on 30 Jan

    Disney+ Hotstar to launch OTT exclusive season of ‘Bigg Boss Tamil’ on 30 Jan

    Mumbai: Disney+ Hotstar is set to launch the OTT exclusive season of “Bigg Boss Tamil” from 30 January.

    Actor Kamal Haasan who has hosted five seasons of “Bigg Boss” on TV will be seen hosting “Bigg Boss Ultimate” on the platform. The OTT season will reunite some of the most popular and celebrated contestants of past seasons, giving them a second chance to claim the coveted title. “The first OTT version of Big Boss Ultimate is on Disney+ Hotstar,” said Kamal Haasan. “I’m extremely excited to continue staying in touch with you by hosting the OTT version as well. The new format is now available 24/7 to engage and entertain you more. I am 100 per cent confident that you will find this whole new experience refreshing and interesting.”

    The makers of the show have made innovative changes to the format to keep audiences engaged throughout the season. “One of the innovations is the 24hr feed, which will allow fans to watch what’s happening in the “Bigg Boss” house throughout the day,” said the platform.

    “At Disney+ Hotstar we have always challenged conventions and been at the forefront of content creation with powerful and innovative storytelling formats,” said a Disney+ Hotstar spokesperson. “With a massive hit show like Bigg Boss Ultimate, we endeavor to take one more step towards elevating the entertainment experience for viewers.   The addition of this one-of-a-kind show on Disney+ Hotstar is a definitive step to bringing top-notch, cutting-edge entertainment experiences to Tamil audiences. We want to continue to provide entertainment experiences that are high in quality in a manner that viewers can immerse themselves in stories we want to tell.”

    “We are elated to be a part of the first-ever OTT season of Bigg Boss Ultimate, I’m confident that this new format will keep viewers engaged with a video content stream from the set, and a fresh new set of rules,” said “Bigg Boss Ultimate” production head. “Partnering with a platform that is accessible to millions of Indians, like Disney+ Hotstar, ensures that viewers will get the chance to enjoy uninterrupted entertainment that we bring to them.”

  • Pokemon Company banks on multilingual content to boost its Indian presence

    Pokemon Company banks on multilingual content to boost its Indian presence

    Mumbai: The Pokemon Company has announced its India-focused hinterland content strategy to drive its subscriber base and viewership on YouTube. After the success of its Hindi YouTube channel, the company will also roll out its latest Pokemon animated series ‘Pokemon Journeys’  in three more regional languages – Telugu, Tamil and Bengali.

    The Pokemon Company will release one new episode in each language every Friday at 7 PM. The Telugu, Tamil, and Bengali versions of ‘Pokemon Journeys’ can only be seen on the official YouTube channels.

    With 8,00,000+ subscribers, The Pokemon Asia Official (Hindi) channel on YouTube has been streaming the ‘Pokemon Journeys’ series since 29 October 2021, gaining over 1,00,000 subscribers in three days.

    The ‘Pokemon Journeys’ series follows the adventures of the well-known regular Ash Ketchum and a new protagonist Goh, a 10-year-old newbie Pokemon Trainer who dreams of catching every Pokemon (including the Mythical Mew). Together with their partner Pokemon Pikachu and Scorbunny, the two boys will embark on a journey into the great big world of Pokemon, where mysteries and adventures await them.

    Commenting on the multilingual India strategy The Pokemon Company executive officer Susumu Fukunaga said, “I have seen that a great many people have watched the Hindi language version of our Pokemon anime that has been distributed on the Pokemon Asia Official (Hindi) channel since October of 2021. I am also thrilled that even more people in India will enjoy Pokemon animated content because we will begin the distribution of versions dubbed in Telugu, Tamil, and Bengali for the first time.”

    “Pokemon Journeys takes place in all regions from Kanto to Galar. It also features the various Pokemon you can encounter when playing Pokemon UNITE, which launched in India in September 2021, and Pokemon GO, which celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2021, and continues to add new levels of excitement. With the release of this animated series, the world of Pokemon will grow further in India,” she added.

    EMBED: Pokemon Asia Official (Hindi):　https://www.youtube.com/c/PokémonAsiaOfficialHindi

    Pokemon Asia Official (Telugu): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_jZH5w5iZDk3lWhrHigMZw

    Pokemon Asia Official (Tamil): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHXCmuvYb1evPqKaaDs0GBQ

    Pokemon Asia Official (Bengali): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6KQ63vWTffadkKgyy85_ng

  • Microsoft Teams makes ‘Walkie Talkie feature’ available to all users

    Microsoft Teams makes ‘Walkie Talkie feature’ available to all users

    Mumbai: Microsoft Teams has made its Walkie Talkie feature launched in 2020 for frontline workers available to all its users.

    The ‘push to talk’ feature was introduced in 2020 as a way for frontline workers to communicate easily on-field when the pandemic rate was at its peak. “As the frontline faces continuous constraints from labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, they want technology that saves them time, helps them communicate more seamlessly, and maximises their efficiency when completing repetitive tasks,” the company stated.

    Walkie Talkie is now also available on all iOS mobile devices such as iPhones and iPads, in addition to Android mobile devices. It is a push-to-talk (PTT) communication feature that allows users to connect with their group members through a respective channel. No one else can interact with the people inside the channel unless they are given permission to do so. The company teamed up with Zebra mobile devices to implement the digital Walkie Talkie functionality.

    According to Microsoft, the app replaces the need for carrying bulky radios and offers a secure line of communication through Wi-Fi or cellular internet connectivity. The three mobile devices: rugged TC-series, customer-facing EC-series, and the scanning device MC-series will now include the Microsoft Teams’ push-to-talk features. All of them come with a dedicated, built-in button on the side emulating a radio walkie-talkie, that one needs to hold onto while speaking. The voice gets recorded, and then sent to the recipient.

    “With this partnership, we’re excited to be able to provide frontline workers with the ability to use these devices to seamlessly communicate, collaborate, and stay productive in any conditions,” said Zebra Technologies CEO Anders Gustafsson in a blog post.

    Currently, the feature is not pre-installed. To enable WalkieTalkie for use in Teams, organisations will have to add it to the ‘App Setup Policy’ through the admin centre. Once turned on, the feature becomes available on the app within the next 48 hour.

    According to Microsoft, the pandemic drove a 400 percent increase in Microsoft Teams usage among frontline workers from March 2020 to November 2021.

  • ALTBalaji ropes in Pitchfork Partners to strengthen viewer base

    ALTBalaji ropes in Pitchfork Partners to strengthen viewer base

    Mumbai: Homegrown digital platform ALTBalaji has appointed Pitchfork Partners Strategic Consulting as its communication partner to increase awareness about the OTT platform, its shows and widen the viewer base through multi-channel outreach.

    The OTT platform currently has a library of 89+ Hindi originals across genres, which are also dubbed in regional languages like Tamil, Telugu & Malayalam, and in international languages like Arabic and Bhasa, which has helped the OTT player engage with a wide variety of consumers.  

    ALTBalaji senior VP and head marketing Divya Dixit said, “Alternative content being the core ethos of the group, ALTBalaji is focused on building a content bouquet that serves inclusive and individualistic viewing. We are delighted to have Pitchfork on board to support us in our journey and take the platform to the next level.” 

    Pitchfork Partners co-founder Jaideep Shergill said, “We’re thrilled to partner with ALTBalaji. Our diverse experience with entertainment clients will facilitate us in achieving milestones together. OTT is an ever-evolving, dynamic space and increasingly so due to the pandemic, ALTBalaji is disrupting the space by introducing content which caters to mass viewers.”  

    The OTT platform has witnessed a 15-20 per cent growth in its viewership numbers; however, the lockdown increased subscribers from the Hindi heartlands. At least 59 per cent of the total viewership is now coming from non-metros. “While cities like Lucknow, Ludhiana, and Guwahati saw an increase of 189.84 per cent, 106.50 per cent, and 108.41 per cent, respectively, Srinagar, Shimla, and Ranchi weren’t behind either, with an uprise of 103.81 per cent, 103.05 per cent, and 192.01 per cent, as compared to ALTBalaji’s viewership from these cities in 2020,” the platform said in a statement.

  • Tinder celebrates ‘Journey Of Firsts’ with its latest campaign

    Tinder celebrates ‘Journey Of Firsts’ with its latest campaign

    Mumbai: Global dating app Tinder has unveiled a collection of heart-warming short films in India that depict real moments of countless dating stories and diverse connections that started on the app.

    Anchored to the tune by Hanita Bhambri, the feel-good campaign showcases four separate short films that are versions of the millions of first kisses, first dates, first move, making up and more, that all started on Tinder. The series of films bring alive how Tinder’s new features such as ‘Explore,’ ‘Hot Takes,” and Vibes’ continue to expand the possibilities of online dating. The brand films showcase the app’s new suite of features and social experiences that give members new ways to discover the right person and navigate connections by mutual interest.

    Speaking on the new campaign, Match Group India general manager Taru Kapoor said, “Tinder is the world’s most popular app for sparking connections with new people. Millions of our members get the chance to meet a very diverse set of people every day based on shared interests. This new campaign is a reflection of countless journeys of firsts, and celebration of endless possibilities, that started on Tinder.”

    Whether it is looking for love or finding someone to match your vibe, Tinder has always celebrated the importance of forging human connections. With this new campaign, Tinder is encouraging Gen Z in India to put themselves out there and spark connection, chemistry and serendipity in this world of endless possibilities, said the statement.

  • Voot inks three-year digital exclusive content partnership with Ullu

    Voot inks three-year digital exclusive content partnership with Ullu

    Mumbai: Viacom18 and Voot have announced a content partnership with on-demand streaming platform Ullu. As part of the partnership, Voot will showcase 100 titles from the Ullu library starting from 14 January.

    As a part of the three-year digital exclusive deal, Voot will get access to popular original shows from the Ullu library across thriller, crime, horror, and comedy genres in different languages. These shows are headlined by popular faces such as Rakesh Bapat, Hina Khan, Sharib Hashmi, Rohit Roy, Sharad Malhotra, Anupriya Goenka, Iqbal Khan, Tanushree Dutta, Ashmit Patel, Hiten Tejwani, Minissha Lamba, Rashmi Desai, Devoleena Bhattacharjee, among others

    Voot titles such as “Tandoor,” “Assi Nabbe Pure Sau,” “Panchali,” “Cyanide,” “26th January” will be available on Ullu’s platform from 14 January and other titles like “Peshawar,” “Paper,” “The Bull of Dalal Street,” “Tadap,” and “Pratiksha” will be available from 21 January 2022 onwards.  

    “Our partnership with Ullu will help us to widen our content library and meet the ever-growing demands of our viewers,” said Viacom18 Digital Ventures head – AVOD (Voot) Chanpreet Arora. “This partnership gives us access to quality content across genres and languages and is a step forward in cementing Voot’s leadership in the AVOD ecosystem.”

    “It has always been our intent to make our content widely accessible and available. Our partnership with Voot provides us an excellent opportunity to do so,” Ullu’s CEO and founder Vibhu Agarwal. “Most of our Ullu Originals have a binge factor and it matches the consumption pattern of binge-watching on Voot. We are sure that Voot viewers will certainly benefit from this association as it offers them content that is fresh and exciting.”

    The shows will be available in multiple languages such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bhojpuri, English amongst others.