ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • HBO Max India onboards Arjun Nohwar as country GM

    HBO Max India onboards Arjun Nohwar as country GM

    Mumbai: WarnerMedia-owned streaming service platform HBO Max has brought Arjun Nohwar on board as country general manager (GM) for India.

    Nohwar was last associated with Uber as APAC director and regional GM. He led Uber’s SaaS business across the Asia Pacific region, targeting companies as well as consumers directly. “The last five and a half years at #Uber have been a thrilling ride, to say the least. Building out Uber for Business across the APAC region, with the help of a brilliant team (you all know who you are!), was a privilege I’ll always be grateful for,” Nohwar said in a LinkedIn post on Monday.

    “For my next adventure, I’m delighted to share that I have joined #WarnerMedia as the Country GM for #HBOMax in India,” he further said.

    Prior to Uber, he was part of the distinguished TAS cadre at the Tata Group for a decade where he worked in sales, operations and consulting roles across a variety of tech and non-tech industries.

    Nohwar is on the advisory board of AMBA, a social enterprise that works to solve for alternate education and employment solutions to empower the intellectually challenged. In 2021, he received IIT Kharagpur’s Young Alumni Achievers Award.

    Meanwhile, WarnerMedia had announced that HBO Max will be available in six European countries in October and 14 additional territories next year, without disclosing India launch plans. It is currently available in the US, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

    The video streaming service had appointed SonyLIV’s Sugata Mukherjee as head of content for India in early November.

  • Netflix announces six new mobile game titles launching in December

    Netflix announces six new mobile game titles launching in December

    Mumbai: Netflix has announced six mobile game titles that will be launched on its platform in December. The streaming giant is yet to announce the official launch date of the games.

    The titles include “Ashphalt Xtreme,” “Hextech Mayhem,” “Knittens,” “Wonderputt Forever,” “Arcanium: Rise of Akhan,” and “Dominoes Café.”

    The mobile games will be available to Android users to download via the Google Play Store. The platform announced that it was making its mobile games available to Netflix users worldwide in November. These games will be available to Netflix subscribers without any extra charge.

     

     

  • Disney+ Hotstar bags 20 nominations at Filmfare OTT awards

    Disney+ Hotstar bags 20 nominations at Filmfare OTT awards

    Mumbai: Disney+ Hotstar has bagged 20 nominations across 12 categories at the Filmfare OTT awards this year. Four Hotstar Specials’ are in the race to win the award including “Grahan” which has received 10 nominations, followed by “Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors” with six, “OK Computer” with three and “City of Dreams 2” with one nomination.  

    This year’s Filmfare OTT awards include several Hotstar Specials’ talent nominated across categories, including Anshumaan Pushkar (Grahan), Pankaj Tripathi (Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors) and Atul Kulkarni (City of Dreams 2) for best actor, series (male), drama as well as Vijay Varma (OK Computer) for best actor, series (male), comedy. Kirti Kulhari and Zoya Hussain bagged the nomination in the category of best actor, series (female), drama and Anupriya Goenka for best supporting actor, series (female), drama for their performances in “Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors” and “Grahan” respectively.

    “Grahan” has nominations for best series, best director, along with additional nominations for best music, best production design, best cinematography, best editing and best costume. “Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors” has been nominated for best series, best director and best adapted screenplay. Additionally, “OK Computer” has bagged a well-deserved nomination for best VFX (series) – imagery.

    “At Disney+ Hotstar, it has been our endeavour to bring to audiences stories that are unconventional and an entertainment experience that is unparalleled,” said Disney+ Hotstar and HSM entertainment network president and head of content Gaurav Banerjee. “We are thrilled with the several nominations for Grahan, Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors, OK Computer as well as City of Dreams 2, at the coveted Filmfare OTT awards. I would like to congratulate the amazing creative teams behind the shows. It further encourages us to consistently rise above convention and bring to our viewers compelling content and the best of entertainment!”

    “Grahan was a unique project that saw multiple talented performers and creators come together,” said actor Anshumaan Pushkar. “I am excited to have been a part of a series that has received multiple nominations in top categories at the awards’ platform. The nomination for best actor in the drama category is particularly special as it motivates me, an upcoming talent, to push harder and explore challenging avenues.”

    “It fills me with immense joy that Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors has received multiple nominations at the prestigious Filmfare OTT Awards,” said Pankaj Tripathi. “It is a true recognition of the time and effort devoted by its talented team at Applause Entertainment to bring Madhav Mishra’s story on screen. To have been nominated for best actor is an added joy for me. The fact that I also get to share this joy with my colleague Kirti Kulhari is a bonus. I hope it motivates our team further to keep working on such phenomenal stories.”

    “An award nomination is a token of appreciation you receive for all the hard work you pour into your work,” said Vijay Varma. “Getting it for the category of Best Actor in Comedy is a new stepping stone for me. OK Computer is a project very close to my heart. I got to work with an immensely talented cast and crew. Its recognition at the Filmfare OTT Awards fills my heart with immense pride and joy. It widened my horizons as an actor.”

  • Chingari App announces strategic partnership with Snow Records

    Chingari App announces strategic partnership with Snow Records

    Mumbai: Short video app Chingari has entered into a partnership with Snow Records, an independent newly launched music label. As part of the collaboration, Chingari app will promote all new albums to be released by Snow Records.

    The association began with promoting “Bismillah 2,” the latest song launched by Snow Records. Sung by Jazim Sharma, the track features Surbhi Jyoti and Rohit Khandelwal. The song was promoted on Chingari app through a contest, influencer meet-and-greet with the star cast and videos shared by the creator community.

    Commenting on the development Chingari co-founder and CEO Sumit Ghosh said, “Chingari being a successful start-up itself believes in extending support to and promoting upcoming artists, creators, brands and labels that have the capability of soaring high, given the right opportunity. Snow Records has great potential and talent associated with them. We are very excited to have them on board with us.”

    The partnership is aimed at showcasing Chingari’s strength in reaching out to the masses, pan India. Brands can leverage this opportunity to promote their ventures through the app.  

    “We constantly try to create new trends for our creator community to make entertaining videos on, while enhancing their user experience, as well as encouraging our viewers to spend more time on the app,” stated Chingari co-founder and COO Deepak Salvi. “Associations like these help us in getting onboard such incredible songs like ‘Bismillah 2.’ It can be on our creators’ playlist at any given point of time and help them in creating engaging content. We are looking forward to many such songs that will be launched by Snow Records in the future.”

  • LinkedIn says ‘Namaste,’ launches in Hindi

    LinkedIn says ‘Namaste,’ launches in Hindi

    Mumbai:  Professional network LinkedIn has marked a new milestone with the launch of Hindi, the first Indian regional language on the platform, with the goal to support 600 million Hindi language speakers globally. 

    With this launch, LinkedIn aims to break down language barriers, providing greater access to professional and networking opportunities to Hindi speakers in India and around the world. With the launch of Hindi, the networking platform now supports 25 languages globally, said the statement.

    Starting 2 December, as part of the first phase roll-out of LinkedIn in Hindi, members will be able to access their feed, profile, jobs, messaging, and create content in the language on desktop, and on their Android and iOS phones, the company announced.

     As the next step, LinkedIn will work towards widening the range of job opportunities available for Hindi-speaking professionals across industries, including more banking, and government jobs. The platform will also continue to add more Hindi publishers and creators in the coming weeks to boost member engagement and conversations in the language.

    India is a core market for growth at LinkedIn and the second-largest market in terms of members after the US, accounting for 82 million members as part of a global community of 800 million members. India’s member base has grown by 20+ million in the past three years (15 per cent year-over-year growth) and it has witnessed a spike in engagement and conversations on the platform since the pandemic.

    “In India, LinkedIn has been mission-critical to helping people connect, learn, grow, and get hired during the pandemic and in this new world of work we are in. With the launch of Hindi, now more members and customers can unlock greater value from the platform through content, jobs, and networking, and express themselves in a language that they feel comfortable in,” said LinkedIn India Country Manager Ashutosh Gupta.

    “We have witnessed high engagement and member growth in the last year, and it is at this exciting inflection point that we are strengthening our vision to create economic opportunity for ‘every’ member of the workforce, and taking down language barriers for Hindi speakers across the world,” he added.

    LinkedIn in Hindi is now available to all members globally on desktop and Android, and will gradually roll out to all iOS users in the coming days, the company stated.

    With the launch of Hindi, members also have the advantage of creating their LinkedIn profile in Hindi and making it easier for Hindi-speaking members and recruiters to find them for relevant opportunities. To display their existing profile in Hindi, members will need to create a secondary language profile in the same language as their existing profile. This will prompt them to choose a preferred language for their existing profile from a drop-down list of 25 languages, which now includes Hindi.

    The launch of LinkedIn in Hindi saw LinkedIn Influencers such as international life coach Gaur Gopal Das, monk-turned-entrepreneur Dr Vivek Bindra, and nearbuy.com founder Ankur Warikoo share their first Hindi posts on their LinkedIn profiles.

  • NBCUniversal launches OTT platform hayu in India

    NBCUniversal launches OTT platform hayu in India

    Mumbai: NBCUniversal has launched its all-reality TV ad-free subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming service in India called hayu. It has launched the direct-to-consumer (DTC) service on a full array of devices: mobile, tablet, laptop, connected TVs, and selected consoles.

    Targeting the broad base of viewers who are fans of the reality genre, hayu offers over 8,000 episodes of top reality TV content including all seasons of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” from the very beginning to the final season, as well as its spin-offs – along with numerous other franchises, including the popular “The Real Housewives,” “Top Chef,” “Million Dollar Listing,” and “Family Karma.”

    “hayu’s breadth of content uniquely super-serves reality fans. The service offers extensive choice, with a wide variety of unscripted sub-genres in the English language including home and design, dating, cooking, fashion, and true crime. Subscribers don’t have to worry about spoilers as the vast majority of US shows are available on hayu the same day as their US broadcast,” said the company in a statement. 

    “Given the immense popularity of reality TV in India, we are thrilled to be launching hayu in the country and we look forward to super-serving Indian viewers with the best-unscripted content has to offer,” said NBCUniversal managing director direct to consumer – global Hendrik McDermott. “hayu is already the premiere destination for must-watch reality TV in 27 other countries and will now deliver the same great service in India.”

  • Hotstar is most preferred OTT choice: Axis My India survey

    Hotstar is most preferred OTT choice: Axis My India survey

    Mumbai: Consumer data intelligence company Axis My India’s latest findings for the India Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) revealed that 27 per cent of people in the country watch OTT, with the majority of viewers being in the age group of 18-35. Hotstar is the preferred choice, followed by Amazon Prime, Netflix, Jio TV, and MX Player.

    27 per cent viewers prefer Hindi and regional websites and apps, while 24 per cent (comprising 60 per cent youth) prefer English. 31 per cent of the population in southern India prefers using apps and websites in the English language. Regional language apps and sites claimed 34 per cent preference among them, revealed the survey data.

    Consumption of media remains the same for a majority of 52 per cent of families which reflects the highest percentage since the last four months and is majorly from the south of India. It has increased for 22 per cent of the families, majorly from east and north amongst 18-25 and 26-35 year-olds. Overall, the net score of this month is at -4 as compared to -2 for the previous month.

    India Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) is a monthly analysis of consumer perception on a wide range of issues. The surveys were carried out via computer-aided telephonic interviews with a sample size of 10552 people across 36 states. 64 per cent belonged from rural India; 36 per cent were from urban centres.

    The sentiment analysis delves into five relevant sub-indices – overall household spending, spending on essential and non-essential items, spending on healthcare, media consumption habits, and mobility trends.

    Commenting on the November report, Axis My India CMD Pradeep Gupta said, “With the year approaching an end, we witness consumers’ gradual return to normalcy, though a slight drop in Net Promoter Score also demonstrates that the impact of festive spending is slowly tapering.”

    Sharing insights on media consumption, he added, “While media consumption remains standard for the majority, our CSI Survey has further revealed that consumers from the north as well as the south favour vernacular languages when engaging with the digital mediums. This insight opens up opportunities for various local as well as national and international players in terms of where and in which form to place their brand content and advertisements.”

  • Turbidite partners with AsiaSat to expand its edge data center solutions offering

    Turbidite partners with AsiaSat to expand its edge data center solutions offering

    Mumbai: Turbidite Ltd, Asia’s newest edge data center platform and Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Ltd (AsiaSat), the region’s premier satellite solutions provider have announced their strategic alliance. The partnership will leverage AsiaSat’s existing satellite and ground infrastructure with Turbidite’s dynamic edge data center platform to support the accelerated demand for digital services.

    “We are delighted to enter into this partnership with AsiaSat as we broaden our edge data center solutions to support new mandates by the growing number of OTTs and media companies as they continue to drive up digital traffic,” said Turbidite co-founder and chief executive officer Bill Barney. “Together with AsiaSat, we are able to further empower these customers to transform into digital-ready organisations with secure access, flexible transport/bandwidth options, and real-time deployment.”

    The partnership will bring together the expertise and skills of the two companies to provide hosting services alongside satellite and ground-based connectivity from AsiaSat’s Tai Po Earth Station, said the media statement.

    “We see this partnership as one of our strategic moves to support customers with a breadth of new services to cope with the rapid pace of digital transformation,” said AsiaSat CEO Roger Tong. “Turbidite’s extensive expertise in the data center and network infrastructure deployment and management will truly complement our current satellite and ground-based solution portfolios.”

     

  • TeamViewer onboards Sojung Lee as new president for Asia-Pacific

    TeamViewer onboards Sojung Lee as new president for Asia-Pacific

    Mumbai: TeamViewer, a global SaaS provider of remote connectivity and workplace digitalisation solutions, has announced that Sojung Lee joins the company as president for the Asia-Pacific region including China, Japan, India, Australia, and New Zealand (APAC) at the beginning of December. In this role, she will also join TeamViewer’s global senior leadership team.

    “The appointment of a president for APAC, a new position within TeamViewer’s organisational structure, is the main pillar of the company’s new setup for the region and Lee will be driving TeamViewer’s growth in core APAC markets with a clear focus on enterprise solutions,” said the company in a statement on Wednesday.

    Lee is an experienced senior executive with a proven capability in building and leading high-impact teams. Her responsibility encompasses all go-to-market activities in APAC, including direct sales as well as developing an ecosystem of strong alliances such as channel partners, distributors and resellers. Among other measures, Lee will put an emphasis on leveraging the potential of TeamViewer’s existing sports partnerships with Manchester United and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team. Based in Singapore, she will build a regional APAC sales hub for TeamViewer, in addition to the existing strong local presence in Japan, China, India, and Australia.

    “We are very excited to welcome Sojung Lee on board,” stated TeamViewer’s CEO Oliver Steil. “With her strong track record of generating extraordinary business growth, her proven leadership skills, and her extensive know-how of the market requirements in the region, she will play an integral role in bringing our new setup for APAC to life.”

    Lee brings comprehensive experience in sales leadership, demand generation, business growth, and digital strategy in the enterprise IT and services industry across the APAC region. In her previous role at SolarWinds, she succeeded as vice president of Asia Pacific and Japan sales, driving business development, partnerships, and overseeing the APAC sales team to strengthen the brand and extend its market position. Prior to SolarWinds, Lee spent over eight years with IBM Asia Pacific in different positions, most recent being a sales executive/director. Before her tenure at IBM, she built a strong reputation as a business development executive in Korea and China.

    “TeamViewer is a great company with value-creating products, a global footprint and a compelling narrative. I am excited to join this truly international and diverse workforce sharing strong company values,” said Sojung Lee on her new assignment. “Supporting clients in digitally transforming their businesses and optimising their processes along the entire value chain is a very attractive task I want to bring forward together with the teams we have in place across the region and a strong APAC partner network.”

    Lee holds a bachelor’s degree in international law and legal studies from Yonsei University in Seoul, a Master of Business Administration from Fudan University in Shanghai, and a Master of Advanced Management from Yale University.

  • Pritish Wesley named head of creative marketing production at Netflix India

    Pritish Wesley named head of creative marketing production at Netflix India

    Mumbai: Netflix India has elevated Pritish Wesley as head of creative marketing production. He joined the streaming giant in 2018 as a marketing creative producer.

    In his previous role at Netflix India, Wesley served as campaign operations manager, where he worked with the marcomm teams to strategise, ideate and produce marketing campaigns for Netflix’s content.

    With over 13 years of work experience in the media and advertising industry in India, Wesley previously worked with agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, DDB Mudra, McCann Erickson and the Mullen Lowe Lintas Group. He has primary experience in account management, with a short stint in planning.

    He has worked with clients across industries and categories, such as entertainment, FMCG, alcohol, retail, automobiles, real estate and infrastructure, technology, DTH dish TV service providers, fashion, and jewellery.