ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Viacom18 hires ex Vice Media India CEO Chanpreet Arora, Vineet Govil to strengthen digital arm

    Viacom18 hires ex Vice Media India CEO Chanpreet Arora, Vineet Govil to strengthen digital arm

    KOLKATA: In key leadership appointments, Viacom18 has brought on Chanpreet Arora as AVoD (Voot) business head, and Vineet Govil as chief technology officer of its digital ventures vertical.

    In her new role, Arora will drive Viacom18’s streaming platform Voot and lead partnerships that are key to the OTT’s overall growth. Govil will be responsible for strengthening the product’s tech play by offering a more seamless and immersive experience for consumers.

    Arora has close to two decades of experience across strategy, revenue, partnerships and sales operations with media and digital brands. She was responsible for successfully launching Vice Media in India as its CEO. She was also associated with The New York Times, Times Internet, Buddh International Circuit – Formula One, India, and Ernst & Young in her previous roles.

    Prior to joining Viacom18 Digital Ventures, Govil was heading Sling Media’s (a subsidiary of Dish Network Inc, USA) India Development Centre as vice president. With over 26 years of experience in product and technology development across domains, his career spans across areas of embedded software, multimedia streaming (OTT), IoT and wireless telecom, cloud and more. He was also a part of Sasken Technologies and ISRO Ahmedabad.

    Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gourav Rakshit said, “We are delighted to welcome Chanpreet  and Vineet to our team as we accelerate our growth to transform the digital streaming space for our users. While Chanpreet is a recognised expert in the Indian media industry with an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the entire digital ecosystem, Vineet is a domain expert and is recognised for building world class products through continuous technological innovations. Together with their exemplary leadership and ability to innovate, we are certain of taking Viacom18 Digital Ventures to greater heights. We are confident that we will further consolidate our position through a more digital-first focused approach.”

    Viacom18 Digital Ventures AVoD (Voot) business head Chanpreet Arora said, “My journey in the digital ecosystem has been enriching so far. I look forward to working with the team at Viacom18 to grow the business further and deliver significant value to our partners.”

    Viacom18 Digital Ventures CTO Vineet Govil said, “I am excited to be a part of a business that is young and successful with three distinct offerings. I look forward to working with the digital team on enhancing the platforms and hope to bring in some excitement from a viewers’ perspective. Streaming is all about experience and this is something we will work closely on to accelerate growth.”

  • MX TakaTak hops on IPL bandwagon partnering with 7 teams

    MX TakaTak hops on IPL bandwagon partnering with 7 teams

    KOLKATA: Homegrown super app MX TakaTak has become the official short form video partner for seven Indian Premier League (IPL) teams – namely, Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

    The platform is now the home of all the fun and entertainment of cricket – from net practice to locker room discussions, quirky dance moves to interesting behind-the-scenes moments. You can catch your favourite cricketers share their candid instances and experiences off the pitch on their official team handles on MX TakaTak.

    Additionally, the app has kicked off the #KhelTakaTak challenge that allows its users to get up-close and personal with their cricket icons through a live meet-and-greet as well as the chance to win some exciting merchandise. As part of #KhelTakaTak, the platform will introduce weekly challenges like the #FanDanceMove where users can add cricketing moves to their dance videos, the #BatBalance that gets them to multitask keeping a bat on two fingers and the #BolCricket challenge where they complete the commentary in a given situation. Along with these, the #KhelTakaTak challenge enables users to use specifically curated stickers to support their teams along with their respective anthems.

    MX Player and MX TakaTak CEO Karan Bedi said, “Our aim has always been to entertain our diverse user base and through this innovative association, users will get a sneak peek into the fun side of cricket, the lives of their favourite teams and cricketers as well as a chance to participate in this year’s tournament fervour with our engaging #KhelTakaTak challenges.”

    Delhi Capitals CEO Vinod Bisht welcomed the partnership, saying it provides yet another way to reach out to fans and engage with them in new and creative ways.

  • YuppTV bags digital broadcasting rights for IPL 2021

    YuppTV bags digital broadcasting rights for IPL 2021

    MUMBAI: In a noteworthy win for the South Asian content devoted OTT platform, YuppTV has acquired the digital broadcasting rights for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. With this, the online content provider will enable cricket fans in close to 100 countries to witness and enjoy all the live action of the 60 T20 matches slated for the fourteenth edition of the cricket league.

    YuppTV will be airing all the excitement live from the stadia from 9 April to 30 May 2021 across territories – continental Europe, Australia, Sri Lanka, southeast Asia (except Singapore and Malaysia), central and South America, central Asia, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives. The OTT service’s subscribers (outside India) will now join Disney+ Hotstar subscribers (within India) in watching IPL 2021 in their homes. YuppTV subscribers in India will not be able to watch IPL 2021 live as the exclusive rights for the premier league are with Hotstar.

    "Cricket has been a craze around the world and the IPL has always been a highly anticipated and powerful property for fans across the globe. With the Vivo IPL now back in India, we are sure that fans are going to revel in the on-ground experience. YuppTV is committed to the growth of sports in the country and will continue to be driven by the power of cricket. Our users can enjoy their favourite sporting event in real time from the convenience of their homes," said YuppTV founder & CEO Uday Reddy.

    With the IPL now back in India, all matches are set to take place in various venues across the country – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, and Mumbai. The playoff matches and final will be played in the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

    Fans can stream IPL 2021 on the YuppTV website or download the app on their smartphone or smart TV.

  • MX Player, Red Bull & Smule hunt for India’s next rap superstar

    MX Player, Red Bull & Smule hunt for India’s next rap superstar

    MUMBAI: With the hip-hop scene in India fast evolving and artists from the country making their mark on the global stage, a new series gives the next generation of rappers a platform to learn from the best and hone their skills. An MX Original Series, Red Bull Spotlight, featuring beats from Smule’s hip hop music app AutoRap, is a nationwide hunt to discover and support India’s best emerging rappers, now streaming for free on MX Player.

    Started in 2019 as a platform to discover India’s newest rap talent, Red Bull Spotlight is now a six-part series that will see eight rappers go head-to-head for the title. The winner will receive the opportunity to record a full-length album in a professional studio, a music video, an EPK and more, selected following a finale judged by the biggest names in Indian hip-hop – Divine, Naezy, Emiway Bantai and Dee MC.  

    MX Player COO Vivek Jain said, “We’re delighted to have partnered with Red Bull and AutoRap to bring alive the biggest battleground for budding rap enthusiasts in India. This three-way partnership presents as the perfect harmony of brands coming together for a bespoke integration and digital first content solutions, that we’re able to weave into stories or formats that can appeal to our large user base.”

    Smule president Bill Bradford described Red Bull Spotlight as a launch pad for the next generation of hip hop talent in India. “We’re proud to provide the musical creation platform these rising stars can use to share their stories, and to serve as the backdrop of their art,” he added.      

    In the series, produced by Red Bull Media House and MX Player with Supari Studios and directed by Nisha Vasudevan, the finalists spend a week under the mentorship of some of the finest in Indian hip-hop, attending workshops and sessions, doing challenges and more. Mentors include Sofia Ashraf, Naezy, Dopeadelicz, Sez on the Beat, and D’evil.

    “I was pleasantly surprised by the wide-ranging talent in the finale. I think that says a lot about the selection process and also about the quality of talent waiting to be discovered and given a platform in India,” said hip-hop artist Divine, who was a judge at the finale. “Red Bull has been supporting music and culture in many different formats right from before I started as well and up to now. Spotlight is another endeavour in that long line of platforms given by them in helping talent get discovered and work towards building sustainable careers for them.”

  • As regional content explodes, Hoichoi eyes 60-80% revenue growth in FY22

    As regional content explodes, Hoichoi eyes 60-80% revenue growth in FY22

    KOLKATA: In the last couple of years, Hoichoi has been in the limelight for its bold moves in the regional over-the-top (OTT) segment. The Bengali streaming service revealed its cumulative subscriber base had breezed past the 13 million-mark on the third anniversary of its launch. To boost its user base further, the platform has recently announced a stellar content line-up for 2021, with 18 fresh stories.

    This year’s line-up is a leap from what the platform did last year, especially from a story point of view, Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta said. The streamer had the opportunity to work with a number of renowned directors, filmmakers and a lot of other marquee talents, he highlighted. Hence, the platform has doubled down on content investment as compared to before.

    Talking heads are enthused about the regional space, as reports have indicated that the share of language content will increase to around 50 per cent of overall OTT consumption, up from 30 per cent in 2019. Hence, a wider library will drive more subscribers to Hoichoi as the Bengali OTT market is still largely unpenetrated by major OTT platforms in terms of original content.

    The Bengali streaming service has set its sights on aggressive direct subscriber acquisition this year. “This year we have changed our strategy a little bit. We are not trying to syndicate our content. We were on the biggest telco players; our content was available as syndicated content. Now we have decided that our content will not be available on syndication from this year, it will only be bundled with aggregators like Jio Fiber or other big ISPs. The acquisition has to be direct,” Mohta explained.

    The rationale behind the move is that ARPU is much higher through direct subscribers who pay around Rs 500 every year. According to Mohta, the platform has put together a good line-up to excite customers to pay for original content. Currently, revenue from direct subscriptions stands around 50 per cent for Hoichoi. With greater emphasis on direct acquisition, Mohta is hopeful Hoichoi’s revenue will go up at least 60-80 per cent in FY 22.

    Acclaimed actors like Rahul Bose, Anirban Bhattacharya, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Sohini Sarkar, and award-winning filmmakers such as Srijit Mukherji, Kamaleswar Mukherjee, Anjan Dutt are some of the popular faces behind this new line-up. In addition to episodic series like Byomkesh and Eken Babu, films like Tangra Blues, Golondaj, Prem Tame will premiere on Hoichoi.

    Along with building up a diverse content portfolio, the OTT player has initiated a multi-dimensional promotional strategy as well. With a follower base of five-six million, the platform is leveraging its social media communities highly to promote new shows. To get more personal feedback, it has recently started calling every single customer to get their opinion on which show or film on the platform was to their liking, Mohta detailed.

    Additionally, Hoichoi has recently introduced a refer and earn scheme for subscribers, he shared. The person who refers will get one month extension on existing subscription and the other person who joins based on the referral gets a 20 per cent discount.

    Although digital payments growth has skyrocketed in India, there are still barriers to adoption of such services among certain sections. To overcome this obstacle, Hoichoi has started reaching out to different shops which sell mobile phones, accessories, telecom recharges to enable them to sell the platform’s subscriptions. This strategy, implemented in tier-3, tier-4 towns, allows people to subscribe to the platform through cash also.

  • Chingari ropes in Salman Khan as global brand ambassador & investor

    Chingari ropes in Salman Khan as global brand ambassador & investor

    MUMBAI: Homegrown short video format app Chingari has signed popular Bollywood actor Salman Khan as global brand ambassador and investor. 

    The association with the Dabangg star comes as Chingari is looking to augment its position as the market leader in the Made in India short video-sharing space.

    Chingari app co-founder & CEO Sumit Ghosh said, “This is a really significant partnership for Chingari, our ethos is to reach out to every state of Bharat and it’s our pleasure to have Salman Khan on-board as one of our global brand ambassadors and investors. We are confident that our association will power Chingari to scale greater heights in the near future.”

    Co-founder & COO Deepak Salvi remarked that Khan’s mass appeal will attract more users onto the platform. Khan, who is in tune with the pulse of the nation and whose popularity cuts across all genres and geography, was the best choice to be the face of the brand, added co-founder & CSO Aditya Kothari.

    Salman Khan said, “Chingari is amongst the most popular entertainment apps in India, and it has focused on adding value to its consumers and content creators. I like how Chingari has shaped up in such a short span of time, a platform for millions from rural to urban to showcase their unique talents and be seen by another millions in no time.”

    The short video space has been expanding exponentially in India, with millions getting hooked to the content being showcased on these platforms by talented creators. Chingari, which was launched on Google Play Store in November 2018, gained its second wind last year following the ban on TikTok, the then market leader in India. By December 2020, Chingari had already raised well over $1.4 million from its blue-chip backers in India and globally, and has clocked more than 56 million users in the country.

  • How Amazon, Flipkart performed in 2020

    How Amazon, Flipkart performed in 2020

    KOLKATA: The stringent lockdown during the early phase of the Covid2019 pandemic brought about sea changes in consumer behaviour in India. E-commerce was one of the sectors which emerged as beneficiaries thanks to first time online shoppers and increasing online payment. Among the leading players, both Amazon and Flipkart grew substantially.

    While Amazon started the year 2020 with a substantial lead on penetration, Flipkart has closed in by December. Both etailers grew reach, as more consumers shifted online during the age of social distancing. However, Flipkart’s 20 per cent growth left Amazon’s five per cent growth, although on a much larger base, looking low, a report from Kalagato said.

    Moreover, e-commerce penetration has deepened across the board. Interestingly, the highest growth was seen among older customers of 45+ age group and the 35–45 age group to a lesser extent. The former category has the potential to unlock further growth for the sector, as it still remains the most under penetrated segment. Data from the research firm also showed that this is the cohort where the gap between Amazon and Flipkart is the biggest.

    From the transacting/paying customers, Flipkart performed better in the year. While the Walmart-owned online retailer started 2020 on a stronger footing than Amazon, the platform has come out on top through the pandemic as well, the report added. Amazon grew transacting reach by 1.5X, while Flipkart doubled it during the year. The growth was sharper among females, tier-3 towns and older customers.

    Flipkart with higher open rates and time spent also led in average transaction value per customer at 12 per cent higher order values on average than Amazon, and a whopping  30 per cent lead during the festive period – October 2020. But an Amazon customer orders 30 per cent more frequently than a Flipkart customer, highlighted the report. The better loyalty of Amazon customers have been attributed to holistic bundled service including Prime Video content.

    The report added that Flipkart would need to work on greater reach and desirability, whereas Amazon needs to move its inactive base into transacting customers. Moreover, the entry of Reliance Industries with Ajio and JioMart and the Tata Group with TataCliq and its investment into 1MG and BigBasket has made the competitive e-commerce space more complicated.

  • Bombay HC grants no relief to ByteDance in tax evasion case

    Bombay HC grants no relief to ByteDance in tax evasion case

    KOLKATA: TikTok’s parent company ByteDance continues to remain in limbo as Bombay high court granted no relief in the case where the company challenged Indian authorities’ decision to freeze the its bank accounts.

    According to a Reuters report, the court heard the plea on Wednesday. Despite ByteDance counsel Prakash Shah submitting that the company was bleeding and needed to withdraw funds for operational expenditures like staff salaries and rent, the court gave no relief.

    Shah also added that four of the company’s bank accounts have been frozen. The next hearing in the matter is set for 6 April.

    According to media reports, In mid-March, authorities ordered ByteDance India's accounts at Citibank and HSBC to be blocked because of alleged evasion of certain taxes in online advertising dealings between the ByteDance unit in India and its parent entity in Singapore, TikTok Pvt Ltd. The Chinese tech company moved to court asking to quash the directive as it fears that the move will hit Indian operations hard.

    In January 2021, ByteDance decided to cut down its Indian workforce amid the uncertainty over its biggest business TikTok’s future in India. Following the political conflict between India and China, the Centre imposed a ban on a number of Chinese apps including short-video app TikTok last June.

  • OnMobile leads $13 million funding in Chingari app

    OnMobile leads $13 million funding in Chingari app

    MUMBAI: Bengaluru-based OnMobile has led a $13 million (Rs 98.7 crore) funding round in short video platform Chingari. The company believes that this investment will allow Chingari to accelerate its growth from 56 million users to over 100 million users. 

    Following this investment, OnMobile will soon integrate and distribute Onmo, the company's direct-to-customer gaming platform on the Chingari app. In a recent statement, the company also revealed its plans to collaborate on other product integrations in the future. 

    "The Chingari team has built a terrific product with great user retention and growth. Onmo gaming’s short format challenges and Chingari's short-form videos complement each other well," said OnMobile CEO Krish Seshadri. 

    Investors who participated in this round include Republic Labs US, Astarc Ventures,  White Star Capital, India Tv (Rajat Sharma), JPIN Venture Catalysts Ltd, ProfitBoard Ventures, Raghunandan G of Zolve (Co-Founder,Taxi4sure) and some large family office funds from the UK. 

    Chingari co-founder and CEO Sumit Gosh asserted that Chingari will soon become a content super media app for a billion Indians. 

    "We couldn't have hoped for a better partner than OnMobile and Krish to help Chingari embody its vision and become a content super media app for Bharat, and help engage the billion Indians. With our visions aligned, this partnership promises to be a winning collaboration," added Gosh. 

    Last year, Chingari had raised $1.4 million from a series of Angels, including Jasminder Gulati,  FJ Labs (Fabrice Grinda), Angelist, Utsav Somani’s iSeed, Village Global, and Blume Founders Fund. 

    OnMobile executive chairman François-Charles Sirois remarked, ''We are very excited about this investment and partnership bringing millions of users to the new ONMO gaming service while providing immediate business value and increased user reach for both companies.''

  • Disney+ Hotstar & Netflix dominate India’s SVoD market: Omdia

    Disney+ Hotstar & Netflix dominate India’s SVoD market: Omdia

    MUMBAI: Now here’s further research confirming Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar’s dominance of the Indian streaming market. Research firm Omdia’s  2021 Online Video Market and Consumer Trends Report released on 31 March states that the two streaming giants accounted for 50 per cent of all subscription video on demand (SVoD) signups in India in 2020. This was on the back of the pandemic and nationwide lockdown which saw SVoD revenues spurt 142 per cent from $265 million to $639 million by end 2020. The duo accounted for 78 per cent of that final tally, meaning about $498.42 million.

    While Disney+ Hotstar trebled its subscriber base from eight million to 25.6 million in 2020, Netflix nearly doubled its subs from 2.4 million in 2019 to 4.4 million in the same period. The Indian streamer’s growth partly came from the  bundling of Disney+ and Hotstar, as well as the postponement of the start of the thirteenth  season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) from April to September, as well as competitive pricing plans and exclusive rights to foreign content such as Game of Thrones.

    One of the key factors for the growth of subscriptions for online video is the aggressive pricing models of both Disney+ Hotstar and Netflix, with the latter launching mobile only subscription packages in 2019, reflecting the Indian consumption habits. 82 per cent of online video services are accessed through smartphones with only 39 per cent accessing content through dedicated TV apps (data from Omdia’s 2020 consumer survey).

    Disney+ Hotstar on the other hand offers three specific content packages. The VIP plan (Rs 399 per year) offers dubbed local languages while Premium (Rs 299 per month) offers both English and dubbed version of content. In terms of device access, the VIP plan only allows its subscribers to watch on one screen in HD while Premium allows subscribers to watch on two screens simultaneously in full HD.

    By offering affordable streaming plans and partnering with large telcos such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India, Omdia expects that mobile-only subscriptions will continue to grow over the next couple of years. However, mobile-only subscriptions will face challenges from traditional pay TV services as pay TV services aggregate OTT video services with their core pay TV plans.

    Whilst retaining premium rights to foreign titles and sporting events have contributed to significant growth in revenues and subscribers, over the past few years there has been an increased focus on investing in original Indian language content, Omdia noted.

    In 2021, Amazon Prime and Netflix will continue their large investment in original Indian content, with the two major US services set to invest around $340 million, representing 52 per cent of the total investment in 2021. Omdia expects that close to 400 original titles (mostly series and films) will be produced in 2021 by the global and Indian OTT services.

    Most of the investment being made is directed towards original content in Hindi, around 65 per cent  of total spending, according to the Omdia report.

    “The online video (OTT) market of India is steadily growing its foothold in every direction,” says Omdia principal analyst – TV & online video, consumer Constantinos Papavassilopoulos. “The Covid2019 pandemic accelerated the growth rate of an already dynamic and robust OTT market. The basic elements that will propel the market to further growth in the near future are already there: very affordable mobile broadband prices, high penetration of smart-phones, a population eager to consume more content, an ever-growing investment in Indian originals and a plethora of choices with more than 40 OTT services operating in the country.”