ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Tencent buys content, technology and resources of iFlix

    Tencent buys content, technology and resources of iFlix

    MUMBAI: Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd purchased "content, technology, and resources" of Southeast Asia focused iFlix. According to reports, it will not take on iFlix’s debt while it will expand the latter’s geographic reach in a key area of growth. 

    iFlix had raised over $300 million and achieved more than 25 million active users in Southeast Asia. Reports also indicated it was still struggling as it was facing significant accumulated losses and financial difficulties. 

    “This is in line with our strategy to expand our international streaming platform, WeTV, across Southeast Asia and provide users with international, local and original high-quality content in a wide range of genres and languages,” Tencent was quoted saying.

    Even it let go about 50 staff earlier this year and did not carry out an initial public offering in May. Its rival HOOQ also filed for liquidation soon after lockdown started. 

  • Disney+ Hotstar takes direct-to-digital film releases a step ahead with ‘Multiplex’

    Disney+ Hotstar takes direct-to-digital film releases a step ahead with ‘Multiplex’

    MUMBAI: Disney+Hotstar takes direct-to-digital film releases one step ahead as it announces the launch of 'Multiplex' – a new section within the Disney+ Hostar platform. Between July and October, it will be releasing a number of major Hindi films. The Walt Disney Company APAC chairman and Star and Disney India president Uday Shankar said as people are strangled at home, they are looking forward to something to cheer up.  

    “Our film industry will expand with direct-to-digital releases. Theatres, as well as digital screens, will grow and survive together. Even after when films started releasing on TV, theatres grew. Digital premiere will give a new life to the industry. We have 500 mobile screens in this country right now where films can be watched. If we can reach out to them, it will be a great outlet for the industry to showcase its creativity, tell stories. We should not see this as short-term tactical compromise, we should see as a big leap for our film industry,” Shankar said in a virtual press conference.

    'Multiplex' will release 'Dil Bechara' as its first title as a tribute to late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Other films include Akshay Kumar and Kiara Advani’s Laxmi Bomb, the Ajay Devgn-Sanjay Dutt-starrer, Bhuj: The Pride of India, Alia Bhatt-Aditya Roy Kapur’s Sadak 2 , the Abhishek Bachchan-starrer, The Big Bull.

    More to follow soon..

  • ZEE5 collaborates with Dabur Honey for a new health and fitness chat show

    ZEE5 collaborates with Dabur Honey for a new health and fitness chat show

    MUMBAI: The current global situation has highlighted the importance of building immunity and having a fitness routine to be healthy. And one thing that the lockdown restrictions have brought to light is that you don’t necessarily need to go to a gym to stay fit. A little motivation and creativity is all you need to stay fit during these times. Keeping this in mind, ZEE5, and Dabur Honey have collaborated to launch an exclusive chat show  – Dabur Honey Hello Fitness to motivate and encourage India to be proactive about their well-being.

    The one of a kind show is a part of ZEE5 Ads’ Ampli5 offering and will let viewers get an exclusive peek into the fitness routines and healthy habits of their favorite celebrities. The virtual show will be hosted by one of India’s talented actor, host and colourful personalities – Karan Wahi who will get the celebs to dish out their health and fitness secrets and routines through some fun and games! The show will give fans an insider’s view on how and why their favorites follow a particular routine, a specific diet and what they do to keep their mind and body balanced and fit. Apart from this, fans will also get a chance to have interactions by sending their questions which will be answered on the show.

    Highlighting the uniqueness of the show and collaboration, ZEE5 India chief revenue officer Rajeev Dhal said, “ZEE5 is India’s Entertainment Super-App today because we truly understand the pulse of the nation and create relatable content. The present situation has brought us even closer to our audiences and given us a better glimpse into what they want. With fitness and overall well-being, a prerequisite in this new world, this exclusive show in collaboration with Dabur Honey – undoubtedly, one of India’s top health and fitness  brands, aims to motivate and encourage our viewers to make their health a cardinal priority. We are excited to collaborate with Dabur Honey to present this exclusive show series and even more so as it is a first in the OTT industry.”  

    The show is set to launch with the first episode to go live on 28 June. A total of a six-episode series, with two episodes to be released every week.

    Dabur Health Supplements marketing head Prashant Aggarwal said, “Dabur Honey, through its best-in-class products and communication has been urging people to lead healthier lives and more so, in the current context. We want to partner with Indian consumers in making their lives healthier and fitter. This association with ZEE5 is an attempt to get consumers to know the lifestyles and habits of celebrities and how they keep themselves fit and healthy even in trying times like these. A Natural Immunity Booster, Dabur Honey is seeing increased adoption by Indian households in the current times.”

  • Hoichoi launches early OOH campaign for higher recall

    Hoichoi launches early OOH campaign for higher recall

    KOLKATA: OTT players heavily rely on OOH media to promote their shows and the pandemic brought that to a screeching halt. West Bengal is one of the first states to get back on track after the lockdown was lifted and Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi recently launched an outdoor campaign for its new original.

    The OOH campaign is to drive up the anticipation level for its recently-launched show Tansener Tanpura. Even though not everyone is venturing out, Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta says that it is not early to resume OOH campaigns. Despite having faced a cyclone during lockdown, the city’s residents have bucked up and are stepping out more than other cities.

    The timing is efficient since there aren’t other ongoing campaigns to clutter. It also works as a break for commuters.

    “We always think of outdoor as an awareness medium. We have come out with one of our biggest shows and have communicated the show and its great cast. I think even this much information is a good distraction for them. Now, what we can do is entertain people while they are at home by showing new content,” Mohta shares.

    Hoichoi’s in-house team ideated the campaign. It has taken up 15 billboard spots across the city in prominent locations where people travel a lot through like Maa Flyover, UltadangaXing and Acropolis Mall. The team also partnered with outdoor companies with whom it has previously worked.  The goal is to start the work of putting out messages.

    “There are people stepping out. Malls have opened up in West Bengal and now there is a fair amount of traffic on roads. Even when you step out, it is not only about the number of people and the number of times, it is about the impact that your campaign has on people. Since we don't have too many campaigns around, so the recall value is great,” he shares.

    With Hoichoi taking the first step, others are likely to follow suit in the coming time.

  • OTT players ease payment worries with UPI tie-ups

    OTT players ease payment worries with UPI tie-ups

    KOLKATA: The unified payments interface (UPI) service crossed a billion transactions a month last year and is on a constant upward trend. As more Indians make UPI their go-to option for online payment, over-the-top (OTT) platforms are also strengthening their ties with them to be more user friendly.

    Leading OTT player ZEE5, which has seen high uptake of the service on connected devices,  became the first-ever OTT platform to launch an UPI based payment facility on connected devices. Users of Samsung smart TVs now have an option of ‘scan and pay’ by selecting the ‘UPI payment’ mode, ‘scanning the QR’ and ‘paying on their UPI app’. With this easy convenient option, the app is set to empower users by democratising the payment process and allowing customers to make payments through their smartphones. 

    “ZEE5 has been leading the way in innovation through technology with constant upgrades to our interface and navigation to make things smoother for users. In an industry leading initiative, ZEE5 is now offering users the option to make their payments easily online while watching their favorite content through smart TV Apps. The latest update of the ZEE5 app on Samsung Smart TVs has already made UPI QR payments available to users. Customers can now choose their plan, make the payment through UPI within seconds by scanning the QR code, and then continue streaming. This is an exciting juncture for ZEE5 as very few sectors offer this option and we are the first platform in this industry to explore this. ZEE5 has been a pioneer in integrating new technology and options and this is another step that will drive forward our growth,” ZEE5 India expansion projects business head and global product head Rajneel Kumar said.

    SonyLIV 2.0, which has unveiled recently its new brand identity, reinforces its alliances with a series of wallet partners to maximise consumer delight.  In an exciting initiative, LIV premium subscribers now stand to win an array of offers and benefits across six leading payment options like Paytm, MobiKwik, AmazonPay, Payzapp, Freecharge and OlaMoney Postpaid. User can avail a cash back varying from 10 per cent upto 100 per cent subject to the platform. These newly announced cashback offers are available to all LIV premium subscribers in India across operating systems and devices.

    “At SonyLIV, customer delight is of primal importance to us. We are happy to leap ahead in existing partnerships with wallets and add newer ones to the franchise. This is a major step up in our efforts towards strengthening old bonds and building new partnerships keeping in mind consumer behavior & preferences,” SPN digital business growth and monetisation head Manish Aggarwal said. 

    ALTBalaji recently extended its association with payment gateways Paytm and Amazon Pay. As a part of the offering, Paytm will be offering cashback up to Rs 75 on ALTBalaji subscription whereas Amazon Pay customers will get a cashback of a minimum amount of Rs 10 and a maximum amount of Rs 250 on a minimum purchase of Rs 100. The offer will be valid in India for Android and web-only.

    “Keeping the customer at the very core of everything that we stand for, we have always strived towards providing them a seamless experience through our services. Our long-standing association with Paytm and Amazon Pay is yet another step in the right direction that further fosters this bond with our consumers. It will further give us the opportunity to reach out to the masses and make them aware of the engrossing and original content that we have on offer,” Balaji Telefilms group COO and ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya said.

  • 97% of internet users consumed entertainment content in April

    97% of internet users consumed entertainment content in April

    KOLKATA: The Covid2019 pandemic induced lockdown has made people take refuge in the virtual world more. Total time spent on the internet jumped immediately in April by 11 per cent reaching to1466 billion minutes. While all segments of the online ecosystem have witnessed a spike in consumption, entertainment was definitely not behind given the fewer options of social life. 

    According to a report from Comscore, 97 per cent of internet audience consumed entertainment content in April. Entertainment sites witnessed surge in engagement as total viewing minutes touched 329 billion minutes in April, up by 15 per cent compared to March.

    The market leader YouTube had the most unique visitors followed by MX Player and Hotstar. Among the video-on-demand platforms, Hotstar had the highest viewing minutes, 121 billion minutes. MX Player achieved 118 billion minutes. International OTT players Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Prime Video.com witnessed a high surge of 26 per cent, 21 per cent and 38 per cent respectively.

    Among other segments, news has seen a huge jump, going 15 per cent up from March. While Times Internet attracted the highest unique visitors among multi-platform new entities, Dailyhunt attracted the same among news apps. Moreover, India leads worldwide news on mobile.

    As online learning has seen adoption during the lockdown, the education segment saw 33 per cent growth in April. Younger audience, especially 15-24 age group has driven the growth. Udemy has acquired the place of top education app. While health has also seen a good spike, the official Covid2019 tracker Arogya Setu has seen significant adoption among health-conscious audiences. 

  • Netflix sees 60% surge in Twitter discussions in last 90 days

    Netflix sees 60% surge in Twitter discussions in last 90 days

    KOLKATA: As the lockdown opened up the corridors to OTT content, several reports suggest that Netflix has been one of the top gainers. This was reflected on Twitter as well, where the influencer discussions related to ‘Netflix’ spiked more than 60 per cent during March-May 2020, over the previous 90 days, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

    There is a huge spike in influencer conversations in April, when the company announced that it added an eye-popping 15.8 million new subscribers in the first quarter of 2020 due to home restrictions and reported quarterly revenue of $5.77 billion against the estimated $5.76 billion. In addition to this, the Covid2019 crisis has a positive impact on the company’s stock price as it is up by almost 14 per cent since the beginning of 2020.

    GlobalData influencer expert Prashant Saxena says: “Due to Covid2019, people are streaming more content online as they spend more time at home, bringing companies like Netflix to a bright spot in the entertainment sector, with significant growth in new subscribers and higher viewing time.”

    In March, there was another spike in conversations on Twitter when the company announced that it agreed with EU in a deal to slow down the speed of its streaming service for 30 days to reduce traffic across Europe by 25 per cent and ensure that broadband networks perform adequately as millions of people were confined to their homes.

    Saxena concludes: “As the world starts easing lockdown restrictions and slowly reopening restaurants and other recreational destinations, it is expected that the viewership and membership numbers for Netflix will likely be impacted in the next coming months.”

  • OTT platforms go beyond entertainment to score consumers

    OTT platforms go beyond entertainment to score consumers

    KOLKATA: Over-the-top (OTT) platforms have come a long way in the country now. Around 2015, these services were mere apps to catch up on favourite television shows and stream live sporting events. Cut to 2020 and the discussion has evolved to whether OTT is a threat to TV. After a transition from catch-up content to premium originals, homegrown OTT platforms are now heading in the direction of being a one-stop shop. 

    In the last few months, many OTT platforms have enhanced their content catalogue, delving into segments like education and gaming. At the beginning of the year, ZEE5 announced a partnership with Eduauraa. Later, more players like VOOT also took the ed-tech road especially during lockdown thanks to the online learning boom. 

    While streaming services were already bullish about ed-tech and gaming, the lockdown period pushed them into health and fitness content, accelerating the next transition of those players. Disney+ Hotstar forged partnerships with Brilliant Wellness, Cult.Fit and Sarva recently. Another player VOOT also partnered with Cult.Fit and Isha Foundation. 

    KPMG India media and entertainment partner and head Girish Menon says that most of the OTT players were already looking at this strategy but the post-Covid2019 change has accelerated it. 

    “Consumers have been engaging with OTT platforms in a significant manner rather than certain hours. The idea is to increase the number of hours on the app, reduce video churn and increase retention,”  Deloitte India partner Jehil Thakkar says.

    “For us, constantly enhancing and improving our catalogue is important so that our existing and new consumers constantly keep seeing something new and different on the platform,” Viacom18 AVoD business head Akash Banerji says.

    Banerji adds that merely enhancing the catalogue is of no value unless it is also relevant to customers and can drive higher engagement. Moreover, forging partnerships with premium partners is also an important aspect. “We wanted to give something more,” he sums up.

    "For any platform, offering good content is more important rather than focusing only on entertainment. The content can educate , inform, entertain consumers. While OTT space has been largely focusing on entertainment, we have to offer more to get consumers back on the platform. Everything a person can do online, we want him to do it on ZEE5," ZEE5 SVoD senior vice president and business head Rahul Maroli says.

    He also mentions that when they talk to B2B partners, the latter will partner with an entity where their customer will get entertainment, infotainment, education at the same place. Moreover, as consumer tastes evolve they start moving around new content and that leads to a stronger brand affinity.

    While both Banerji and Maroli said they want to “offer more”, they also want to get more consumers. 

    “They are definitely looking to build an offering which is more comprehensive than pure-play content. The idea is that if you have a consumer who is coming to your app for entertainment, are there other services you can provide to them which will ensure that he continues to spend time and builds on that,” KPMG’s Menon adds. According to him, these deals make sense as an extension of offering rather than starting a separate segment.

    While its an offering about consumption right now, commerce around core offering and other deals can also become the norm.  

  • Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film ‘Dil Bechara’ to debut on Disney+ Hotstar

    Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film ‘Dil Bechara’ to debut on Disney+ Hotstar

    KOLKATA: Late bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film last movie Dil Bechara is directly releasing on Disney+Hotstar on 24 July. Moreover, the movie will be available for non-subscribers as well. 

    “A story of love, hope, and endless memories.

    Celebrating the late #SushantSinghRajput's legacy that will be etched in the minds of all and cherished forever,” the streaming service tweeted. “For the love of Sushant and his love for cinema, the movie will be available to all subscribers and non-subscribers,” it added.

    The film is the official remake of 2014 Hollywood romantic drama The Fault in Our Stars, based on John Green’s popular novel of the same name.  It also marks the directorial debut of casting director and Rajput’s industry friend Mukesh Chhabra. The film is produced by Fox Star Studios. 

    Since the ongoing lockdown started due to Covid2019 pandemic, many movies have found their way to streaming services as theatres have shut down. Among others,  Gulabo Sitabo was released on Amazon Prime Video. 

  • Dollywood Play launches to provide Hindi dubbed movies

    Dollywood Play launches to provide Hindi dubbed movies

    MUMBAI: Hindi content consumption has grown a record 94 per cent year-on-year compared to just 19 per cent for English content. Not all Indian movies are masala, but most masala movies are uniquely Indian. Hindi dubbed masala films are now occupying prime time slots on TV. Dollywood Play celebrates these Hindi dubbed movie fans from across the country, and now has given them a platform in Dollywood Play to easily discover and watch their favorite movies on android, iOS and web. 

    With consumption of Hindi content skyrocketing on the web, there has never been a better time to launch a Hindi dubbed movie platform for the Hindi heartland of India. WAMINDIA (Wide Angle Media Pvt. Ltd.), one of the prominent content distribution companies in India and, Digital Convergence Technologies & dcafé India Pvt. a leading video streaming and OTT product company have joined hands to form ‘Dollywood Digitainment’ to launch their video streaming platform Dollywood Play – AB SAB DUB. 

    Touted as India’s only dedicated Hindi Dubbed platform, Dollywood Play will feature a wide range of Full Movies, Mini Movies (20 minutes’ version of full-length movies), Clips (Comedy, Action, Hot scenes) and Music videos. Users can now easily download the android/iOS app or visit www.dollywoodplay.com to start watching. 

    Dollywood Play spends a lot of time curating its content to best suit the viewer’s preferences and taste.  When a viewer logs in to Dollywood Play, content discovery is easy and with details including story synopsis, cast and crew, release date and more. With offline download available viewers can now watch their favorite movies in their preferred qualities and time. From genre selection, spot on recommendations, alerts and relevant notifications, Dollywood Play is stuffed with features aimed at movie lovers. Essentially, this platform is created to satisfy its subscribers as opposed to putting them off with features and functionalities which may not be relevant to them.

    WAMINDIA founder-director Aneesh Dev says “Dollywood Play aims to reach the user beyond the metros. It caters to Bharat and not India, the 75 per cent that does not live in urban areas. It is for viewers whose watching preferences are not limited to the niche English speaking audience. We have a vast library of entertaining action-packed movies and regularly acquire new movies to ensure there will be new content added every week including Exclusive Digital Premieres.” 

    Speaking about the partnership with dcafé he adds, “dcafe’s agility and speed of innovation is what attracted us to them. We have the content, audience and the scale, and they have the technology. It is a great fit. There were complex solutions we were trying to build for all specific areas of Dollywood Play – from sign-ins and subscriptions to video compression, search, and offline downloads. dcafé has been able to combine all the tech, which has led us to create a better end user experience.”

    One of the biggest challenges with digital entertainment is, “content delivery”. There are multiple issues from poor bandwidth to low-end devices. More so in India, the sheer size of the audience presents OTT operators with numerous obstacles to deal with. 

    dcafe LLP CEO Vineet Dhawan  shares, “Masala films are the cinematic equivalent of the melange of spices used in Indian cooking that provide the name. With multiple genres included simultaneously — let’s say, a romance subplot intermingled with a comedy piece, and added melodrama all alternating under the auspices of an action adventure main plot. Everything is heightened; the hero’s heroism, the heroine’s beauty, the villain’s evil. And this is exactly the type of entertainment a viewer can expect when he enters our platform.”

    Taking about the technology behind the platform, Dhawan adds, “With our innovative tech solutions, we will help Dollywood Play acquire new users faster, increase cross-screen engagement, improve personalized search, fine-tune outreach campaigns, capture the right time to engage with users and much more”