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Category: Over The Top Services

  • ‘Special Ops’ taut storytelling makes it a must watch

    ‘Special Ops’ taut storytelling makes it a must watch

    MUMBAI: Special Ops, Hotstar’s latest eight-part original series released on the platform on 17 March, is special. Really special. A fast-paced, gripping espionage thriller, inspired from true events over the past two or three decades of terrorist attacks in India; it is the tale of a Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) officer Himmat Singh (a role marvellously essayed by the 53-year-old stage, TV and film actor Kay Kay Menon) and his two-decade-long hunt for a terrorist who he believes has masterminded several of those bombings and dastardly acts. 

    Like Jason Bourne – the CIA operative from the famed movie franchise, which has grossed more than $1.5 billion at the box office – he has the system ranged against him. A ragtag team of five agents operating in Istanbul, Tehran, Dubai, Sharjah and Tbilisi helps him track the movements of those close to the mastermind, in the hope that someday he will capture him. Along the way, he splurges close to Rs 28 crore on keeping the operation going in west Asia, which then leads to an enquiry commission being drawn up against him.

    The series begins in the present with the two-men audit team – played by Parmeet Sethi (Mr Chadda)  and Kali Prasad Mukherjee (DK Banerjee) – probing Himmat Singh about alleged irregularities in his department’s accounts. Himmat Singh’s responses to the duo’s  questions helps take the story forward; a tack which is used over eight episodes, interspersed with flashbacks, introducing the various characters (both good and bad), about what happened over the years.  

    Episode one then moves onto the attack on the Indian parliament in New Delhi in December 2001. The attempt in real life was foiled, the five terrorists allegedly belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed were killed, but at the expense of the lives of nine from the Indian side, including police, security personnel and a gardener. The special service cell of the Delhi police arrested four individuals Mohammed Afzal Guru, Shaukat Husain Guru and SAR Geelani in connection with the attacks.

    In Special Ops, Himmat Singh believes that there were actually six rogues; a theory to which not many in his department, the secret service, the ministries and defence establishment subscribe to. The sixth terrorist who escapes at the end of the first episode was the lynchpin behind the attack.

    It is then that Himmat Singh – who is married to Saroj (played by Gautami Kapoor) and has a daughter Pari – puts together his team and begins his vigil for Ikhlaq Khan, the mastermind which is chronicled over the next seven episodes.

    Written by veteran scripter Neeraj Pandey (A Wednesday, Special 26, Toilet Ek Prem Katha), Deepak Kingrani and Benazir Ali Fida, who have effectively portrayed the inner workings, bureaucracy, politicos and the machinations of the government and secret service, while also showing Himmat as a doting family man committed to keeping his country safe from terror attacks as well as his own daughter during her first romance. Special Ops has gone where not many series from India have gone before.

    Himmat Singh throughout the series has his home base in India where he is assisted by cop Abbas Shaikh (Vinay Pathak) and his assistant Karan (Karan Ashar) while his five agents – played by Farooq Ali (Karan Tacker), Balakrishnan (Vipul Gupta), Avinash (Muzammil Ibrahim), Juhi (Saiyami Kher) and Ruhani  (Meher Vij) race across continents to nab the elusive international terrorist Ikhlaq Khan. The latter is known to one Hafiz Ismail (Sajjad Delafrooz) who is known to Dubai-based businessman Ismail Hasan) who Farooq befriends in order to get to Ikhlaq.  

    Adding to the plot is a character called Noor Baksh (SM Zaheer) (based in Pakistan  and he has been involved in terrorists acts along with Ikhlaq in India over the years) who has plans to do another bombing in India in the present moment through two Muzaffarnagar riot victims  Sadia Qureshi  (Divya Dutta) and Farah (Pakkhi Gupta).

    The writing is taut, has enough twists and turns to keep you gripped over the eight episodes. Yes, at times, the over-extended focus on the personal lives of Himmat Singh and his agents tends to slow the pace down and distract from the main plot. But Pandey and his team probably thought that was needed to work as relief for the audience.  

    Some of the characters, while finely chiseled, appear clichéd, especially like the one of Ismail Hassan (Rajat Kaul). 

    The end, of course, turns out as expected because the writing leaves enough nuggets for you to guess who the real Ikhlaq Khan is.

    Direction is finely handled with five episodes out of the eight being helmed by Pandey, with three by Shivam Nair.

    The cinematography by Sudhir Palsane – who has worked with Pandey on other projects like Baby and MS Dhoni – has resulted in stunning visuals of the various locations, even as the editing by Praveen Kathikuloth keeps the story racy enough for you to want to binge watch Special Ops.

    Special Ops is Kay Kay Menon’s Himmat Singh’s canvas and he paints it well with an extremely earnest performance as a RAW officer who is a master strategist. Tacker rises above himself in his essaying of the role of Farooq, by far his best performance. Pathak, Kaul,  Delafrooz  , Kapoor, Dutta and Sharad Kelkar (who plays security ops person) – all  have  brought realism to their characters. 

    Overall, Special Ops is a series which is worth a watch. So if you are at home, subscribe to Hotstar to be engrossed for six hours of non-stop edge of the seat thrilling entertainment. It will be time well spent. 

  • Disney+ launches in seven European countries

    Disney+ launches in seven European countries

    MUMBAI: Disney+ has launched in Europe as the coronavirus continues its macabre journey at different parts of the world. It may be recalled that just a few days ago, the streaming platform launched in India, only to withdraw abruptly the next day.

    The Walt Disney Company’s streaming service will launch in France on April 7.

    The European launch of Disney+ means that it will be available in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland. Disney+ will come with a comparatively lower bandwidth utilisation in view of the growing worries about the capability of some broadband infrastructure to manage the likely surge in consumer demand.  

    In 2019 November, Disney+ launched its service in the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. 

    Disney+ provides a treasure-trove of more than 26 original movies and series, films, and television episodes and much more. The launch means that audiences in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Switzerland will be able to enjoy streaming of Disney+ on almost all major mobile and connected TV devices, which include smart television, streaming media players and gaming consoles. Disney+ provides commercial-free viewing and unlimited downloads on up to 10 devices, in addition to customised recommendations. While subscribers may set up to seven different profiles, parents are at liberty to set Kids Profiles which feature child-friendly interface. It enables parents to restrict inappropriate content.

    Kevin Mayer, Chairman of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International, said that launching in seven markets simultaneously is a new milestone for Disney. “As the streaming home for Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars and National Geographic, Disney+ delivers high-quality, optimistic storytelling that fans expect from our brands, now available broadly, conveniently and permanently on Disney+. We humbly hope that this service can bring some much-needed moments of respite for families during these difficult times.”

    Meanwhile, the streaming platform (DIS +14.5%) is enjoying its best day as a stock since October 2008. Though at $98.18, it's still significantly off a 52-week high of $153.41, or even the $140 mark of a month ago.

    According to MoffettNathanson, Disney was unencumbered by language barriers unlike Netflix which had to localize its content for various non-English-speaking regions. Moreover, Disney+ is rolling out in Europe at a time when a large part of the population is staying at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdown is likely to help the service to boost its subscriber uptake. 

    Unlike other international markets, Disney already has its OTT presence in India through Hotstar which came under its umbrella after the 21st Century Fox acquisition. Bob Iger, the ideator of Disney’s streaming journey, wanted to exploit Hotstar’s popularity in the country and launch the merged and rebranded service during IPL. Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic, the cricket tournament has been postponed and the entry of Disney+ got delayed in India.

  • hoichoi enthralls Bengalis with digital premieres

    hoichoi enthralls Bengalis with digital premieres

    MUMBAI: hoichoi,  the popular OTT for Bengalis worldwide, is bringing multiple digital premieres of new Bengali blockbusters at a time when social distancing and work-from-home are the only choices amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

    The OTT platform has already seen an increase in traffic by 4x rate in the last one week; the traffic is surging 2 to 3 times on a daily basis, said release. A promising increase of the traffic on the platform is also a sign that people have welcomed a library og rich content that is easily accessible.,

    hoichoi already has a big bouquet of content (a mix of classics, latest films and Originals, with a variety of genre to choose from), in addition to a plethora of new content that will be streaming every week. The platform is doing its bit to keep you engaged by initiating a #selfstay form of entertainment.

    For the month of March itself, hoichoi is already streaming, "Rahasya Romancha Series 2" starring Rudranil Ghosh, Rajdeep Gupta, Saoli Chattopadhyay, Kharaj Mukherjee among others- is getting tremendous appreciation, a mega World Digital Premiere of Srijit Mukherji's spin-off to Baishey Srabon – "Dwitiyo Purush", interesting before even TV broadcast and Sandip Ray's much hyped film "Professor Shanku O El Dorado", based on the popular scientist created by his father, the visionary Satyajit Ray. Another series will be streaming from 26th March titled "Ekattor" which as the name suggests is about the fight for the Independence of Bangladesh. Here is a sneak peak of some new content that the audience can expect to soon start streaming: 

    hoichoi Co-Founder of  Vishnu Mohta commented on the traffic flowing in from different countries, “Apart from West Bengal, hoichoi enjoys strong traffic and consumption from Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Hyderabad with Bangalore and Delhi being no. 2 and no. 3 in terms of overall volume of traffic. Internationally – the US, and the  UK contribute significant traffic with Middle East, Australia and Canada not being far away. The last week also saw a good spurge of traffic coming from Europe and Japan. Bangladesh as a market continuous to growth every day! After the release of Dwitiyo Purush, which is the most anticipated movie of 2020 on hoichoi  even before television premiere, the international traffic has significantly grown!” 

  • Likee’s popular ‘Dr Aaloo’ out to combat coronavirus through short video app

    Likee’s popular ‘Dr Aaloo’ out to combat coronavirus through short video app

    MUMBAI: Medical science is the biggest boon to mankind, and doctors are considered second just to the almighty. And a doctor becomes a better healer when he couples medicines with humour and laughter. One such medic is 24-year-old Altaf Hussain from Purnea in Bihar, whose efforts have been aided by Likee, the pioneering short video platform by Singapore-based BIGO Technology Pte Ltd. And at a time when the world is battling presumably the worst-ever health crisis with coronavirus, the Likeer has decided to use the platform for spreading awareness about the dreaded global pandemic.

    Altaf was introduced to Likee by one of his hometown friends, who herself was a creator on the app. At the onset, he posted some hilarious videos, using various songs and dialogues from films. Additionally, he also posted videos about life in Philippines, where he studied medical science. In his videos, Altaf captured buzzing marketplaces and scenic beauty of the country.

    As the journey proceeded, Likee became a launchpad for Altaf to start his own agency. The various functions of the agency include recruiting influencers and creators for Likee. And as a hosting agent, Altaf is responsible for Likee Live, a feature that makes the platform different from other short video apps. The agency is also a sought-after troubleshooter for Likeers, as they often come with their queries regarding the app and seek suggestions to expand their growth. “We help Likee users with suitable information and also aid them to grow on Likee,” says Altaf. Besides, Likee also helped Altaf come up with an incubated studio.

    The Likee-backed agency and his constant efforts have resulted in Altaf earning to the tune of more than Rs 7 lakh per month.

    Hopeful of his bonhomie with Likee remaining intact, ‘Dr Aaloo’ would like to further develop the app videos and livestream, making it powerful and popular among masses.

    The tale of Altaf yet again emphasizes the acceptance as well as the life-altering impact of Likee among common man

  • Helo and India Film Project partner for ‘Campus Connect season 2’

    Helo and India Film Project partner for ‘Campus Connect season 2’

    MUMBAI: Helo and India Film Project have partnered for season 2 of Campus Connect. The partnership aims to encourage content creators at grassroots level and provide them a platform to showcase their talent to a wider audience.The association also allows Helo’s diverse community to explore fresh and professionally generated content in addition to learning filmmaking techniques directly from IFP’s reputed mentors.
    As part of this initiative, Helo and IFP are organising workshops followed by a 24-Hour filmmaking challenge in 20 of India's leading colleges including IIM Ahmedabad, IIT (Bombay, Madras, Kharagpur, Hyderabad), Hindu College, DTU etc. Helo is also hosting an in-app contest called #IFPMyMovie2020, for users to engage and create videos across various themes such as education, social responsibility, emotions, food, entertainment and humour. The winners of the contest stand a chance to win exciting prizes, including a chance to feature their videos in flagship India Film Project event in October.

    Helo has emerged as one of the biggest hubs for the most innovative user and professionally generated content in 14 different Indian languages. The project has been successfully executed in 16 colleges until now and has till today witnessed a participation from over 8000 students. Campus Connect in the second season is looking forward to witnessing more than 800 short films made in multiple Indian languages as well as more than 10,000 enthusiastic creators across the workshops held in different parts of the country sharing their ideas and love for the films.

    Helo Creator Strategy and Growth head Raj Mishra said, “At Helo, we are committed to empower budding content creators with best possible opportunities to showcase their creativity through our platform. Our partnership with IFP for campus connect 2 is a testimony of our endeavour to bring the best quality content on our platform and foster an enabling environment of cross learning. We have received an overwhelming response from our existing users and are confident that this association will further motivate and encourage like minded people to connect, create and share quality content in their native languages.

    India Film Project founder Ritam Bhatnagarsaid, “At IFP we strive to bring the best experience and opportunities to content creators across the country. Campus Connect helps us connect, encourage, interact and help the young talent that our country has. With Helo’s large and growing user base, we are able to provide a huge audience to the young filmmakers who are usually looking for more viewers. We are glad to have Helo on board with all the opportunities, exposure and incentives they have to offer for the participants.”

    Helo users can participate in the contest by creating videos under hashtags #IndiaFilmProject2020, #IFPMyMovie2020. The national project is slated to end on 30th April 2020.

  • We can add 150 odd screens in the next 3 years: Carnival Cinemas CEO Mohan Umrotkar

    We can add 150 odd screens in the next 3 years: Carnival Cinemas CEO Mohan Umrotkar

    MUMBAI: Multiplexes are driving the growth of screen counts in India and considerably the major chains are now not limiting their objective to expansion but also focusing on premium experience. National multiplex chain Carnival Cinemas, one of the top four players in the segment, has been expanding rapidly in the last couple of years. After achieving a good growth in screen counts on the back of multiple acquisitions, it is now prioritising an upgraded cinematic experience.

    Recently, Carnival Cinemas struck a deal with TSR Films to convert all its existing and new screens into Laser in the next five years. Talking to Indiantelevision.com, Carnivals Cinema CEO Mohan Umrotkar spoke on the deal along with its marketing strategy, expansion plan, etc.

    Edited excerpts from the interview:

    What is the nature and aim of the partnership?

    TSR is the exclusive Christie RGB laser projectors provider in India. We have struck a deal with the TSR where they will supply 350 projectors over the next three years. It's a partnership of a supply agreement under which rate contract has been fixed, the quantity has been fixed and of course, this is again extendable for the quantity of future independent requirements. As of now considering our existence scheme and the plan that we have for the expansion, we expect to have 600-odd projectors which we can buy out over the next five years.

    Are you looking at more changes in terms of new technology?

    In terms of the infrastructure, we have already made major changes. Customers were able to see the changes when entering the cinema on the basis of the first interactions at lobby, auditorium, and toilet. This is nothing but the aesthetical changes; the infrastructure changes. So the next question was where we are engaging with the customer for the maximum period of time. Anybody who's visiting the cinema, I think he's more interested in the sound and the picture. And that's the heart of this. If you don't get a proper sound, picture quality, ideal experience is incomplete despite having a good lobby, premium Italian marble and chandelier. But if your projection system is not good, your sound is not good, experience is not good. Hence we thought of the latest technology. Nobody has even thought about using RGB Laser projectors in the multiplex chains, we are the first one to implement that. Apart from that I don't think so much technical changes are required now and all the other changes maybe with ticketing systems which are already there. So those are the core to the business is a projection system or a sound system.

    How much money have you put in for the new deal?

    The total investment for the deal in the next three years will be closer to around Rs 200 crore. Again, go up to at least 70 per cent to 80 per cent. Because then we are again talking about adding another 250 projectors, proportionate monies. So it will be roughly in the range of Rs 350 crore.

    Could you talk about your expansion plan in 2020?

    So if you see the past, we have also added close to around 70 to 80 screens in the last two years. Considering the market scenario, we will probably not add that more screens, but we can roughly add around 50 odd screens each year. And this is organic growth. Obviously, there is a plan for inorganic growth but that all depends upon what kind of opportunity is available, and what kind of deal is available. But organically we can easily add 150 odd screens in the next three years.

    What about your expansion plan beyond big cities?

    There’s still scope to grow in tier one, tier two obviously. To go beyond that, we have a different model which is called a Jalsa which is you know the low-cost cinema model which we are already doing. And in this entire expansion, I am not counting those screens because those are the new markets in which we also want to explore. So that's additional numbers which we're talking about.

    What will be your marketing strategy in near future?

    In the last one year, we have decided to spend money wisely. We have decided to advertise in a more sensible manner rather than just deciding to put so much of money into the news or so much of money on television. What we are promoting is the cinema because eventually the movie has been promoted by the producer and we are not the content owner. So wherever there is a new cinema name or wherever there is a renovation happening, we are just focusing on the property, we are showing this is a unique property. Marketing strategy is also depending on what is a cheap yet effective medium and that can be OOH or television. The overall marketing budget is around 1 per cent of the top line. We try to do more direct marketing, or we try to take the help of the social media, Facebook, twitter, Instagram, and e-mailers to our 50 million patrons annually. Because what we see is direct marketing, w the more effective way.

    How do you see the scope of growth for multiplexes in India?

    In India we are still around 9000-odd screens whereas almost 130 crore population. 2000 movies are being produced every year and the country is also vast. I am not saying that if China or the US have 50,000 screens, we should also have in the same range. To start with as a bare minimum, we should have anything between 25-30,000.

  • TV not ready for the characters I write: ‘Pushpavalli’ creator Sumukhi Suresh

    TV not ready for the characters I write: ‘Pushpavalli’ creator Sumukhi Suresh

    NEW DELHI: Amazon Prime has been investing heavily in Indian originals for its platform, and it seems like comedy is one of the most preferred genres. Several stand-ups and sketches by Indian comics have been hosted on its home page and have gained immense popularity as well. One such show is Sumukhi Suresh’s Pushpavalli, directed by Debbie Rao, which recently came out with its second season. 

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about her experience of creating Pushpavalli, Suresh went all praise for the platform stating that she is glad that the show is on Amazon Prime. “No other OTT platform would have done it the way Prime did. My fellow writer had a very dark vision for the show. I was very sure that we wanted to show revenge. During my meeting with Prime, sometime in March 2018, I was pleasantly surprised to see their reaction to my vision. They supported me in making it darker. They told me to make her murder someone,” she said. 

    Suresh further added, “Also, there are many OTT platforms which are apprehensive about taking up a show (Indian original) in English. It was so wonderful that they let me keep the show in English and also supported me.”

    She also revealed that the platform gave her full liberty to plan and execute the marketing for the show. “They helped me in understanding what is wrong and what will work more but they truly supported my vision. For example, the whole 'explain the season within 60 seconds' videos we did for Instagram was my idea and we did that with full support from Prime.” 

    Asked if making season 2 of the show added pressure given the first season was a raging hit, Suresh quipped that her team and she are very self-critical and that helped them deal with the expectations. 

    “We were very cognizant of the fact that we need to write a tighter script and we needed to be very fast-paced. The first season had ended on a very dramatic note and it was our responsibility to take it back to comedy and then to drama,” she explained. 

    According to Suresh, the writing team gave a very close-to-shooting script to director Debbie Rao who then added her thought process to make the wonderful show. Rao also edited the show herself to make sure everything was pitch-perfect. 

    Another difference that the show had this time was a better budget. Suresh mentions that the first season was shot within just fifteen days because of the tight budgets. But this time, she had better control over the finances and a better amount of money to spend. 

    Asked if she wrote the show with business in mind, or to get creative satisfaction, Suresh found herself in a tight spot. The very loquacious woman took a brief pause before answering, “If I have to write something and I have this dilemma if the scene has to make business sense or should fit the narrative of the show, I will go with the latter.”

    She also added that she is writing for the female audience. “I have no shame in admitting that I write for the women. I don’t care if a man doesn’t like my show at all. I will continue to write for women.” 

    She, however, admitted that while creating shows for platforms like Prime, one of her goals is to get more subscribers for them. She feels that she should be able to give a return on investment to the platform so they are eager to get her back on the platform. 

    Asked if she has some other shows up her kitty for the platform other than Pushpavalli season 3, Suresh said that she is busy juggling between three other writing rooms currently but there isn’t any OTT platform in her head where she would be putting them. 

    “One of the shows is going to be a thriller, one is an out and about comedy. The third show is very close to my heart that I am developing from a slice of my mother’s life. This will be a mix of comedy and drama,” she noted. 

    Will she be open to taking any of the shows to television? Suresh thinks that the platform is not ready for the sort of characters she writes. 

    “I can give you two hundred and five hundred and even more episodes but you will not like the characters that I write,” she said with laughter. 

    She, however, is willing to work on a movie with director Debbie Rao, which she feels will be a blockbuster if ever made.

  • 2nd gen Adhikari Brothers to explore digital content creation

    2nd gen Adhikari Brothers to explore digital content creation

    MUMBAI: Sri Adhikari Brothers' newly launched digital arm Happii Digital is all set to cater to OTT viewers. The second generation comprising Kailash Adhikari and his cousin Ravi Adhikari who made their debut directorial venture ‘Dheet Patangey’ was launched on 2 March on the OTT platform.

    In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, Kailash Adhikari says, “Happii Digital has a very robust plan in place for digital content for now and the years to come, because 2020 is just the start for us. As we look around, we see that more and more platforms are generating an appetite for content, and I want to well place us to satisfy the growing need for content. The plan for Happii Digital that I have in mind is not to keep it as a conventional or traditional form of production house but to create it as an IP studio.”

    He further says, “We are aiming to cater to digital viewers by providing quality content. Our concentration is on quality and not quantity. Further, the output should be such that it is accepted globally. We are striving towards understanding the changing demands and tastes of our audience so that we can offer them something which fits their desires. We have combined our expertise with the faith we have in our work. At the end of the day, we hope whatever we produce is liked by our viewers.”

    Adhikari believes that with the availability of engaging content, the need for more content will not be restricted to urban areas. “Regional will be the next big thing to watch out for. I'm saying that because of the changing trends we have seen on TV as well towards regional content. There is stagnation now when it comes to Hindi viewership and Hindi content. The same will follow on digital in due course because a lot of data is being consumed by the tier two, tier three towns. Consequently, a great number of apps that we see in the technology space are coming in the vernacular languages. Marathi, Bhojpuri, Bengali and Southern languages are the four big languages that I want to personally cater to in the coming 12 to 18 months. I see that there's a great opportunity not only for content creators but also for platform owners to exploit.”

    Since Happii Digital is a creative startup, it will look at various modes of raising funds. It is looking at venture capital funding at an early stage to fuel its growth. Currently, it has internal accruals to support its business. But it will be open to raise funds as well.

    He says, “Home-grown production values can match up and create good content, like digital films which are driven across all kinds of genres and content. There is no specific tone like drama or a slice of life or romance or any one genre which will work on digital. It's all based on watching at the end of the day, along with whatever the consumer likes within the first 15 minutes. I believe that now's the time where even our traditional production houses are producing engaging digital content.”

    Adhikari believes that there are two challenges – one is that they have to consistently keep evolving with the changing times. The second challenge is to know the consumer’s taste well. 

    There is no specific genre that it would like to explore but the focus of the company would be on creating engaging content. “The kind of consumer orientation we are facing in recent times, all that matters is quality content. Be it any sector I work on, I wish to make my content very engaging and interesting. Crisp and well-curated content grabs the eye of the audience and makes them enjoy the product. Further, digital is taking over and the time has come where only smart content will do well in the market and be appreciated.”

    It will also invest in creating IPs. Data has become the new currency and data mining has become an important business assumption. "As a content house, we will explore all possible opportunities to create compelling content. Currently, there are about four to five projects in the pipeline. At this point, I’d like to say that, we want to create content which we feel is strong, backed by the current determinants of audiences,” he opines. 

  • Hotstar unveils India’s longest billboard, showcasing range of content offering

    Hotstar unveils India’s longest billboard, showcasing range of content offering

    MUMBAI: Streaming platform Hotstar has unveiled a unique out-of-home initiative through a massive billboard spanning 10,000 sq. ft in Uttar Pradesh, to highlight the variety and scale of content available on its platform. With entertainment options moving indoors, the brand provides viewers the convenience of sitting back and exploring its extensive range of high-quality free content through these uncertain times.

    View the longest billboard here – https://vimeo.com/398152303

    Touted as the longest ever in India, the billboard is part of Hotstar’s exciting new 360-degree marketing campaign, “Hotstar ka vaada, free entertainment sabse zyada”, aimed at reaching out to millions of viewers in Hindi-speaking markets in Tier II and Tier III cities, who currently have little access to high-quality content for free.

    The Social Street collaborated with Hotstar on this campaign from idea to execution, to source out and construct the longest billboard the country has ever seen from ground up. Standing tall and long on the arterial road joining Shastri Setu (Shastri Bridge) to Jaunpur Tiraha in Mirzapur, the mammoth structure was completed within a period of 6-7 days. The billboard constructed 1000 feet in length and 10 feet in height with an additional 2 feet of height of cut-outs, used a solid framework of bamboos and iron frames to sustain extreme weather conditions.

    The billboard showcased Hotstar’s vast library of high-quality free content including several movies like Chhichhore, Mission Mangal; TV shows from Star Plus like Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain, Nazar, Kasauti Zindagi Kay and Star Bharat like Savdhaan India along with News.

    Mandeep Malhotra, Founding Partner & CEO, The Social Street, says, “Working Hotstar is always brilliant and fun. The brand inspires us to unlock new ideas and create campaigns that push boundaries. With the longest billboard campaign too, we wanted to create something that would send out the brand’s message in a way that wows people. We were able to leverage media in a way that managed to create brand-new boundaries. Some of our past campaign work with Hotstar, like IPL Largest Player Hunt and Game of Thrones, too are a testament of the innovation, creativity and impact that is at the heart of brand.”

    With more than a 60% share of entertainment consumption in 2019, Tier II and III cities have been fueling the growth of online video consumption in India. However, a large section of the audience in these cities still does not have access to high-quality entertainment and is limited to watching reruns of outdated content. While some have lost access to paid channels following the TRAI tariff order, others are hampered by infrastructure issues such as frequent power cuts. This issue of access is further exacerbated by a single shared TV screen in large households.

    The new campaign by Hotstar aims at bridging this accessibility gap for its viewers, through fresh and innovative ways to spread the word about its vast library of high-quality free content.

  • Rajiee M Shinde resigns from IN10 Media Network as CEO

    Rajiee M Shinde resigns from IN10 Media Network as CEO

    MUMBAI: IN10 Media, a network with multiple offerings in the media and entertainment sector, has announced that Rajiee M Shinde, Chief Executive Officer of its 24X7 youth music channel ShowBox, has decided to leave the network in the coming months. The decision came through as Shinde would like to pursue her own interests outside of the network.

    In August 2019, IN10 Media launched ShowBox as a music channel under the leadership and guidance of Shinde. The channel has been reinvigorating the music scenario with a range of innovative programming, along with providing a platform for local music and independent musicians. With its distinct content line-up, ShowBox has boosted the current music landscape and scaled great heights in a short period. As per BARC Week 8 2020 data, ShowBox was ranked the fourth most-watched music channel in the country.

    Commenting on the recent development,  IN10 Media managing director Aditya Pittie said, “It has been a pleasure to work with Ms. Rajiee Shinde and we are thankful for her valuable contribution to the network. We wish her all the best for her future endeavours. With the channel's roots deeply entrenched in innovation and disruption, ShowBox will continue pushing the boundaries of quality entertainment to be a platform that's synonymous for providing exceptional musical offerings.”

    Shinde said, “It has been a wonderful experience launching ShowBox and working with a remarkable bunch of creative and talented people, who are committed to bolstering the entertainment space with its diverse offerings. I thank IN10 Media for the opportunity and wish them all the best.”