Category: Over The Top Services

India to be the third biggest SVoD market by 2020

MUMBAI: By the end of the year 2020, India will have the third most SVoD subscribers of any country worldwide, after China and the USA, and is predicted to reach 95 million in 2023, according to the latest Video Insights report by Futuresource Consulting. The report uncovers the rapid change across the Indian video landscape. Data shows that affordable smartphones, cheaper mobile data and faster internet access has driven SVoD growth

The SVoD Landscape is Very Crowded, who will Survive?

While over 40 competing SVoD players are active in the Indian market, the most successful to date has been Alt Balaji, SonyLiv and Hotstar, all of which have focused on rights to live stream sports, as well as entertainment content in multiple regional languages, says the report.

Market Analyst Tristan Veale provides further insights around these findings. “It’s the live Indian Premier League Cricket rights which has ensured the success of Hotstar against the international competition, providing a reason to initially subscribe and its currently excelling in terms of subscriber growth, reaching 8.6 million subscribers in 2019,” states Veale. “Furthermore, Hotstar has a compelling entertainment library which keeps people loyal to the service rather than churning out. As a subsidiary of Disney, it hosts the Disney and Fox theatrical catalogues, as well as exclusive streaming deals with HBO and Showtime, amongst others.”

Nevertheless, key global players Amazon and Netflix continue to heavily invest in local content. Amazon has invested $5 billion to date in India, helping it to reach 16 million total Prime members in 2019. This was predominantly achieved through offering a low annual cost for the platform which covers free ecommerce shipping too. In comparison, Netflix is more expensive but unveiled a new plan which is a cheaper, mobile-only option and looks to increase its footprint.

SVoD Making Headlines but Pay-TV is Still the King of Video Distribution

“An interesting point to mention is that Pay-TV in India still dominates 80% of the overall video entertainment market spend and is expected to continue to grow to reach 69% of household penetration by 2023,” comments Veale. “However, Pay-TV subscriptions are very cheap and as such the difference in price between SVoD and Pay-TV is one of the lowest worldwide. Therefore, it’s not the lower cost of subscription which is driving SVoD adoption, it’s a mixture of the content carried and the convenience of being able to watch when and where desired which is resonating.”

Telcos Tie Up with SVoD

Telecos are looking to form a tighter integration with SVoD by offering bundle deals. This intuitive approach provides a way for the likes of T-Mobile to position themselves as an aggregator for online video services and TV channels available. The success of these bundles is evident from the research, which shows how SVoD subscribers are coming directly from telco bundles. By keeping track of the latest players to potentially partner with, telcos can maintain customer loyalty and build favourable grounds for growth.

Futuresource forecasts that while the numerous local SVoD players will continue to push for subscriber growth, the Indian market will soon become oversaturated and struggle to support them all in the long term. Ultimately, consumers will be looking to choose the best select services on offer. The winner in the SVoD race amongst local and international players will come down to exclusivity, affordability and the regular supply of quality content.

March 17, 2020
Likee ties up with PUBG MOBILE to celebrate the online game’s second anniversary

MUMBAI: Likee, the short-video platform by Singapore-based BIGO Technology Pte Ltd, has collaborated with PUBG MOBILE to celebrate the second anniversary of the popular online game. As part of the collaboration, Likers have been asked to join a hashtag challenge, create video, and post the same to bag jewels.

All users joining the hashtag challenge will get one chance to participate in a lucky draw. The catch is that each user will get just one chance per day. Likee and PUBG MOBILE would award the winners of the lucky draw jointly. A bumper prize is also in store for the participants.

To enhance the engagement level of users, Likee is also designing an exclusive jewel for PUBG MOBILE, which would signify the 2nd anniversary logo of the online game.

The challenge will be based on ‘Open your PUBGM Blind Box’ concept, wherein participants can pick their PUBG MOBILE Blind Box to win special 2nd anniversary gifts.

Likee spokesperson Mike Ong said, “A global blockbuster game like PUBG MOBILE getting associated with a pioneering short video platform signifies the emergence of a new phenomenon. It further reflects the ever-growing popularity of Likee on the global stage.”

March 17, 2020
Discovery Plus promises curated content for India

MUMBAI: Whenever a new streaming service enters the market, the primary challenge is distinguishing itself from others. In a market saturated with nearly 40 OTT platforms offering scripted fiction content, Discovery Plus is trying to position itself with an enticing bouquet of premium real-life entertainment content. After having proven its mettle in the market for over 25 years, Discovery is now looking at making its content available for consumers on convenient devices at a convenient time.

Talking about the ideation of Discover Plus, Discovery South Asia managing director Megha Tata said they figured out that there was a void in OTT offering in the genre, throwing up a great opportunity in the space. Tata also noted that one of the biggest challenges most of the OTT players are facing is the extremely high content cost, an unlikely challenge for them.

“We saw the opportunity was that we had a huge library of content, which is almost like 300,000 hours of content, which gets replenished every year, to nearly about 8000 hours a year, and all this content is owned by us. And a lot of that content has not been seen in India. So clearly, there is an opportunity for us to bring in more content into India, on our platform, which is talking to them in their own convenience, time and device. So that was the birth of Discovery Plus,” she stated.

And Discovery is not just bringing any content, but specially curated for the Indian audiences. She termed it as a product for India, by India which has been created with an understanding of the Indian audiences. “Languaging” will play a key role on Discovery Plus.

While differentiated content already is giving an edge to the new entrant over others, the product proposition has also been looked at uniquely. Discovery Digital (South Asia) business head Issac John talks about a vertical scrolling experience for people to first get a taste of the kind of content that is there on the app. He speaks about the ‘Shorts’ section which also offer three or four choices for each video to the user. It can be shared on Whatsapp, can be saved for future consumption, and the full-length episode can be watched. Moreover, there is a ‘MindBlown’ section to give users the best of the best content within the app by putting it as a collection.

John also mentioned that the app is dropping the episode of ''Into the Wild With Bear Grylls'' featuring Rajinikanth before TV. The platform is also coming up with a unique special on coronavirus. “So I think our way forward is essentially built on these pillars of how we can give consumers not just a great content, but also great product experience to access that content. So that's something that we are really going after in a big way,” he added.

“So what is local content to us is as long as it appeals to me in my language. And that is the beauty of this genre. Attacker running in the wild doesn't really matter whether he's running in English or Tamil. So for us original content for localization is languaging, which is something we have very successfully done on linear and we will continue to do on OTT as well,” Tata said.

Talking about marketing strategy, John said that Discovery content has already a very fanatic user base: the 25 million consumers (he calls them core consumers), who consume more than three hours of content on television. They are essentially activating them through the wide network. The second pool that the new platform is going after is essentially the consumers who have an interest in topics like adventure travel, food, lifestyle, etc. It has also launched a very scaled up performance marketing campaign. The overall marketing strategy will combine both TV and digital.

“The distribution strategy is primarily linked to, obviously, our main platforms like iOS, Android, and web. But going forward, we will also be present on connected devices. And the reason why we are going mobile-first is because we actually want to listen to user feedback across some of these platforms. And then, obviously, adapt the product a bit, get in some nuances of what we're hearing from consumers in the meantime, and then launch the connected DVP approach as well,” John commented on distribution strategy.

Although Tata did not reveal any definite time frame for breaking even, she said that as content cost is very negligible and hence the opportunity to be able to break even and become profitable will come hopefully soon.

March 17, 2020
Discovery Plus streaming app launched showcasing premium real-life entertainment

MUMBAI: Discovery is set to disrupt the OTT landscape in the country with the launch of Discovery Plus, new D2C streaming app offering premium real-life entertainment.

Priced competitively with an introductory offer of Rs 299 per annum, the app has been developed and curated specifically for India. In the initial phase, the company will reach out to the 25 million strong base of core TV infotainment consumers across tier I and tier II towns (defined as those who watch over three hours of infotainment every month).

Speaking on the occasion, Discovery Inc APAC president and International CFO Simon Robinson said, “Globally, we are observing healthy trends from direct-to-consumer businesses and Discovery Plus, with its India focused strategy, is a valued addition. The launch of Discovery Plus is a significant development for our business in India and reflects our commitment to this critical market.”

“The consumer is spoilt for choice in the scripted content space but doesn’t have a dedicated offering in the unscripted space – a place we intend to fill with the launch of Discovery Plus,” Discovery South Asia managing director Megha Tata said.

"Our large global library of 300,000 hours of premium content and expertise in owning passionate communities will give us a huge competitive advantage in the digital domain,” Tata added.

Furthermore, in order to drive engagement, Discovery Plus is launching rewards with Google Pay. Google Pay users who tune-in to the premiere of Into the Wild with Bear Grylls featuring Rajinikanth on 23 March at 8 pm on Discovery can match the audio for the first four minutes of the show or the promos leading up to the show with Google Pay’s ‘On-Air’ feature, and get a reward upto 100 per cent off on Discovery Plus annual subscription price.

The newly launched OTT service will offer thousands of hours of exclusive content across 40+ genres, including science, adventure, food and lifestyle, in eight languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali & Marathi. Discovery Plus will offer premium subscribers a large selection of never-seen-before Premium Discovery titles, must-watch documentaries, India originals and exclusive acquisitions. Free users of the app will have access to all-time favorites from the Discovery library. Additionally, a unique destination titled ‘Shorts’ will feature hundreds of free short-form videos that will satisfy the new and emerging Indian mobile user looking for infotainment on the go.

The much-anticipated superstar Rajinikanth’s TV debut show –‘Into The Wild With Bear Grylls’ will be launched first on Discovery Plus at 6 am on 23 March much before the television premiere which is at 8 pm. Discovery Plus will also exclusive videos including Behind The Scenes for Thalaiva’s fans.

“In a digital world that’s laden with hours and hours of scripted content, Discovery Plus offers a unique and untapped opportunity for us to build on the trust of the flagship brand and offer content that truly powers people’s passions across verticals as varied as Adventure, Science and Lifestyle to name a few,” Discovery Digital (South Asia) business head Issac John said. “Over the next 12 months, the lineup includes premium content across all our key genres such as Into the Wild with Rajnikanth, Expedition Unknown, Coronavirus: The Silent Killer, Food Factory, Mythbusters, Wild Karnataka and Project Runway among many other,” he added.

The content will be curated from brands such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, BBC, TLC, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, ID, Food Network, HGTV, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Motortrend and VICE.

Discovery India has conducted multiple consumer researches to find cues to develop a truly diffrentiated product. In a nationwide research conducted across 10 cities, 62 per cent of consumers indicated that they are keen to subscribe to a product that will offer interesting knowledge about the world. Additionally, research from Vidooly, indicated that interest in core categories of factual and lifestyle entertainment on YT, the world’s largest streaming platform went up by 36 per cent contributing to an overall 70 billion views in 2020. This growth and increase in infotainment consumption has been proven in the consumption pattern of the Discovery Plus destination on Daily Hunt App where over the last 12 months, over 40 million consumers have viewed Discovery short-form videos.

Discovery’s research clearly shows that even though consumers are happy with their current entertainment products, there is still a need for a trusted product that helps them stand out among their peers and that will teach them interesting things about the world. They expressed the need that in various situations in life, knowing something interesting about the world makes them seem smarter and helps them progress in life. This specific need combined with the trust of the Discovery was a strong reason for consumers to prefer Discovery Plus as an app of choice on their mobiles.

Discovery has launched a targeted marketing campaign ‘App Interesting toh AAP interesting’ to connect with consumers across the country. Discovery’s network of channels including Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC, DSPORT, Discovery Kids DTamil, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, Discovery ID reaches 164 million consumers on a monthly basis and all will promote the newly launched service. In addition, Discovery has planned a strong and targeted digital campaign to reach out to infotainment genre seekers.

Content on the app

• Thousands of hours of marquee programs featuring our top talent like Bear Grylls (Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Man vs Wild), Josh Gates (Expedition Unknown), Jeremy Wade (River Monsters, Mighty Rivers), Ed Stafford (Into the Unknown), Buddy Valastro (Cake Boss) and many more

• 4,000+ hours of content at launch spanning across 40+ genres in the language of your choice

• Kids-friendly shows like Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, Crikey! It’s The Irwins, Kids Baking Championship, The Cute Ones, How Do They Do It? The Great Indian Factory & more

• Hundreds of blue-chip documentaries and specials – Racing Extinction, First In Human, The Great Migration, Terra, Sherpa, India Emerges: A Visual History, Apollo: The Forgotten Films

• Exclusives and all-time favorites like Body Hack, Say Yes to the Dress, Food Paradise, Cake Boss, Gold Rush, Savage Family Diggers, Chopped, American Chopper, Deadliest Catch and more

• #MindBlown – a curated destination featuring learning focused collections of kids-friendly science and wildlife content

March 16, 2020
Football Series ‘Supa Strikas’ from Moonbug to be launched in India

MUMBAI: Moonbug, a global entertainment company that develops and distributes fun and safe content for kids, today announced its hit video series Supa Strikas will now be showcased in India. The series has been licenced to Disney India.

Supa Strikas is a beloved South African digital and linear sports brand that follows the leading football team as they journey across the globe and to outer space on a quest to win the prized Super League trophy.

“Supa Strikas’ lessons of fun, sportsmanship, respect and teamwork are incredibly relatable for audiences from all backgrounds,” said Nicolas Eglau, Head of EMEA of Moonbug. “The program is already a top-viewed show on Disney Southeast Asia and Cartoon Network across Africa and will soon be available for viewers in India as well.”

Supa Strikas, which debuted in 2009, is available in 27 languages and in over 100 countries worldwide. The show can be enjoyed across a variety of platforms, including: YouTube, Amazon, DisneyXD, Cartoon Network, ETV, MBC, TVP, Crave, Suria, Studio 23 and Zoom among others.

Moonbug is an award-winning global entertainment company providing fun and safe content for children. Moonbug acquires, creates and distributes content for pre-school kids. The company, which is amongst the largest digital kids IP owners in the world, was co-founded by media veterans René Rechtman, CEO, and John Robson, COO, with main offices in London and Los Angeles.

Moonbug’s IP includes global sensations Little Baby Bum, My Magic Pet Morphle, Supa Strikas, Go Buster, Playtime with Twinkle, Gecko’s Garage and many more. Moonbug shows are available on global platforms such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Roku, Sky, Amazon Prime Video and many more.

March 16, 2020
Netflix and its India story

MUMBAI: Netflix has been making a good catch wherever it has been spreading its net over the past three years. But viewers in Indian waters do not get snared easily by the bait of snazzy and edgy content like in other parts of the world and that is something the streamer learned the hard way. It made a scratchy debut with just a handful of original shows and a thin catalogue of local content in 2016. Net result: only the top sliver (in the hundred thousand or so) of India’s 1.3 billion populace bit and it was left wondering why the service was not getting traction like it was elsewhere.

The answer lay in localisation: India’s masses care very little about Stranger Things or Black Mirror – Bandersnatch – two series that fired viewers’ imaginations in several countries. Indians would rather watch a Naagin or a Nazar. And just having a Sacred Games and a couple of local movies and shows were not enough to make Indians flash out their check books or credit cards to pay the stiff Rs 700- plus monthly fee in a market where cable TV offered a smorgasbord of 700 channels at less than half that price. And CEO Reed Hastings' promise to shareholders that India would bring in the next 100 million subs seemed like an empty one.

Cut to 2020: the SVOD platform seems to be getting its act right and has rolled out a slate of local originals –both films and series – like Yeh Ballet, Sacred Games, Jamtara , Leila, Delhi Crime – and many more are in pre-prod stage or on the shooting floor.

According to media reports, its financials too are getting better. Netflix’s India business grew more than 700 per cent during financial year 2019 recording revenues of Rs 466.7 crore and a net profit of Rs 5.1 crore. Hastings continues to have lots of faith in India’s entertainment-hungry viewers: he has kept a stash of Rs 3000 crore to invest in original content over the next two years.

India needs that kind of investment; maybe more. There are more than 150 free-to-air channels offering TV shows (fiction and drama), movies and a lot more. Premium cable and satellite pay TV general entertainment channels at Rs 12 to Rs 19 also don’t cost that much. And they offer entertainment which suits the milieu that they are living in and even meets their aspiration needs. The main Indian broadcasters Zee TV, Sony, Star and Viacom18 have strong streaming services, ZEE5, SonyLIV, Hotstar and VOOT, which not only serve the linear feeds of the GECs but also offer the shows and movies on demand, apart from offering premium digital-only originals. Then there are independent streamers like AltBalaji, MX Player, hoichoi and ShemarooMe, which too have interesting programmes for their viewers.

What bodes well for Netflix is that it has invested in local hires like Monika Shergill, Srishti Behl Arya, Aashish Singh with lots of experience in the local media and the entertainment industry. Earlier, for the first two years, Netflix executives in Los Angeles had oversight over the India office and the content that was being acquired and churned out. The perks of a team familiar with local content is already reflecting in the recent content slate.

Since the end of 2018, the dramatic change in the overall approach has become noticeable. The platform has joined hands with big names of B-Town like Karan Johar, Shah Rukh Khan, Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Vikramaditya Motwane. Kashyap’s Sacred Games was the first Indian original series to give the platform prominence in the cluttered market. While Red Chillies Entertainment’s Bard of Blood was critically acclaimed, Dharmatic Production’s Drive received negative feedback. At Indiantelevision.com’s The Content Hub 2020, Netflix’s Aashish Singh said that a number of people watched the film adding that the service does want to create content for every mood of the member and every segment.

The diversity of Indian audience may sound a cliched and over-stated fact but no one can deny the truth. Film-buff Indians can now watch erstwhile star Manisha Koirala in its upcoming original film Maska. The platform has also slated a comedy special original Ladies Up. Mighty Little Bheem will also get a new season soon. To battle with the broadcaster-led platforms like Zee5, Hotstar, Voot, which have legacy content and international rival Amazon Prime Video with its shopping benefits, Netflix must reach into the heartland or Bharat as it is called. Especially when it looks to sign on that humongous 100 million subscribers from the country.

Indians are price-sensitive consumers and it's a well-known fact. As is the fact that India is a mobile-first video consumption market thanks to cheap handsets and almost-free data plans. Last year, Netflix hit both these peculiarities by launching a mobile-only pack for Rs 199 per month as against the Rs 799 for the premium large screen experience. In its latest investor conference call, Netflix chief product officer Greg Peters said that thanks to this, they have been able to add incremental subscribers along with an increase in retention.

The platform is also coming up with more innovative marketing strategies. Over the last year, Netflix India’s social media presence has also started gaining more word of mouth in the vast e-universe of the country. It is also recently testing a Rs 5 plan for the intial month which has again created good chatter. Moreover, it recently added a feature which allows users to make their watchlist decision easier. On the back of the new top 10 feature, Netflix members will notice a newly designed row that will show them what's popular in India.

One of the major challenges for Netflix is increasing its awareness to beyond tier-I and tier-II cities. More vernacular, localised content may give the platform a fillip in India’s interiors where smart phones work, even if TVs don’t because of frequent power outages. Although competition is bound to rise for the streaming service in India with the entry of Disney+, there’s optimism abounding about Netflix’s Indian journey in the days, months and years ahead. It looks like its story will have a happy ending.

March 16, 2020
Contiloe Pictures ventures into digital

MUMBAI: For more than two decades, Contiloe Pictures has been entertaining viewers on television through its premium content. This year, the production house is ready to enter the digital space and cater to the viewers of OTT platforms. The company’s first digital series State of Siege: 26/11 will premiere on ZEE5 on 20 March.

In an interaction with Indiantelevision.com, Contiloe Pictures founder-producer Abhimanyu Singh said, “We want to focus on telling stories, from across the spectrum – local, regional or national. Currently, we moved into the digital space, plus we are looking at visual effects and animation in a big way. We have a new facility started in Bhubaneswar and we are housing a few artists there. We are increasing our overall post production spends. All these will be new growth engines even as the traditional platform will continue to be our focus area.”

The company spent a year researching and studying before producing digital content. “We started working on the story early last year when we acquired the rights to the book "Black Torando". Sandeep Unnithan, who came on board, had thoroughly researched for two years. We also got on board Lt Col Sandeep Sen who was second-in-command of the operation in Mumbai. He hand-held us through the whole making process right from research to how commandos operate in anti-insurgency,” said Singh.

He further said, “26/11 lasted for four days and it also has the aspect of a Pakistan-based terror house that trained nine attackers to attack in Mumbai. If we look at the whole story there is an angle of how the attack was planned, how media covered it and one of the NSC commandos (which nobody has explored) and how they fought with those terrorists. In the series you will get to see exactly what happened inside the attack and how our commandos did the whole anti-insurgency operations. This 360 degree angle has never been presented from the commandos' point of view.”

Singh said that the book takes into account all the three sieges of attack and how it happened, who were the perpetrators and how our black cat commando liberated the three sieges of Mumbai. "It’s a large enough story to be able to delve into an eight-hour format. The exciting part is that it’s a new space for us in the way we have approached doing it and the way we have prepped and crewed up for it. It has been a truly enriching experience for us,” said Singh.

The company acquired "Black Torando"’s rights to produce content specifically for OTT. Singh said, “When we decided to make shows for digital space we want to study it in the right manner. Now, finally we are getting a product that we are satisfied of. I believe it’s never too late or too early unless things are done right. The show that I make I should be able to do it in a right manner, so the way I prep for it, the way I produce it or the post- production everything should be done within the confines of creating premium content and that is what we have focused on. It’s a two-year job we have studied, learn, and applied and then we are entering the digital space.”

On the relation with ZEE5, Singh said that it has a big and large audience base and is experimenting too. "We find that this is the time to tell different kinds of stories. We have something in the pipeline and we want to take it organically; we don’t want to rush in,” he added.

On television, Contiloe has worked on genres like horror, thriller, comedy, mythology and historical and that helped in moving into the digital space.

Contiloe's current running shows on television include Tenali Rama and Vighnaharta Ganesh, both which recently completed successful 500 episodes. It has also previously created shows like Veer Shivaji, Jhansi ki Rani, Mahabali Hanuman, Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat, Maharana Pratap, Ssshhhh…Koi Hai amongst others which have achieved milestones in terms of their ratings, audience reception and appreciation.

Singh reiterated that TV continues to yield the same results. "Now TV is being consumed on digital so, there are new sets of audiences coming in. On digital we need to prep well and stand out. There are so many digital shows but only a handful of shows can be remembered. Both have their different set of challenges and both will continue to grow.”

He is aware that there are new types of audiences evolving and a change in television programming is required to cater to them.

March 14, 2020
Hotstar on track for full-fledged app launch on 29 March

MUMBAI: The rebranded service of Hotstar, combined with Disney+ content and the new blue logo of Disney+Hotstar, created a buzz in the market on Wednesday. But, within 24 hours, the app abruptly stopped streaming Disney+ content or the updated logo. The streaming service stated that it was a release of the beta version of the Disney+ Hotstar.

“A limited release of the beta version of the Disney+ Hotstar app is currently being tested with a small number of consumers, in preparation for the full-fledged app launch on 29 March,” a Hotstar spokesperson said.

Former Disney CEO Bob Iger said in an earnings call after Q1 result that it would be launching the service in India through Hotstar on 29 March at the beginning of the Indian Premier League. After successful first few months of its domestic launch, Disney+ is now gearing up for its international expansion. Iger wanted Disney+ to leverage the success of Hotstar in India by bundling the two services. During IPL 2019 , Hotstar registered more than 300 million users.

As the Disney+ content suddenly disappeared from the streaming app, speculations were rife if Hotstar stepped back because of the postponing of IPL 2020. As to whether Hotstar now wants to coincide the launch with IPL on 15 April, sources said it is following the earlier plan of launching it on 29 March.

Analysts are of the view that Disney+ content will position Hotstar as a premium offering. While the service has already positioned itself as the leader in the advertising-based business model, it started its journey of premium fiction content last year. In the fragmented OTT market amidst home-grown players and deep-pocket international players, it will be easier for Hotstar to take off its subscription-based business thanks to Disney content.

March 14, 2020
ZEE5’s new TV campaign gives power of choice, convenience to women

MUMBAI: As ZEE5 enters its 3rd year of entertaining audiences across India, the country's largest ConTech OTT platform, promises to further democratise vicontent-viewing via its new campaign “Main MeraDekh Lungi”. The latest television campaign for its ‘Advertising Video On Demand’ (AVOD) revolves around championing the cause of ‘Choice fueled by Convenience’ by providing access to the library of content across all its 12 languages. The new TVC focuses on promoting convenient viewing. The woman who essays the role, the Indian wife or for that matter the daughter-in-Law in the TVC, echoes the voices of women across India who rightfully have the choice of entertainment for themselves and most importantly at their convenience.

ZEE5, a part of ZEEL and India's largest ConTech OTT platform, promises to further democratise content viewing via this new campaign Main MeraDekh Lungi. The creative route of the campaign showcases how a modern progressive woman who knows her entertainment choices and how can she get it.

A ZEE5 India spokesperson said, “Our aim with this new campaign was to showcase that today, the Indian woman has the right to elect her favourite entertainment TV show (Choice) and ease of viewing (Convenience). The name "Main meradekh lungi" for the campaign was creatively coined from the widely-used term across households, which magically works as a word play for our category. Referring to ‘dekhna’, which relates to the fact that 'viewing is made personal by ZEE5'. The TVC showcases how the app gives the woman, who is evolved and knows what content she wishes to watch, the freedom to watch her favourite shows, movies, etc, anytime, anywhere on ZEE5.”

With this campaign ZEE5 looks to reduce the fight for the remote in single TV households. Additionally, how the Indian women sacrifices everything including her entertainment for the family, would not have to compromise it going further.

At ZEE5 we believe that we are here entertain all equally with by giving freedom to our viewers to watch content at their convenience. This is the true essence of wholesome entertainment with no bias towards time, any particular language or genre. With 125,000 hours of content / entertainment across 12 languages, 800+ Top rated TV Shows, 4100+ Movies, 90+ Path breaking Originals, Super-hit Music videos, 100+ LIVE channels, 30+ News channels, 3000+ hours of Kids content, Lip smacking Food videos, and more, ZEE5’s depth of offerings across content types, genres and languages is hard to beat and appeals to the viewer looking for a complete entertainment package destination.

This campaign will primarily be driven through television. However, other mediums of promotions will also be a part of the overall integrated approach. Since a lot of entertainment gets consumed when people are travelling and it’s about utilising that time to watch your shows when you are free, again showcasing convenience, we want to use transit mediums. So use the following static branding and audio announcements in Mumbai and Delhi Metro and local trains by using contextual imagery and headlines. Radio, In Mall branding in Tier II towns, Social Media and Digital – branding and content marketing on sites will also be a part of this campaign.

Hindi:

https://www.facebook.com/ZEE5Shows/videos/208483846885134/

https://www.facebook.com/ZEE5Shows/videos/2653201481579357/

Marathi:

https://www.facebook.com/zee5marathi/videos/277256719924700/

https://www.facebook.com/zee5marathi/videos/889890838122876/

Tamil:

https://www.facebook.com/ZEE5Tamil/videos/2265126033782106/

Kannada:

https://www.facebook.com/ZEE5Kannada/videos/598053137415955/

https://www.facebook.com/ZEE5Kannada/videos/506881770202476/

March 13, 2020
EPIC ON partners with Foxxum GmbH

MUMBAI: EPIC ON has partnered with Foxxum GmbH, a global leader in the development and operation of innovative Smart TV solutions. As part of the collaboration, EPIC ON will provide its library of premium content on the Foxxum-enabled devices worldwide, including Panasonic, Vestel, Hisense, Skyworth, and Sharp among many others.

The association further increases EPIC ON’s reach across SmartTV platforms and strengthens its presence in key markets such as America, Europe and MENA with large Indian diaspora. Users of Foxxum can now easily access EPIC ON’s eclectic content library with renowned shows like ‘Stories By Rabindranath Tagore’ directed by filmmaker Anurag Basu; ‘Mid-Wicket Tales with Naseeruddin Shah’; Indian mythological courtroom drama, ‘Dharmakshetra’; ‘Umeed India’ with ace cricketer Virender Sehwag; ‘Sharanam’ with Juhi Chawla; ‘Raja, Rasoi aur Andaz Anokha’ hosted by renowned chef Ranveer Brar; Sakshi Tanwar’s ‘Tyohaar Ki Thaali’, among others.

Commenting on the collaboration, EPIC ON COO Sourjya Mohanty said, “At EPIC ON, we are tirelessly working towards associating with global brands to enhance the consumer viewing experience and engage with a newer set of audiences. Our partnership with Foxxum further fortifies our mission of robust alliances and expanding our reach across Smart TV users.” Further added, “EPIC ON’s content encompasses diverse tales about India, varying perspectives and narratives which have not been seen before and travels well without boundaries of geography, or nationality.”

“A paradigm change is happening within content landscape. Content production, organization, distribution; all are in midst of tremendous change. EPIC ON, with its focus on myths, folklore and cultural tales and Foxxum with its know-how of Smart TV technologies join hands to make the EPIC ON experience available on Smart TV’s worldwide and push the envelope for digital content consumption”, says Foxxum GmbH CEO Ronny Lutzi.

March 13, 2020