ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • VMate ropes Bhuvan Bam, Ashish Chanchlani for Holi campaign #VMateAsliHolibaaz

    VMate ropes Bhuvan Bam, Ashish Chanchlani for Holi campaign #VMateAsliHolibaaz

    MUMBAI: Influencer marketing is the latest trend in promoting a brand. The marketing being cost-effective and less expensive, a video platform VMate has roped in YouTubers, Bhuvan Bam and Ashish Chanchlani, for a short campaign movie — #VMateAsliHolibaaz, produced by the company itself.

    This is the first time that the two Youtubers, termed as rivals/competitors, will be seen together in one campaign film.

    “The Youtubers’ only condition was that they wanted to be in their ‘own character and zone’ and wanted to remain themselves in the video,” said a VMate’s press statement.

    Bhuvan Bam, who tops all lists of YouTubers in India, feels that VMate is a new platform that would be loved by all. Asked about the collaboration with VMate, he mentioned that his mother is also fond of the trending in short-video platforms.

    Ashish Chanchlani, known for his slapstick comedy, added: “When VMate came to us, we both mutually agreed. We had just one condition that we will be ourselves. I am happy with the way things have shaped up.”

    The YouTubers also dismissed all speculations of rivalry, referring to each other as the “closest friend in the community”.

    It isn’t the first time that artists like Bhuvan Bam and Ashish Chanchlani have forayed into the world of short-video platforms. While the former has appeared on TikTok, the latter has earlier integrated some of VMate’s previous campaigns, such as New Year and #HappyValentinesDay challenge.

    The emergence of short-video platforms has provided an unprecedented opportunity to several artists, who earlier thrived solely on the popularity of YouTube. For instance, popular YouTuber Awez Darbar, who choreographs songs featuring famous celebrities, has now become a prominent TikTok influencer.

  • Hotstar targets Hindi market with free content

    Hotstar targets Hindi market with free content

    MUMBAI: Hotstar has launched a 360-degree marketing campaign, “Hotstar ka vaada, free entertainment sabse zyada”, reaching out to millions of viewers in Hindi-speaking markets who currently have little access to high-quality content for free.

    With more than a 60 per cent share of entertainment consumption in 2019, Tier II and III cities have been fuelling 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.

    Hotstar is bridging the accessibility gap for viewers through its campaign, which spreads the word about its vast library of high-quality free content. Hotstar’s free content includes 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.

    Hotstar chief product officer Varun Narang said: “The next wave of growth for OTT platforms will come from smaller cities as adoption picks up. In fact, non-metros today outstrip metros in terms of video consumption. Through this campaign, our endeavour is to engage with our audiences further in Hindi-speaking markets and take digital video consumption to new frontiers.”

    Hotstar EVP and business head Sidharth Shakdher said: “We see a huge opportunity in building awareness and encouraging trial across Tier II and Tier III cities around our vast and high-quality library of free entertainment, and thereby, enabling a behavioural shift towards online video consumption. Hotstar’s free content will unlock a new world of entertainment for this audience which currently has to settle for outdated reruns on a limited set of channels.”

    The campaign aims to make inroads into Tier II and III markets using mass media vehicles such as TV and print, along with on-ground activations. A unique out-of-home initiative will culminate in a billboard spanning 10,000 sq. ft, the longest ever set up in India, which will feature the variety and scale of content available on Hotstar.

    Other high-impact activations include out-of-home billboards and wall paintings across 80 small towns in India along with a branded mobile marketing canter van campaign. This canter will travel across 30 cities for a month, conducting roadshows across 150 congregation points, showcasing Hotstar’s breadth of content. This will be amplified further with unique interventions such as Nukkad Natak and on-the-spot engagement activities.

  • ZEE5 is India’s ‘most desired video streaming brand’ as per TRA

    ZEE5 is India’s ‘most desired video streaming brand’ as per TRA

    MUMBAI: ZEE5 has emerged as ‘India’s Most Desired Video Streaming Brand’ as per TRA’s recently-released Most Desired Brands 2020 report. In today’s world, with mobile phones and connected devices driving the majority of digital content consumption, leisure binge-watching has become a norm and, ZEE5 is leading the category in its debut year as India’s Most Desired Video Streaming Brand.

    The award showcases ZEE5’s leadership position in content, reach, and distribution, as well as the enormous popularity of the variety of shows and movies available for viewing on the platform. It surpasses all the other OTT platforms who are the well-known veterans of the industry.

    ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial said: “It is a very proud moment for us. A young start-up at heart and being in the business for over two years, we have managed to engage with India’s ever-growing appetite for entertainment and serve them with their favourite content in 14 Indian languages. We are extremely delighted and honored to be adjudged as India’s Most Desired Video Streaming brand by TRA. ZEE5 today has become ‘Super App’ of India with a depth of offering across content types, genres and languages that is hard to beat. We believe that with our unrelenting focus on producing quality content, building a robust distribution network and technology advancements, we will endure to entertain our audience and continue being the top streaming platform in India on any device at any time.”

    TRA Research CEO N. Chandramouli said: “Desire is a longing for a brand irrespective of its need, and the success of a brand is highly dependent on the desire quotient it emanates. The brands which feature in this list have been able to exude a deep magnetic pull that impacts the consumer at a subliminal level. TRA’s syndicated research is based on our proprietary Brand Desire Matrix which measures consumers’ expressions of desire on 36 intangible attributes of a brand”. MDB 2020 lists 1000 brands across 326 Categories and 39 Super-Categories.

  • KidzByte launches India’s first app-based kids news channel

    KidzByte launches India’s first app-based kids news channel

    MUMBAI: There is no dearth of education-related apps. Now, here comes one app which gives an opportunity to schoolchildren to become news anchors.

    KidzByte TV, which has its tagline as 'By kids', enables children to read out news on varied topics.

    KidzByte has now rolled out the new video section, besides reading and read-to-me categories. “The aim is to lure the school students between 8-17 years old to get a habit of reading and growing with the general knowledge-based news”, says the founder of the KidzByte MediaTech founder Chetan D’Souza.

    D’Souza, a marketing professional, launched KidzByte, a news, knowledge, and fun mobile application, in 2018 along with Swagat Salunke. The application covers 17 different topics such as India and world, science and discovery, earth and environment, sports and games among others.

    The application is already on Google play store with over 50,000 downloads and 4.2 stars rating. The platform has onboard five students from Mumbai schools between 9-16 age groups to be the news presenter of the channel. It also has at least 100 quality contributors, whose articles, paintings and poems get featured on the platform.

    “KidzByte is the first Indian app that takes care of kids’ non-academic needs. It recently unveiled its new avatar and added multiple offerings to its core app to provide kids with a dynamic user experience,” says D’Souza.

    The selection of these five news anchors was done by contest; the platform ran across premium schools in tier-one cities. The five news anchors are Vivaan Goel (11), Shaunak Kanavia (9), Dania Mascarenhas (9), Joanne Joseph (14) and Shawna Mascarenhas (15).

    Through seed funding, the founders have successfully raised 2 crores in 2019 from the Goyal group of companies managing director Pranay Goyal. “The two major reasons I invested in this project: The initiative is unique as it doesn’t have much clutter and the belief in Chetan and his passion for the application as he has a lot of potential for getting things done to final results", says Goyal.

    Goyal, commenting on the return of investment, says: “More than business, the moral responsibility is important, however, more and more viewers are being attracted to the platform. Moreover, the targets are being achieved before the timeline as model progress believe returns will come back earlier than what was projected by the KidzByte team.”

    “There are only three stakeholders in the KidzByte. The founders being majority stakeholder, Goyal holds minority shareholder position in the company,” says D’Souza.

    The platform has also roped in sponsors such as FMCG product Unibic Cookies, a stationery product BioQ  and the healthy biscuit product the Growing Giraffe among others. The KidzByte CEO says, “We are against showing the advertisement between the news pieces, however, there will be branded content and brand integration of the sponsors during the news broadcast.”

    In terms of revenue, the platform will have a subscription-based model with a charge of Rs 1200/year with 8-10 articles and news broadcast being published on the platform. Moreover, to lure more kids and parents on the platform it has also kept a non-subscription module with four stories per day for kids.

    The platform plans to market itself through word of mouth method by reaching to the kids and their parents who are already benefitted by this application. It also mulls to do the on-ground initiative to hold seminars in schools and institutions with parents and teachers to make them aware of the app.

    On the future goal of the platform, D’Soua says, “Aim to turn the channel into an over-the-top OTT platform and to get it hosted on its server soon. We also wish to make kids aware of fake news concepts, teach them about online safety and cyberbullying, and eventually give them career guidance”.

    “Our next immediate goal is to tap the 25,000 ICSE and CBSE schools located in Mumbai, which is a total of at least 3 crore students within the age group of 8-17 years. However, the larger goal is to reach every kid in the country irrespective of the background and school”, concludes the D’Souza.

  • Voot to roll-out 4 new originals in a month under SVoD

    Voot to roll-out 4 new originals in a month under SVoD

    MUMBAI: To lure more users, Viacom18’s over-the-top (OTT) platform — Voot — will roll-out four new Originals under the subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) category on the platform. The launch of these four new Original series will happen anytime within 30 to 45 days, says Viacom18 Digital Ventures, chief operating officer, Gourav Rakshit speaking exclusively to Indiantelevision.com.

    The media and entertainment company earlier this year has already formally announced a subscription-based video streaming service — Voot Select, a premium pay service. The arm of the company’s OTT platform will be helmed by Ferzad Palia, head – youth, music & English, Viacom18.

    “The shooting of Originals being already completed, it was outsourced to production houses”, says Rakshit. “As the platform will roll-out the very first Originals, it had to be Hindi genre, however, it will have a translation to other regional languages.”

    According to Rakshit, “Regional is going to be a growth factor for the next five years. Even though Hindi content will grow, the regional content’s growth would be more excessive.”

    Besides Voot Select, the company had also launched Voot Kids last year, its first paid service to tap into the growing demand for kids’ content. Meanwhile, Hotstar has also introduced a new “Kids” button to its website that filters age-appropriate content with parental control last year.

    The SVoD category will provide exclusive content across a diverse multi-genre marquee, of which four of them will be unveiled in a month’s time. “Originals are the big players in the customer acquisition for subscription business,” says Rakshit.

    The data and content have been the major engine drivers for OTTs. Disregarding both of them, Rakshit says, “Our focus is on users more than the data or content. Users exposed to content will definitely provide the data and the reason for our existence is only because of them.”

    “We are putting out a slate, which is our best guess with respect to upcoming Originals, beyond that we’ll start getting data,” says Rakshit. “We have already been live while in terms of just putting out our select service sans putting out Originals. This is done to get likes and dislikes of the consumer.”

    He adds, “On the AVoD side, there is a lot of content we make ourselves under Voot Night Live, which is like an extra innings of the hit show Bigg Boss.” This attempt itself has given a lot many tractions on the digital platform but it wanted to go beyond TV content on the OTT platform and hence the decision to come up with new Originals soon, explains Rakshit.

    Voot is the third broadcaster-led OTT platform, after ZEE5 and Hotstar, to enter into the SVoD category. It has over 100 million downloads on the Google Play store.

    Stating that it’s just a start for the OTT players, Rakshit says, “Don’t believe 2020 is going to be the transformation year. However, it’s going to be a whole decade. In this context, we are neither late nor early to come up with new Originals and in this decade lot many things are going to change.”

  • Kurate Digital Consulting launches in Indian market

    Kurate Digital Consulting launches in Indian market

    Digital consulting company Kurate Digital Consulting has launched in the Indian market. Kurate will focus on growing the Indian market by assisting companies in their digital transformation journey. Companies will now be able to reach out for contemporizing their business models, systems and processes and pre-empting the ever-changing user behaviour through the latest digital technology solutions.   

    According to a report published by P&S Intelligence, the digital transformation market is estimated to value $24.5 billion in 2018, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 74.7% during 2019-2024 to reach $710 Bn. With rapid advancement in digital technology, India is the second fastest digital adapter among 17 major digital economies, according to McKinsey. 

    “Kurate Digital Consulting specialises in digital transformation by defining and creating digital strategies that help businesses redefine business models and processes in the digital era. As consumers, consumption and commerce goes digital, we will help our clients with digital strategies to transform their companies to deliver to these new-age consumers. A robust digital strategy lays out a definite plan of action for digital transformation, the success of which can be clearly measured,” said Uday Sodhi, founding partner of Kurate Digital Consulting, who has held multiple leadership positions in the Indian digital ecosystem during the last 20 years.

    The Mumbai-based company also announced that companies will now be able to undertake the digital transformation journey by integrating digital technology into all areas of a business to fundamentally change how they operate and deliver value to customers. While this might not be a priority for some, it is one of the strongest drivers of change. Companies need to adapt their business models to remain in business or they would simply perish. 

    Kurate Digital Consulting will have offices in Mumbai and Gurgaon and will be accessible to all companies in India for strategic consultation and execution of digital transformation projects. The company has five founding members who are experts in different fields across digital businesses like gaming, ecommerce, digital video/OTT, B2B businesses, B2C platforms, consumer marketing, digital marketing, brand, communication, media and content.

  • The biggest focus area for Hotstar is big scale-big idea-high concept series: Gaurav Banerjee

    The biggest focus area for Hotstar is big scale-big idea-high concept series: Gaurav Banerjee

    MUMBAI: Streamers in India are now bombarded with ‘original’ content on over-the-top (OTT) platforms. With so many shows, the only way to make a mark is by telling stories that matter and offering narratives in their comfort language. Hotstar gets both of it right. The late entrant in the game of originals does want to win the crown with ‘x’ number of shows but with quality stories. Hotstar is also ready to tap the regional market this year.

    It has launched its first masterstroke of the year, Special Ops. The eight-episode series marks the digital debut of filmmaker Neeraj Pandey. The seventh series under Hotstar Specials is not targetted at any particular audience segment but the makers hope everyone watches it, as Star India Hindi Entertainment head Gaurav Banerjee said.

    Banerjee noted the importance of the full-length trailer as it would draw more viewers if it receives a good response. Given Pandey's stature and calibre, the OTT platform is depending on those aspects to pull viewers this time.

    Banerjee said that they would leverage the reach of the Star network and Hotstar to make this widely known to fans and to let them know that something “exciting and interesting” is now available. He is also hopeful of IPL giving a further boost to its attraction.

    In a candid chat, Banerjee also spoke on Hotstar’s strategy going forward.

    Edited excerpts:

    Thriller seems to be a common genre in the OTT ecosystem. How is Special Ops different from other shows?

    We can’t know what other people are doing. Therefore, we have stuck to the simple task of believing in our showrunner, his story and the knowledge of his craft. We've been talking to Neeraj and developing the show for the last 18 months. We have to believe that the story that we are telling has relevance, so viewers should see it and want to watch it. And you must believe that the storyteller has a lot of conviction. They're really motivated and inspired to tell that story.

    How many shows do you have in the pipeline for the rest of the year? What are the new formats you are looking at?

    We have several shows in the pipeline. But we are not defining our success by quantity, only by quality. So we don't want to build a big library. We don't want to drop a show every week. What we really want to do is to have some shows which viewers deeply care about or that hugely excites them. I think for us, that is success. So we have a deep pipeline of ideas that excites us but we want those to be really extraordinary. We don't want to build this business on the strength of library or frequency of launches.

    How are you looking at digital original movies?

    We have done a couple. But the biggest focus area for us is big scale-big idea-high concept TV series. I think that's something that that in India is pretty new. We have been at it for the last 13 months. That's what we will truly stay committed to. We want to learn how to make those well, market them, write them differently and cast them properly.  

    What is your plan in the regional market? Will you come out with regional shows this year?

    We will this year. So I'm happy to confirm that Hindi will not be the only language in which we will be running productions. We want to run productions and make original content on Hotstar in other Indian languages as well. There are already two Tamil shows which we are in very advanced production right now.

    Are you only focusing on South Indian languages?

    Tamil is a huge market for us. In the Hotstar India Watch Report which we reported a while ago, we said that Big Boss Tamil was the most-watched piece of content. I think the Telugu market is important as well. We have big creative teams across many Indian languages.  We have a very strong presence in Bengal with Star Jalsha, great presence in Marathi with Star Pravah, we have the best Malayalam channel Asianet. So I think all those are very powerful content engines and people everywhere are looking for ideas and talking to us and hopefully, we will see a lot of that come through.

    What viewership trends have you noticed?

    I think viewers are looking for variety. And what has worked very well for us is that we have offered a wide range of content. I think people have liked that. The second thing is something that really connects, that people watch a lot. So, I think engagement is fabulous. They can watch a long complex drama when they find the content is engaging and they haven't seen earlier. 

  • Hotstar Specials launches ‘Special Ops’

    Hotstar Specials launches ‘Special Ops’

    MUMBAI: Hotstar Specials, along with Friday Storytellers, is set to launch the biggest spy action thriller of 2020, Special Ops. This fast-paced 8-episode series is based on the role of Indian intelligence in a series of real terror attacks that India faced over the last 19 years. Starting with the 2001 attack on Indian Parliament, the show goes back and forth in time covering several other events including 26/11, Kashmir terror attacks amongst others; and the chase for the single mastermind behind these attacks – making it the longest manhunt in Indian Intelligence for India’s deadliest enemy.

    The show has been written by Neeraj Pandey, Deepak Kingrani and Benazir Ali Fida; all of them have spent years carefully researching the ways of Indian intelligence. Every aspect of the show has been conceptualized and created to deliver a high-quality thrilling experience. Keeping with the scale, it has been shot across numerous international locales including Turkey, Azerbaijan, Jordan and India. 

    Special Ops features an ensemble cast including acclaimed actor Kay Kay Menon along with the powerhouse talents such as Karan Tacker, Saiyami Kher, Divya Dutta, Vinay Pathak, Muzammil Ibrahim, Meher Vij, Vipul Gupta, Sajjad Delafrooz, Parmeet Sethi, Gautami Kapoor, Sana Khaan, Sharad Kelkar, KP Mukherjee, and many others.

    Specials Ops is slated to release on 17 March 2020 in seven languages on Hotstar VIP.

    STAR India Hindi Entertainment head Gaurav Banerjee said: “Neeraj Pandey is one of the most distinguished filmmakers of our time and we are delighted to partner with him for his digital debut. Our goal with Special Ops is to create an action-packed spy series that’s at par with global standards when it comes to quality and scale; it takes forward the Hotstar Specials agenda of bold and varied story telling on a big scale.”

    Neeraj Pandey, who has created the show, added: “Special Ops is a story I thought of many years ago – it’s a big idea that required a lot of patience and research to pursue and develop. With newer and exciting formats of storytelling gaining prominence, we were able to build a fabulous team to create this larger-than-life story that strings together many real events from the past two decades. For the first time in the history of Indian entertainment, the 2001 Indian Parliament Attack has been recreated on celluloid. That’s just one of the many big moments from the show.”

    “A big idea requires the right scale and platform to bring it altogether. This is an exciting partnership for us and has many firsts – first digital series from Friday storytellers, Neeraj’s first on the digital platform and our association with the largest OTT Hotstar. The show has the right mix of scale, talent and pace to enthral and entertain the audiences,” said Shital Bhatia who has produced the show.

  • Disney appoints Bob Chapek as its new CEO; Bob Iger steps down

    Disney appoints Bob Chapek as its new CEO; Bob Iger steps down

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company's Board of Directors has appointed Bob Chapek as chief executive officer with immediate effective. Chapek most recently served as chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products.

    Robert A. Iger assumes the role of executive chairman and will direct the Company’s creative endeavors, while leading the Board and providing the full benefit of his experience, leadership and guidance to ensure a smooth and successful transition through the end of his contract on Dec. 31, 2021.

    “With the successful launch of Disney’s direct-to-consumer businesses and the integration of Twenty-First Century Fox well underway, I believe this is the optimal time to transition to a new CEO,” Iger said. “I have the utmost confidence in Bob and look forward to working closely with him over the next 22 months as he assumes this new role and delves deeper into Disney’s multifaceted global businesses and operations, while I continue to focus on the company’s creative endeavors.”

    Iger added: “Bob will be the seventh CEO in Disney’s nearly 100-year history, and he has proven himself exceptionally qualified to lead the company into its next century. Throughout his career, Bob has led with integrity and conviction, always respecting Disney’s rich legacy while at the same time taking smart, innovative risks for the future. His success over the past 27 years reflects his visionary leadership and the strong business growth and stellar results he has consistently achieved in his roles at Parks, Consumer Products and the Studio. Under Bob’s leadership as CEO, our portfolio of great businesses and our amazing and talented people will continue to serve the company and its shareholders well for years to come.”

    “I am incredibly honoured and humbled to assume the role of CEO of what I truly believe is the greatest company in the world, and to lead our exceptionally talented and dedicated cast members and employees,” Chapek said. “Bob Iger has built Disney into the most admired and successful media and entertainment company, and I have been lucky to enjoy a front-row seat as a member of his leadership team. I share his commitment to creative excellence, technological innovation and international expansion, and I will continue to embrace these same strategic pillars going forward. Everything we have achieved thus far serves as a solid foundation for further creative storytelling, bold innovation and thoughtful risk-taking.”

    Disney Board independent lead director Susan Arnold said: “The Board has been actively engaged in succession planning for the past several years, and after consideration of internal and external candidates, we unanimously elected Bob Chapek as the next CEO of The Walt Disney Company. Mr. Chapek has shown outstanding leadership and a proven ability to deliver strong results across a wide array of businesses, and his tremendous understanding of the breadth and depth of the company and appreciation for the special connection between Disney and its consumers makes him the perfect choice as the next CEO.

    “Chapek will also benefit from the guidance of one of the world’s most esteemed and successful business leaders, Bob Iger,”  Arnold continued. “Over the past 15 years as CEO, Mr. Iger has transformed The Walt Disney Company, building on the company’s history of great storytelling with the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and Twenty-First Century Fox and increasing the Company’s market capitalization fivefold. Disney has reached unparalleled financial and creative heights thanks to Mr. Iger’s strong leadership and clear strategic vision. We believe Mr. Chapek’s leadership and commitment to this strategy will ensure that the Company continues to create significant value for our shareholders in the years ahead.”

    In Chapek’s new role as CEO, he will directly oversee all of the company’s business segments and corporate functions. Chapek will report to the executive chairman, Iger, and the Board of Directors. He will be appointed to the Board at a later date. A new head of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products will be named at a future time.

    Chapek served as Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products since the segment’s creation in 2018, and prior to that was Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts since 2015.

    As Chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Chapek oversaw the company’s largest business segment, with operations around the globe and more than 170,000 employees worldwide. The segment includes Disney’s iconic travel and leisure businesses, encompassing six resort destinations in the United States, Europe and Asia, a top-rated cruise line, a popular vacation ownership programme, and an award-winning guided family adventure business. Disney’s global consumer products operations include the world’s leading licensing business across toys, apparel, home goods, digital games and apps, the world’s largest children’s print publisher, Disney store locations around the world, and the shopDisney e-commerce platform.

    During his tenure at the Parks segment, Chapek oversaw the opening of Disney’s first theme park and resort in mainland China, Shanghai Disney Resort; the addition of numerous guest offerings across Disney’s six resort destinations in the US, Europe and Asia, including the creation of the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge lands at Disneyland and Walt Disney World and the addition of Marvel-inspired attractions around the globe; and the expansion of Disney Cruise Line with the announced construction of three new ships.

    From 2011 to 2015, Chapek was President of the former Disney Consumer Products segment, where he drove the technology-led transformation of the company’s consumer products, retail and publishing operations. Prior to that, he served as President of Distribution for The Walt Disney Studios and was responsible for overseeing the Studios’ overall content distribution strategy across multiple platforms including theatrical exhibition, home entertainment, pay TV, digital entertainment and new media. He also served as President of Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, where he spearheaded the successful “vault strategy” for the company’s iconic films and transformed the primary format of home entertainment from DVD to Blu-ray.

    Before joining Disney in 1993,  Chapek worked in brand management at H.J. Heinz Company and in advertising at J. Walter Thompson.

  • Kantar’s OTT audience measurement aims to be industry currency

    Kantar’s OTT audience measurement aims to be industry currency

    MUMBAI: Kantar, in association with VTION, has launched OTT Audience Measurement Insights for audio streaming platforms at a time when a unified third-party measurement is need of the hour. While the video measurement will come up in Q2, both the companies, on the back of the collaboration, aim to fill the need gap.

    “The idea here is that we hope to provide a third party independent measurement, which tells platforms about what the consumers are listening, at what time which platforms, what kind of content is being consumed. We don't have any stake, either of the parties in any of the platform. The idea is that we want to be the currency for the OTT industry to make decisions about content, marketing and communication,” Kantar South Asia Insights Division managing director and chief strategy officer Hemant Mehta said.

    Mehta added that VTION’s expertise in technologies is the core strength of the partnership, while Kantar brings in the knowledge of using that data to understand from a media planning or market insights perspective. Despite challenges, both the parties are now confident that what they are measuring and reporting to the market is reliable.

    He added that having one standard metric is not possible, it would vary. “What we are giving is our standard variables by which you can evaluate like in any other medium. We've got reach, rating, time spent, share – the four variables which every medium has, we are also releasing those to the industry. And we hope that industry will take a consensus about what should be the measure,” Mehta said.

    He also added that the in-depth measurement data will be subscription-based. As shared by him, along with platforms, advertisers are also showing interest in the data. The recent study is based on a robust sample size of 9000+ stretching across top 9 cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad & Lucknow/Kanpur) among male and female of age group of 18+ and across SEC A, B & CDE.