ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • ZEE5 India improves customer engagement with Appier partnership

    ZEE5 India improves customer engagement with Appier partnership

    MUMBAI:  ZEE5 India today announces that in partnership with leading artificial intelligence (AI) company Appier, it has significantly improved its customer engagement- including a 3x jump in click-through rates and video sampling- through effective use of AI to uncover critical insights about its viewers.

     ZEE5 India launched in 2018 and as of December 2019, records more than 11.4 million peak daily users. As the audience grows, ZEE5 India is committed to understanding viewers at an individual level so it can hyper-personalize the most relevant content at the right time. This requires leveraging viewer data using AI to understand where people are in the customer lifecycle and how they consume content. With these insights, ZEE5 India defines and deploys a strategic mix of communication channels, content and consumption timeframes to ensure high acquisition, viewership, and retention rates.

     ZEE5 India implemented AIQUA, an AI-powered proactive customer engagement solution from Appier that allows marketers to drive engagement across all devices and channels. Using AIQUA, Appier helped ZEE5 India streamline data sources to ensure relevant customer engagement.

     “At ZEE5 India, we are committed to excellence when it comes to both our product and customer service, and we are always looking for partners with disruptive technology to help us achieve this,” ZEE5 India customer lifecycle management head Vani Dixit said. “To engage with and stay relevant to our customers, we need to leverage data efficiently using AI to better understand and reach them at times when they are most likely to take action. With Appier we reimagined how we make consumers’ content viewing experience hyper-personalized. As India’s largest producer of original content, it is our endeavor to make the consumer’s journey on to the ZEE5 platform intuitive and provide them with a seamless content viewing experience.”

    With AIQUA, ZEE5 India has increased the number of specific customer segments by 10 times- from just a few hundred to thousands- allowing for the most highly personalized content delivery. AIQUA also allows for quick development and adjustment of campaigns to meet the immediate and specific needs of viewers. ZEE5 India has increased the number of campaigns it runs through AIQUA by 2000 per cent since March 2019, running several hundred campaigns daily

    “Working with ZEE5 India has led to an excellent partnership, and we appreciate that the ZEE5 team has been so open with us about both their challenges and vision for success,” said Michelle Wong, Appier enterprise sales senior Vice President. “We look forward to continuing to support ZEE5’s growth through marketing excellence, and to helping them apply Appier’s AI solutions in the most effective ways to drive their business forward.”
     
    Appier and ZEE5 India continue to work together, maintaining the focus on attracting and retaining customers via customized outreach, leading to long-term, meaningful relationships with viewers.

  • Budget 2020: BharatNet boost to have positive impact on OTT platforms

    Budget 2020: BharatNet boost to have positive impact on OTT platforms

    MUMBAI: While the media and entertainment industry is heading towards a digital future on the back of streaming services, budget 2020 seems to bolster it. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday proposed to allocate Rs 6,000 crore for the BharatNet programme in 2020-21. The boost to broadband connectivity in rural areas is making OTT platforms hopeful about uptake in online video consumption.

    "Our vision is that all public institutions at the gram panchayat level such as anganwadis, health and wellness centres, government schools, PDS outlets, post offices and police stations — all will be provided digital connectivity. The fibre to the home (FTTH) connection through BharatNet will link 100,000 gram panchayats this year itself," Sitharaman said.

    ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya appreciates the step to promote digital connectivity through its BharatNet programme and connecting 100,000-gram panchayats through optical fibre network. According to him, this is one more important step taken in the direction of achieving the vision of a digital India where rural India gets placed on the digital map.

    The over-the-top platforms are heavily reliant on internet connectivity for better penetration. Moreover, numerous industry experts and reports have suggested that tier II and tier III cities, rural areas are the next frontier of growth for OTT platforms. Hence, the move will help them to expand more in those markets.

    "We appreciate the efforts of the government to boost the digital ecosystem in the country. The increased focus on improving connectivity under the BharatNet scheme and the emphasis on artificial intelligence will allow OTT players to offer bespoke and personalised solutions to consumers. Additionally, the impetus to the smartphone manufacturing industry will make internet consumption accessible to a wider section of Indian society that will expand the scope of revenues for OTT players. The allocation of Rs 8,000 crore for setting up the National Mission on Quantum Computing and Technology will also boost the development of the industry by making resources cost-effective," Gaana CEO Prashan Agarwal stated.

    “It is now a cliché – “data is the new oil” and it is true that analytics, fintech and internet of things (IOT) are changing the way we deal with our lives. To take advantage of this, I propose to bring out soon a policy to enable the private sector to build Data Centre parks throughout the country. It will enable our firms to skillfully incorporate data in every step of their value chains,” Sitharaman added.

    White Rivers Media chief executive officer and co-founder Shrenik Gandhi said that data and digital occupied the centre piece of the budget. He added that the focus on IoT, Data Parks, AI shall make India a strong contender amongst the top digital economies, globally and the ambitious fibre to home proposal should get the next 100 million in the digital universe soon.

    “75 per cent of the users that come on to the internet for the first time between now and the next few years are going to come from tier II and tier III cities as per various industry reports and the vast majority of them are regional language native speakers who don’t necessarily converse in English or Hindi as their language of preference. Anything that is done to bring them to the digital foray essentially allows regional platform like Hoichoi to influentially expand the addressable user base over time and this is a welcome move. Next set of users are to be brought in the digital fold and it not just the combination of digital apps that will benefit from this, it’s also the  information and social media apps that will benefit from wider availability of the internet at the grassroot level,” Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta commented.

    "Budget 2020's revised fiscal deficit target of 3.8 per cent of the GDP seems more realistic and focus on spends/ benefits was required to boost the economy. The thrust on entrepreneurship and tax regulations for both, startups and taxpayers is a move in the right direction. India is the third largest startup hub globally and the announcement of an investment clearance cell to provide end-to-end support to startup founders will encourage more youth to be job creators. Further, the ability to defer taxes on ESOPs will democratise wealth creation for startup employees, ensuring the right talent is benefitted. Finally, the decision to grant 100% tax exemptions to sovereign wealth funds on their investment in priority sectors will provide the much needed funding boost to the sector and create value in the longer run,” Pocket Aces VP of Finance and Operations Kunal Lakhara said.

  • Apple TV recruits Netflix engineer to enhance subscription services

    Apple TV recruits Netflix engineer to enhance subscription services

    MUMBAI: Apple has hired one of Netflix’s top engineers Ruslan Meshenberg. He joined the technical team working for the company’s newly launched TV-streaming and subscription services. Ruslan Meshenberg was responsible for building Netflix’s platform, especially creating a speedier and consistent service for audiences. He helped build out a smoother platform with higher latency.

    According to reports, Michael Abbott, a former engineer with twitter who joined Apple last year is recruiting experienced engineers for Apple’s technical team. With Apple’s services expanding in recent times higher revenue generation, its decision to strengthen the technical department is no surprise.

    Meshenberg joins Apple at the time when it is expanding its $4.99-a-month TV+ service, bringing in additional movies and originals. This comes out as a complex move that has tripped up other competitors in the streaming world.

    Apple seems to have learned its lesson from Disney’s streaming platform Disney + who had a failed launch with subscribers not being able to login due to technical issues.

    In the past couple of years, Apple has struggled to keep up with its technology rivals in terms of its performance and newly launched services like iCloud, Maps and its music-streaming business. For example, its subscription-based magazine service; News+ faced heavy criticism from analysts and reviewers for its default sync system.

    However, Apple TV+ has not faced any major issues since its launch. Meshenberg has the expertise to help address the company’s technical challenges. While being at Netflix, he managed to run most of the infrastructure enabling to increase the streaming with more than one billion hours of weekly programming.

    Moreover, Apple TV+ which started in November with few shows in its kitty is now prepping up to add a bundle of TV movies and shows to its bucket and tapping the international market. It will help Apple to compete against streaming giants including Netflix, HBO, Amazon and Disney.

    This kind of talent acquisition is certainly helpful for strengthening the end-user experience, which is beneficial for consumers who are paying hefty amounts to enjoy a better quality product.

  • Hotstar releases list of new premieres in Premium, VIP category for February

    Hotstar releases list of new premieres in Premium, VIP category for February

    MUMBAI: Binge watchers be ready! As in the race to become numero uno, the Star Group’s digital platform – Hotstar — revealed the February line-up of new seasons and movies across genres. Subscription video-on-demand model of Hotstar – Premium, and VIP – has new seasons of shows such as 2 Dope Queens, High Maintenance, Homeland among others.

    In the premium category, the over-the-top platform is scheduled to release 2 Dope Queens, a weekly standup and storytelling podcast that features Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson, along with their friends and favorite comedians, talking about sex, romance, race, hair journeys and living in New York.

    In a similar category, it has also decided to premiere High Maintenance season four on 8 February, Homeland season eight on 10 February and Comedian John Olive’s satirical cover Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on 18 February.

    The platform, in the movies section, will also premiere McMillion$, a six-part documentary series, on 04 February along with other movies such as Breakthrough and Tolkien on 07 February, and former WWE wrestler starring Stuber on 27 February. It will also launch the fourth franchise of animated movie Troy Story 4, starring Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Annie Potts in the lead roles.

    Besides, in the VIP section, the platform has new regional releases specifically from the Telugu genre. The movies that are to be launched on the platform are Prati Roju Pandage on 3 February and Entha Manchivaadavuraa on 14 February.

  • Amazon Prime exceeds 150 mn subscribers

    Amazon Prime exceeds 150 mn subscribers

    MUMBAI: E-commerce giant Amazon has revealed that its subscriber base has grown to over 150 million subscribers. More people signed up prime membership in the fourth quarter than ever before.

    Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos boasted of its streaming services’ success as well. Bezos said that the Prime members watched double the hours of original movies and TV shows on Prime Video this quarter compared to last year and Amazon Originals received a record 88 nominations and 26 wins at major awards shows.

    The e-commerce company reported its fourth quarter result on Thursday. Net sales increased 21 per cent to $87.4 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $72.4 billion in fourth quarter 2018. Excluding the $120 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 21 per cent compared with fourth quarter 2018.

    Operating income increased to $3.9 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with operating income of $3.8 billion in fourth quarter 2018. Net income increased to $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter, or $6.47 per diluted share, compared with net income of $3.0 billion, or $6.04 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter 2018.

  • Regional to prevail as 2020 buzzword for OTT

    Regional to prevail as 2020 buzzword for OTT

    MUMBAI: All major streaming services in India are keeping regional markets at the heart of their expansion strategy. In the last two years, regional has persistently guided the contenders in the over-the-top (OTT) ecosystem and 2020 is not going to be an exception. Some of the major platforms have already tasted success in the regional markets while others are looking at those markets as the next growth frontier. South Indian languages are undoubtedly the ones getting higher priority but other markets like Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi are also emerging gradually.

    Since its grand entry in the crowded OTT space, ZEE5 has emphasised on three ‘Vs , one of those is vernacular. In 2019, ZEE5 had at least one original web series come out in six different languages each month on an average in regional languages including Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil. The parent company also mentioned in its third quarter result – Kaale Dhande in Marathi, God of Dharmapuri in Telugu and Karoline Kamakshi in Tamil received positive reviews.

    ZEE5 India programming head Aparna Acharekar also explained while talking about the regional strategy that it definitely differs across the markets. Factors like penetration of data or adoption of OTT services, that particular language consumer’s affinities for his language, openness to other languages, etc., influence the strategy widely.

    “I cannot have a one size fit approach for everyone. I am looking at the show that has to cut across say largely Hindi speaking audiences, then my themes will be different because they are exposed to a whole lot of that. Today other competition also, who has entered the OTT space, is largely first creating Hindi content. So whatever I create as a benchmark starts getting compared in Hindi to another benchmark created by another OTT. But we are leaders in other languages and no one has actually come closer, the smaller players have tried little, local players are there. But there is no national-level player who can say let me try to take on the regional market. So, each market has to be looked at differently,” she added.

    Moreover, ZEE5 provides an option to change the display language of the app. If a consumer is not comfortable navigating in English, he can change the display language to Hindi or other regional languages. The platform has seen an uptake in that alternative display adaptation. “In fact with every passing month, we see more uptake of this and we see the relative share of English as a display language is going down and regional language is actually going up,” Aparna said in an earlier interview.

    The young player on the block which already has created a buzz with its Hindi shows, MX Player also has “a very clear regional strategy”. MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar stated that a big show is coming up in Marathi including big names Swapnil Joshi, Satish Rajwade along with two other big shows in pipeline. The platform is focusing highly on south-Indian languages, as Talwar shared.

    “We have some shows in Punjabi, which are in the pipeline. And we have two interesting shows in Bhojpuri coming up. I am so sure that if these two shows are so interesting that if we dub them in other languages, we will get the extraordinary viewership in other regional languages as well. Regional is a big strategy for us moving forward,” Talwar added.

    As per a recent report unveiled by Hotstar, 63 per cent of total online entertainment consumption happens in the non-metro centres of India, and Lucknow, Pune and Patna rank above Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata in consumption of content. YouTube also reported over 95 of its users watched videos in a regional language.

    Other than home-grown players, international streaming services that are keen on Indian expansion are also looking at regional content. According to media reports, a robust content licensing both in Hindi and other regional languages is in Netflix’s pipeline. Amazon Prime Video has a robust catalogue of blockbuster movies across languages. Amazon Prime Video India content director and head Vijay Subramaniam said that the platform will ramp up its language catalogue in Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati and Punjabi while they want to take up Tamil, Telugu further a few notches. While it tasted the water with one Telugu show, he added that Tamil and Telugu shows are in development.

    Smaller players like The Viral Fever (TVF) are not ignoring the promising sector. “We are actually looking at regional shows in 2020. We are working on Marathi shows. We want to line up shows in Tamil and Telugu. In 2020, we will get into regional space and we will later expand into other languages,” TVF chief content officer Sameer Saxena commented.

  • DocuBay inks global distribution deal with US-based 1091

    DocuBay inks global distribution deal with US-based 1091

    MUMBAI: DocuBay, the premium international documentary membership VOD service by IN10 Media Network, announced the acquisition of multiple premium documentary titles from US-based global commercial distribution platform 1091. The deal includes stories on cultural icons such as John Lennon, and controversial Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, both of which are included in DocuBay’s newest ‘bay’ called CrimeBay, focusing on the highly popular true crime genre. The licensed films and new CrimeBay are now available for global streaming on DocuBay in 180+ countries, with the app available on platforms such as the App Store, Google Play, Fire TV, and Apple TV, among others. 

    With the launch of CrimeBay, fans of the crime documentary genre will have easy access to the kind of real-life dramas they like best: from insights into the inner workings of the narcotics trade by the players themselves in Rusty Young’s Wildlands, to the transcontinental operation that led to the capture of a notorious money launderer in The Billion Dollar Bust. In addition to such titles, CrimeBay will also feature some relevant and popular titles from 1091.

    Notable films acquired from 1091 include: The Harvey Weinstein Scandal – story of the legendary Hollywood heavyweight who was accused by more than a dozen actresses of sexual abuse and rape in an explosive New York Times article; The Last 24 Hours: John Lennon and The Last 24 Hours: Elvis Presley – two films that chronicle the last 24 hours of these two global music and cultural legends; Diana: The Royal Truth – the story of Diana Princess of Wales through the eyes of Paul Burrell, former servant of the British Royal Household; and Janapar: Love on a Bike – an adventure-love story from BAFTA-nominated director James Newton that follows a recent university grad who embarks on a transcontinental journey on a bicycle and takes an unforeseen detour.

    DocuBay acquisition & content head Adita Jain stated: “We’re so pleased to partner with 1091, whose exceptional library is right in line with DocuBay’s diverse lineup of films. With fresh and engaging stories in every genre, including true crime in our latest offering – CrimeBay, the catalogue we’ve curated is truly global home for the best documentary features.”

  • ZEE5 partners with Eduauraa to provide world class online eduction at an affordable price

    ZEE5 partners with Eduauraa to provide world class online eduction at an affordable price

    National: ZEE5, India's largest ConTech brand today, amidst the presence of Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Hon'ble Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India announced an exclusive partnership with Eduauraa, a premier digital learning platform. After reimagining the content landscape for Indian OTT consumers and entertaining millions of individuals with an array of bespoke content across 100+ originals, movies, news and its brand-new gamification offering all on one single platform, ZEE5 today, via this partnership, has taken a strong step forward in creating purposeful content for its viewers across the Nation. The partnership was launched at an event in Delhi, which was graced by the presence of Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Hon'ble Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and Mr. Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., Mr. Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5 India and Ms. Akanksha Chaturvedi, Founder and CEO, Eduauraa.

    Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank', Hon'ble Minister of Human Resource Development, during his keynote said, “My congratulations to ZEE5 and Eduauraa for showing great foresight in bringing education to a streaming platform. I am sure that the digital transformation of education will provide easy access to content and democratize education for masses. It should be our endeavour to see more innovation in the learning ecosystem that will allow each child to discover his strengths and abilities and fulfil his dreams in a digital world!”

    India has the world's largest school going population between the age bracket of 6-17 with over 310 million students. Over 55% of Indian students take tuitions, and on an average 11-12% of a parent's income goes on a single child's education. The cost of education has risen from Rs.55,000 to Rs.1,25,000 over the past decade, an increase of over 150%. Despite spending a huge portion of their earnings, parents have no control over the quality of education their children get. Access to e-learning platforms in India remains prohibitively expensive ranging from Rs. 15,000 to Rs.2 lakhs/year.

    When 85% of India earns below 8 lakhs a year, how can India afford this?
    ZEE5 and Eduauraa join hands to democratize education by giving world class quality education content at an
    affordable price, empowering over 310 million students.

    Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. commented, “Education is the most important pillar of any economy. If the education of this Country can be revolutionized, then every individual can be empowered to improve their standard of living, thus having a trickle up effect and in turn positively impacting the development of our Country. ZEE5's initiative with Eduauraa is our first step towards giving back to our extended family by delivering purposeful content at an affordable price.”

    Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5 India said, “Our larger vision at ZEE5, is to be able to build a rich repository of purposeful content across genres that makes a ZEE5 subscription an investment for an individual to enjoy content viewing anytime, anywhere. With Eduauraa on board, we want to create purposeful content and address the educational needs of the young students across the Country.  Quality education should be accessible to one and all, irrespective of age, gender, financial capabilities, and their place of stay. In most cities, a significant amount of household income is today spent on private coaching, irrespective of the child's grade. Eduauraa coming on board with ZEE5 will help us strengthen our education content portfolio. With our wide reach across the Country including metros, Tier 2 cities, Tier 3 towns and villages, we hope to provide quality education to children in an engaging way at no extra cost.”

    The partnership will transform the traditional learning system and provide students of class 6th to 12th standard across different boards including ICSE, CBSE and seven state boards (Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu), in English and Hindi. Concept based learning as per Board wise syllabus will be delivered through interactive video lectures using innovative and interactive methods that explain each and every topic or concept.

    Akanksha Chaturvedi, Founder & CEO, Eduauraa commented, “Having studied at great institutions, I realised that India can be transformed if superior quality education can reach every child. The challenge was that world class education was expensive and only the rich could afford it. We believe technology could be used as an enabler to eliminate all barriers and transform the way education is consumed. In ZEE5 we found a partner  with  a similar  vision.  With a  philosophy  of empowering children and playing catalysts to equal opportunities, Eduauraa was created with a vision to democratize education by using technology, making premiere quality education reach every corner of India at an affordable price.”

    ZEE5 has aggressively invested in onboarding best-in-class technology partners who could help deliver a hyper- personalised and a seamless content viewing experience for consumers to watch content on any device, anytime. With Eduauraa coming on board, ZEE5 will continue to invest further in technology to better the overall consumer journey onto the platform by making the app user friendly and intuitive.

    ZEE5 subscribers would be able to conveniently access Eduauraa through an in-app integration. As part of the introductory offering, ZEE5 will offer Eduauraa free for six months for new users who would subscribe to the annual pack and register themselves on or before March 31st, 2020. Eduauraa on ZEE5 would be available in Hindi and English
    – the only educational app at this price point to make language options available for the viewer.

    Some of the segment leading features would include multiple options to learn and excel such as interactive animation videos, e-books, and practice test papers, English learning segment which is valuable for people across all age groups, content to prepare for competitive exams such as civil services, banking and railways, team of IIT's, IIM's and other Professors who are responsible for the quality check of the content, and Eduauraa Proficiency Quotient, Eduauraa Assistant, virtual classroom and mentor service.
     

  • Pocket Aces launches India’s first Instagram original series ‘Firsts’

    Pocket Aces launches India’s first Instagram original series ‘Firsts’

    MUMBAI: The first significant moments of any relationship are always cherished. With this simple thought in mind, Pocket Aces is launching its new unique web series “Firsts” in partnership with Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk facilitated by Wavemaker. Silk will be seamlessly integrated in the series as an enabler for the wonderful moments in the relationship.

    “Firsts” is the first-of-its-kind in many ways – it’s the first-ever series to be premiering in this format on Instagram, and it is also the first series to have distinct stories in each Season – i.e. Season 2 will have a different story than Season 1, hence maintaining the essence of showing the firsts in various relationships. The series will be released via daily one-minute episodes on Dice Media’s Instagram page, with each episode covering a significant moment in the relationship – the first time the couple saw each other, the first time they talked to each other, the first time they spoke on the phone, the first time they fought, etc.

    In a bid to capture relatability to a school going audiences and nostalgia for the other audiences, Firsts Season 1 takes us back to our school life and shows the magic of an innocent and tender school romance. The series features popular digital actors Rohan Shah and Apoorva Arora, who have been previously seen together in many FilterCopy videos have received much love and appreciation from the audience. Their video ‘Every School Romance’ has amassed over 30 million views alone! The series also features the very popular Viraj Ghelani with talented actor Urvi Singh as secondary leads.

    Commenting on the launch of the series, Pocket Aces co-founder Aditi Shrivastava said, “We are extremely excited to partner with Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk for Firsts. We’re constantly innovating on content formats, and are very proud to be releasing the first-ever Instagram focused web series. The huge success of our web series Little Things has taught us that the audience loves seeing the small, cute moments of a relationship. In addition, we have done a lot of content around school life be it school romance, or exams, school bffs, etc. and they have all worked very well. Firsts Season 1 is an amalgamation of both these data points – showing the small moments of a blooming school romance. Silk with its romantic imagery is the most seamless and intuitive fit for this concept, and we’re excited to bring in Valentine’s Day 2020 together to the audiences.”

    Speaking about the association, Wavemaker India chief content officer Karthik Nagarajan said, “There is a rapid dynamic shift in the entertainment consumption patterns and preferences. Social media has become the go-to platform for entertainment amongst millennials. Taking this cue ahead,  Dice media, in association with Cadbury Dairy Milk Silk decided to create a unique digital branded content initiative – an Instagram-first web series ‘FIRSTS’, for this Valentine’s season. Silk, over the years has always inspired us with its meaningful marketing campaigns and we are sure ‘Firsts’ will be yet another impactful innovation by the brand.”

  • Firework India to onboard various content creators like Faye D’Souza

    Firework India to onboard various content creators like Faye D’Souza

    MUMBAI: After getting into a partnership with Faye D’Souza, Firework India plans to rope more creators to generate quality and genuine content on the platform. Recently, former Mirror Now executive editor Faye D’Souza launched a new channel called Facts First with Faye, wherein she will be speaking on global and national news in 30-second videos.

    Firework India chief executive officer Sunil Nair, speaking exclusively to indiantelevision.com, said: “In the coming months we have plans to onboard several such creators. We will not restrict ourselves from any categories as long as it makes sense to our users and is tastefully done.”

    Google-owned Firework is a short-video sharing app that was launched in India in October 2019.

    While commenting on the revenue sharing model between the platform and D’Souza, Nair said: “The revenues will only grow with her channel’s popularity. As her partner, we will promote this channel. She produces compelling content and I am certain this will see rapid growth in the next one month.”

    Meanwhile, stating it as a revenue-sharing model between the platform and her, D’Souza had said, “We will also be looking at the branded content aspect going forward as the channel gets more traction.” The Facts First with Faye has already garnered 727 followers and the videos shared on the platform have her piece-to-camera interspersed with graphics.

    Content creators on digital platforms are, lately, being targeted by people in power to remove content or restrict them for posting something that’s controversial. In this regard, the Firework India CEO, talking on the independence of content creation, said: “We do not have any affiliations or favour anybody and let users decide and form an opinion. And, it’s the fundamental reason to come out with 30-second programming.”

    He added, “We are aware that India is a sensitive nation and have put together a very strong moderation team. With the collaboration of AI and human intervention, we have the ability to restrict any content that may hurt Indian sentiments.”

    With news being broadcast in 30-second video format, the Firework India CEO said, “We are certain that our purpose is only to deliver the message, what our users make of the message is their decision. Hence, yes, 30 seconds is enough to do that. We have integrated news in our product – as a channel- with the objective of being unbiased with absolutely no other agenda.”

    Pointing out that the country has very informed and aware citizens, Nair said: “The urban youth are opinionated and we must respect and understand that young India can make their own decisions and conclusions and they don’t need many hours of repetitive debates or be told what opinion to form.”