ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Indian OTT audience: Young, urban and male-dominated

    Indian OTT audience: Young, urban and male-dominated

    MUMBAI: India has seen a healthy growth of OTT audience in the last few years. Yet, brands and OTT service providers know very little about the demographics of their fast-increasing audience. How many are they in number, where do they exist, how do they watch, which genres of content do they prefer, are all important questions that can help in decision-making in the areas of content selection, target audience choice, media planning, market research and brand communication.

    To fill this knowledge-gap, Ormax Media has released its OTT Audience Report: 2019, with a large sample size of 10,000 over the period of May-September 2019. The report puts the regular OTT (online video content) audience in India at 76.5 million. The study defined ‘regular OTT audience’ as someone who watched two or more hours of OTT content every week.

    While the report confirms many of our perceptions about the Indian OTT audience, it also throws many new and interesting facets of its demographics.

    The report finds that Mumbai and Delhi lead with 3 million regular OTT audience each, followed by Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat, Chennai, Pune & Jaipur.

    Earlier in June, a study by Counterpoint Research found that tier I cities bring in 36 per cent of the audience and the top five metros account for 55 per cent of OTT users in the country.

    The audience, however, is heavily male-dominated. As many as 66 per cent regular OTT audience are men while only 34 per cent are women. ALT Balaji’s GandiiBaat emerged as the most male-skewed show, while Amazon Prime Video’s Mind The Malhotras emerged as the most female-skewed show, the study finds.

    The OTT audience, expectedly, is also young. Nearly 60 per cent of the regular OTT audience is below the age of 30, 21 per cent are in the age group of 31-40 and 20 per cent in the 41+ age group.

    Among the OTT platforms, YouTube emerged as the most-preferred OTT brand, followed by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hotstar closely vying for the second position.

    The report also highlights how solo consumption is still the dominant viewing behaviour seen in the OTT category, with 82 per cent audience typically watching online videos alone. Hindi emerges as the most preferred language of online video consumption at 62 per cent, followed by English at 22 per cent, while regional languages, led by Telugu and Tamil, control the balance 16 per cent share.

    Speaking about The Ormax OTT Audience Report: 2019, Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor said: “OTT is an emerging and fast-growing category in India. While individual platforms have a lot of data on their own audience, there is little industry-wide understanding available on who the OTT audience in India exactly is, how many are they in number, where do they exist, how do they watch, which genres do they prefer, what are their subscription triggers, and many other such questions that are extremely relevant to any OTT business. This report, which will be an annual feature, answers many such questions in a manner that’s highly actionable.”

  • Disney+ crosses 10 mn subs within days of launch

    Disney+ crosses 10 mn subs within days of launch

    MUMBAI: Disney’s much-anticipated OTT platform Disney+ has signed up 10 million subscribers within days of its launch on 12 November, from just a few international markets of Canada, USA, and the Netherlands, and in spite of the technical glitches consumers endured on the day of its launch.

    Disney+ is yet to roll-out in many important markets.  The video-streaming service will be available in Australia and New Zealand from 19 November and more countries will join the list in the coming months. While Disney+ will not be launched in India, viewers will still be able to stream Disney+ content in India through Hotstar, even though there is no clarity on the time-frame yet.

    As Disney+ starts rolling out in newer markets, the media conglomerate will see its subscriber base soaring and as per the latest Digital TV Research report, it could have over 100 million subscribers by 2025. The company itself estimates its subscriber base to be between 60 and 90 million by 2024.

    Given Disney+’s unmatched content library strength, offering 500 films and 7,500 episodes of television, the OTT platform was bound to be an instant hit. However, 10 million subscribers from just a few international markets within days of its launch is a huge disruption in the OTT segment by any standard.

     To put this in perspective, video-streaming giant Netflix has only 150 million global subscribers after many years of existence. Hulu, another streaming service owned by Disney, has 28 million subscribers after its launch more than a decade ago.

    The huge response to the Disney+ launch was not dampened even by the technical glitches people faced on the day of its launch that made its services unavailable for a few hours. The company cited higher-than-expected demand as a factor.

    Disney+ subscribers will have access to over 500 movies, including three of the four highest-grossing films of all time – Avengers: Endgame, Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens – as well as films from Marvel Studios including Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, Thor, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger and Ant-Man.

    In addition, Disney+ will offer content from National Geographic including the critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary Free Solo and the streaming debut of Science Fair.

    Also in the library are all six of the original classic Star Wars films released between 1977 and 1999, in addition to recent blockbusters Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. At the end of 2020, the entire Skywalker saga will be available on the service. Besides, it has 30 seasons of The Simpsons, 18 Pixar movies – including Wall-E, Up, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Inside Out and Brave – plus thousands of episodes of Disney Channel and Disney Junior series. These include The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Kim Possible, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, PJ Masks and Jake & the Never Land Pirates.

  • Disney+ crosses 10 million subscribers within days of its launch

    Disney+ crosses 10 million subscribers within days of its launch

    MUMBAI: Disney’s much-anticipated OTT platform Disney+ has signed up 10 million subscribers within days of its launch on 12 November, from just a few international markets of Canada, USA, and the Netherlands, and in spite of the technical glitches consumers endured on the day of its launch.

    Disney+ is yet to roll-out in many important markets.  The video-streaming service will be available in Australia and New Zealand from 19 November and more countries will join the list in the coming months. While Disney+ will not be launched in India, viewers will still be able to stream Disney+ content in India through Hotstar, even though there is no clarity on the time-frame yet.

    As Disney+ starts rolling out in newer markets, the media conglomerate will see its subscriber base soaring and as per the latest Digital TV Research report, it could have over 100 million subscribers by 2025. The company itself estimates its subscriber base to be between 60 and 90 million by 2024.

    Given Disney+ unmatched content library strength, offering 500 films and 7,500 episodes of television, the OTT platform was bound to be an instant hit. However, 10 million subscribers from just a few international markets within days of its launch, is a huge disruption in the OTT segment by any standard.

     To put this in perspective, video-streaming giant Netflix has only 150 million global subscribers after many years of existence. Hulu, another streaming service owned by Disney, has 28 million subscribers after its launch more than a decade ago.

    The huge response to Disney+ launch was not dampened even by the technical glitches people faced on the day of its launch that made its services unavailable for few hours. The company cited higher-than-expected demand as a factor.

    Disney+ subscribers will have access to over 500 movies, including three of the four highest grossing films of all time – Avengers: Endgame, Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens – as well as films from Marvel Studios including Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, Thor, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger and Ant-Man.

    In addition, Disney+ will offer content from National Geographic including the critically acclaimed and award- winning documentary Free Solo and the streaming debut of Science Fair.

    Also in the library are all six of the original classic Star Wars films released between 1977 and 1999, in addition to recent blockbusters Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. By the end of 2020, the entire Skywalker saga will be available on the service. Besides, it has 30 seasons of The Simpsons, 18 Pixar movies – including Wall-E, Up, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Inside Out and Brave – plus thousands of episodes of Disney Channel and Disney Junior series. These include The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Kim Possible, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, PJ Masks and Jake & the Never Land Pirates.

  • Bumble’s “Private Detector” goes live to protect users from unsolicited nude photos

    Bumble’s “Private Detector” goes live to protect users from unsolicited nude photos

    MUMBAI: The safety of people on social media and digital connection platforms is a global issue and top of mind in every household. Bullying and harassment online take many forms and the sending of unsolicited nude images is one of the most pervasive and harmful.

    Bumble was launched as a direct response to this kind of abusive behaviour and the company has spent the past five years of its growth developing features to keep its community safe and secure. The latest of those features to go live is “Private Detector”, which is already providing a layer of protection for those who find themselves on the receiving end of unsolicited nude images.

    The “Private Detector” functionality is simple. Once a nude image is shared within a chat, the “Private Detector” automatically blurs that image and alerts the user that they have been sent something potentially inappropriate. From there, the user can decide whether to view or block the image, and if compelled, the user can easily report the image to Bumble.

    “We were always cognizant that the sending of unsolicited nude images was a critical problem, especially for young women. Our survey data confirmed that 1 in 3 women had received such an image in their lives, which is an alarming insight,” said Whitney Wolfe Herd, Bumble Founder and CEO. “The ‘Private Detector’ was designed to deter and prevent such behavior in the same manner that our other safety features are designed to combat issues like abuse, catfishing, and ghosting, and you can expect us to continue to invest heavily in technologies that champion user safety above all else.”

    While the number of nude images sent on Bumble is minimal, early data indicates that “Private Detector” is a feature that users appreciate. Of the nude images captured by “Private Detector,” just over 15 percent of nude images sent to women and just over 5 percent of nude images sent to men have been reported, resulting in the users responsible for the sending of those unsolicited images being banned from Bumble.

    “Private Detector” joins a suite of safety features that Bumble has deployed over the years, including a ban on guns and other weapons of violence in profile pictures, a ban on hate speech in profiles, the establishment of a global moderation team of thousands to handle user needs, the ability for users to call and video chat within Bumble without sharing phone numbers and personal data, and photo verification to eliminate catfishing.

    In a parallel effort, Wolfe Herd spent the last year working with Texas state lawmakers to develop a bill that makes the sharing of unsolicited nude photos a punishable crime. Recently, the bill unanimously passed the Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence and was passed into law by the Texas State Governor on September 1, 2019.

    “Safety online is a global issue of critical importance and it falls upon all of us in the social media and social networking industries to lead by example and to refuse to tolerate inappropriate behavior on our platforms. The ‘Private Detector’ and our support of this bill are just two of the many ways we’re demonstrating our commitment to making the internet safer,” added Wolfe Herd.

    Bumble is a free app and is available to download in the App Store and Google Play. Bumble has over 72 million users in 150 countries and connects people across friendship, dating and professional networking.

  • ZEE5 Global’s subscription revenue grows with their Festive Pack Offer

    ZEE5 Global’s subscription revenue grows with their Festive Pack Offer

    MUMBAI: In October, ZEE5 Global had rolled out a special festive offer in select global markets, offering a 50% discount on their Annual packs. The Diwali Special offer has seen a fantastic uptake across markets, with the annual pack subscriptions growing nearly three-fold over a one-month period.

    ZEE5 has also seen a huge surge in revenue with the introduction of this offer, driving a whopping 20% growth in total subscription revenues over the period. The offer has seen the maximum traction from markets like the Middle East, Singapore, Malaysia and the UK, amongst others.

    Subscribers availing of the offer now get access to over 100,000 hours of on demand content across genres, and 60+ live TV channels. From catching Bollywood’s latest hits like Jabariya Jodi and Dreamgirl, to watching some of ZEE5’s most popular Originals like Kaafir, Fitrat, and Bhram or catching up on their favorite TV shows like Kundali Bhagya or Sembaruthi, audiences now have unlimited hours of entertainment available for them to watch anytime, and on any device of their choice.

    As the largest global digital platform for Indian entertainment content, ZEE5 has time and again seen a superb response to the innovative marketing and content strategies they have rolled out in various markets, be it across their multiple on-ground events and partnerships, or across their differentiated Originals and other content. The surge in the Annual pack subscriptions post this offer only underscores the huge attraction of ZEE5’s massive and constantly refreshed content library, and love for Indian content across markets.

    Commenting on the same, ZEE5 Global  Chief Business Officer Archana Anand said, “The festive season is a very special time when families come together, and we wanted to make this an extra special Diwali for Indians living abroad by giving them even easier access to their favourite shows and movies with such an attractive offer during this festive period. The response that we have got has been fantastic across markets and only reaffirms the huge demand for our content. We’re thrilled to have made this Diwali such a memorable one for our audiences across the globe.”

  • Amazon Prime Video unveils Children’s Day special line-up

    Amazon Prime Video unveils Children’s Day special line-up

    MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video promises to entertain viewers across all ages with their special Children’s Day line-up. Be it 5 or 50, there is no perfect age to watch a good old animated movie or show. This Children’s Day, Amazon Prime Video has curated a list of titles encompassing both Indian and International shows to ensure that you and your family can enjoy binge-watching together, age no bar! We suggest you take some time off from being an adult and spend your evening catching up on your childhood favorites exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

     

    Kung Fu Panda: The Paws Of Destiny 

    As the Dragon Master, Po has endured his fair share of epic challenges but nothing could prepare him for his greatest one yet—as a Kung Fu teacher to a group of rambunctious kids from Panda Village who have been imbued with mysterious and powerful chi energy. Together they embark on amazing adventures, battle ferocious villains, and become legends!

     

    Harry Potter (Part 1 – 8)

    This is the tale of Harry Potter, an ordinary 11-year-old boy who learns he is a wizard while living as an orphan with his aunt and uncle and has been invited to attend the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry is snatched away from his mundane existence by Rubeus Hagrid, the groundskeeper for Hogwarts School, and quickly thrown into a world completely foreign to him. Famous for an incident at birth, Harry makes friends easily at his new school. He soon finds that the wizarding world is far more dangerous for him than he would have imagined, and he quickly learns that not all wizards are to be trusted.

     

    Classic Popeye

    Popeye is one of the most popular cartoon characters of all time. This spunky but loveable spinach-eating sailor continues to delight young and old with his comic adventures, and the entire the gang is around to provide plenty of rousing fun and action: Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea, Wimpy, and Bluto.

     

    The Adventures of Tenali Rama

    Tenali Rama is the comic poet of Vijayanagara With constant evil schemes by the Rajguru and others to watch out for, Tenali manages to outwit everybody. Join him on these hilarious adventures, as he battles evil puppeteers and deadly phantoms, all the while never forgetting to deliver a few laughs!

     

    Inspector Chingum

    Chingum, the Police in-charge of Shantiwood Police station has a strong South Indian accent. His misadventures lead the character to become comical yet very action-oriented. Chingum dreams of a “Zero Crime City”. Chingum is accompanied by Hera, Pheri, Khabrilal, Chatur, Dosa Anna & Bozo. A vicious villain No Baal who secretly owns a Crime University but Chingum always defeats him.

     

    Just Add Magic

    The Magic Cookbook of Kelly’s grandmother has appeared in a new town with new protectors! Kelly, Darbie, and Hannah must now travel to Bay City to train the new trio on how to handle the recipes and the dangerous downsides. What they find is that the new protectors aren't even friends let alone ready to trust and use magic.

     

    Madagascar

    A pack of not-so-wild animals experience some serious culture shock when they move from the Big Apple to the Mighty Jungle in this computer-animated comedy.

     

    Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

    Your favorite castaways are back and still lost! One of the top movies of the year is even better than the first! You’ll laugh out loud as this outrageous comedy takes you on an African an adventure like no other.

     

    Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

    In the third movie franchise, the gang is back and they're still fighting to get home to New York City. Their exciting journey has them traveling across Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus!

     

    Alvin and the Chipmunks

    Pop-singer Chipmunks Alvin, Simon and Theodore turns a songwriter's life upside-down.

     

    Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

    Alvin, Simon, and Theodore return for another hilarious musical adventure, but this time they may just meet their match – a singing trio of female chipmunks called "The Chipettes."

     

    Oddbods

    Oddbods is an award-winning animated series that follows the comedic adventures of seven adorable, yet quirky characters. Every episode celebrates the 'odd' in everything where seemingly ordinary situations are given a humorous twist and everyone has fun along the way.

     

    The Adventures of Tintin

    The intrepid young reporter Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy, travel around the world, accompanied by a colorful cast of characters and notably, the blustery Captain Haddock, the brilliant but absent-minded Professor Calculus, and the detective twins, Thompson and Thomson.

     

    Asterix the Gaul

    After countless beatings by Asterix and Obelix, the Romans decide to kidnap the druid, Getafix in the hope of getting the secret formula for his magic potion.

     

    Asterix: The Mansion of Gods

    In order to wipe out the Gaulish village by any means necessary, Caesar plans to absorb the villagers into Roman culture by having an estate built next to the village to start a new Roman colony.

     
  • ZEE5 india’s Tarun Katial to speak at 24th paley international council summit

    ZEE5 india’s Tarun Katial to speak at 24th paley international council summit

    MUMBAI: ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial will become the first Indian CEO from the OTT industry to speak at the 24th Paley International Council Summit. The Paley Center for Media’s 24th Paley International Council Summit: Agility in Media: Navigating the Global Market will be held in New York City on November 14-15, 2019. The Paley International Council Summit, an exclusive, invitation only member ship community often referred to as the “Davos of Media”, brings together global leaders and CEOs of the world’s most important media companies, to advance the exchange of ideas and to foster a sense of community. The Summit was first held in 1995 in Italy, and over the years, has been held in China, South Africa, Germany, Austria, India, Monaco, Spain, France, Turkey, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

    Tarun will be a part of the panel, ‘Vertical Integration’ on Nov 15th along with other eminent industry leaders such as Dexter Goei, CEO, Altice USA and Dana Strong, President, Consumer Services, Comcast Cable. The panel will be moderated by Adam Bird, Senior Partner from McKinsey & Company. Within Vertical Integration, they will be seen discussing which approach will win in this brave new world of content creation and distribution platforms? As companies across all sectors of media, tech and business are addressing this challenge in a variety of surprising ways.

    ZEE5 is India’s largest ConTech brand, delighting Indian audiences through the magnitude of content produced in 12 languages and delivering a hyper-personalised experience for Segment of ONE at scale. In 2019 itself, ZEE5 has rolled out around 25 original shows across genres, and the platform is committed to launching 72+ shows by March 2020. It has crossed 70 million+ downloads since launch on the Play Store and had 9 million DAUs as of September 2019.

    The Paley Center for Media, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, leads the discussion about the cultural, creative, and social significance of television, radio, and emerging platforms for the professional community and media-interested public. Drawing upon its curators, collection, and relationships with the media community, The Paley Center for Media examines the intersections between media and society.

  • We want VOOT Kids to be the go-to destination for parents: Viacom18’s Saugato Bhowmik

    We want VOOT Kids to be the go-to destination for parents: Viacom18’s Saugato Bhowmik

    MUMBAI: Viacom18, after establishing its main OTT service Voot, is now entering the digital space for kids with VOOT Kids. The subscription-based app targets the age group of two to eight year olds.

    VOOT Kids, which is priced at Rs 99 per month and Rs 799 per year, houses content in seven different languages. While all of the content is available either in Hindi or English, a certain part of the content is also available in five other regional languages. VOOT Kids business head Saugato Bhowmik said that the content will soon be available in all the seven languages. The app has 20,000 pieces of content including over 6000 hours of video.

    “Parents are always looking to curate multiple fun-learning opportunities for their kids because parents believe in holistic development of their children which means emotional development, mental faculties development, social skills development, physical development and entertainment. They are looking for all these developmental needs like curating multiple different fun-learning opportunities for their child. They invest in DYI, books, toys, crafts, puzzles today and they are spending a lot of money. So, for us the challenge was how do we go beyond entertainment where we are leaders and create a leading proposition which nobody has been able to do till now delivering both entertainment and fun-learn together,” he said.

    Bhowmik is confident that people will subscribe because VOOT Kids seamlessly delivers and offers videos and tools, fun-learn tools, e-books, audio stories, fun-learn quizzes across five skill domains with parental control in a kid-friendly environment and design.

    Considering their offering, the company feels that the pricing is justified. Parents are anyway spending a lot on each of these individually.

    “We believe that fun-learning multiple different skills is very important at this stage. As you grow older, formal pedagogy becomes much more important. We did not want to get into that. We are not an ed-tech platform. So, that’s the clear choice we made. We wanted to impact early skill and learning development skill of the child. We also believe that this age group is not being served properly. There is lot of offering for 8-10-year-old kids. This early generation is under-served. We did not find anything that serves fun and learning together,” he explained the rationale of the target group.

    The platform wants to leverage the entire power of Viacom18 for marketing the new kid in the house. Although it has its own media vehicle at home, it will still go beyond that by running cross-media, cross-TV, out-of-home campaigns along with on ground activities and influencer marketing. Bhowmik added that it will also be engaging in conversation with school, school teachers and the entire community in future to drive the message that screen-time is not bad if parents can make it meaningful.

    Interestingly, the app just launched two days before Children’s Day. “We just want VOOT Kids to become the go-to destination for parents. If we are able to do that, there are millions of households who are willing to invest money in valuable fun-learning services like us,” he signed off. 

  • Indians await eagerly as Disney+ launches in foreign markets

    Indians await eagerly as Disney+ launches in foreign markets

    Mumbai: Walt Disney’s OTT service Disney+ launched in the US, Canada and Netherlands today, even as there is no clarity on when its unmatchable content library, offering 500 films and 7,500 episodes of television, will be made available to Indian viewers through its Hotstar platform.

    In April it was reported that while Disney+ will not be launched in India, viewers will still be able to stream its content directly via Hotstar at no extra cost. This could be a smart move since Hotstar, which is a subsidiary of Star India, is now owned by Disney and having a subscriber base of over 300 million, it’s currently the most popular OTT platform in India.

    Hotstar, reportedly, has elaborate plans to localise Disney+ content, by dubbing shows and movies and adding subtitles in multiple Indian languages including Hindi, Telugu and Tamil. Hotstar already offers its original shows in seven Indian languages.

    While November also saw the launch of much-awaited Apple TV+ at as low as Rs 99 per month in India, Disney+, a late-entrant to OTT platform, is set to stand out in the crowded Indian OTT market, owing to its unmatchable content library.

    Disney+ unmatchable content library

    The streaming service will offer over 500 movies, including three of the four highest grossing films of all time – Avengers: Endgame, Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens – as well as films from Marvel Studios including Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, Thor, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger and Ant-Man.

    Rounding off the movie line-up are Marvel television series from the 1970s to present day, including X-Men, Spider-Man and Marvel’s Runaways.

    In addition, Disney+ will offer content from National Geographic including the critically acclaimed and award- winning documentary Free Solo and the streaming debut of Science Fair.

    Also in the library are all six of the original classic Star Wars films released between 1977 and 1999, in addition to recent blockbusters Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. By the end of 2020, the entire Skywalker saga will be available on the service. Besides, it has 30 seasons of The Simpsons, 18 Pixar movies – including Wall-E, Up, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Inside Out and Brave – plus thousands of episodes of Disney Channel and Disney Junior series. These include The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Kim Possible, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, PJ Masks and Jake & the Never Land Pirates.

    Disney+ India strategy

    In April it was reported that Hotstar is going to offer Disney+ content at no extra cost. Its existing plans are—Hotstar Premium at Rs 299 per month and Rs 999 per year and Hotstar VIP at Rs. 365 per year.

    Given Disney’s unmatched content library and the fact that this content will be streaming on Hotstar at no extra cost, Indian consumers, especially in the metro cities, are eagerly awaiting its launch. Marvel Studio films have a huge fan base in Indian metro cities and although Disney+ has not announced any Indian original shows, this is not going to pinch subscribers as they already have access to Hotstar original Indian shows in as many as seven Indian languages.

    Industry experts are unanimous that the strategy behind bundling of Disney+ content at Hotstar will, no doubt, help the OTT platform that already has exclusive digital telecasting rights for big sporting events like IPL, ISL, and pro-Kabbadi league, and will help it emerge as the undisputed leader in the crowded OTT market in India.

  • Walt Disney OTT platform Disney+ goes on-air in US, Canada, and the Netherlands

    Walt Disney OTT platform Disney+ goes on-air in US, Canada, and the Netherlands

    Mumbai: Disney+ has launched today in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, with The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) CEO Robert Iger declaring it a “historic moment” for the company.

    The service arrives with nearly 500 films and 7,500 episodes of television from brands such as Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic and costs US$6.99 per month or US$69.99 for a year.

    Series exclusive to the service include The Mandalorian, the first-ever live-action Star Wars series; High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a scripted series set at the real-life East High featured in the blockbuster film franchise; docu-series The World According to Jeff Goldblum from National Geographic; Marvel’s Hero Project; and Encore! executive produced by Kristen Bell.

    Beginning November 15, most new episodes of each series will premiere on Fridays at 12:01 AM PT.

    “The launch of Disney+ is a historic moment for our company that marks a new era of innovation and creativity,” said Iger, chairman and CEO, TWDC.

    TWDC expects to launch Disney+ in most major global markets within its first two years. It will launch next week in Australia, New Zealand and Puerto Rico on November 19.

    It was announced earlier this month that on March 31, 2020, the ad-free service will launch in markets across Western Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

    Disney+ features three of the four highest grossing films of all time in Avengers: Endgame, Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, plus animated classics Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty & the Beast, Pinocchio, Bambi and The Lion King.

    Elsewhere, it has 30 seasons of The Simpsons, 18 Pixar movies – including Wall-E, Up, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Toy Story, Inside Out and Brave – plus thousands of episodes of Disney Channel and Disney Junior series. These include The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Kim Possible, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, PJ Masks and Jake & the Never Land Pirates.

    It also features over 400 hours of content from National Geographic, including the critically acclaimed and award-winning documentary Free Solo and the streaming debut of Science Fair.

    Also in the library are all six of the original classic Star Wars films released between 1977 and 1999, in addition to recent blockbusters Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. By the end of 2020, the entire Skywalker saga will be available on the service.

    It also includes films from Marvel Studios including Captain America: Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Iron Man 2, Thor, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger and Ant-Man.

    Rounding off the library are Marvel television series from the 1970s to present day, including X-Men, Spider-Man and Marvel’s Runaways.

    Disney+ offers subscribers up to four concurrent streams, unlimited downloads on up to 10 devices, personalised recommendations and the ability to set up to seven different profiles. Additionally, parents have the ability to set profiles for children to access age-appropriate content.

    Starting today, consumers in the US also have the opportunity to purchase a Disney bundle featuring Disney+, Hulu (with ads) and ESPN+ for US$12.99 per month.