ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • ZEE5 Partners with DViO to drive its social media strategy in international markets

    ZEE5 Partners with DViO to drive its social media strategy in international markets

    MUMBAI: Global digital entertainment platform ZEE5 today announced that the multi-country, integrated social media and marketing agency, DViO has been brought onboard to drive its social media strategy for APAC, MENA and Europe. The mandate was won following a multi-agency pitch. The brand will be handled by the agency’s Mumbai office.

    DViO Digital gets onboarded at a time when ZEE5 is aggressively ramping up its expansion across markets. Launched across 190+ markets in October 2018 with over 100,000 hours of content across TV Shows, Movies, Originals and more, ZEE5 has already seen tremendous success in key international markets among South Asian audiences. The streaming platform recently announced the addition of content across 5 international languages Thai, Malay, Bahasa, Russian and German, making its vast bouquet of content accessible now even to mainstream audiences in these markets who love Indian movies and TV Shows.

    DViO has been mandated to drive cohesive social media strategies for ZEE5 with a digital first approach across APAC, MENA and Europe and craft experiences that will further strengthen the connect that ZEE5 has built with its international audiences in these markets.

    Commenting on this appointment, Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 Global said, “We are growing exponentially and as we ramp up our presence across global markets, it is imperative for us to have the right partners on board to further propel this growth. DViO brings to the table strong strategic and creative expertise in the social media space and we’re looking at working closely with them to help us drive deeper engagement with our audiences across markets.”

    Sowmya Iyer founder & CEO Dvio Digital said, "We see fantastic synergies in our partnership with ZEE5. Our deep experience in the entrainment business and our international footprint in the markets ZEE5 is already growing in will help us work on strategic and cultural nuances of each market to strengthen and rapidly grow ZEE5’s presence. The platform has already been getting great responses from its audiences, especially in the APAC, MENA and Europe regions. ZEE5 is a brand built on legacy and has a great story to tell every single day. We are entrusted with the responsibility to build a digital communication framework to inspire, strengthen, connect and shape the brand globally. This is really exciting for us and we are looking forward."

  • Young Indians under 35 years of age drive OTT consumption

    Young Indians under 35 years of age drive OTT consumption

    MUMBAI: Although users of all age groups are consuming over-the-top (OTT) platforms, young Indians under 35 years of age accounted for 89 per cent of OTT platform users. The age groups of 16-24 and 25-35 contributed equally to the overall market, Counterpoint Research’s India OTT Video Content Market Consumer Survey revealed. Moreover, male users account for 79 per cent of the total users.

    The report also revealed that the top five metros accounted for 55 per cent of OTT video platform users, while tier I cities accounted for another 36 per cent of users. In addition to that, Hotstar leads the Indian OTT video content market, followed by Amazon’s Prime Video, SonyLIV, Netflix, Voot, Zee5, ALTBalaji, and Eros Now in terms of the percentage of respondents subscribed to each platform.

    While subscription-based market (SVOD) continues to grow significantly, the market remains highly focused on the ad-based model (AVOD), where advertisements drive revenues.  Notably, Eros Now users were the most engaged users, with 68 per cent indicating that they watched content on the platform daily. As per the report, 9 per cent of Eros Now’s users watch content on the platform for more than 21 hours a week.

    As per the survey, salaried employees was the largest consumer group of OTT users, followed by students, business owners, housewives, and others in terms of overall demographics. While more than one-third of the respondents indicated that they were inclined to use free services, another third indicated that they were paying for the subscription. Among the remaining respondents, some of them were either on trial period or indicated that their friend or family paid the subscription cost.

    In line with popular belief, smartphone has emerged as the most popular device for OTT video content consumption and Xiaomi has acquired the place of most popular smartphone brand. Reliance Jio has taken the place of the most popular network among OTT users, followed by Airtel and Vodafone-Idea.

    Although regional languages are gradually becoming very important, most preferred languages for video content are Hindi and English till now. However, Telugu was found to be most popular among regional ones, followed by Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi and Tamil.

    The market leader Hotstar has the highest penetration of non-paying user and 56 per cent of Hotstar users hail from metro cities. On the other hand, international giants Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have high popularity in metros as top five metros account for more than 65 per cent users on these platforms.

    Among others, 40 per cent of SonyLIV users hail from these cities and Voot has the greatest reach among female users. ALTBalaji scored the highest among 25-35 age group users, who account for 59 per cent of its users while Eros Now has the largest share of its users in the 25-39 age group in tier II/III cities.

  • HOOQ raises the excitement quotient with Krypton S2 and Younger S6

    HOOQ raises the excitement quotient with Krypton S2 and Younger S6

    MUMBAI: HOOQ – the largest Video-on-Demand service in Southeast Asia, announced the launch of two of the most engaging shows – Krypton Season 2 and Younger Season 6. The second season of Krypton titled ‘Light years from Home’ promises to be bigger, better, and even more thrilling than the Superman prequel. On the other hand, while the first five seasons of Younger have had a great run, Younger Season 6 has so much more to unveil than what is already known.

    The fight to save Superman’s home planet continues when Krypton returns. The first season of Krypton, led by showrunner Cameron Welsh, did an admirable job of combining political intrigue with sci-fi and time-travel tropes. Season 1 ended on a particularly dramatic note, with Superman’s grandfather Seg-El (Cameron Cuffe) saving Krypton by trapping himself and Brainiac in the Phantom Zone, a prison outside time and space. The fascinating story is likely to continue and keep one gripped.  This season hopes to maintain the legacy and stand true to the expectations set in Season 1.

    Younger is a romantic-comedy celebrating female friendships and millennial empowerment. The first 5 seasons showcases the lead characters navigating relationships in a distinct manner. The previous season ended with Zane Anders played by Charles Michael Davis stepping down from his post and Kelsey Peters played by Hilary Duff taking over. In Season 6, Younger remains a fizzy New York fantasy that’s light without sacrificing its intelligence. The cast lives up to its charm and totally in control of the show’s snarky-to-poignant tonal shifts.

    Krypton Season 2 and Younger Season 6 is available on HOOQ along with the previous seasons and subsequent episodes of both the shows will be available every Thursday. Tune into HOOQ to experience the drama unfold.

  • Netflix may hit critical point of business very soon

    Netflix may hit critical point of business very soon

    MUMBAI: Netflix may soon witness a crucial moment in its business soon. After William Blair analyst Ralph Schackart said on Monday that the stock can rise 22 per cent by the end of the year, shares of the streaming giant gained more than 3 per cent.

    Since the gain in stock in the first two weeks of 2019, Netflix stock has been stuck in a tight trading range without actually moving towards higher or lower direction. Hence, Monday’s suggestion has come as a significant boost to the OTT platform.

    According to a report from CNBC, research firm Bespoke said that this is Netflix’s tightest trading range on record and after such a long period of consolidation the stock could be poised for a big move higher or lower.

    The report also added that another analyst, Fairlead Strategies’ Katie Stockton is predicting a higher move as the stock has reached oversold levels. Moreover, the media giant is also trading above its 200-day moving average which she believes also indicates the continuation of a long-term uptrend.

    “There are a couple of things working for the chart. It’s in a long-term uptrend. We do tend to look at ranges within long-term uptrends as continuation patterns, and of course strong support and a strong tape,” she said as quoted by CNBC. But according to her, the stock needs to surpass $387 to climb even higher.

    “We need to see some kind of breakout of course from this range for a positive long-term technical catalyst, but Netflix is oversold after having underperformed, so it’s at this proving ground right now on its chart,” she added.

    While Netflix, the most expensive of the FANG stocks, trades at 78 times forward earnings, Point View Wealth Management’s John Petrides thinks the valuation is unjustified because of slowdown in subscriber growth and an increase in streaming competition.

    “The market knows that they have a first-mover advantage in streaming, but that’s really discounting very high future cash flows,” he commented as quoted by CNBC. He also thinks that Netflix is in an unfavourable position compared to peers in terms of content as “they don’t have a library” and instead buy original content.

    “They’re burning through $2 – $3 billion a year in free cash flow. The moment that stops is when I think ironically the valuation comes flying out of the stock,” he added.

  • Publicis Capital bags the creative mandate of ZEE5 India

    Publicis Capital bags the creative mandate of ZEE5 India

    Mumbai : Carrying on with its winning momentum, Publicis Capital has bagged the creative mandate of ZEE5 India, India’s fastest growing OTT platform. The agency will manage the creative duties for the leading OTT brand across their AVOD, SVOD, Regional SVOD and Trade (B2B) verticals.

    The account will be serviced out of Mumbai.

    ZEE5 is a leading OTT player in India offering 12 navigational and featured languages across original features, live TV, catch up TV, lifestyle shows, children's programmes, exclusive short series and acclaimed plays. It offers an exhaustive array of content; with 80+ live TV channels and 1.25 lac+ hours of viewing across the languages of English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Punjabi making it a complete video destination for OTT viewers.

    On appointing Publicis Capital as its agency, Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, ZEE5 India commented, “Earlier this year, we completed one year of operations. This year has been one of many learnings and insights. We were keen to bring on board partners who understand our business and have the ability to scale with us. As we continue to be the fastest growing OTT platform in India, we found Publicis delivering on all boxes. We look forward to partnering with Publicis in our next phase of growth.”

    On winning the account, Srija Chatterjee, MD, Publicis India commented: “In 2017, we inaugurated our relationship with the ZEEL family with the broadcast bouquet, in 2018 we expanded it by winning the mandate to launch ZEE5 in the international markets, and now in 2019, the team at ZEE5 India has awarded us the creative mandate for partnering the OTT business in the domestic market as well. It’s when we grow with our clients that we feel true gratification. We’re looking forward to this exciting journey and in partnering ZEE5 India to leadership in what’s an increasingly action-packed category.”

    Adding his views, Suraj Pombra, EVP, Publicis Capital said: “The decibels in the OTT category find no parallel today. The future leadership of content consumption is what all brands are fighting for. We feel privileged to have been chosen by ZEE5 India to partner them in what’s going to be a thrilling battle with daily non-stop action. With their unmatched content library that finds appeal across the country, ZEE5 is poised to be the go-to destination for all Indian viewers. Here’s to leading the change together.”

    ZEE5 is home to 1 lakh hours of On Demand Content and 80+ live TV channels. With over 3500 films, 500+ TV shows, 4000+ music videos, LIVE TV Channels across 12 languages, ZEE5 presents a blend of unrivalled content offering for its viewers across the nation and worldwide. ZEE5 also offers ground-breaking features like 11 navigational languages, content download option, seamless video playback and Voice Search.

  • Content choice drives Indians’ subscription to multiple OTT platforms

    Content choice drives Indians’ subscription to multiple OTT platforms

    MUMBAI: OTT subscription fatigue is a myth in India for now. While subscribing to multiple OTT services, Indian subscribers rely on content as the driving force. There are three primary reasons for this – demand for more content options (42 per cent), satisfying the content needs for an entire family (42 per cent) and all content not being available on one single OTT service (42 per cent).

    “Our research findings suggest that the online TV consumer in India sees the value in TV content whether they are paying with greater focus and attention, or with their money,” says Brightcove India sales director Janvi Morzaria.

    The study run by Brightcove polled 9,000 participants across nine countries in Asia, including 1,000 consumers in India. It also revealed that 79 per cent of respondents welcomed the hybrid model of OTT. The report said that 35 per cent of respondents are open to a reduced monthly subscription package that serves ads depending on the price, whereas 44 per cent said they would definitely sign up.

    25 per cent of Indian respondents wants to pay nothing and watch ads as a trade-off to consuming content while 25 per cent elected to pay a lower fee with limited ads. Just 14 per cent agreed to pay a higher fee to be free from ads and 14 per cent would like an option where they can customise their price and ad packages. 37 per cent of respondents wanted to pay less than $1 per month, 27 per cent would pay $1-$4 per month, and 16 per cent would pay $5-$9 per month.

    “Indian consumers do not mind seeing ads as part of their shows, especially if they are getting a deal. 79 per cent of Indian respondents stated that they are open to a hybrid plan of ad-funded SVOD that comes with a reduced price,” she added.

    It also emerged that offline downloads, access on mobile, and using less data on mobile were the top three OTT service features most wanted by Indian consumers. 22 per cent of Indian respondents found two ads as an acceptable advertising load per ad break and 13 per cent were open to three ads per break. In addition to that, 67 per cent of respondents were receptive to the idea of shoppable TV.

    “OTT service providers should take advantage of this preference and make the advertising experience engaging while limiting ad loads per break. Consumers are now willing to watch ads if they have the option to subscribe to a reduced price plan,” she commented.

  • Hungama appoints Tapan Sharma as the vice president for integrated media sales

    Hungama appoints Tapan Sharma as the vice president for integrated media sales

    MUMBAI: Hungama, India’s leading digital entertainment company, has appointed Tapan Sharma as the Vice President for Integrated Media Sales. With over 16 years of work experience in ad sales and content monetization, Tapan comes to Hungama from Gaana where he served as the National Head – Audio Sales and led monetization of the platform inventory and content.

    Commenting on Tapan’s appointment, Siddhartha Roy, COO, Hungama Digital Media said, “Tapan brings with him a rich experience and a deep understanding of the country’s media sales landscape. We welcome him to the Hungama family and are certain his expertise will help us strengthen and optimize our monetization strategy further.”

    Speaking about his new role, Tapan Sharma said, “Hungama is amongst the leading internet companies in India and has been instrumental in transforming the digital entertainment habits of users. I am delighted to join a dynamic team and excited to lead strategic programs that drive sales and augment monetization.”

    Prior to Gaana, Tapan worked at Sony Pictures Networks as Assistant Vice President leading ad sales for their music channel cluster. He has also worked at Fever 104 FM, Omnicom Media Group, 94.3 MY FM, BIG 92.7 FM, Essar Telecom Retail Limited and Bharti Retail Limited in various capacities. 

  • One Digital Entertainment to focus on content localisation, international expansion and tech innovation

    One Digital Entertainment to focus on content localisation, international expansion and tech innovation

    MUMBAI: Along with focusing on reaching out to global audiences, digital content network One Digital Entertainment is also focusing on the niche regional ones. Meanwhile, localisation of content is a key focus area this year.

    “Besides the content for Hindi and English speaking audiences, we have a lot of creators producing content in regional languages like Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Haryanvi, Bhojpuri, and Gujarati etc.  And we are strongly looking at expanding it. The localisation of content is a key focus area this year,” One Digital Entertainment (ODE) COO and co-founder Gurpreet Singh commented in an interview with indiantelevision.com.

    The company is also planning to explore other international markets especially Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Singh added that the company’s popular in-house IP India’s Digital Chef is in the production phase with the scale being bigger than last year. More distinct IPs are being launched in the music, comedy and fiction spaces as well. ODE produced Lockdown for ZEE5 in partnership with Badshah and talks are on with other OTT players as well.

    ODE is now diversifying into new avenues and sticking to the core objective of scouting talent and building brands. Boasting a network of over 1000 creators and content partners, it is also aiming at building a collateral revenue model for clients that are sustainable in the long term with minimum risk career opportunities.

    The content network is currently managing content creators and channel partners delivering over 5 billion views every month. ODE manages creators like Badshah, Mostly Sane, Sanjeev Kapoor, Raftaar, Armaan Malik, Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Anubhav Sinha, Rannvijay, Food Food TV, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Excel Movies. It has also developed strategic partnerships with YouTube, Saavn, Hungama, Spotify, VH1, MTV, Gaana, iTunes, Facebook, Twitter and Dailymotion.

    “Our core thought is to create a self-sustaining digital content ecosystem by empowering creators with multiple support functions ranging from content strategy to production, post-production, artist management, marketing, collaborations, distribution and monetisation. We aim at transforming our creators into sustainable brands instead of just getting them the ‘likes and views’ sticking to our philosophy of building brands and not just views,” he emphasised.

    On the back of past success, the company now gets almost 200-300 emails every week of upcoming or established creators reaching out to join the network which are later reviewed by the artist onboarding teams. It has a revenue share model with the creators. Based on the associations with its clients and the ongoing investment, the IP sharing varies from deal to deal where it’s either solely held by creators or co-shared between ODE and creators.

    “The revenue mechanism and processes have been able to give all the artists their deserving royalties, revenues etc. in a transparent manner. We have learnt that it is imperative to foresee this business in a holistic way without which most hard-work would stand void. Scalability of this business only comes to effect with the formation of an ecosystem with a full life cycle with coerced services and a revenue stream,” Singh added.

    ODE’s ability to bring cutting edge, first-hand technology to young talented creators is what differentiates them. He added that using machine learning and AI in understanding content consumption patterns and by combining data with their own personal learning, they have been able to achieve very high ROIs. 

    “We recently announced a strategic partnership with Holosuit – the world’s first ever affordable, bi-directional, wireless and easy to use full body motion capture suit, that acts as a bridge between the virtual & real world and shall be extending this technology to our creators to produce next-generation content. Some heavy investments will also be made into building the offline connect between these creators and fans via multiple on ground events throughout the year,” he added.

    “Our self-service content distribution and influencer management platform OneAxcess.com has enabled hundreds of creators to manage their content and distribute across multiple platforms completely on their own with complete transparency and performance reports. Our association with Holosuit will further redefine the creation of next-generation AR/VR content by our creators,” he signed off.

  • VOOT’s Akash Banerji hints at introduction of interactive content around fiction programming

    VOOT’s Akash Banerji hints at introduction of interactive content around fiction programming

    MUMBAI: With a rich line-up of content and advanced solution for advertisers, Viacom18’s OTT arm, VOOT, has pledged to reach 100 million monthly active users within the fiscal year on its third anniversary. The advertising-based video on-demand (AVOD) platform is now looking at the introduction of a freemium model in the second half of the year, VOOT Kids, which is at the beta testing stage, further expansion of international business followed by an entry in the UK. More interestingly, the streaming platform may introduce interactive opportunities for consumers around fiction content.

    “I think that’s where a huge unlocking of value is going to happen. Just imagine if a drama show is running, you can decide what you want the protagonist of the drama show to do, what choice he or she should make which could be about the relationships, which could be at a certain inflexion point in the storyline and you act on it. Either you do what consumers are looking for or you do something different to surprise them. This is one of the things that we have been discussing and you will see something interesting coming up,” VOOT AVOD business head Akash Banerji commented when asked if the platform has any plan to introduce interactive content around fiction programming.

    While the platform had already ventured into the branded content opportunities, it is now introducing VOOT Studios, a business performance-oriented content-tech solution for advertisers. Explaining the rationale behind the move, Banerji pointed out key problems for advertisers. According to him, although brands started creating an interesting array of short-form content they did not necessarily drive great business value or ROI. Brands failed to realise sometimes creating content alone cannot drive the conversation and engagement unless more pieces of data and tech are added to it.

    Banerji said that the second big barrier is the inability to initiate dialogue with content writers, data scientists, tech people, agencies, etc. for brand building and, more importantly, how to bring all of that together.

    “We are a digital-first brand and we have this huge roster of maverick rich insights and deep consumer understanding of more than 1000 plus audience segments. We will not just make stories for VOOT, we will integrate data and tech and give out solutions which are bespoke and will help solve a brand’s specific need. That has actually led to the birth of VOOT Studio. Essentially, we have just institutionalised this entire solution from our side,” he added.

    He also noted that the platform gets all kind of large advertisers including CPGs, e-commerce brands, fashion brands, consumer durables on board. Banerji pointed out that the brands don’t have the luxury anymore to think of spending on TV alone as everyone knows the next wave of audience growth and audience time spent is happening on digital. While a CPG brand advertising on digital would have raised eyebrows earlier, brands today are thinking differently.

    Digital brands today turn to OTT for better ROI while non-digital brands come for branding purposes.

  • ShemarooMe Forays into the marathi category with exclusive content offerings

    ShemarooMe Forays into the marathi category with exclusive content offerings

    MUMBAI: After receiving a great response across India for its OTT platform ShemarooMe, which was launched recently, Shemaroo Entertainment Limited, India’s leading content powerhouse, has announced the launch of its Marathi category. The Marathi category will host content ranging from plays, movies to original web-series. ShemarooMe app currently hosts video content across Bollywood, Gujarati, Devotion, Punjabi and Kids category for the Indian audience across all age groups. This will be the 6th content offering by ShemarooMe for its consumers. To the consumers delight, the Marathi category will be exclusively available on Vodafone PLAY and Idea Movies & TV App for a period of 30 days.

    The OTT app ShemarooMe has a wide array of content for diverse set of audience and the newest Marathi category will be a feather to its cap. The Marathi category will see a wide selection of Marathi films, theatre plays, original web-series and many more. Marathi movies like Lagna Mubarak, Bhay along with some award-winning movies like Shubham Karoti Kalyanam, Baboo and Baaja will be a part of the newly launched Marathi category. For kids’ entertainment, ShemarooMe has some famous Marathi Animated movies like Bal Ganesh, Hanuman Returns, Ghatotkacha and many more.

    Commenting on the latest addition of Marathi category to ShemarooMe app, Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment Limited, said, “The Marathi audience base is huge in India and we have selected the right content which can keep the audience of all age groups entertained. The Marathi category will only give a boost to our current content offerings which we offer for the audience pan India. Along with the Marathi category we are also launching our first Marathi original web-series which has a stellar star cast.” 

    Talking about the partnership, Avneesh Khosla, Operations Director – Marketing, Vodafone Idea Limited said, “We are excited to partner with Shemaroo Entertainment to provide our customers access to the best quality Marathi content on the Vodafone Play and Idea Movies. We strongly believe that regional content is key towards driving a stronger connect with our consumers. We have been working towards strengthening our content offering and this partnership is a step further towards enriching our content portfolio.”

    As a differentiated content offering, ShemarooMe is launching a new original Marathi web-series titled ‘Manaatlya Manaat’ under the Marathi category, featuring famous Marathi celebrities Sonalee Kulkarni & Siddharth Chandekar.