ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Gobble & Dewar’s web series ‘You got Chef’d!’ featuring chef Kelvin Cheung wins a food award for best digital content

    Gobble & Dewar’s web series ‘You got Chef’d!’ featuring chef Kelvin Cheung wins a food award for best digital content

    MUMBAI: Pocket Aces’ food channel Gobble won Gold at Talent Track 2019 for the Best Digital Content – Food for their web series ‘You Got Chef’d!’ in association with Dewar’s by Bacardi India

    The show features some of India’s most popular digital faces: Rannvijay Singha, Mithila Palkar, Shibani Dandekar, Sumeet Vyas and Dhruv Sehgal cooking street-style versions of their favourite dishes against celebrity chef Kelvin Cheung’s gourmet versions. All this over some banter and delicious food, topped with a perfect cocktail pairing, made by Ernest Reid – Dewar’s brand ambassador and celebrated mixologist.

    The show, across 5 episodes, amassed ~4,448,289 with an impressive 111:1 like to dislike ratio. As millennials move from celebrating gigantic occasions to celebrating everyday rituals like binge watching a web series or watching a sports match together, Gobble and Dewar’s conceptualized this series to ignite fun conversations through #DoubleIsBetter.

    Mr Anshuman Goenka, Marketing Head, Bacardí India said, “Dewar’s is heavily invested in enabling elevated experiences for millennials which are relatable. With ‘You Got Chef’d!’, we are experimenting with a new quirky platform which encourages them to pair gourmet food with whisky cocktails to enjoy simple occasions like bingeing, sports night etc. in a more effective manner. Both the award and the response that we have received will help us in expanding our efforts in this segment.”

    Commenting on the award, Sonalika Mehra, Head of Gobble said, “You Got Chef’d is our first-ever food web series and we’re ecstatic to have won a Gold! Our partnership with Dewar's is a perfect fit for the show, both in terms of audience and narrative. It’s an interesting time to be creating content because the digital audience is clearly open and receptive to new and interesting formats.” “We've got lots of interesting things lined up in 2019, so this has kicked off our year in great style,” she adds excitedly. 

    Talent Track awards recognize India’s digital content achievers each year. In its third edition held at Mumbai on 8th February this year, over 500 industry players including Hotstar, ALT Balaji, Viu, Zee5, Voot participated. 

  • Voot taps Marathi film industry talent for ‘The Sawaikar Case’

    Voot taps Marathi film industry talent for ‘The Sawaikar Case’

    MUMBAI: Viacom 18’s digital venture Voot is upping its original content game significantly since last August. Now, the over-the-top (OTT) platform is all set to launch its new original The Sawaikar Case, a thrilling family drama.

    The Sawaikar Case will see renowned Marathi actor Atul Kulkarni’s debut on Voot who has acted across multi-lingual films. Other than Kulkarni, the new series will also feature Ashwini Bhave, Parul Gulati, Neil Bhoopalam and Lalit Prabhakar.

    Directed by the celebrated Marathi director Aditya Sarpotdar, famous for his latest hit Mauli starring Ritiesh Deshmukh, the show will start rolling by the end of February this year.  Set in Goa, The Sawaikar Case promises to be the next binge-watch and hook-worthy series.

    Last August Voot announced 17 new originals as well as expansion into UK market. Recently in an interview with Indiantelevision.com, Viacom18 digital ventures marketing and partnerships head Akash Banerji said it would double down efforts for blockbuster content this year.

  • Shemaroo projects 25-30% digital business growth in FY 2020

    Shemaroo projects 25-30% digital business growth in FY 2020

    MUMBAI: Content powerhouse Shemaroo started its initiatives for digital business comparatively earlier than many other traditional media companies in India. The company has now stepped up its new media segment which is almost 30 per cent of the overall business with the launch of ShemarooMe. Shemaroo is taking a slow but steady approach and does not intend to go head-to-head with giants like Amazon and Netflix.

    Talking to investors in a conference call after posting Q3 results, Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd CEO Hiren Gada said that the new OTT business has been built at a significantly low capex model making it sustainable. According to him, India being a highly heterogeneous market leaves the opportunity for even late entrants. Despite some segments being covered by existing players, a significant chunk of potential segments are still open.

    “We looked into our own content pie and saw that there are few segments where we have a significant offering and strong market position in terms of either being number one, two or three in terms of content or share of viewership etc., and we looked at actually how we can leverage those opportunities to create the connect. ShemarooMe is the short consumer connect bit that we are looking to do,” Gada said. The core strategy is to establish the new OTT platform as the best option for consumers in its core categories.

    However, it won’t get into web series since Shemaroo holds a steady ground in nonfiction content like classic films, devotional etc., which it believes is a better value add to its core.

    Moreover, Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd COO Kranti Gada expects TV-friendly content catalogue to see good consumption since initial tests on YouTube proved favourable. ShemarooMe has a large number of popular Bollywood movies on the platform and Hiren Gada thinks digital will have movies as a significant consuming category.

    Although Shemaroo is witnessing significant growth in YouTube channels viewership, the revenue from the segment has been flattish due to several reasons. But the management is optimistic as digital ad spend is headed up and expected to keep growing at a certain rate. Shemaroo CEO thinks YouTube being the largest video platform will capture a good share of that growth.

    “What is heartening more than anything else is the fact that there are core consumption and viewer habit formation of coming to the platform, consuming, interacting, seeking out content and engaging with it,” he added.

    Hiren Gada projects that the overall digital pie of the company will see a 25 to 30 per cent growth in FY 2020 as the industry level growth is between 20-25 per cent. Shemaroo has always aspired 5 per cent higher than the sector. Hence if the industry grows at a higher pace, he seems confident that Shemaroo’s digital business will grow faster.

    On being asked about the company’s debt reduction plan, Hiren Gada said, “We are hoping that now with ShemarooMe and hopefully with a better YouTube growth, those trends should continue in the direction that we all are expecting and overall on the debt front even this quarter there has been a slight marginal reduction. So the debt is at a broad level the content requirement for on a so content acquisition versus monetisation so all the acquisition is being funded by internal accruals from monetisation at this point in time.”

  • Eros Now partners with Vindicia to further enhance the entertainment experience

    Eros Now partners with Vindicia to further enhance the entertainment experience

    MUMBAI: Today at Mobile World Congress, Vindicia, an Amdocs company (NASDAQ: DOX) and a leader in business-to-consumer digital services monetization, announced that Eros Now, a cutting-edge digital over-the-top (OTT) South Asian entertainment platform has selected Vindicia CashBox to enhance consumer experience. Through this alliance Vindicia CashBox will help in accelerating the subscriber growth of Eros Now around the world.

    Eros Now offers a vast library of over 12,000 Indian films, music videos, TV shows, original web-series and short-format content to more than 142 million registered users and 15.9 million paying subscribers. The platform delivers the best blockbuster movies in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Punjabi as well as Indian music, music videos, high-end digital original series and the recently launched Eros Now Quickie, a new short-form content segment.

    Commenting on the strategic alliance, Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO – Eros Digital said, “Eros Now has been a front-runner with its technological advancement and the only Indian player to have global reach. This alliance with Vindicia will enhance the consumer experience and offer seamless transaction capabilities. With changing consumer dynamics, the association will also help to provide subscriber intelligence that will bring business agility to continuously boost the overall video watching experience, thus driving consumer retention, global connecting and increasing subscriber growth.”

    Watch Ali Hussein, Chief Operating Officer at Eros digital, highlighting how Vindicia CashBox will enable Eros Now enhance consumer experience.

    “With the continued and growing traction of our media business in the Asia Pacific region, we are thrilled that Eros Now has selected Vindicia CashBox to support all aspects of their digital subscription business requirements,” said Darcy Antonellis, head of Media, Amdocs. “With the implementation of CashBox, Eros Now can immediately start to reallocate resources from digital services monetization to more strategic areas as they expand their offerings both within India and internationally, enabling them to more effectively sign-up new customers and retain existing ones.”

    As a leading provider in the entertainment technology space, Amdocs continues to execute on its media strategy, helping its customers deliver premium content services across multiple channels and capture a leading position in the digital economy. Vindicia CashBox is an extension of this industry leadership and addresses the demands of OTT and Internet companies to provide enhanced digital experiences while also driving higher subscription revenue growth.

    Vindicia CashBox is a SaaS-based digital subscription platform for digital goods that accelerates business growth via data-driven insights, improved customer acquisition and extreme ease of use for subscribers. Other benefits include scalability and reliability; big data and AI-based analysis; go-to-market flexibility; international and multiple payment options; and finance, tax and anti-fraud capabilities.

  • ZEE5 and Apigate announce a landmark partnership at Mobile World Congress

    ZEE5 and Apigate announce a landmark partnership at Mobile World Congress

    MUMBAI: Multi-lingual digital entertainment platform ZEE5 today announced a strategic partnership with Apigate to deliver the largest bouquet of content across languages and genres to audiences globally.

    ZEE5, which is a part of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) – a global Media and Entertainment powerhouse – offers 100,000 hours of Indian Movies, TV Shows, News, Music, Videos and exclusive Originals, across 12 languages including Hindi, English, Bengali, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri and Gujarati. It also offers 60+ popular Live TV channels, including ZEE’s best loved channels.

    This collaboration brings the plethora of ZEE5’s exciting content, including top TV Shows like Kumkum Bhagya, Jodhaa Akbar and Sembaruthi, blockbusters like Kedarnath, Veere Di Wedding and Mersal, and Originals like Abhay (Kunal Kemmu), Final Call (Arjun Rampal), Rangbaaz (Saqib Saleem) and Sharate Aaj (Parambrata Chattopadhyay) to audiences in 11 countries globally, and will leverage on Apigate’s next-generation API ecosystem to create innovative value propositions for customers.

    Through this partnership, ZEE5 is leveraging not only Direct Carrier Billing which offers consumers a secure and convenient payment solution but also going beyond that to offer bundling, wallets and application to person messaging for all subscribers.

    “As content creators, we’re creating rich and engaging content across multiple languages for our viewers across the globe. We have an ambitious growth agenda to expand ZEE5’s reach to a wider audience segment across global markets, and we’re very happy to announce our partnership with Apigate which will enable us to do that, said Amit Goenka, CEO, ZEE International and Z5 Global

    “We’ve set out to establish ZEE5 as the clear go-to market destination for language content for South Asians and beyond, in the shortest possible time. We’re thrilled to partner with Apigate for this, given their ability to remove the complexities of multiple contracts which enables us to scale quickly. We look forward to jointly taking our fabulous bouquet of content to markets around the globe.” said Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer- ZEE5 Global

    Zoran Vasiljev, Chief Executive Officer, Apigate said, “We are excited to partner with a well-known brand like ZEE5 as this is a testament to the relevance of Apigate’s platform in empowering digital transformation for businesses.”

    Raja Mansukhani, Senior Vice President APAC, Apigate added, “Having built a world-class ecosystem of Mobile Network Operators, we are able to give ZEE5 access to customers all around the world by enabling expansion through one connection.”

    Apigate’s global network reaches 3.5 billion people, comprising more than 110 mobile network operators across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Latin America.

  • hoichoi is now available on Android TV globally and Roku in the US

    hoichoi is now available on Android TV globally and Roku in the US

    MUMBAI: hoichoi, the world’s largest digital content platform exclusively for Bengali’s announced they are now available across Android TV and Roku with seamless streaming of their content.  

    Recently, hoichoi celebrated their one-year completion on 19th September 2018 where they committed to uplift Bengali Digital entertainment by putting forward plans like adding an additional 100+ hours of Originals with 30 web series and 12 digital only films, which will increase the library to 2,800 hours of content, along with adding more films to the movie catalogue taking the number from 500 to 800+ movies. They have lived up to their promise of giving two Originals per month along with acquired movies, either old classics or new ones via World Digital Premiere (Durga Puja 2018 blockbusters Byomkesh Gowtro and Ek Je Chhilo Raja each got a World Digital Premiere this month).  

    Last year, hoichoi reached out to users who wanted to stream content on their TV by launching the Amazon Fire TV App and the Apple TV App and it already had enabled Chromecast. This year hoichoi looks to expand its audience base by introducing the hoichoi Android TV and the hoichoi Roku App. 

    Android TV is a version of the Android operating system where OTT platforms can stream their exclusive and shared content on their television like Sony among others, with voice-enabled search and more features. hoichoi’s Android TV App is available on the Google Play Store. Users can open the Google Play Store from their TV and download it. 

    Roku, is another streaming device which allows users to stream content on their TV and is very popular in the US Market. hoichoi launched its Roku App to target its ever-growing US Subscription Audience base. Among international markets, US has always been one of the top markets for the Bengali OTT platform. hoichoi will offer all its movies and original series in its Roku App. Users who have the Roku device can download the hoichoi App from it and can even purchase a hoichoi subscription within the App. 

    Vishnu Mohta, Co-Founder of hoichoi, commented: “This partnership with Android TV and Roku will enable our national and global audience to enjoy content from any medium as it marks a seamless integration of over-the-top content, digital video formats and connected TVs. Audience will consume content irrespective of whether it is on web, mobile, TV or OTT as long as it’s on a device of their choice.” 

  • ALTBalaji direct subscriptions up by 60-70% over last quarter

    ALTBalaji direct subscriptions up by 60-70% over last quarter

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefims’ digital venture ALTBalaji has been quickly growing its subscriber base and subscription revenue, further reinforcing the OTT sector’s belief that Indian consumers are more than ready to pay for engaging content. After three consecutive strong quarters on the digital front, the company is now set to shift gears when it comes to its content strategy. Going forward, the video streamer will lay greater emphasis on strategically acquiring direct consumers.

    “We are now at a process where we are confident that we will do about 24 to 30 shows in a year plus three categories of shows, so that is either male focus shows or female focus dramas. We are reinforcing that content strategy and our focus on international, which will be even more as we go ahead as our library builds up,” Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla said in an earnings call after the company announced its Q3 results.

    The Ekta Kapoor-led production house’s OTT arm boasts of 13.1 million paid subscriptions as of February, with a 2x growth in monthly active users that now stand at 4.6 million. 70 per cent of the platform's consumers have opted for a quarterly subscription.

    In addition to that, ALTBalaji has witnessed nearly 60-70 per cent growth in direct subscription numbers over the last quarter. On the back these consumers’ willingness to pay Rs 300 monthly, the OTT platform has made investments and upped marketing spends to further boost these subscriptions.

    Lulla pointed out the subscriber addition is happening at two levels – new subscribers and those returning post the churn.  Notably, Lulla had said in an earnings call after the Q1 result that about 70-80  per cent of traffic comes from telcos while the ARPU from the sector stands at around Rs 15 per month.

    The veteran media executive stated that not only have the new shows aided subscriber addition, but the old ones too make up for a good share. The overall growth in library has played a key role too, he highlighted. The management hopes to hit a tipping point in the next 12 to 18 months.

    While the group had undertaken an equity infusion of around Rs 450 crore in ALTBalaji, it has already invested Rs 350 crore of that.

    “It will be sufficient while we said that we put in Rs 350 crore. You must understand that a lot of cash that is there in production is in production contract that has been executed and they will also get accrued when they are actually put on air, if you see the two content cost across the two years that is not equal to Rs 350 crore yet,” Lulla argued when asked if the balance Rs 100 crore would be enough for the next two years.

    While the group had projected Rs 60 crore in revenue from ALTBalaji for the financial year, it has so far been able to garner Rs 28 crore. However, the number does not contain revenues from international market, which is yet to be reported. Lulla, however, admitted that the strategy for international market probably hasn’t played out the way he had expected it to.

    While TV business continues to be the highest revenue generator of Balaji Telefilms group, it hasn’t shown exponential growth. The group launched new shows in the first quarter, with TV shows already on air having hit maturity. The management now hopes to further improve the performance from this quarter to about five to ten per cent in the next and keep consolidating thereafter.

  • ErosNow targets subscriber base of 5 cr; fuels Eros International growth

    ErosNow targets subscriber base of 5 cr; fuels Eros International growth

    BENGALURU: Eros International Plc (Eros International) reported its strongest quarterly performance ever over two year for the three months ended 31 December 2018 (Q3 2019). The company in its investor release says that it closed Q3 2019 with a paying subscriber base of 15.9 million or 1.59 crore. The company says that it is targeting 50 million (5 crore) paying subscribers in the next three years.

    “Our digital & ancillary business generated $35.6 million in revenue, a growth of 31.4 percent over last quarter, and represented 46.4 percent of our total revenue this quarter – the largest proportion ever. Eros Now achieved 15.9 million paid subscribers this quarter, which represents growth of 218 percent year-over-year, and registered users grew to more than 142 million, (14.2 crore) a 78 percent increase versus the prior year period.

    Eros International is currently at an inflection point transforming itself into a holistic content and digital ecosystem. As we continue to undergo this shift we expect the skew of digital and ancilliary revenues to increase relative to our traditional theatrical and TV syndication businesses. The shift to digital will increase the visibility of our earnings as we move towards a more annuity-type business model – higher quality of earnings and more sustainable growth.” Eros International is listed in the New York Stock Exchange.

    To that extent the company says that it has built its digital catalogue on the Eros Now Platform to over 12,000 movies across 10 Indian languages and counting.

    The company is also looking at music to help ramp up revenues. The music ecosystem in India has been growing exponentially over the past few years. In India there are currently over 100 million (10 crore) digital audio streaming users, a number which is growing rapidly says Eros International. Music is integral to its films and its premium content offering to consumers claims Eros. Film music is often marketed and monetised separate from the underlying film, both before and after release. The company says that its deep music library comprises a key component to our unique ErosNow offering, being the only app combining both video and music entertainment. Eros International feels that its  music content also represents significant value in the form of intellectual property rights, the value of which is set to grow over time.

    Company speak

    Eros executive chairman and CEO Kishore Lulla commented, “We grew quarterly revenue 21.0 percent over last quarter and expanded our Adjusted EBITDA margin to 40.9 percent. Our foresight into creating a diversified slate, both linguistically and by budget, helped deliver strong television sales as well as theatrical and digital results. Our ErosNow OTT platform has continued to grow rapidly and reached 15.9 million paid monthly subscribers as of December 31, 2018, a 22.3 percent increase over last quarter. We have achieved our previously announced year-end target of 16 million paying subscribers in just nine months. This tremendous achievement in a relatively short period of time demonstrates that we are well on our way to achieving 50 million (5 crore) paying subscribers in the next three years. Our balance sheet remains conservative and we are well-capitalised, with net debt of $159.1 million, a decrease versus the second quarter of FY 2019."

    Let us look at the numbers reported by Eros International as mentioned in its earnings release.

    Eros reported gross revenue for three and nine months ended 31 December 2018, respectively are $86.6 million and $225.6 million compared to $67.5 million and $193.7 million for the three and nine months ended 31 December 2017, respectively. Gross revenue for the three and nine months ended 31 December 2018, respectively, have been adjusted towards significant financing component on account of adoption of new accounting pronouncements says Eros International.

    Eros reported revenue for three and nine months ended 31 December 2018 are $76.7 million and $200.4 million, respectively, compared to $65.2 million and $189.3 million for the three and nine months ended 31 December 2017, respectively.

    For the three months ended 31 December 2018, the aggregate revenues from digital and ancillary increased by 55.5 percent to $35.6 million from $22.9 million for the three months ended 31 December 2017 and in the nine months ended 31 December 2018, revenue increased by 41.0 percent to $89.4 million, compared to $63.4 million for the nine months ended 31 December 2017. The increase in revenue is primarily on account of contribution from catalogue revenues and digital business.

    Revenue from India increased by 27.4 percent to $28.4 million in the three months ended 31 December 2018, compared to $22.3 million in the three months ended 31 December 2018 and in the nine months ended 31 December 2018, revenue from India increased by 3.8 percent to $75.8 million, compared to $73.0 million for the nine months ended 31 December 2018. The variation is due to mix of films.

    Revenue from Europe increased by 141.2 percent to $12.3 million in the three months ended 31 December 2018, compared to $5.1 million in the three months ended 31 December 2017 and in the nine months ended 31 December 2018, revenue from Europe increased by 118.8 percent to $43.1 million, compared to $19.7 million for the nine months ended 31 December 2017. This was due to higher contribution from the monetisation of catalogue films.

    Revenue from North America increased by 700.0 percent to $0.8 million in the three months ended 31 December 2018, compared to $0.1 million in the three months ended 31 December 2017 and in the nine months ended 31 December 2018, revenue from North America increased by 114.3 percent to $1.5 million, compared to $0.7 million for the nine months ended 31 December 2017.

    Revenue from the rest of the world decreased by 6.6 percent to $35.2 million in the three months ended 31 December 2018, compared to $37.7 million in the three months ended 31 December 2017 and in the nine months ended 31 December 2018, revenue from rest of world decreased by 16.6 percent to $80.0 million, compared to $95.9 million for the nine months ended 31 December 2017. This was due to lower catalogue sales during the period.

    For the three months ended 31 December 2018, adjusted EBITDA increased by 21.2 percent to $31.4 million compared to $25.9 million in the three months ended 31 December 2017.

    The increase in adjusted EBITDA was on account strong catalogue sales which was partially offset by increases in amortisation, marketing, advertising and distribution costs for three months ended 31 December 2018.

    In the nine months ended 31 December 2018, adjusted EBITDA increased by 39.0 percent to $81.9 million, compared to $58.9 million for the nine months ended 31 December 2017.

    Releases reported by Eros in its earnings release

    In the three months ended December 31, 2018, the Eros film slate was comprised of 25 films, of which two were medium budget and 23 were low budget as compared to four films in the three months ended December 31, 2017, of which all were low budget films. In addition, Eros Now released three original series titled Smoke, Date Gone Wrong and Paisa Fek Tamasha Dekh during the three months ended December 31, 2018.

    In the three months ended December 31, 2018, the Company’s slate of 25 films comprised of six Hindi films, 17 regional films and two Tamil/Telugu as compared to the same period last year where its slate of four films comprised three Hindi films and one regional film.

    In the nine months ended December 31, 2018, the Eros film slate was comprised of 56 films of which seven were medium budget and 49 were low budget films as compared to 16 films in the nine months ended December 31, 2017, of which one film was high budget, three were medium budget and twelve were low budget. In addition, Eros Now released four original series titled Side Hero, Smoke, Date Gone Wrong and Paisa Fek Tamasha Dekh during the nine months ended December 31, 2018

    In the nine months ended December 31, 2018, the Company’s slate of 56 films comprised of 14 Hindi films, five Tamil/Telugu film and 37 regional films as compared to the same period last year where its slate of 16 films comprised of eight Hindi films, one Tamil/Telugu films and seven regional films.

  • ZEE5 sponsors iconic singer Asha Bhosle’s global farewell tour and tribute to music maestro R.D. Burman, in the UK

    ZEE5 sponsors iconic singer Asha Bhosle’s global farewell tour and tribute to music maestro R.D. Burman, in the UK

    MUMBAI: Digital entertainment platform ZEE5 has announced its title sponsorship of the UK leg of iconic Bollywood singer, Asha Bhosle’s global farewell tour 'Live In Concert…One Last Time'. The event is a tribute to her late husband, the award-winning Bollywood composer and singer RD Burman on his 25th death anniversary. Ashaji will perform at The Concertgebouw on 27th February, Resorts World Arena, Birmingham on 2nd March 2019 and The SES Arena, Wembley in London on 3rd March 2019.

    “My entire life has been about music and as an artiste, it is the love of my fans that has pulled me back to the UK for this last concert. This tour is my tribute to one of music’s greatest legends, R.D Burman whose music lives on in the hearts of millions around the world and is very special to me.” says Asha Bhosle.

    Asha Bhosle’s career spans nearly eight decades and over 12000 songs. She has dedicated this tour to her late husband, music maestro R.D. Burman and will be accompanied on stage by Bollywood singer, Sudesh Bhosle.

    ZEE5 is also hosting a special contest. To participate, audiences in the UK have to download and subscribe to ZEE5 from now till 25th February to win tickets to Ashaji’s shows in London and Birmingham.

    Archana Anand, Chief Business Officer- ZEE5 Global said, “Asha Bhosle is a music icon whose voice has captivated South Asian audiences across generations. When living abroad, it’s the music and movies in the language of your comfort that keeps you connected to home, that makes you ‘Dil Se Desi’, and her music is a big part of that. ZEE5 celebrates that ‘Desi’ pride and we are immensely proud to be associated with her final live performance in the UK.”

    Mr. Sumant Bahl, Director of Grace Entertainment & Events, the organizers of the tour said, “We are very happy to be associated with an artist of this magnitude. We look forward to fantastic performances and will put in our best to ensure that this is a memorable performance for her as well as for all Ashaji’s fans. We are also very thankful to all our sponsors, especially to the title sponsor, ZEE5 who have been our greatest supporter on this one.”

    ZEE5 offers over 1,00,000 hours of Indian TV Shows, Movies, News, Videos etc. across 12 languages to South Asians across the globe, including the UK.  The content repertoire includes top TV Shows like Kumkum Bhagya, Jodhaa Akbar and Bokul Kotha, blockbusters like Kedarnath and Veere Di Wedding, and Originals like Abhay (Kunal Kemmu), Final Call (Arjun Rampal), Rangbaaz (Saquib Saleem) and Sharate Aaj (Parambrata Chattopadhyay).

    ZEE5 is available on Google Play Store, iOS App Store, www.ZEE5.com and on Samsung Smart TVs, Apple TV, Android TVs and Amazon Fire TV.

  • Amazon Prime Video renews ‘Mirzapur’ S2

    Amazon Prime Video renews ‘Mirzapur’ S2

    MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video has announced the second season of Mirzapur within two months of premiering its first season. Season 2 of show is produced by Excel Media and Entertainment, created by Puneet Krishna and directed by Gurmmeet Singh.

    It has also announced the green lighting of more than 20 new and returning Prime Original Series to go into production in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, Japan and Mexico. All episodes of its first season are available to binge-watch.

    Amazon Prime Video India, director and head of content, Vijay Subramaniam, said, “We are committed to creating compelling stories with powerful characters, gripping narratives and world class production values.  We are thrilled with the response to Mirzapur’s first season from our customers and we are happy to be working with the amazing team at Excel Media and Entertainment for another bold and powerful narrative for the next season of the show.”

    The show will go into production this year before being released on Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

    Excel Media and Entertainment' co-founder Farhan Akhtar said, “It is exciting to see that global audiences are responding well to the kind of content we are creating. It started with Inside Edge being nominated for an International Emmy and now Mirzapur being watched & loved across India and globally; we are glad that both shows have been renewed for the next season giving us another chance to showcase Indian stories on a global stage.”

    Excel Media and Entertainment co-founder Ritesh Sidhwani said, “Mirzapur has been our dream project and to quickly follow the first season with a season two announcement underlines our efforts to create best-n-class content for our online global audiences. The show gave us an opportunity to challenge ourselves and explore new subjects and territories. Now, we look forward to taking our story to another level of cinematic experience in the next season with Amazon Prime Video.”