ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • ZEE5 and PhonePe join hands for an amazing cashback offer

    ZEE5 and PhonePe join hands for an amazing cashback offer

    MUMBAI: ZEE5, India’s largest multilingual entertainment destination, and PhonePe – India's fastest growing digital payments app have partnered to announce exciting offers on content for customers.

    Value add fromPhonePe

    • Flat 50% cashback to customers who wish to subscribe ZEE5 (valid once per user)
    • The offer is valid only for 7 days starting 18th October

    Subscription Price    Offer Price after cashback
    Rs.99 for two months    Rs.45 for two months
    Rs.499 for twelve months    Rs.250 for twelve months

    Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, ZEE5 India, said, “The consumer is at the center of everything we do; hence associations and affiliations are key as they offer thema range of choice.PhonePe is amongst the most preferred digital payments app and a 50% cashbackfor those who subscribe to ZEE5 is definitely a fantastic offer. This is a clear win-win for both – the PhonePe consumer as well as ours. We will continue to work with leaders in the space, giving our consumers the best offers, always.”

    Ankit Gaur, Head Strategic Distribution Partnerships,PhonePecommented, “PhonePe hasrevolutionized digital payments in India making them seamless, convenient and easy. ZEE5 is seen as a popular OTT platform amongst the youth and this is a great opportunity for us to get associated with it.  We are excited about the potential of this partnership and look forward to working with ZEE5 to provide our millennial users access to rich content at very competitive price points.”   

    With over 3500 films, 500+ TV shows, 4000+ music videos, 35+ theatre plays and 90+ LIVE TV Channels across 12 languages, ZEE5 truly presents a blend of unrivalled content offering for its viewers across the nation. With ZEE5, the global content of Zindagi as a brand, which was widely appreciated across the country, has also been brought back for its loyal viewers.

  • Netflix adds 6.96 mn subscribers in Q3

    Netflix adds 6.96 mn subscribers in Q3

    MUMBAI: After a disappointing Q2 result, global streaming giant Netflix has again beat all expectations in its Q3 earnings. Netflix has not only added 6.96 million subscribers in this quarter but it has reported $4 billion streaming revenue for the quarter which is up 36 per cent year over year. However, the media company’s international revenue was down $90 million due to year-over-year impact from currency. The Reed Hastings-led company has proved again that it is still at the top of digital entertainment business despite threats from Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO.

    The amazing subscriber growth came from US market as well as international market. Netflix netted 1.09 million new streaming subs in the US and 5.87 million internationally. The disruptor in world entertainment is projecting it will add 9.4 million net subscribers during the next quarter.

    Though Netflix has licensed content on its platform, it will rely on its TV and film studios to make more of its own content. As quoted by CNBC, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said its original shows tend to be more valuable than licensed ones.

    “We also continue to expand our international originals, with projects spanning India, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, France, Turkey and throughout the Middle East to just name a few. In India, our hit series Sacred Games was followed up by Ghoul in late August. La Casa de las Flores, our latest Mexican original, has become a big hit,” the company said in a letter to shareholders.

    Netflix’s free cash flow in Q3 was -$859 million vs. -$465 million in the year ago quarter. It anticipates that it will be closer to -$3 billion than to -$4 billion for the full year 2018.

    The company also spoke about its competitors while emphasising that internet entertainment is leaving more opportunities. “Content companies such as WarnerMedia and Disney/Fox are moving to self-distribute their own content; tech firms like Apple, Amazon and others are investing in premium content to enhance their distribution platforms. Amid these massive competitors on both sides, plus traditional media firms, our job is to make Netflix stand out so that when consumers have free time, they choose to spend it with our service,” the streaming service commented.

  • ZEE5 appoints Taranjeet Singh asChief Revenue Officer& Business Head – New Projects

    ZEE5 appoints Taranjeet Singh asChief Revenue Officer& Business Head – New Projects

    Mumbai :  ZEE5 India, India's second largest OTT platform known for its muscle in multi-lingual content, today announced the appointment of Taranjeet Singh as the Chief Revenue Officer & Business Head – New Projects for the platform.

    Commenting on the new appointment,Tarun Katial,CEO, ZEE5 India said, “The consumption patterns of the Indian audience are rapidly evolving. Taranjeet’s extensive experience in the media sectoracross print, television and digital will hold us in good stead in the times to come. His robust track record and insights will go a long way in advancing ZEE5 India’s focus to achieve new milestones.”

    Speaking about his role, Taranjeet Singh, Chief Revenue Officer& Business Head – New Projects, ZEE5 Indiacommented, “Engaging with the content consumer has been an exciting journey for me. The OTT space is definitely booming and working with a brand like ZEE5 from the ZEE Group, a media powerhouse is indeed an honor. Within months of launch, the brand is already No. 2 in the OTT space and I am looking forward to joining the team to take it to newer heights.”

    Singh comes with extensive experience in the media and entertainment space. Prior to joining ZEE5, he was leading business for the Indian operations of Twitter. He brings with him a rich body of experience across strategy, revenue management, people relations, data analytics, forecasting and has worked with some of the leaders in the M&E space including BBC Worldwide, Outlook Publishing, The Pioneer and so on.

    With over 3500 films, 500+ TV shows, 4000+ music videos, 35+ theatre plays and 90+ LIVE TV Channels across 12 languages, ZEE5 truly presents a blend of unrivalled content offering for its viewers across the nation. With ZEE5, the global content of Zindagi as a brand, which was widely appreciated across the country, has also been brought back for its loyal viewers.

  • Netflix Q3 app revenue up 90% y-o-y

    Netflix Q3 app revenue up 90% y-o-y

    MUMBAI: Netflix's financials show it had a strong Q3 on mobile. The app dramatically observed an upswing by generating gross $243.7 million which represented a 90 per cent year-on-year increase as compared to Q3 2017. The popular streaming app has surpassed an estimated $1.4 billion in total gross revenue to date worldwide on the App Store and Google Play.

    According to the Sensor Tower, during Q3, Netflix’s app gained the most new users from the US, Brazil and India accounted for 19, 13, and 10 per cent of all downloads, respectively. Each of these regions saw growth in installs compared to Q2, but none as large as India, which experienced an increase in downloads of more than 100 per cent.

    Overall global consumer spending on the App Store and Google Play totalled $18.2 billion during the third quarter. Apple’s App store widened its lead over Google Play, as the App Store earned $12 billion during Q3 — nearly 93 per cent more than Google Play, and representing the biggest revenue disparity since at least 2014 between the two platforms.

    According to reports, Netflix also saw solid growth in downloads over the course of Q3, adding more than 50 million installs. This estimate marks a 16 per cent increase in downloads compared to Q2, and represents an even larger year-over-year growth of 36 per cent. The more than 50 million new users helped push Netflix past 600 million worldwide installs to date. In terms of number of downloads, Facebook again topped the global chart with four of the top five apps for Q3 — WhatsApp at number one, Messenger at number two, Facebook at number three and Instagram at number five. Bytedance’s social-video app TikTok, which the company merged with Musical.ly in August, took the number fourth spot worldwide, marking 15 per cent growth quarter-over-quarter and 440 per cent year-over-year.

    Downloads of mobile games grew 2.2 per cent year-over-year last quarter to total 9.5 billion on the two platforms. Google Play saw 76 per cent of those, with 7.2 billion download in the period, according to Sensor Tower. 

  • India’s Porus Rises In the land of the Rising Sun- Japan

    India’s Porus Rises In the land of the Rising Sun- Japan

    MUMBAI: One Life Studios premium historical drama series Porus, which depicts the legendary warriors battle against the world’s biggest conqueror Alexander the great will now be showcased in one of the top premium OTT platforms in Japan- Hulu. 

    "Porus is the first Indian series to be aired in Japan, this is really special for all of us. We had dreamt  to make Porus as India's first global series and now covering 11 countries and 14 territories. We are moving in the right direction" says Siddharth Kumar Tewary, Writer, Director & Producer – Porus. 

    “We are thrilled to introduce our first acquisition of an Indian drama series “Porus" to the audience in Japan. We are keen to introduce unique and outstanding shows which Japanese audience will not have a chance to watch if Hulu Japan does not exist.”
     Says- Kazufumi Nagasawa – Chief Content Officer of Hulu Japan

    “ Being the first premier Indian television content to be associated with  one of the top  premier OTT platforms in Japan- HULU, it proves that quality content can be of any language- if made well it will relate with the audiences’ worldwide. We are sure our audience in Japan with similar culture will appreciate Porus”
     Says Rahul Kumar Tewary – Managing Director

  • Airtel, ZEE5 team up to offer premium content

    Airtel, ZEE5 team up to offer premium content

    MUMBAI: Airtel has partnered with video on demand platform ZEE5 to offer premium content. This benefit can be accessed by eligible #AirtelThanks customers via Airtel TV app.

    All Airtel prepaid and postpaid customers with monthly average revenue of Rs 199 will be eligible to gain access into premium ZEE5 content which includes original series and movies.

    “With smartphone becoming the preferred screen in today's digital world, access to exclusive bundled content is a big differentiator for the #AirtelThanks program. Customers can look forward to discovering all the premium content they need right here on Airtel TV and Wynk Music and that too at no extra cost,” explained Bharti Airtel CEO – content & apps Sameer Batra.

    #AirtelThanks subscribers have also been promised red carpet customer care for service and network related issues in order to give a better consumer experience.

  • ZEE5 premieres Tamil silent thriller ‘Mercury’

    ZEE5 premieres Tamil silent thriller ‘Mercury’

    MUMBAI: ZEE5, one of India’s leading digital video on demand platforms, has been consistently setting the audience expectations higher with new digital premieres every week, fresh off the theatre. This week, to fortify its content library even further, ZEE5 premieres Tamil film Mercury, a silent thriller written and directed by renowned film maker Karthik Subbaraj. Mercury has a power packed star cast including Prabhu Deva, Remya Nambeesan, Sananth Reddy, Narendran, Deepak Paramesh, Shashank Purushotham and Anish Padmanabhan. 

    Mercury revolves around five friends who try to cover up a death of the friend who accidently died of mercury poisoning. Problem arises when the dead friend comes out of his grave! Will he take revenge? What is the truth behind his death?

    Click here to watch the film: https://www.zee5.com/movies/details/mercury/0-0-6916 

    Manish Aggarwal, Business Head, ZEE5 India said, “ZEE5 has witnessed unchartered growth in regional markets. We have strengthened our Tamil portfolio with interesting originals like Kallachirippu and America Mappillai along with latest movies. With a gripping narrative, differentiator of a ‘silent thriller’ and a stellar cast, Karthik Subbaraj’s Mercury clearly stands out.  We hope that with this launch on the platform, audiences will enjoy the film again with new vigor.”

    Karthik Subbaraj, Director, Mercury, commented, “The positive response that my maiden digital venture Kallachirippu received on ZEE5 gave me the confidence that bringing my movie Mercury to ZEE5 straight after the theatre would be an interesting format. With the digital premiere of Mercury on the platform on 11th October, the audience will be delighted to use ZEE5 as their first preference for Tamil entertainment. I am confident that with the massive reach of ZEE5, Mercury will be seen and loved by many more viewers.”

    With over 3500 films, 500+ TV shows, 4000+ music videos, 35+ theatre plays and 90+ LIVE TV Channels across 12 languages, ZEE5 truly presents a blend of unrivalled content offering for its viewers across the nation. With ZEE5, the global content of Zindagi as a brand, which was widely appreciated across the country, has also been brought back for its loyal viewers.

    Availability: The ZEE5 App can be downloaded from Googl Play Store http://bit.ly/zee5 and iOS App Store http://bit.ly/zee5ios. Also available at www.zee5.com, as a Progressive Web App (PWA), and on Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV Stick. ZEE5 also supports Chromecast.

    Pricing: Freemium pricing model with both free and paid premium content (including Originals) to cater to a mix of audiences. Viewers who subscribe to the ZEE5 subscription pack will get access to the entire library of content using the limited period special subscription offer – 99/- for 2 months and 499/- for a year. Offer valid till 31st October.

  • VIU’S LATEST CRIME DRAMA ORIGINAL “13 MUSSOORIE” ALL SET TO KEEP ITS AUDIENCE ENGAGED

    VIU’S LATEST CRIME DRAMA ORIGINAL “13 MUSSOORIE” ALL SET TO KEEP ITS AUDIENCE ENGAGED

    MUMBAI: Viu, a leading OTT platform,is introducing yet another gripping crime drama, titled 13 Mussoorie, which will be Viu’stenth original show this year in Hindi.

    Based on the backdrop of a beautiful and serene city Mussoorie, the series revolves around a mysterious story of a merciless serial killer ‘AKS. The entire city of Mussoorie is in a hurry to find the man behind the endless murders.  A fearless journalist Aditi Bisht (played by Shriya Pilgaonkar), daughter of a celebrated senior cop of the city Ajay Bisht (played by Naved Aslam), and a wife of reputed cop Rishi Pant (played by Viraf Patel) are on a mission to solve the case and find the serial killer. But many twists follow.

    This psychological thriller series includes 13 riveting, nail-biting episodes which will stream starting 12th October exclusively on Viu.

    Bimal Unnikrishnan, Viu India Content Head, said, “In India just this year, we have launched more than 20 originals across three languages. We are very excited to launch yet another original in our crime drama-genre with the release of 13 Mussoorie. The series promises thrill and excitement throughout.”

    With this release of yet another exciting original in its varied library of digital shows, Viu India will continue to bring high-quality original content to its consumers. Viu content can be streamed on www.viu.com and the Viu App. And for regular updates and show announcements, you can follow Viu on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

  • Hungama expands footprint in digital content space

    Hungama expands footprint in digital content space

    MUMBAI: Hungama has expanded its footprint in the digital original space with the launch of its new Hindi show Bar Code. The new drama has been produced by Abhishek Pathak under the banner of Panaroma Studios. From 10 October, the show is available on its video on demand service Hungama Play.

    “Hungama originals have helped us present stories that are different from those offered by the conventional medium, this narratives have widespread appeal and are appreciated by digital audiences globally. With Bar Code, we explore universally identified themes like friendship, ego, love and rivalry. We are certain that a strong content line-up and a robust worldwide distribution strategy will help us increase our user base on Hungama Play significantly,” Hungama Digital Media COO Siddhartha Roy said.

    To reach the audience base, the company will leverage its distribution strengths. The new show will also be available to stream through Hungama Play on Vodafone Play, Idea Movies & TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick and other Android TVs along with Mi Video and Mi TV.

    Though the company has dabbled with online music and short-form video content for a long time, it has jumped into the long-form video content bandwagon recently. In the first half of this year, the company announced four web series among which three have been released. Recently, the company also ventured into original in regional languages. It will soon roll out shows in several regional languages across genres.

  • Q2 results: ZEE5 demonstrates exponential growth with 41.3 mn MAU

    Q2 results: ZEE5 demonstrates exponential growth with 41.3 mn MAU

    MUMBAI: Media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) on Wednesday published its second quarter financial result. ZEE5, the digital venture of ZEEL has shown impressive growth within one year of its launch. According to the filing, the OTT platform has been able to gain 41.3 million Monthly Active Users as of September, with a 190 per cent increase since April 2018.

    Since the launch, the platform has released 29 originals in several genres including comedy, drama, reality, thriller and docu-drama. During the quarter, two seasons of their flagship show Karenjit Kaur – An Untold Story, were also launched.

    According to the Q2 result, users currently spend an average of 31 minutes per day on ZEE5. User engagement has also witnessed a considerable increase as video views grew 340 per cent since April. While ZEE5 has already entered into a partnership with two of the leading telecom operators, the company is discussing similar partnerships with other telecom operators, broadband service providers, device manufacturers and e-commerce companies.

    “ZEE5 is the fastest growing entertainment platform in the country. In a little over six months, it has become the 2nd most popular OTT platform. With a monthly active user base of 41 million and an average daily time spend of 31 minutes,it is growing faster than our expectations,” ZEEL managing director and CEO Punit Goenka said.

    “Our deep understanding of the Indian consumers will be as instrumental in helping us become the leader in the digital space as it was in helping us achieve the leadership in television. In a short time, ZEE5 has received an overwhelming response and I am confident that the platform will continue to scale-up going forward,” ZEEL chairman Subhash Chandra commented on an optimistic note.

    In last quarter earnings call, Goenka said he expected ZEE5 to break even in the next five years. He highlighted that not just ZEE5 but entire the industry was in investment mode and there was no way any OTT player was in a position to break even in the first three years.

    Total revenue of ZEEL for the quarter stood at Rs. 19,759 million with 24.9 per cent year on year growth. Advertising revenue for the quarter was Rs. 12,106 million, growth of 22.7% YoY. Domestic advertising revenue grew by 23.3% YoY to 11,526 million and international advertising revenue for the quarter was Rs. 580 million. Subscription revenue for the quarter was Rs. 6,082 million, a growth of 21.3% YoY. Domestic subscription revenue grew by 26.0% YoY to Rs. 5,093 million, while international subscription revenue was Rs. 989 million.

    Although ZEEL’s net profit fell 38 percent year-on-year to Rs 3860 million in the quarter, its operational performance has surpassed analysts’ estimates. In the same period last year, the company had reported an exceptional gain of Rs 1346 million hanks to its sports broadcasting business.