Category: Over The Top Services

  • Firstpost’s 9 months season 2 serves as the go-to guide for new parents

    Firstpost’s 9 months season 2 serves as the go-to guide for new parents

    MUMBAI: Firstpost’s first ever web-series and India’s first and only comprehensive show on pregnancy and parenting – 9 Months, in its 2nd Season continues to serve as a go-to digital guide for new parents navigating their journey in their new roles, with their babies. The Season 2 of the digital series arrived with host Meghna Pant and experts in tow, and is being widely appreciated by the audience. In the first three episodes, the viewers have been introduced to leading pediatricians, lactations consultants, dieticians, and psychologists amongst other experts.

    The show has welcomed experts who have shared in-depth information and knowledge, do’s and don’ts, essential advice and more on the show. Some guests include Dr. Barkha Chawla (Paediatrician), Sonali Shivlani (Lactation Consultant), Dr. Vinit Samdani (Paediatrician), Dr. Nihar Parekh (Pediatrician), Dr. Nirmala Rao (Child Psychologist) and Bina Chheda (Child Dietician). The experts covered a number of topics right from a baby’s moisturizing needs, maintenance of oral health, weaning, baby’s feeding needs, breast-feeding, hygiene, vaccinations and impact of colour psychology on the baby, amidst a host of other invaluable details. The episodes are strategically divided to cover bringing the baby’s transition to coming home, to the baby’s journey in the 3rd – 6th month period, followed by 6 month onwards until the baby turns a year old. The approach has been taken with the intention to make the knowledge easy to consume for the audience.

    The upcoming episodes of 9 Months Season 2 will put a mother’s health front and centre; with experts gracing the show to guide new mothers with weight management, tackling emotions and new challenges and reclaiming their life, post-pregnancy. The series will then invite upon single parents who faced the odds and learnt excellent lessons to successfully serve in their new roles. The web-show will invite upon popular actor Tusshar Kapoor to share his journey as a single father who used surrogacy to give birth to a child, as well as Aditya Tiwari, India’s youngest single man to adopt a child, and Firstpost’s  VP Content & Strategy, Priyanka Sehgal, who narrates her inspiring tale as a single mother.

    In an episode on the show, actor Tusshar Kapoor will be seen in a candid conversation where he opens up about the insecurities and challenges he faced as a single father. He said, “I was expecting a lot of different reactions and expected people to judge me when I took the decision of having a child.” He said, “I wanted to be a father and I wanted to start a family, so I did it. People then messaged me that I am inspiring them.”

    Priyanka Sehgal spoke about the challenges of being a single mother when you have separated from your partner. She said,  “When you separate or uncouple it is extremely important to resolve your own emotions first,  many single parents miss this crucial step as one is dealing with not just broken dreams but also the pain a child undergoes. One needs to accept that the relationship hasn’t worked out and let not that negativity impact your parenting.”

    Viewers can dabble into such effective pieces of wisdom and a whole lot more, in the upcoming episodes of 9 Months Season 2.

  • FB reveals CA harvested data of up to 87 mn people

    FB reveals CA harvested data of up to 87 mn people

    MUMBAI: The Cambridge Analytica (CA) data breach row continues to loom over social media giant Facebook. Revealing a far higher figure of affected users than the estimated 50 million, the company itself confessed that the data of up to 87 million users may have been improperly shared. Admitting in a blog post by the company’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer, the company provided its plan to restrict data access on the social media platform.

    When the controversy first broke out regarding British data analysis firm CA, it was reported that CA illegally obtained data of around 50 million Facebook users. Now, the added 37 million proves the earlier reports were just the tip of the iceberg. The 2016 US Presidential election which saw the landslide victory of Donald Trump has been rife with allegations that CA targeted voters on the back of illegal data. Soon after the first few reports, the fiasco became subject of debate all over the world.

    Facebook also shared the number of users likely affected from several countries including India. Indian users constitute 0.6 per cent (562,455) of the total number of affected users and naturally, the US is the highest affected country with 70,632,350 users (81.6 per cent).

    “In total, we believe the Facebook information of up to 87 million people — mostly in the US — may have been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica,” Facebook officially said. CA, however, had licenced data for “no more than 30m people from GSR” and “did not receive more data than this”.

    The revelation comes at a time when after seven days Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg would make his first appearances before US Congress to answer questions about the recent data misuse. On next Wednesday, Zuckerberg will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee to testify at a hearing on data privacy. It is certain he will face strong criticism.

    Australia’s privacy commissioner has launched an investigation to determine whether Facebook breached the Australian privacy act after knowing that 300,000 Australians are suspected of their data being breached by Cambridge Analytica.

    From restricting app permissions for information like check-ins, likes, photos, posts or a group content to deleting a tool which allows users to search someone with e-mail id or phone number, the company is putting several efforts to restore users’ faith. “We’ve reviewed this feature to confirm that Facebook does not collect the content of messages — and will delete all logs older than one year,” Facebook said assuring to review the feature which collects call and text history.

    Users are likely to learn from this lesson and be wary about giving away their personal information through public platforms. While data analytics is a necessity for businesses, tech companies also need to put an ethical check to data mining until proper regulations are formed to prevent such mishaps. Besides focusing on the analytic tool, the time has come to strengthen the cybersecurity of the entire ecosystem.

    Also Read :

    Facebook’s move to limit use of third party data brokers angers advertisers 

    Facebook data fiasco gets murkier 

  • Eros Now joins hands with RCB for IPL debut

    Eros Now joins hands with RCB for IPL debut

    MUMBAI: Eros Now has made its debut in IPL 11 as the title sponsor of Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The digital venture of Eros International is the first over-the-top (OTT) platform to become the lead sponsor of a league team in the world’s premier T20 event. Though there is a speculation that the deal is worth Rs 54 crore, the company declined to comment on the number.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Eros Now COO Ali Hussein said that the deal with RCB was a media brand association, entailing the meeting of sports and entertainment meet via T20.

    “The innovation with RCB is a perfect mélange of sports and entertainment and enables our endeavour to connect with our youth and offer a consumer experience bringing stars from the cricketing and Bollywood world together. By integrating with RCB and T20, Eros Now is investing in other entertainment vehicles to share our vision and passion of presenting the best in entertainment. RCB have garnered tremendous support and confidence in their partners and fans and we wish the team good luck this season, ” said Eros Digital CEO Rishika Lulla Singh.

    For Eros Now, the deal brings together the synergies entertainment and sports thanks to the snacky nature of the T20 format. 

    Eros Now has replaced mobile handset brand Gionee, a brand that was associated with the team in 2017 IPL. Last year, Gionee was the first brand ever to sponsor front jerseys of two IPL teams—Kolkata Knight Riders and the Rajasthan Royals—in the same edition. But the company has decided to stay away for this year’s edition of IPL. 

    “We are delighted to have a leading entertainment entity like Eros Now on board as RCB’s title sponsor. Entertainment and cricket have always been India’s biggest passion points and the synergy that this partnership will create is definitely going to up the excitement quotient among fans and viewers,” RCB chairman Amrit Thomas said.

    Also Read:

    HP is RCB’s new principal sponsor

    Mumbai Indians gets Goibibo as principal sponsor for IPL 2018

  • SonyLIV Launches Married Woman Diaries – Phase 2

    SonyLIV Launches Married Woman Diaries – Phase 2

    MUMBAI: SonyLIV brings to you the second edition of its popular original web series; Married Woman Diaries. After the phenomenal success of the first edition, the new series takes on the life of new parents as they move into the next phase of their married life.

    The series features actress, Sulagna Panigrahi, as Shweta while Abhishek Rawat returns as the husband, Rishi. The first season of ‘Married Woman Diaries’ revolved around how Shweta deals with the changes in her husband post their marriage; while ‘Married Woman Diaries – Phase 2’ will focus on the lives of Shweta and Rishi on becoming parents. The story is inspired by real life situations of modern couples and the different phases of relationships. Life of couples is very different when they are newly married and then becoming parents is the next phase and hence the show is also named as Phase 2.

    How does a couple, so different in every way cope with the stress of parenthood? To add to the tension, an ex-girlfriend of Rishi’s, Alisha, enters the scene. Will sparks fly between the ex- flames and how will Shweta, already overwhelmed with all the pressures of becoming a mother, handle the situation?

    Encapsulated in 10 episodes, ‘Married Woman Diaries – Phase 2’ will be available on SonyLIV starting today and a new episode will air every Wednesday. The series is also available for binge watching for subscribed users. This web series is written by Manu Chobe and directed by Kabir Sadanand and presented by KamaSutra condoms.

  • Inside Edge to return on Amazon in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu

    Inside Edge to return on Amazon in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu

    MUMBAI: Buoyed by the response of viewers across the world, Amazon Prime Video (Amazon) has announced the second season of its Indian original Inside Edge. Launched on 10 July 2018, the first season of the show delved into the scandalous side of the cricket world. Aside from winning several awards, Inside Edge became one of the top watched titles on Amazon.

    Excel Media & Entertainment, the producer of the show, has collaborated with Amazon Prime Video for season 2 as well.

    “We have had a successful collaboration with Amazon Prime Video, starting with Amazon’s first original, Inside Edge, which was hugely successful.  We are excited on the commencement of season 2 of Inside Edge and are looking forward to our collaboration yet again with Amazon in bringing the next season to Prime Video,” Excel Media & Entertainment co-founder Riteish Sidhwani said.

    Apart from Hindi, the second season is expected to premier in 2019 with dubs in Tamil and Telugu. The series will serve as an answer to all the cliff hangers in season 1.

    “We are thrilled to announce an all-new season of Amazon’s first Indian Prime Original, Inside Edge. The first season of Inside Edge received a tremendously positive response. We are happy to work with Excel Media & Entertainment again on Inside Edge Season 2,” Amazon Prime Video India’s director (content) Vijay Subramaniam said.

    Amazon Prime Video is trying to make its foothold stronger in the Indian market with originals that the audience can connect with.

    Also Read:

    OTT players aim to carve a niche with originals

    OTT players up the ante with niche content

  • ALTBalaji wins big with Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, 300% week on week viewership growth on the app

    ALTBalaji wins big with Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, 300% week on week viewership growth on the app

    MUMBAI: #ALTBalajiOriginal Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain has become biggest success story for the thriving OTT platform ALTBalaji. Starring TV power houses Ronit Bose Roy, Mona Singh and Gurdeep Kohli in the intense mature love tale, the show has attracted massive viewership and fan following. Two weeks into the release, the week on week viewership growth has been a gigantic 300% on the app; adding the show to the league of platform’s masterpieces like Bose: Dead/Alive, The Test Case and Dev DD.

    ALTBalaji experimented with releasing three episodes in a week that is one new episode every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to keep the buzz going. This kept the momentum and curiosity going higher among the viewers. The show has garnered immense social media chatter and triggered conversations with fans emotionally investing in their favorite character’s future, making the online response quite extraordinary for any ALTBalaji show.

    Talking about the show ALTBalaji of CMO, Manav Sethi said, “We are overwhelmed with the success of Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain. This is a reminder of the fact that good stories always win and that is the soul of entertainment. We wanted to experiment viewership pattern against releasing all episodes in one go – antithesis to binge viewing. To our delight this strategy worked in our favour and is in sync with the emerging consumption pattern on digital platform. We have proved that good content along with smart marketing strategies could result in awe-inspiring success like this.”

    The 15 episodes long show, will release its finale episode on the 11th of April. Stay tuned to discover the fate of your favorite characters.

  • Hotstar appoints Sid Taparia as international business head

    Hotstar appoints Sid Taparia as international business head

    MUMBAI: Digital and mobile entertainment platform Hotstar has appointed Sid Taparia to head the company’s international business. In his new position, Taparia will be responsible for building and running Hotstar’s business in international markets.

    Taparia has moved to Hotstar from information technology and service company Gelato India, where he served as the country manger for more than a year and a half.

    Before joining Gelato India, in 2013, he founded an online platform for pop-culture merchandise company, VoxPop, which he sold to Bioworld Merchandising in 2016.

    Taparia is an experienced general manager with a history of working in the consumer, digital and media industries. In a career spanning over 20 years, he has worked with Deutsch bank, McKinsey & Co and The Walt Disney Company.

    Taparia holds an MBA in business administration and general management from Harvard Business School.

    Also Read:

    Hotstar unveils subscription pack for IPL, live sports

    Why Ajit Mohan allowed Amazon Prime to advertise on Hotstar

  • Eros Now gearing up to build its brand with SVOD and movie positioning

    Eros Now gearing up to build its brand with SVOD and movie positioning

    MUMBAI: Ever since over-the-top (OTT) platforms began to pop up like breeding rabbits  in India, there has been widespread scepticism over whether viewers would pay for online content. Most of the players, however, are quite sanguine that Indian audiences are ready to open their wallets for good content. Echoing the same sentiment, Eros Digital COO Ali Hussein, in an interaction with indiantelevision.com, said that he is going to further reiterate the fact that Eros Now has been a subscription first video on demand service and push its positioning as a movie focused product. A high decible promotional campaign is on the anvil, to push the messaging to  users in a bid to upgrade them to paying customers.

    The move comes in the wake of Eros Digital concentrating on generating paying subs. Operating under the ambit of production and distribution company Eros International Media, the company is inching towards its aim of accruing 16 million subscribers by the end of financial year 2019. It already has according to some reports five million subs internationally.

    A former YouTube executive, Hussein joined Eros Digital as COO in January with more than 15 years of experience in digital media across big name content and digital outfits. During his time with YouTube, he realised the true value of technology, research and the function of product managers, which is sometimes undermined by content creators.

    Instead of harping on a grand vision, he is looking at simply building an identity for his new charge. He believes that the company has much to consolidate. While other platforms are entering the space with multiple identities such as general entertainment, youth, kids, family and sports, Eros Now has an advantage with being defined as a movie destination.

    “I think it’s important for the ecosystem to understand that at the end of the day, you are trying to develop an affinity with the customer. Hence, building a brand and a cultural ethos is always important. You can’t just be like a jigsaw puzzle,” Ali  said.

    That is why Eros Now is aiming at identifying its niche and building on it. And it is going to push the two messaging planks of movies first and SVOD-first. According to Ali, the plan is to double investment from a brand stand point. “In the next six to nine months, the company will take various initiatives focusing on how to develop a brand for the future.”

    Original content is the star ingredient for OTT players in 2018 with Eros Now being no exception. The digital platform will launch six to eight originals, including up to two in regional languages. Keeping its long legacy of quality storytelling in mind, the platform will not launch a large number of shows but will concentrate on quality. “There will be no reality shows or non-fiction content. Our focus will to be build limited episode shows in the ficitonal space with the treatment we put in place when we make movies under the Eros brand.”

    Eros Now currently follows the SVOD-first model – read: all its content behind a pay wall while keeping music videos and movie trailers free, which will have some ad monetisation. Pricing is at Rs 49 for the base pack and Rs 99 for the full monty including HD, movies and other premium content.

    “With e-commerce encouraging and making it easy for people to trust online payments, the OTT sector aims to benefit from this trust,” adds Ali. “As an overall ecosystem, the future of the business is going to move to e-payment and that’ll have an effect on media and entertainment,” he said.

    Deals with Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone and mobile wallets and OEMs will help Eros Now complete its target of annual average revenue per user of $5 in India and $35 internationally. Late last month, Reliance Industries bought a minority stake in Eros International, helping it leverage Jio’s 4G offering.

    In January, Eros Now announced that it had hit 80 million registered users and five million paying subscribers worldwide as of 31 December 2017 with 150 per cent growth over the previous year. By 31 March 2018, it had hoped to climb to six to eight million subscribers and double that number by the end of FY 2019.

    Eros Now already has users globally owing to the large Indian diaspora. Earlier, Eros International collaborated with Roku and web-OS enabled LG smart TVs to make its OTT content available around the world. To expand its reach, Eros Now will target certain international markets but with localised strategies.

    Thanks to the hectic pace of action in the OTT space, platforms have to be constantly on their toes taking course-corrective measures in order to stay afloat. So far, Eros Now has had a low-profile existence in the market but things are about to change soon. The next six to nine months are likely to see a raft of announcements by the platform in terms of originals and a stronger connect in foreign markets through localised content strategy. Watch this space for more action.

    Also Read :

    Eros Digital ropes in former Google exec Ali Hussein as COO

    Eros Now and PVR Cinemas present – ‘Return of Blockbusters’ Film Festival

  • Hotstar unveils subscription pack for IPL, live sports

    Hotstar unveils subscription pack for IPL, live sports

    MUMBAI: Hotstar has come up with a pleasant announcement for sports lovers with new annual sports subscription package. With an annual of Rs 299, subscribers can track all live sports including the matches of IPL.

    In history of IPL, this is going to be first ever digital broadcast of the premier cricket league. Earlier Star India stated that the IPL 2018 will be broadcast simultaneously on Star Sports and Hotstar after bagging IPL media rights. Besides, it will telecast the matches in six languages.

    The all sports plan from Hotstar has been announced prior IPL as the speculations say it will help the platform to get more subscribers. The lucrative subscription will provide sports access to entire sports portfolio of Star India.

    Each time non-paying users log on to Hotstar to watch a match, they will be able to see 10 minutes of live IPL feed free and then encounter a pay wall

    All Airtel and Jio customers, however, can watch the IPL live feed free.

    Also Read:

    Star to air IPL on 10 channels, in 6 languages; live on Hotstar

    Star India to introduce VR for IPL 2018

  • Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord now streaming on ZEE5 in hindi

    Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord now streaming on ZEE5 in hindi

    MUMBAI: ZEE5, India’s largest digital entertainment platform for language content, has announced the release of the popular Columbian drama, Pablo Escobar, The Drug Lord. In keeping with its promise of bringing international content in Indian languages, ZEE5 has dubbed the Spanish-language series in Hindi.

    Based on the life of Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar, the series stars Columbian TV and film actor Andrés Parra Medina. The 74-episode series follows the rise of Escobar, from his days as a petty thief to becoming the head of a drug trafficking empire, turning the cocaine trade into a multi-million dollar business and ruthlessly eliminating whoever dared to stand in his way. He was often called “The King of Cocaine” and was the wealthiest criminal in history. The show also brings to light Escobar’s softer side – as a husband and father and a supporter of the poor.

    “Pablo Escobar has been one of the most popular TV shows internationally and attracted record audiences in Colombia when it was aired. We are thrilled to offer it in Hindi on ZEE5, in keeping with our promise to bring the best of content to viewers in the language of their comfort. Real life stories have a distinct appeal and there are few stories that are as sensational as that of Pablo Escobar’s. This is only one of the many premium international shows we will be brining to delight our viewers in India,” said Archana Anand, EVP & Head of Digital- ZEE5 India Business.

    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 its strategic alliances with the best of the production houses across the globe, ZEE5 offers world class content from various countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, United States, United Kingdom, Korea, China, Spain and many more. With ZEE5, the content of Zindagi as a brand, which was widely appreciated across the country, has also been brought back for its loyal viewers.