ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Indian Television actress Radhika Madan launches her official mobile app with new york-based company EscapeX

    Indian Television actress Radhika Madan launches her official mobile app with new york-based company EscapeX

    MUMBAI: Radhika Madan announced today the release of her new mobile app Radhika Madan Official App in collaboration with New York-based tech firm EscapeX. Globally celebrities with 1.4 billion following are using this app technology to interact with their fans and Radhika Madan with the launch of her own app will take fan engagement and interaction to the next level. The new app which will have an exclusive content, contests and giveaways through the unique social feed will enable the fans to directly interact with Radhika and be seen by her. This provides an unparalleled intimate experience for her large fan base, who can enjoy real interactivity and get a personal view of her life. 

    Radhika Madan Official App will feature the unique Fan Feed which will enable the fans to post in the app and build and consolidate the fan community in a single destination. The new app will also enable fans to use Radhika’s social handles (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and You tube).  

    Apart from a great success in the popular TV show “Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi”, Radhika will be seen in the big screen making her Bollywood debut with the film Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota. 

    Commenting on the launch of her personal app, Radhika said, ““This App is just a way to be closer to my fans and it will give me a chance to interact much better with all my fans”

    The CEO of EscapeX, Sephi Shapira says, “We are delighted to launch the app of Radhika Madan who is a very popular television star and completely believes in owning her own platform and engaging directly with her fans”.

  • OTT platforms discuss need for regulation

    OTT platforms discuss need for regulation

    MUMBAI: At FICCI Frames 2018, stakeholders once again debated the need to bring over-the-top (OTT) platforms under a regulatory system. In a session on digital revolution, panellists discussed how India stood a genuine chance of becoming the digital content hub of the world but the threat of regulation from the content, data and economic perspectives loomed large.

    The session ‘Rise in Platforms: Digital Revolution in India and Impact M&E Industry’ was discussed with panellists Media Partners Asia ED Vivek Couto, Frost and Sullivan director Vidya S Nath, Verizon Digital Media VP – strategic alliances & channel management Michael Sturm, PLR Law Partner Suhaan Mukherji, Eros Now COO Ali Hussein and Z5 business EVP & head of digital – India Archana Anand. The panel was moderated by Castle Media ED Vynsley Fernandes.

    According to Mukherji, the concern is that which authority will regulate OTT as it comes under the ambit of the IT Act. “OTT was defined by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and it brought out the information papers on net neutrality,” he said.

    Anand said that OTT needs more freedom than traditional media that can differentiate it as being a little more edgy, cheesy and brave. Nath pointed out that the word ‘regulation’ is often interchanged with ‘censorship.’ “In the broadcasting industry, there are regulations like not showing the ads in the day time or show few ads after 10 pm. But the industry does practice self-regulation too,” she said.

    Agreeing with her, Anand said that Z5 also practices self-regulation and that every platform follows certain fundamentals wherein everyone steers clear of things such as porn. She favoured having a debate between platforms and regulators to come up with a regulation after mutual consensus.

    However, Mukherji cautioned saying, “We should be very careful that we just don’t treat OTT or kids movies or IP networks the same way we treated everything else.”

    Describing the nature of digital platforms, Anand said, “We are always on OTT while traveling or even while waiting. It’s really about us consuming way more than we ever did before.”

    Nath opined that looking at the current business model, India was primarily an AVoD market. She said that by 2020, Indian OTT market has the potential to grow to 500 million. It was 180 million in 2017. She further added, “OTT is not competing with pay TV or FTA channels, it is competing with other digital platforms.”

    The fight is essential for viewer time. Since people don’t pay up easily for content, most platforms adopt a freemium model.

    According to Couto, countries like Australia and Japan are largely based on subscription video on demand. In Australia, TV industry has been demolished and the entertainment is largely driven by Netflix. But India is a country with huge potential market. He said, “India is still slow and the most interesting thing about India is that it has a strong online market and online is the subset.”

    Japan and China are liberating the OTT space. “They are creating their digital ecosystems with games, videos, e-commerce and many things in it,” added Couto. He also said that the average watch time for any OTT platform including Netflix in Indonesia is 15 minutes but in India, it comes to 3 hours a day.

    Sturm believes that Indian markets produce the most content across the globe but looking at the scale, everything falls to AVoD, SVoD and TVoD models. He said, “When you need to reach the mass, then you need to opt for AVoD model. In one or two years, we will be able to run profitable AVoD models.”

    While praising the diversity of India and its content creation Sturm said, “India is not just about English and Hindi speaking consumers, it has consumers consuming content in many more languages.” Anand also added that there is a big regional market in India that is waiting to be captured.

    Whether global or local, whatever the niche or genre, OTT services have become the centre of attention in the entertainment space and they must become sustainable businesses at some point. OTT players are certain that TV won’t die so soon and their fight is on a different level altogether.

    Also Read:

    Localised content the way forward for Netflix in India

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV    

    Indians among top commute streamers for Netflix

  • ALTBalaji launches original stand-up comedy in Tamil, Telugu

    ALTBalaji launches original stand-up comedy in Tamil, Telugu

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji has added a pinch of fun, sarcasm, wit to its collection for Tamil and Telugu users. The OTT platform recently launched original stand-up comedy videos inthese languages.

    Tamil episodes feature popular stand-up comedians like Shanti Kumar and Shaik Baba Sharifuddin to name a few, while the Telugu library comprises talented and well-known artists Baggy, Manoj and Mervyn.

    “We are thrilled to bring original regional stand-up comedy on ALTBalaji. It is fast emerging as a high growth genre for web audiences. Offline stand-up shows have time, place and ticket constraints whereas web as a medium takes away all these pains and enables access on a click. Based on consumer insight, we understood that the stand-up available to viewers in India is mostly English or Hindi, neglecting the regional language demand and so we have identified local talents from these regions and got them on board,” ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi commented on the new episodes.

    It recently launched regional stand-up comedy videos in Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati languages as well.

    Also Read:

    Known actors profitable to web series: ALTBalaji’s Manav Sethi

    ALTBalaji bets big on first-time producers with Haq Se

  • Netflix signs Hasan Minhaj for weekly talk show

    Netflix signs Hasan Minhaj for weekly talk show

    MUMBAI: Hasan Minhaj is set to host his own weekly talk show on Netflix that will debut later this year. Netflix has committed to a 32 episode order, making Minhaj the first Indian-American host of a weekly comedy talk show.

    Series description: Minhaj’s comedy show will explore the modern cultural and political landscape with depth and sincerity. Each week, Minhaj will bring his unique comedic voice and storytelling skill to investigate the larger trends shaping our fragmented world.

    Hasan Minhaj said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the Netflix family as the country braces for another election season. And like you, I cannot wait to find out who Putin picks this time.”

    Bela Bajaria, Vice President of Content for Netflix said “I’ve been a big fan of Hasan’s for many years. He’s a phenomenal writer with a distinct point of view. He is a brilliant performer, who is hilarious both on stage and off, and more importantly he isn’t afraid to share his thoughtful voice and unique perspective. We are so excited to bring his new talk series to Netflix members around the world.”

    Bio: Last year, Minhaj earned rave reviews for his one-hour Netflix comedy special Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King, and for his performance hosting the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where he was Jon’s last hire, in November 2014 as a correspondent and continued on in that role after Trevor Noah took over as host the following year. He will remain with The Daily Show through the end of July, before beginning work on this new project. In addition, Minhaj and his sketch comedy quartet, Goatface, will bring their wide-ranging brand of humor to Comedy Central for a one-hour special next year. This summer he will star in Lionsgate’s The Spy Who Dumped Me.

  • Viu Original ‘It Happened in Hong-Kong’ Redefines Wanderlust

    Viu Original ‘It Happened in Hong-Kong’ Redefines Wanderlust

    Viu will premiere its upcoming original titled – ‘It Happened in Hong-Kong’ featuring rising stars of the digital space: Aahana Kumra and Amol Parashar. After the success of Viu’s recent shows, such as ‘No.1 Yaari,’ ‘I Can, You Can’ and ‘Tollywood Squares,’ Viu’s latest original will stream on the official Viu app on 9th March. Shot in Hong Kong, the four-episode romantic comedy travel series will also be televised on Zoom.

    ‘It Happened in Hong-Kong’ is a digital series that explores and celebrates the small yet special moments that happen when you travel, including meeting strangers. Over a solo trip to Hong Kong, Amol and Aahana meet by chance and hit it off instantly. Their beautiful journey takes some interesting twists and turns. With Hong Kong as the background for this romantic travel digital series, viewers are encouraged to escape the monotony of their daily lives and experience the extraordinary through traveling.

    Commenting on the announcement of this upcoming digital series, Viu, India- Head of Monetization and Distribution, Sameer Gogate commented, “Viu as a platform has always been focused on storytelling in engaging and experimental ways. Through our association with Hong Kong tourism for ‘It Happened in Hong-Kong,’ we wanted our consumers to experience Hong Kong through the show.”

    With a weekly release every Friday, consumers can watch this romantic series for four weeks on www.viu.com and the Viu App.

  • Netflix signs Hasan Minhaj for weekly talk show

    Netflix signs Hasan Minhaj for weekly talk show

    MUMBAI: Hasan Minhaj is set to host his own weekly talk show on Netflix that will debut later this year. Netflix has committed to a 32 episode order, making Minhaj the first Indian-American host of a weekly comedy talk show.

    Series description: Minhaj’s comedy show will explore the modern cultural and political landscape with depth and sincerity. Each week, Minhaj will bring his unique comedic voice and storytelling skill to investigate the larger trends shaping our fragmented world.

    Hasan Minhaj said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the Netflix family as the country braces for another election season. And like you, I cannot wait to find out who Putin picks this time.”

    Bela Bajaria, Vice President of Content for Netflix said “I’ve been a big fan of Hasan’s for many years. He’s a phenomenal writer with a distinct point of view. He is a brilliant performer, who is hilarious both on stage and off, and more importantly he isn’t afraid to share his thoughtful voice and unique perspective. We are so excited to bring his new talk series to Netflix members around the world.”

    Bio: Last year, Minhaj earned rave reviews for his one-hour Netflix comedy special Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King, and for his performance hosting the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where he was Jon’s last hire, in November 2014 as a correspondent and continued on in that role after Trevor Noah took over as host the following year. He will remain with The Daily Show through the end of July, before beginning work on this new project. In addition, Minhaj and his sketch comedy quartet, Goatface, will bring their wide-ranging brand of humor to Comedy Central for a one-hour special next year. This summer he will star in Lionsgate’s The Spy Who Dumped Me.

  • Twitter to stream women leaders panel live at FICCI Frames

    Twitter to stream women leaders panel live at FICCI Frames

    MUMBAI: Twitter is the best reflection of “What’s Happening” in India and across the world, and where powerful voices and movements come together to speak up for women’s rights. In celebration of International Women’s Day,  Twitter will host and live stream the women leaders panel at FICCI Frames to discuss the state of women empowerment in the digital era.

    Twitter is hosting a panel of women leaders at FICCI Frames (@FICCI_India) on 5 March to discuss women empowerment in the digital era, the rise of women movements, and how the community can support the development of more women leaders in the future.

    Led by Maya Hari (@maya_hari), Managing Director of Asia Pacific at Twitter, who will be moderating the session, the panel will feature Director of Lipstick under my burkha Alankrita Shrivastava (@Alankrita601); Actor and media owner Gul Panag (@GulPanag); Author of Face at the window Kiran Manral (@KiranManral); Deputy Editor of Rolling Stones India, Nirmika Singh (@nirmika); and film producer and founder of IconicBot, Vishakha Singh (@vishakhasingh55).

    Twitter will live broadcast the session from @TwitterIndia and @FICCI_India. The live stream will be available for free to logged-in and logged-out users on Twitter and connected devices globally. People will be able to watch the panel discussion and join the conversation to celebrate women empowerment with the hashtag #SheInspiresMe.

    “Twitter is the best place to see what’s happening around the world and to talk about it. In celebration of International Women’s Day, Twitter is launching a month-long celebration to recognize inspirational women on and off Twitter, starting with FICCI Frames in India,” said Twitter MD Asia Pacific  Maya Hari. She added, “We are excited to amplify the stories of these women who are strong, powerful, and inspirational to all and share them around the world with live streaming on Twitter.”
     
    FICCI secretary general Dr Sanjaya Baru sais, “FICCI FRAMES, Asia’s largest convention on the business of Media & Entertainment, is proud to be associated with Twitter in its campaign on women’s day. FICCI has always been an active supporter of initiatives taken for women leadership. Issues faced by women in Media & Entertainment industry have been a center stage topic of discussion in Frames over the years. With Twitter & FICCI Frames coming together in this edition of FICCI Frames, it would help further delving deep into & highlighting the issues of women leadership in this digital era.” 

    In the past year, Twitter has developed several initiatives in support of women movements in India and globally, including #PositionOfStrength. The #PositionOfStrength initiative which started first in India, is a movement to engage and empower women online while educating them on how to use Twitter as a platform to build a profile, have a voice, and create their own unique and influential personal brands. The initiative began in March 2015 for women to learn how to use the platform safely with confidence, and to network with other career-minded women.

  • Only 3% of Indian households paid subs of SVoD services: Global study

    Only 3% of Indian households paid subs of SVoD services: Global study

    NEW DELHI: Ground data doesn’t match the hype around streaming video services in India. Only three per cent of Indian households are paid subscribers of such services, while the corresponding figure for the US is 59 per cent, according to a new global market study released recently that was done over 2017.

    The number of households worldwide, which pay for various streaming video services such as Netflix and Amazon, has now breached the 250 million mark, research from Boston-based Strategy Analytics’ TV and Media Strategies service indicates.

    The report, Home Video and OTT Video Forecast – Global, predicts that the number of homes paying for subscriptions to streaming video services will reach nearly 300 million by the end of 2018 and more than 450 million by 2022.

    Interestingly, in China the percentage of paying households of video streaming services is not very high if the population and size of the market are taken into account. The Chinese figure is 12 per cent, while Japan (29 per cent) is the only Asian country to find a mention in the top-10 list. Smaller countries such as Norway (46 per cent) and Sweden (45 per cent) have a higher percentage of paying households.

    Some of the other key findings from the research include the following:

    ∙         Average monthly household spending on streaming video services increased by 5 per cent in 2017 to $9.46.

    ∙         The total number of streaming video subscriptions reached 345 million by the end of 2017.

    ∙         Households paying for streaming video services used on average 1.39 services.

    ∙         The US has the highest penetration of streaming video services, with 59 per cent of households using at least one service at the end of 2017.

    Percentage of Households Paying for Streaming Video Services, Dec 2017

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    Source: Strategy Analytics’ Media Strategies Group, Feb 2018

    “Streaming video is rapidly becoming a normal part of people’s entertainment options,” TV & Media Strategies director Michael Goodman said in a statement put out on 28 February 2018.

    According to him, “Usage is already at around half of households in the most mature markets and is likely to reach those levels in many other countries in the near future. Clearly, market leaders like Netflix and Amazon will benefit from this trend, but there are also major opportunities for media companies, which currently focus on more traditional pay TV and content development business models.”

    In this research, according to an official statement, pay-TV-like services such as NowTV and DirecTV Now were not included. Major services analysed included Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, IVI.ru, Hulu, Viu and iFlix.

    Though the research did not specify it, but observers of Indian media and entertainment sector explained the low percentage of paid subscribers for streaming or OTT services could be because India has always been a price sensitive market for entertainment services. And, most homegrown OTT platforms’ services are only partially or not at all behind a paywall.

    ALSO READ:

    Indian online video to grow to US 1.6 bn at 35 percent CAGR by 2022

    Indian pay-TV expanding by 10.6 pc, 77 pc to be digitised, ARPUs to rise by ’22: MPA

    MPA: India & China power APAC ad rev, ads in largest medium TV still robust

  • 2017’s biggest blockbusters are coming to Hooq this march

    2017’s biggest blockbusters are coming to Hooq this march

    MUMBAI: HOOQ – the largest Video on Demand service in South-East Asia – is proud to announce that it will be bringing 5 powerhouse Hollywood blockbusters from 2017 to its transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) offering, all within the span of a month.

    There is truly something for everybody this March on HOOQ’s TVOD service.  Lovers of animated films can enjoy Pixar’s Coco and comic book fans can rejoice as HOOQ brings you the absolute best that the Marvel and DC Cinematic Universe has to offer with Thor: Ragnarok and Justice League.  Those looking to make a trip to a galaxy far, far away can eagerly await the arrival of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi and, finally, for the nostalgic lovers of 90s cinema, the highly successful Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle would be a winning choice.

    HOOQ’s Chief Content Officer, Jennifer Batty said, “Our unique partnerships with blockbuster juggernauts like Disney, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures, truly allows us to bring the world’s premier movie titles to the comfort of our subscribers’ homes straight out of the cinemas.  March is going to be a fantastic month to be a movie buff!”

  • Reliance Big TV makes pay channels free for a year

    Reliance Big TV makes pay channels free for a year

    MUMBAI: In what is likely to boost its rural subscriber base, Reliance Big TV is making its pay channels free for a year while also providing up to 500 free-to-air channels for five years without charge. The pay channels include the direct-to-home (DTH) operator’s range of high-definition (HD) entertainment channels.

    Moreover, the operator aims to pioneer a digital revolution in entertainment with a HD HEVC set-top box (STB) practically free of cost. “We are extending our pan-India network to support our customers, enriched content for all at superior digital quality and affordable services with the latest cutting-edge HD HEVC device,” Reliance Big TV director Vijender Singh said in a release issued by the company.

    Its HD HEVC STB will come with features such as schedule recording, USB port, Youtube, recording and viewing channels simultaneously.

    Singh added, “Today, Reliance Big TV is going to mark the beginning of a new dawn in the way Indians have been accessing entertainment on their TV sets. Starting from today, entertainment comes effectively free of cost, with the latest offer by Reliance Big TV. Now every Indian household can enjoy high-quality home entertainment and students can have free-of-cost access to education content with the latest HD HEVC STB.”

    Singh said that the idea was to support the Digital India initiative by bringing urban and rural India “on the same platform for entertainment and education with [a] unified consumer offer.”

    Interested customers will have to pay a booking amount of Rs 499 on Reliance Big TV website. On the receipt of STB and outdoor unit (ODU), buyers have to pay the balance amount of Rs 1500 and enjoy a plethora of pay channels absolutely free for 1 year including HD Channels and up to 500 FTA channels free of cost for 5 years.

    To claim loyalty, subscribers need to recharge monthly amount of Rs. 300 from the second year onwards for all pay channels and on completion of subscription of pay channels continuously for next 2 years with Reliance Big TV subscribers will get back Rs. 1999 as a loyalty (the amounts paid during booking and receipt of the STB) in form of recharge.