Category: Over The Top Services

Ditto TV sees more demand for regional content

MUMBAI: With an aim to be the default app on every internet enabled smartphone in India for content delivery, Zee’s dittoTV seems to have got its marketing pitch correct with #BeeskaTV and #DeshkaTV campaign.

Poised to clock an annual revenue of Rs 150 crore (according to a media analyst) from a base of approximately six million installs (downloads), mostly in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM), the OTT service is attracting audience from a segment that is still growing in India.

“We have received a phenomenal response across all our platforms— six million installs and counting! The viewers loved our television commercial and we trended at no. 3 worldwide on Youtube when the campaign went live,” gushed dittoTV business head Archana Anand.

#BeeskaTV and #DeshkaTV were among the top 10 Twitter trends worldwide, according to Anand who added that the the dittoTV app trended at #1 in the entertainment category in both the Android and iOS app stores.

With an aim to build on this trending success and further enhance penetration, the digital platform has tied up with sister company Siticable, which is one of the oldest and largest MSOs in the country. Both come from the Subhash Chandra and family-promoted Essel group.

As part of this collaboration, Siticable will be pushing the authentication and subscription to dittoTV from its portal to the subscribers of its cable TV service for free. The cable TV service will share 20 per cent as revenue for every ditto TV subscription that the operator sells.

dittoTV subscription charges for three months, six months and one year are Rs 50, Rs 90 and Rs 170, respectively.

“They say well begun is half done. By that theory, we are in an extremely good position. With the new alliance rolling out and the masses sharing the phenomena of #BeeskaTV, we see the start of a fun and exciting journey,” Anand explained, adding a strong uptake is also reflected on the service’s usage and good content consumption.

Anand and her team are working on getting new business partnership for the platform and some alliances are said to be in the pipeline, which were not disclosed.

The platform credits its success to a combination of factors: width and depth of content and its incredible pricing. dittoTV offers access to over 100+ Hindi, English and regional-language channels encompassing general entertainment, sports, movies, news and lifestyle at just Rs 20 a month.

What worked best on Indian television (general entertainment) seems to have mirrored on the OTT service too as GECs were key drivers of dittoTV, followed by regional and news channels.

“Regional language content performs superbly across all our platforms and is rising steadily,” opined Anand claiming that regional viewer is also a `returning viewer’ and spends higher time compared to the platform average.

“On certain days, we’ve actually seen higher consumption for certain regional GECs as compared to key Hindi GECs. Sports and News are very event based and do extremely well for us in bursts when there is a sporting event or breaking news,” Anand said.

The average view time on the platform has been up to 24 minutes per user. What the reason? Events like cricket (the West Indies vs. India series) and the bundling of dittoTV with data packs with telcos like Idea Cellular have contributed to this substantially.

dittoTV has deliberately positioned itself differently from other similar players in the markets like HotStar, Sony Liv and Voot as they follow a simple and clear strategy of providing live content similar to what is available on television.

An aggressive pricing strategy notwithstanding, dittoTV is still far away from replacing cable TV or DTH from consumer homes as a primary source of video consumption, but Anand is upbeat.

“TV is synonymous with entertainment for the Indian masses and dittoTV being a linear TV offering remains synonymous with TV. I strongly believe that our platform will be a game changer and will help us drive volumes as well as change the way people consume content on-the-go,” she concluded.

August 23, 2016
Ditto TV sees more demand for regional content

MUMBAI: With an aim to be the default app on every internet enabled smartphone in India for content delivery, Zee’s dittoTV seems to have got its marketing pitch correct with #BeeskaTV and #DeshkaTV campaign.

Poised to clock an annual revenue of Rs 150 crore (according to a media analyst) from a base of approximately six million installs (downloads), mostly in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM), the OTT service is attracting audience from a segment that is still growing in India.

“We have received a phenomenal response across all our platforms— six million installs and counting! The viewers loved our television commercial and we trended at no. 3 worldwide on Youtube when the campaign went live,” gushed dittoTV business head Archana Anand.

#BeeskaTV and #DeshkaTV were among the top 10 Twitter trends worldwide, according to Anand who added that the the dittoTV app trended at #1 in the entertainment category in both the Android and iOS app stores.

With an aim to build on this trending success and further enhance penetration, the digital platform has tied up with sister company Siticable, which is one of the oldest and largest MSOs in the country. Both come from the Subhash Chandra and family-promoted Essel group.

As part of this collaboration, Siticable will be pushing the authentication and subscription to dittoTV from its portal to the subscribers of its cable TV service for free. The cable TV service will share 20 per cent as revenue for every ditto TV subscription that the operator sells.

dittoTV subscription charges for three months, six months and one year are Rs 50, Rs 90 and Rs 170, respectively.

“They say well begun is half done. By that theory, we are in an extremely good position. With the new alliance rolling out and the masses sharing the phenomena of #BeeskaTV, we see the start of a fun and exciting journey,” Anand explained, adding a strong uptake is also reflected on the service’s usage and good content consumption.

Anand and her team are working on getting new business partnership for the platform and some alliances are said to be in the pipeline, which were not disclosed.

The platform credits its success to a combination of factors: width and depth of content and its incredible pricing. dittoTV offers access to over 100+ Hindi, English and regional-language channels encompassing general entertainment, sports, movies, news and lifestyle at just Rs 20 a month.

What worked best on Indian television (general entertainment) seems to have mirrored on the OTT service too as GECs were key drivers of dittoTV, followed by regional and news channels.

“Regional language content performs superbly across all our platforms and is rising steadily,” opined Anand claiming that regional viewer is also a `returning viewer’ and spends higher time compared to the platform average.

“On certain days, we’ve actually seen higher consumption for certain regional GECs as compared to key Hindi GECs. Sports and News are very event based and do extremely well for us in bursts when there is a sporting event or breaking news,” Anand said.

The average view time on the platform has been up to 24 minutes per user. What the reason? Events like cricket (the West Indies vs. India series) and the bundling of dittoTV with data packs with telcos like Idea Cellular have contributed to this substantially.

dittoTV has deliberately positioned itself differently from other similar players in the markets like HotStar, Sony Liv and Voot as they follow a simple and clear strategy of providing live content similar to what is available on television.

An aggressive pricing strategy notwithstanding, dittoTV is still far away from replacing cable TV or DTH from consumer homes as a primary source of video consumption, but Anand is upbeat.

“TV is synonymous with entertainment for the Indian masses and dittoTV being a linear TV offering remains synonymous with TV. I strongly believe that our platform will be a game changer and will help us drive volumes as well as change the way people consume content on-the-go,” she concluded.

August 23, 2016
TVF goes “Tripling” with Tata Tiago

MUMBAI: Road tripping with your favourite people is bliss. We have all been there. Famous for its brainchild Pitchers and Permanent Roommates, YouTube’s series heavyweights The Viral Fever (TVF) has added a new feather to its hat.

For those who have done it in the past, TVF’s new web-series Tripling will give them a flashback and those who haven’t will immediately start planning.

Written by Akarsh Khurana and Sumeet Vyas, the five episodic show spanning over 20-25 minutes revolves around three distant siblings who come closer on a road trip trying to deal with their individual crisis.

Chandan (Sumeet Vyas), a homeless and jobless man whose marriage seems to be falling apart with Chanchal (Maanvi Gagroo) married into royalty regretting the isolation and responsibility that comes with the title and Chitvan (Amol Parashar) a laid back DJ decide to hit the roads. The show is slated to launch on 28 August. It also stars Kunal Roy Kapoor, Kumud Mishra and Shernaz Patel.

“I started working on the concept six months back and after three or four drafts we finalised the script. I was very keen on writing a road-trip story and wanted it to be different,” says Vyas.

Targeted at the 14-45 age group who can relate to the content, TVF is making this web series in association with Tiago from Tata Motors. Directed by Rajesh Krishnan, the entire show has been shot by G Srinivas Reddy on a Cannon C300 using a two camera set-up.

The series was shot at a stretch with a crew of 30-40 in various places- Mumbai, Rajasthan, Jodhpur, Manali, etc. The catchy music has been composed by Amar Mangrulkar.

According to sources close to the development, Tata Motors has shelled out an eye-popping amount of Rs 2.5-3 crore for backing the production.

“Just like our past shows, TVF will not push this series exceedingly. We will target audiences from the tier 2 and tier 3 cities,” adds producer of the show Sameer Saxena. He is also working on the second season of Pitchers that will be launched early in 2017.

Except teasers and a few hoardings in the top five metro cities, the trailer of the show has been successfully launched with 3,000 likes on the channel within 24 hours. Going by one of the dialogues from the show, Crisis ke time pe family hi kaam aati hai, TVF definitely has one more winner on its hands.

August 22, 2016
TVF goes “Tripling” with Tata Tiago

MUMBAI: Road tripping with your favourite people is bliss. We have all been there. Famous for its brainchild Pitchers and Permanent Roommates, YouTube’s series heavyweights The Viral Fever (TVF) has added a new feather to its hat.

For those who have done it in the past, TVF’s new web-series Tripling will give them a flashback and those who haven’t will immediately start planning.

Written by Akarsh Khurana and Sumeet Vyas, the five episodic show spanning over 20-25 minutes revolves around three distant siblings who come closer on a road trip trying to deal with their individual crisis.

Chandan (Sumeet Vyas), a homeless and jobless man whose marriage seems to be falling apart with Chanchal (Maanvi Gagroo) married into royalty regretting the isolation and responsibility that comes with the title and Chitvan (Amol Parashar) a laid back DJ decide to hit the roads. The show is slated to launch on 28 August. It also stars Kunal Roy Kapoor, Kumud Mishra and Shernaz Patel.

“I started working on the concept six months back and after three or four drafts we finalised the script. I was very keen on writing a road-trip story and wanted it to be different,” says Vyas.

Targeted at the 14-45 age group who can relate to the content, TVF is making this web series in association with Tiago from Tata Motors. Directed by Rajesh Krishnan, the entire show has been shot by G Srinivas Reddy on a Cannon C300 using a two camera set-up.

The series was shot at a stretch with a crew of 30-40 in various places- Mumbai, Rajasthan, Jodhpur, Manali, etc. The catchy music has been composed by Amar Mangrulkar.

According to sources close to the development, Tata Motors has shelled out an eye-popping amount of Rs 2.5-3 crore for backing the production.

“Just like our past shows, TVF will not push this series exceedingly. We will target audiences from the tier 2 and tier 3 cities,” adds producer of the show Sameer Saxena. He is also working on the second season of Pitchers that will be launched early in 2017.

Except teasers and a few hoardings in the top five metro cities, the trailer of the show has been successfully launched with 3,000 likes on the channel within 24 hours. Going by one of the dialogues from the show, Crisis ke time pe family hi kaam aati hai, TVF definitely has one more winner on its hands.

August 22, 2016
Youth-targeted Olympic Channel launches 21 August

MUMBAI: A new channel will launch just as dusk settles on the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games on 21 August. Called the Olympic Channel, it will be available for worldwide audiences as an OTT offering via mobile apps for Android and IoS devices and online at olympicchannel.com. And it is being flagged of by the International Olympic Committee to offer fans a-round-the year Olympic experience.

A budget of $450 million to finance it for the first seven years will allow it to roll out a mix of live sports, documentaries, archive footage, news and highlights. It hopes to break even in about 10 years. Its base is Madrid, home to The Olympic Broadcasting Service, the arm of the IOC, which looks after the production of all things related to the premier once-in-four year event. And the channel head, it’s the CEO of the OBS,Yiannis Exarchos.

With the slogan “Where the Games never end,” Exarchos says it will deliver “the power of sport and the Olympic movement” 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And its ultimate goal is to bring the younger generation closer to sport, closer to an active lifestyle.

It will of course not telecast any of the Olympics live – as the IOC makes a large chunk of its revenues from licensing the live coverage of the Olympics to broadcasters worldwide. NBC has given it a cheque of $7.75 billion for US broadcast rights from 2022 to 2032.

But it will have access to the rich footage of Olympics competition over the decades dating back to almost a century, most of it not seen by the current generation. The OBS has digitized about 42,000 hours of the content which was stored at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzelrand, which is being repurposed, Exarchos has been telling media, in refreshing ways, “sometimes even in a funny or bonkers way.”

600 pieces of original programming, including 100 hours of high end documentaries, are also going to be on offer, featuring inspirational, dramatic or emotional stories of some of the biggest athletes in the world presented in a manner that can be enjoyed by younger people.

Japanese tyre company Bridgestone – which is a Olympic Top partner – has already come on board the OTT channel as a founding partner for four years. It will be the presenting partner of the eight episode documentary series Against All Odds, that follows eight athletes. Each half-hour episode will focus on one athlete, offering a first-person account of a key turning point, and how personal will and determination helped them to overcome adversity and reach their goals.

This apart, The Olympic Channel will also be showing about 11 sports events live between September and December including triathlon, canoeing, rowing and an Olympic ice hockey qualifying tournament. Formal agreements have been signed by it with 27 of the 35 summer and winter Olympics sports federations.

It has hired production companies in 17 countries around the world to produce content to allow for local stories to be told too, despite it being a global channel.

Olympic Channel executives are quite clear that the news on the channel will also be a draw as it going to be prepared by totally independent team of journalists who will make their own choices.

“We want to make the Olympic Channel the one place to go for all things Olympic,” Exarchos told media last week.
It’s over to the viewers to take a call on that.

August 19, 2016
Youth-targeted Olympic Channel launches 21 August

MUMBAI: A new channel will launch just as dusk settles on the closing ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games on 21 August. Called the Olympic Channel, it will be available for worldwide audiences as an OTT offering via mobile apps for Android and IoS devices and online at olympicchannel.com. And it is being flagged of by the International Olympic Committee to offer fans a-round-the year Olympic experience.

A budget of $450 million to finance it for the first seven years will allow it to roll out a mix of live sports, documentaries, archive footage, news and highlights. It hopes to break even in about 10 years. Its base is Madrid, home to The Olympic Broadcasting Service, the arm of the IOC, which looks after the production of all things related to the premier once-in-four year event. And the channel head, it’s the CEO of the OBS,Yiannis Exarchos.

With the slogan “Where the Games never end,” Exarchos says it will deliver “the power of sport and the Olympic movement” 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And its ultimate goal is to bring the younger generation closer to sport, closer to an active lifestyle.

It will of course not telecast any of the Olympics live – as the IOC makes a large chunk of its revenues from licensing the live coverage of the Olympics to broadcasters worldwide. NBC has given it a cheque of $7.75 billion for US broadcast rights from 2022 to 2032.

But it will have access to the rich footage of Olympics competition over the decades dating back to almost a century, most of it not seen by the current generation. The OBS has digitized about 42,000 hours of the content which was stored at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzelrand, which is being repurposed, Exarchos has been telling media, in refreshing ways, “sometimes even in a funny or bonkers way.”

600 pieces of original programming, including 100 hours of high end documentaries, are also going to be on offer, featuring inspirational, dramatic or emotional stories of some of the biggest athletes in the world presented in a manner that can be enjoyed by younger people.

Japanese tyre company Bridgestone – which is a Olympic Top partner – has already come on board the OTT channel as a founding partner for four years. It will be the presenting partner of the eight episode documentary series Against All Odds, that follows eight athletes. Each half-hour episode will focus on one athlete, offering a first-person account of a key turning point, and how personal will and determination helped them to overcome adversity and reach their goals.

This apart, The Olympic Channel will also be showing about 11 sports events live between September and December including triathlon, canoeing, rowing and an Olympic ice hockey qualifying tournament. Formal agreements have been signed by it with 27 of the 35 summer and winter Olympics sports federations.

It has hired production companies in 17 countries around the world to produce content to allow for local stories to be told too, despite it being a global channel.

Olympic Channel executives are quite clear that the news on the channel will also be a draw as it going to be prepared by totally independent team of journalists who will make their own choices.

“We want to make the Olympic Channel the one place to go for all things Olympic,” Exarchos told media last week.
It’s over to the viewers to take a call on that.

August 19, 2016
VEQTA brings Manchester City Football Club action to India

New Delhi: Manchester City Football Club, one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in the English Premier League (EPL), will be seen in action on VEQTA, India’s only digital broadcast network (OTT) dedicated to sports.

The partnership, which is claimed to be the first of its kind for a Premier League club, will enable football fans in India to enjoy access to an all-new, never before seen content experience.

VEQTA recently launched its OTT platform through flagship Apps.

Fans will now be able to experience the full suite of Manchester City Football Club content on the VEQTA platform, including exclusive training sessions, CityTV’s renowned ‘Inside City’ series, episodes of the ever popular ‘Global City Fans’ and behind the scenes interviews and activities with the players and manager.

The unique alliance will help the Club engage with millions of Manchester City and sports fans in one of the world’s fastest growing football markets, whilst allowing VEQTA to offer a truly global content experience and become the preferred destination for football fans in India.

VEQTA co-founder & director Vikram Tanwar said, “Football is the second largest and the fastest growing sport in India. We are very excited about partnering with an institution with the kind of history, legacy and success that Manchester City has. Through this partnership, football fans in India will have a truly global sports experience for the very first time. VEQTA is proud to be enabling this experience through its flagship platforms and is another step towards our commitment of offering the best sports content from across the globe.”

Manchester City Chief Operations Officer Omar Berrada said, “Manchester City’s fan base in India is growing rapidly and it is important for us to connect with all of our supporters across the globe. By partnering with VEQTA, who share our passion for sport and our commitment to digital innovation, we have a unique opportunity to engage fans in the region and to provide them with meaningful content that can bring them closer to the club than ever before.

August 17, 2016
VEQTA brings Manchester City Football Club action to India

New Delhi: Manchester City Football Club, one of the oldest and most successful football clubs in the English Premier League (EPL), will be seen in action on VEQTA, India’s only digital broadcast network (OTT) dedicated to sports.

The partnership, which is claimed to be the first of its kind for a Premier League club, will enable football fans in India to enjoy access to an all-new, never before seen content experience.

VEQTA recently launched its OTT platform through flagship Apps.

Fans will now be able to experience the full suite of Manchester City Football Club content on the VEQTA platform, including exclusive training sessions, CityTV’s renowned ‘Inside City’ series, episodes of the ever popular ‘Global City Fans’ and behind the scenes interviews and activities with the players and manager.

The unique alliance will help the Club engage with millions of Manchester City and sports fans in one of the world’s fastest growing football markets, whilst allowing VEQTA to offer a truly global content experience and become the preferred destination for football fans in India.

VEQTA co-founder & director Vikram Tanwar said, “Football is the second largest and the fastest growing sport in India. We are very excited about partnering with an institution with the kind of history, legacy and success that Manchester City has. Through this partnership, football fans in India will have a truly global sports experience for the very first time. VEQTA is proud to be enabling this experience through its flagship platforms and is another step towards our commitment of offering the best sports content from across the globe.”

Manchester City Chief Operations Officer Omar Berrada said, “Manchester City’s fan base in India is growing rapidly and it is important for us to connect with all of our supporters across the globe. By partnering with VEQTA, who share our passion for sport and our commitment to digital innovation, we have a unique opportunity to engage fans in the region and to provide them with meaningful content that can bring them closer to the club than ever before.

August 17, 2016
Ooyala offers Indian broadcasters a quick OTT build service

MUMBAI: Come September and Indian broadcasters will have easy access to a quick OTT build solution. Australian telco Telstra subsidiary Ooyala is all set to roll out its AppStudio at the IBC convention in Amsttersam from 8-13 September 2016.

Ooyala AppStudio, a press release from the company claims, mitigates the expensive custom development and integration costs typically associated with OTT market entry. An out-of-the-box solution, it ensures customers can deploy premium OTT experiences on time and on budget, with a simple, easy-to-use interface. As such, it does not require highly technical staff to build or manage services. Content providers can automate the build of OTT apps directly within the Ooyala AppStudio console for any device, supporting apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Chromecast as well as on iOS, Android and the web. No engineering is required, drastically reducing time-to-market as well as development and personnel-associated costs.

Developed in partnership with Massive Interactive, Ooyala AppStudio is a comprehensive solution for companies to deploy, manage, track, analyze and monetize all components of a cloud-based OTT service. It supports revenue models including subscription vide-oon-demand (SVOD), advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) or hybrid strategies. It also comes pre-integrated with a comprehensive set of best-in-breed technologies to ensure the experience is simple to use and seamless for the viewer, including:

● User registration, offer management, content scheduling as well as advanced user-interfaces (UIs) for device-tailored user experiences, powered by Massive Interactive’s technology, Massive HALO

● Video management and delivery, powered by Ooyala

● Content recommendation and personalization, powered by Ooyala Discovery

● Detailed analytics for video performance and audience engagement to help boost ad revenue or reduce subscriber churn, powered by Ooyala IQ

● Payment management, security and subscription billing, powered by Stripe

● Quality-of-experience (QoE) analytics, powered by Youbora from Nice People At Work

● Page-level behavior analytics in-app or on the web, powered by Google Analytics

● Support for any IAB VAST-compatible ad server including Ooyala Pulse

Ooyala AppStudio, the company says, has an elegant interface for making changes to content layout, promoting high-performing video, adjusting seasonal promotions and content schedules, and optimizing the user experience for higher engagement. Customers can quickly apply offers and calls to action within the app experience, easily linking in¬-app images to promotional content either within the app or on an external website. These changes and updates are applied automatically with no need to rebuild or recertify the apps.

“Media companies want to tap into the fast-growing opportunity OTT represents, but have been held back by slow pace and high cost of developing apps for the broad array of connected devices in the consumer market. Ooyala AppStudio changes that,” said Ooyala co-founder and senior vice president of roducts and olutions Belsasar Lepe. “There is tremendous growth in OTT demand particularly outside of the U.S., where broadband and 4G connectivity is improving, making offerings accessible to huge new audiences. For local content providers who want to hedge against larger OTT incumbents entering their market, Ooyala AppStudio is a perfect fit.”

Ooyala has provided OTT solutions to companies such as Star India and Viacom18 in the past in India. And last month Ooyala CEO Ramesh Srinivasan announced that it was setting up an R&D facility in Chennai. “Our new office here will be instrumental in expanding the company’s global presence, providing another local team to support our growing Asia-Pacific customer base, and helping accelerate the rapid pace of innovation within the company,” he had told local media.

August 17, 2016
Ooyala offers Indian broadcasters a quick OTT build service

MUMBAI: Come September and Indian broadcasters will have easy access to a quick OTT build solution. Australian telco Telstra subsidiary Ooyala is all set to roll out its AppStudio at the IBC convention in Amsttersam from 8-13 September 2016.

Ooyala AppStudio, a press release from the company claims, mitigates the expensive custom development and integration costs typically associated with OTT market entry. An out-of-the-box solution, it ensures customers can deploy premium OTT experiences on time and on budget, with a simple, easy-to-use interface. As such, it does not require highly technical staff to build or manage services. Content providers can automate the build of OTT apps directly within the Ooyala AppStudio console for any device, supporting apps for Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Chromecast as well as on iOS, Android and the web. No engineering is required, drastically reducing time-to-market as well as development and personnel-associated costs.

Developed in partnership with Massive Interactive, Ooyala AppStudio is a comprehensive solution for companies to deploy, manage, track, analyze and monetize all components of a cloud-based OTT service. It supports revenue models including subscription vide-oon-demand (SVOD), advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) or hybrid strategies. It also comes pre-integrated with a comprehensive set of best-in-breed technologies to ensure the experience is simple to use and seamless for the viewer, including:

● User registration, offer management, content scheduling as well as advanced user-interfaces (UIs) for device-tailored user experiences, powered by Massive Interactive’s technology, Massive HALO

● Video management and delivery, powered by Ooyala

● Content recommendation and personalization, powered by Ooyala Discovery

● Detailed analytics for video performance and audience engagement to help boost ad revenue or reduce subscriber churn, powered by Ooyala IQ

● Payment management, security and subscription billing, powered by Stripe

● Quality-of-experience (QoE) analytics, powered by Youbora from Nice People At Work

● Page-level behavior analytics in-app or on the web, powered by Google Analytics

● Support for any IAB VAST-compatible ad server including Ooyala Pulse

Ooyala AppStudio, the company says, has an elegant interface for making changes to content layout, promoting high-performing video, adjusting seasonal promotions and content schedules, and optimizing the user experience for higher engagement. Customers can quickly apply offers and calls to action within the app experience, easily linking in¬-app images to promotional content either within the app or on an external website. These changes and updates are applied automatically with no need to rebuild or recertify the apps.

“Media companies want to tap into the fast-growing opportunity OTT represents, but have been held back by slow pace and high cost of developing apps for the broad array of connected devices in the consumer market. Ooyala AppStudio changes that,” said Ooyala co-founder and senior vice president of roducts and olutions Belsasar Lepe. “There is tremendous growth in OTT demand particularly outside of the U.S., where broadband and 4G connectivity is improving, making offerings accessible to huge new audiences. For local content providers who want to hedge against larger OTT incumbents entering their market, Ooyala AppStudio is a perfect fit.”

Ooyala has provided OTT solutions to companies such as Star India and Viacom18 in the past in India. And last month Ooyala CEO Ramesh Srinivasan announced that it was setting up an R&D facility in Chennai. “Our new office here will be instrumental in expanding the company’s global presence, providing another local team to support our growing Asia-Pacific customer base, and helping accelerate the rapid pace of innovation within the company,” he had told local media.

August 17, 2016