ITV

Category: Over The Top Services

  • Vdopia announces APAC launch of Chocolate

    Vdopia announces APAC launch of Chocolate

    MUMBAI: Vdopia, the global leader in mobile and online video advertising has announced Asia-Pacific (APAC) launch of programmatic buying and selling platform exclusively for mobile video advertising.

    The new marketplace product called, Chocolate, is built from the ground up solely for mobile video advertising. It is designed for brand marketers and demand partners who want a highly functional marketplace platform that offers top quality mobile video inventory at significant scale with complete transparency. Chocolate is being launched with a potential audience reach of more than 200 million unique users globally.

    “Vdopia has constantly delivered excellent video ad campaigns for top brands in APAC. With more than 10,000+ mobile sites and apps globally, we are excited to support brands and publishers to deliver amazing ad experience in a more efficient manner,” said  Vdopia CEO Saurabh Bhatia and added, “With Chocolate, we’re providing an automated, scalable solution for advertisers to further take control of their campaigns; advertise on mobile with a high ROI; and generate more loyal customers. Chocolate is positioned to capitalize on macro trends including moves into programmatic and the emergence of mobile native advertising.”

    The Chocolate platform is device-agnostic and is compatible with all major operating systems. All ads served through Chocolate are vast compliant. The platform is integrated with leading demand partners, analytics providers such as Metamarkets and measurement partners including Nielsen (mobile OCR) and comScore vCE to provide a highly transparent, scalable and measurable advertising experience for brands and their agencies.

    “One of the unique advantages of Chocolate is its capability to provide real-time bidding to demand partners which have only basic VAST support but no RTB or Real Time Bidding capability,” said Vdopia CTO Srikanth Kakani.

    “The new marketplace unifies a fragmented mobile video market space and addresses growing mobile industry complexities including lack of standards, brand safety and a dearth of quality mobile video inventory” said Vdopia APAC senior VP Preetesh Chouhan. “Chocolate is the only marketplace that offers end to end functionality for scaling video ads on mobile and best monetisation opportunities for publishers”.

    Chocolate also allows leading brands to auto-play video ads on mobile web pages and apps, adjacent to content, on virtually any smartphone, without disrupting the user’s web-browsing experience. This keeps users on the page without annoying distractions and increases video reach and measurability. Chocolate takes advantage of Vdopia’s proprietary .VDO technology, which enables advertisers and publishers to seamlessly run video-enabled ads on the mobile web and apps using simple tags and SDKs.

     

  • Murdoch wants media to unite against Amazon and Netflix

    Murdoch wants media to unite against Amazon and Netflix

    NEW DELHI: Media magnate Rupert Murdoch has called for a cooperative media response to challenger streaming services Amazon and Netflix.

     

    He said during a technology conference by his flagship Wall Street Journal at Laguna Beach that the media industry needs its own competitor to these giants.

     

    “As an industry, we need a competitor – a serious competitor – to Netflix and Amazon,” Murdoch said and added, “I think we are all on the same page.”

     

    21st Century Fox, which he chairs, is one of the partners in Hulu, a rival to Netflix, alongside Disney and NBCUniversal. Last year, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar left abruptly for a new video startup, Vessel, backed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.

     

    Talking of HBO’s new streaming service Murdoch said it would be difficult for HBO to launch a standalone service while negotiating with cable companies. “They do not want to get into conflict with them, so they’re really only aiming at the moment at the 10 million people who don’t get cable.”

     

    Murdoch briefly addressed 21st Century Fox’s failed bid for Time Warner over the summer. “We felt that we needed more critical mass and content and this was a wonderful marriage and fit,” he said. 

     

    Given that the panel was entitled “Bets Won and Lost,” the conversation turned to one of Murdoch’s most notable failed investments, the $580 million purchase of MySpace that ended with the sale of the social media site for $35 million. The mogul reiterated, as he has many times, what happened.  

     

    “We just messed it up,” Murdoch recalled, saying that he helped install a layer of bureaucracy that hindered the growth of the site. “It was a series of expensive, lost opportunities.” 

  • Lukup launches on-demand television service in India

    Lukup launches on-demand television service in India

    BENGALURU: Indian company Lukup Media has announced the launch of an on-demand TV service powered by a connected device- the Lukup Player. The device is similar to Apple TV or Google TV, but can also deliver content across multiple screens using WiFi.

    Lukup CEO Kallol Borah said, ““Our TV service is designed to meet the requirements of changing lifestyles and consumer behaviour where more and more people want their entertainment when they have time, on a device of their choice and even when they are travelling and away from home. We also want to bring content and channels not available to viewers in India currently and broaden their choice of content substantially.”

    The Lukup TV service aims to deliver a large number of TV channels in addition to those available on cable and DTH platforms. These additional TV channels will have content from multiple genres including movies, shows, lifestyle and sports. Using the Lukup Player, users will also be able to stream content on more than one screen or device – TV screens, tablets, mobile phones, wireless speakers – at any one time. The service includes unlimited recording capacity starting from 500 GB which can be upgraded without limit. Users can also download content on their mobile devices which they can access offline. With no minimum monthly subscription charges, users can pay per view.

    Lukup CFO Harsha Mutt said,” “The television and broadcast industry in India needs an overhaul since customers’ desire experiential content on a device of their choice, at a time of their liking. To cater to this demand, we are meticulously putting together an elaborate network for delivering content to our customers through an over the top (OTT) TV service. With exclusive content, movies and TV shows available on our video-on-demand platform, we aim to make life easier for our customers, inspiring them to celebrate their joie-de-vivre. Our association with various content providers is a significant step forward in this direction.”

    The Lukup TV service is currently available in Bengaluru and will be available across India in phases. The Lukup Player will be online and in retail stores from October 2014.

     

  • PNC Digital makes entertainment ‘Only Much Louder’

    PNC Digital makes entertainment ‘Only Much Louder’

    MUMBAI: PNC Digital, today announced an exclusive collaboration with Only Much Louder (OML). Through this partnership, global subscribers of Ogle, PNC Digital’s proprietary streaming platform can now watch, the country’s most awaited music event, Bacardi NH7 Weekender, live on-demand. This three-day multi-artist music festival Bacardi NH7 Weekender will be held in Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Pune this November.

     

    Ogle global subscribers are free to choose whichever artistes they wish to see and watch them perform on devices of their choice. This exclusive collaboration between Ogle and OML will widen the range of entertainment available on Ogle. Commenting on this collaboration, Pritish Nandy, Chairman, PNC Digital said: “This is the beginning of change. Viewers can now watch whatever they want, wherever and whenever they want. The power is shifting from those who deliver entertainment to those who view it. That is the future.”

     

    Harshawardhan Sabale, CEO, Ogle said: “Ogle has been built ground up to become the digital platform of choice for viewers who are not interested in being slaves to entertainment intermediaries.  Our partnership with OML will provide our subscribers access to some of the best local content and bleeding edge digital interaction technology which, till now, was out of reach of most Indian consumers given the sub-optimal data networks in India.”

     

    Ogle constantly promises to provide anytime-anywhere entertainment to its viewers, establishing the power of choice for entertainment scripted and non-scripted. With this association PNC Digital has taken entertainment to the next level, allowing consumers an option, till now non-existent, to catch exciting new niche events and live performances in real time.  Ogle strives to introduce an entire lifestyle shift for those who are pushed for time and simply cannot afford appointment viewing.

     

    Vijay Nair, CEO, OML, said: “We are excited about partnering with Ogle and providing our fans a chance to watch some of the properties we have built and content we have produced through this platform. Ogle’s bouquet of content is quite exciting and we feel that the service is a natural fit for the content we create.”

     

  • Americans adopt digital apps for Netflix

    Americans adopt digital apps for Netflix

    NEW DELHI: A growing number of American households are relying on dedicated set-top/plug-in devices (otherwise known as Digital Media Players) to watch Netflix on a TV set, according to a GfK study, Over-the-Top TV 2014.

     

    By contrast, video game systems – while still the most common hardware for Netflix viewing on a TV screen – are used much less than they were three years ago

     

    The report shows that 28 per cent of those who stream Netflix on a TV used a digital media player (such as Roku, Apple TV, or Chromecast) to do so; this is nearly double the 2013 level (15 per cent) and roughly five times the 2011 figure (6 per cent). The surge comes as ownership of the players among all homes has increased tenfold – from 2 per cent to 21 per cent – since 2010.

     

    Streaming capabilities built into today’s higher-end TV sets have also become popular, with use of built-in streaming reported by 28 per cent of those who watch Netflix on TV – up from 20 per cent a year ago and 13 per cent in 2011.

     

    On the other hand, reports of watching Netflix on TV through a videogame system have dropped to 43 per cent – down 5 percentage points from 2013, and almost 20 per cent below the 2011 level which was 62 per cent.

     

    The new report also indicates wide generational differences in how people access Netflix. Generations X and Y are twice as likely as Baby Boomers to use a videogame system to watch Netflix on TV. Capabilities built into TV sets are highly favoured by Gen Y Netflix viewers, and both Generations X and Y show strong use of digital media players.

     

    “The wide variations in devices used – and in preferred device by age – speak to a need for Netflix and other SVoD providers to optimise the user experience for each situation,” said GfK Senior Vice President and author of the report David Tice.

     

    “Not only do the device interface and remote control need to be user-friendly, but things like on-screen font size and menus need to be age-appropriate. With a quarter of Netflix users also being Amazon Prime or Hulu viewers, there is a potential battle in user experience as well as in variety and exclusivity of content,” he added.

     

    Meanwhile, Belgian telco Belgacom which has adopted a new identity as Proximus also plans to add entertainment streaming service Netflix to its Proximus TV offering.

     

    Confirming the news, Belgacom Chief Consumer Market Officer Phillip Vandervoort said that Netflix was without doubt a very eagerly-awaited new player. “I’m proud to announce this partnership which reflects the dynamics of our new brand and enables us to offer an amazing experience to our customers on Proximus TV.” 

     

    Netflix started offering its service in Belgium on 19 September, giving people access to a wide variety of TV shows, films, documentaries and other programming, according to Advanced Television.

     

    Installation of the Netflix application on the new-generation decoders will begin at the end of 2014. ‘Ultimately all Proximus TV customers will be able to access Netflix on their TV sets,’ added the telco.

     

     

  • 22 Viacom channels now on Sony web TV

    22 Viacom channels now on Sony web TV

    MUMBAI: Viacom has announced a deal with Sony to make 22 of its channels including Comedy Central and MTV, available for Sony’s forthcoming over-the-top (OTT) TV service in US.

     

    The Viacom channels will be available when the new service launches, the company said in a statement. Customers also will have access to on-demand programming from Viacom.

     

    It is the first time Viacom has agreed to provide its channels for an internet-based live TV and video on demand service, the company added.

     

    Confirming the collaboration, Sony Corporation Network Entertainment Business’ group executive Andrew House said, “Viacom’s award-winning channels are a perfect match for our new service, ensuring that our customers will be able to access the shows they love on their favourite devices, when and how they choose.”

     

    “Our new cloud-based TV service will combine the live TV content people love most about cable with the dynamic experience they have come to expect from our network,” he added.

     

    Scheduled to start later this year, the service is expected to bring live TV and on-demand programming to Sony’s network of 75 million internet-enabled Sony devices in US, including PlayStation game consoles and web-connected televisions.

     

    Excited about the new alliance, Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman said, “Given our young, tech-savvy audiences, our networks are essential for any new distribution platform, and we’re excited to be among the many programmers that will help power Sony’s new service and advance a new era for television.”

     

    The new Sony service will give people the ability to watch shows like Spongebob Squarepants and The Daily Show without a cable subscription. Viewers will be able to access the service through Sony’s PlayStation video game console or through mobile devices like the iPad. Users will have access to live streams as well as archived shows.

     

    The 22 Viacom linear networks includes BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, Spike, TV Land and VH1, BET Gospel, Centric, Logo, CMT Pure Country, MTV Hits, MTV James, mtvU, Palladia, TeenNick, Vh1 Classic and Vh1 Soul and all available HD.

     

    Beyond Viacom, the service is expected to include content from other major network groups. According to media reports, Sony has held talks with Discovery Communications, Time Warner and Starz, among others, about including their networks in the new service.

  • Moving beyond television

    Moving beyond television

    MUMBAI:  The online space for content is growing, not just in terms of online production houses coming up but also in terms of innovation. But how much of this affects the distributors and operators in India? Well! that was the talking point of a discussion titled ‘Beyond the Television Screen –Distributors and Operators’ at the afaqs! TV.NXT 2014 summit.

     

    Joining the panel were BARC India chief executive officer Partho Dasgupta, PwC India Entertainment and Media leader Smita Jha, SureWaves Media chief operating officer Mandar Patwardhan, BBC Global News (Indian operations ) chief operating officer  Naveen Jhunjhunwala and Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari who also anchored the discussion.

     

    Dasgupta began by saying that while today a lot of new and innovative content was available on multiple platforms, the popularity depended on the quality of content being produced.  When asked if the rating agency would be taking steps to monitor any online content, Dasgupta said, “We will set up a system that is platform agnostic and even monitor digital content.”

     

    Enlightening the session with interesting facts, he said that while starsports.com received 2.8 million hits during the last IPL season, NDTV received 13 billion hits for its coverage of the Lok Sabha elections.

     

    Talking about BBC’s digital strategy, Jhunjhunwala emphasised on how a specialised in-house team has been setup that specifically caters to producing online content for its Indian website. “The India page has a lot of content that is localised. The challenge for us is to have Indian local content that has an international perspective,” he said.

     

    Jha, commenting on global trends, revealed that worldwide TV advertisements were growing at five per cent while internet advertising was growing at 10 per cent. But the size of the internet advertising market is still evolving. “Advertising agencies today have specific teams to produce online content. It is essential for brands today to come up with one to two commercials every 15 days,” she said.

     

    On the other hand, Patwardhan said that while traditional mediums have already begun to adapt to the digital environment, the reverse could also take place wherein online content producers would switch to the linear television format and a crossover would take place.

     

    Wanvari at this point interjected saying that broadcasters today solely wanted to own the IP and producers had very little time, since they are busy with their shooting schedules, to put forward their point for joint ownership of an IP. 

     

    Jha in her parting words said that the IP should rest with the producer and not the broadcaster so that innovation could be introduced in multiple formats for audiences.

  • PayUMoney facilitated 1 Billion Transactions and 1.3 Lakhs Sign Ups for Indian SMEs in the online marketplace!

    PayUMoney facilitated 1 Billion Transactions and 1.3 Lakhs Sign Ups for Indian SMEs in the online marketplace!

    MUMBAI: Since its inception in April 2013, PayUMoney has carved out a new market for Indian SMEs – with easy payment collection solutions and hassle-free integration, more than 1.3 lakhs SMEs have signed up with PayUMoney while 30,000 live merchants have already processed transactions worth 1 billion rupees!

    Achieving this feat in such a short span is nothing short of a revolution. How did PayUMoney pull off this task? By simply following the mantra – Whatever the payment collection need, PayUMoney has the payment solution to match!

    PayUMoney stepped in to erase the basic issues faced by Indian SMEs. Typically, a small business owner would first put in: Monies + Time + Energy + Build Website + Maintenance = End Product, i.e. an ecommerce website. This is a long and tiring process. But PayUMoney takes away all these steps and provides Indian sellers specific solutions for specific categories of business.

    Scaling up operation was the first step to success for PayUMoney!

    PayUMoney’s payment solution features are designed in a way such as to enable an average Indian seller to focus solely on his business as PayUMoney takes care of the payment requirements in a hassle-free manner!

    To achieve this seamless work-relationship, PayUMoney invested in a strong technology product with a solid scalable process to help lakhs of Indian sellers who were looking to increase their sales through online channel. This investment helped merchant acquisition and customer service teams to operate efficiently, enabling Indian sellers to adopt the online channel easily. But what makes PayUMoney different amongst the many ecommerce players who offer payment collection solutions to their SME partners?

    The below table showcases the average monthly transactions processed by live merchants on PayUMoney versus the average monthly transaction processed by traditional ecommerce players.

    This clearly indicates that using the PayUMoney has been more effective for SMEs to sell their big ticket products online when compared to ecommerce players as traditionally, ecommerce players act as aggregators, displaying products by other vendors as well. Using PayUMoney enables SMEs to not only market their products online directly but also collect payments for them.

    Because of the ease of use and quick integration, there has been Quarter by Quarter growth in merchant acquisition for PayUMoney since April, 2013:

    The above graph depicts the quarter on quarter growth for seller acquisition. In the 2nd quarter itself, merchants acquisition grew six times over, and the third, fourth and fifth quarter have seen acquisition double over each time, respectively.

    Click here to read full report…

  • Airtel launches cross operator music app Wynk

    Airtel launches cross operator music app Wynk

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel launched its first cross operator product in the form of music application Wynk Music. Through this, customers of all telcos can access over 17 lakh songs in eight languages which includes: English, Hindi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bengali.

     

    With this launch, Airtel has now become the first operator to introduce an over-the-top (OTT) mobile application in the Indian market, which will work across mobile operators, enabling customers to stream, download and buy songs.

     

    Wynk is a free to download application available on Android and iOS platforms. With the free version of the app, users can stream songs online and tune into internet radio. Customers will also be able to set any of the songs as their hello tune, purchase songs and albums (as mp3), and view lyrics.

     

    Bharti Airtel director – consumer business Srinivasan Gopalan said, “With the proliferation of smartphones in the country, mobile phones have emerged as the most preferred platform when it comes to experiencing music on the go and accounts for almost 85-90 per cent of total digital consumption. We are introducing this segment to Wynk – an innovative platform that blends technology and music and present a whole new dimension to music uptake in the country. Given our legacy with music and our strong smartphone network, we are certain that Wynk will offer the best-in-class user experience and become one of the most sought after app.”

     

    The app is available in two subscriptions – Wynk Plus, Wynk Freedom and is available ad-free.

     

    Wynk Freedom subscription at Rs 129 is available exclusively to Airtel customers in 3G circles using Android phones will allow them to get all-inclusive unlimited streaming and download of music without incurring additional data charges. Wynk Freedom subscribers can stream or download up to 500 songs a month. Data charges will apply to Wynk Freedom subscribers after the 500 song limit.

     

    With Wynk Plus, users can enjoy unlimited in-app song downloads and play music offline at Rs 99 on Android and Rs 60 on iOS. Airtel customers using Android phones can have a introductory price of Rs 29 on this.

     

    Airtel customers can pay for all purchases on the app using their Airtel balance or bill. Other customers have the option to pay using online banking.

     

    Users without a Wynk subscription are only allowed to stream up to 100 songs a month, after which they will be prompted to buy a Wynk Freedom subscription.

  • Asian Sponsorship News partners with Paul Poole for Thailand market

    Asian Sponsorship News partners with Paul Poole for Thailand market

    MUMBAI: Independent branded content and sponsorship intelligence service Asia Sponsorship News (ASN) has partnered with Paul Poole (South East Asia) Company Limited (PP(SEA)) for the Thailand market. ASN relaunched with a sophisticated analytics product in March and has now begun to expand its business into local markets.

     

    ASN founder and CEO Ben Heyhoe Flint said, “The partnership allows us to deepen our research capabilities in Thailand, which means our customers get richer insights. It’s that simple. We’re delighted that they share our vision of creating rigour for the industry.”

     

    PP (SEA) founder, chairman and managing director Paul Poole commented “Despite the turbulent times of late, Thailand is a fast growth sponsorship market and has overtaken Singapore in the last quarter for domestic spend. We see a lot of potential for ASN in the local market where brands and rights holders need rigour to buy, sell or plan their sponsorship activity more effectively.”

     

    Since the end of 2013 the sponsorship market in Thailand has suffered the postponement of several major sponsorship platform. Yet prior to that, sponsorship spend had rallied 43 per cent in 2013- according  to ASN data arguably due to Thailand’s environment of high media inflation which had forced advertisers to look at alternative ways of communicating to consumers.

     

    Flint also confirmed that more partnerships are in the immediate pipeline for ASN in other Asian markets.