ITV

Category: iWorld

  • Sony’s Indian Idol season 7 to be aired live on dittoTV

    Sony’s Indian Idol season 7 to be aired live on dittoTV

    MUMBAI: dittoTV subscribers have one more reason to celebrate Christmas with some entertainment. Indian Idol, one of India’s singing reality shows, is back and fans of the show will be able to catch the latest season 7 live on Sony Entertainment Television available on dittoTV from 24 December every Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm.

    This latest season will be judged by Indian Idol’s original panel of judges – Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan, who will be making a comeback on the show after 12 years.

    “Indian Idol is one of India’s oldest and most loved musical reality shows, with a huge fan following. As a weekend show, many people could be missing out on the live airing since they may be out or just don’t have easy access to a television set. dittoTV now makes it possible for them to conveniently watch Indian Idol as it airs, anywhere on any internet-enabled device. And at a very affordable price point,” said Z5 Business head of digital Archana Anand.

    With its large bouquet of channels, dittoTV enables its on-the-go audiences to stay connected to their favourite shows across channels such as The Voice India, which launched its second season earlier this month on &TV, and now Indian Idol on Sony.

  • Sony’s Indian Idol season 7 to be aired live on dittoTV

    Sony’s Indian Idol season 7 to be aired live on dittoTV

    MUMBAI: dittoTV subscribers have one more reason to celebrate Christmas with some entertainment. Indian Idol, one of India’s singing reality shows, is back and fans of the show will be able to catch the latest season 7 live on Sony Entertainment Television available on dittoTV from 24 December every Saturday and Sunday at 8 pm.

    This latest season will be judged by Indian Idol’s original panel of judges – Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam and Farah Khan, who will be making a comeback on the show after 12 years.

    “Indian Idol is one of India’s oldest and most loved musical reality shows, with a huge fan following. As a weekend show, many people could be missing out on the live airing since they may be out or just don’t have easy access to a television set. dittoTV now makes it possible for them to conveniently watch Indian Idol as it airs, anywhere on any internet-enabled device. And at a very affordable price point,” said Z5 Business head of digital Archana Anand.

    With its large bouquet of channels, dittoTV enables its on-the-go audiences to stay connected to their favourite shows across channels such as The Voice India, which launched its second season earlier this month on &TV, and now Indian Idol on Sony.

  • Why Ajit Mohan allowed Amazon Prime to advertise on Hotstar

    Why Ajit Mohan allowed Amazon Prime to advertise on Hotstar

    MUMBAI: Hotstar subscribers were a little taken aback when they logged into their accounts to see Amazon Prime being promoted on the masthead during its launch week.

    Some media observers even questioned whether Novi Digital (which runs Hotstar) CEO Ajit Mohan had lost it as he was allowing competitors to use India’s leading OTT/VOD platform to gain traction. Would the Times of India allow a fit and hungry rival to advertise its launch in the newspaper?

    However, Ajit Mohan explained in an internal email to his team why he chose to allow Amazon Prime to advertise on it.

    Indiantelevision.com has got access to this internal communication. Says Ajit in the email:

    “Team:

    Many of you have asked me over the last couple of days why we chose to allow Amazon Prime Video to advertise on Hotstar earlier this week, as part of their India launch. Here is why:

    We are now an indispensable platform for any advertiser that is looking to target users on digital who actually have money to spend. And, nowhere else on digital, whether on social or on news or video, can they find audiences as engaged as they are on Hotstar. It is, therefore, not surprising that Prime Video was keen to launch their service on our platform.

    Equally, we have always assumed that when users are given a choice, they will choose a service that offers a better experience and a more diverse content range. That’s the reason why we are the leading premium video service today. And we will continue to be the leader so long as we focus on retaining our extensive advantage on the above two. And, therefore, there is no reason for us to put artificial barriers vis-à-vis potential competitors. We are not planning to win by blocking others, we will win by continuing to do what we are doing well today.

    Lastly, on Monday, the day Prime Video was on our masthead, we hit the highest watch time ever on Hotstar. Looks like we are adding value to our advertisers even as consumers are showing more and more loyalty to our service.”

    We reached out to Hotstar to get more details on how much Amazon Prime paid for the prime position but came up against a wall. However, observers estimate that it is probably the highest that it has earned for that slot. Stay tuned in for more!

  • Why Ajit Mohan allowed Amazon Prime to advertise on Hotstar

    Why Ajit Mohan allowed Amazon Prime to advertise on Hotstar

    MUMBAI: Hotstar subscribers were a little taken aback when they logged into their accounts to see Amazon Prime being promoted on the masthead during its launch week.

    Some media observers even questioned whether Novi Digital (which runs Hotstar) CEO Ajit Mohan had lost it as he was allowing competitors to use India’s leading OTT/VOD platform to gain traction. Would the Times of India allow a fit and hungry rival to advertise its launch in the newspaper?

    However, Ajit Mohan explained in an internal email to his team why he chose to allow Amazon Prime to advertise on it.

    Indiantelevision.com has got access to this internal communication. Says Ajit in the email:

    “Team:

    Many of you have asked me over the last couple of days why we chose to allow Amazon Prime Video to advertise on Hotstar earlier this week, as part of their India launch. Here is why:

    We are now an indispensable platform for any advertiser that is looking to target users on digital who actually have money to spend. And, nowhere else on digital, whether on social or on news or video, can they find audiences as engaged as they are on Hotstar. It is, therefore, not surprising that Prime Video was keen to launch their service on our platform.

    Equally, we have always assumed that when users are given a choice, they will choose a service that offers a better experience and a more diverse content range. That’s the reason why we are the leading premium video service today. And we will continue to be the leader so long as we focus on retaining our extensive advantage on the above two. And, therefore, there is no reason for us to put artificial barriers vis-à-vis potential competitors. We are not planning to win by blocking others, we will win by continuing to do what we are doing well today.

    Lastly, on Monday, the day Prime Video was on our masthead, we hit the highest watch time ever on Hotstar. Looks like we are adding value to our advertisers even as consumers are showing more and more loyalty to our service.”

    We reached out to Hotstar to get more details on how much Amazon Prime paid for the prime position but came up against a wall. However, observers estimate that it is probably the highest that it has earned for that slot. Stay tuned in for more!

  • Shemaroo to further focus on digital

    Shemaroo to further focus on digital

    MUMBAI: Content aggregation and distribution company Shemaroo Entertainment is going into an overdrive on the digital ecosystem. And it’s working for the firm which is quoting currently at Rs 382 (on Wednesday 03pm) on the Bombay stock exchange.

    In an interview with CNBC TV18 on 20 December, Shemaroo’s wholetime director and CFO Hiren Gada said, “Digital is currently contributing 20 per cent of its top line revenues,” and growth has been at a healthy 50 per cent and more.

    Gada further elaborated that around Rs 24 crore of its previous quarter’s revenues of around Rs 100 crore came courtesy digital or new media. He was specially buoyant about the 4.5 million views per day that its channels on YouTube were generating. Its mother channel Shemaroo had 2.28 million subscribers, Filmi Gaane had 1.8 million subscribers, Shemaroo Movies had 431,579 subscribers, and Shemaroo Kids had 281,000 subscribers cumulatively generating 1.42 billion views, 1.26 billion views, 142 million views and 186 million views, respectively.

    “So, that kind of bears out as a strategy and conviction that the content strategy that we are following is getting tremendous traction with the audience,” he said.

    Gada disclosed that telcos such as Vodafone, Idea and Airtel which it has partnered are already adding a “large component of revenues” to the company’s topline. “Then, there are all these (platforms) which are the next level of services, some of which are nascent or new like Reliance Jio or Hotstar or iTunes or any other international platforms. They hold tremendous potential.”

    Gada added that the company’s content is unmissable. “.. given the kind of content we are sitting on, no one can run a meaningful Bollywood service without some content from Shemaroo. So, to that extent, we are either in talks or already deployed on many of the platforms that are already operating.”

    Gada was hopeful of maintaining or hiking the revenue growth levels of 50 per cent that its new media focus has been generating over the next quarter as well. He also highlighted that margins for this segment were also higher than for the company as a whole as operating costs are being kept in check.

    Shemaroo has also tied up with DTH operators such as Tata Sky, Dish TV and Airtel to run specialised value added services for them covering movies, comedy, religious songs.

  • Shemaroo to further focus on digital

    Shemaroo to further focus on digital

    MUMBAI: Content aggregation and distribution company Shemaroo Entertainment is going into an overdrive on the digital ecosystem. And it’s working for the firm which is quoting currently at Rs 382 (on Wednesday 03pm) on the Bombay stock exchange.

    In an interview with CNBC TV18 on 20 December, Shemaroo’s wholetime director and CFO Hiren Gada said, “Digital is currently contributing 20 per cent of its top line revenues,” and growth has been at a healthy 50 per cent and more.

    Gada further elaborated that around Rs 24 crore of its previous quarter’s revenues of around Rs 100 crore came courtesy digital or new media. He was specially buoyant about the 4.5 million views per day that its channels on YouTube were generating. Its mother channel Shemaroo had 2.28 million subscribers, Filmi Gaane had 1.8 million subscribers, Shemaroo Movies had 431,579 subscribers, and Shemaroo Kids had 281,000 subscribers cumulatively generating 1.42 billion views, 1.26 billion views, 142 million views and 186 million views, respectively.

    “So, that kind of bears out as a strategy and conviction that the content strategy that we are following is getting tremendous traction with the audience,” he said.

    Gada disclosed that telcos such as Vodafone, Idea and Airtel which it has partnered are already adding a “large component of revenues” to the company’s topline. “Then, there are all these (platforms) which are the next level of services, some of which are nascent or new like Reliance Jio or Hotstar or iTunes or any other international platforms. They hold tremendous potential.”

    Gada added that the company’s content is unmissable. “.. given the kind of content we are sitting on, no one can run a meaningful Bollywood service without some content from Shemaroo. So, to that extent, we are either in talks or already deployed on many of the platforms that are already operating.”

    Gada was hopeful of maintaining or hiking the revenue growth levels of 50 per cent that its new media focus has been generating over the next quarter as well. He also highlighted that margins for this segment were also higher than for the company as a whole as operating costs are being kept in check.

    Shemaroo has also tied up with DTH operators such as Tata Sky, Dish TV and Airtel to run specialised value added services for them covering movies, comedy, religious songs.

  • Amazon invests Rs 2k crore; gives stiff competition to Flipkart

    Amazon invests Rs 2k crore; gives stiff competition to Flipkart

    MUMBAI: In an attempt to give tough competition to prime e-commerce website Flipkart, Amazon has infused US$ 296 million (Rs 2010 crore) in its Indian unit. According to regulatory filing, this investment has made Amazon’s total invested capital to Rs 7000 crore.

    The investment done in November was a timely move from Amazon as Indian brands such as Flipkart and Uber have been trying to take Government’s help in a bid to challenge foreign competition such as Amazon and Ola.

    Amazon India reportedly lost around Rs 1000 crore in the festive month of October with special offers and discounts to build a stronger consumer base. The e-commerce website is also losing around Rs 600 crore every month during non-sales periods. Recently, Amazon India launched prime services which offer quicker and early-access deals.

    Prime has a wide range of international movies and TV shows. Along with this, Amazon Prime has also announced the launch of nine Indian original shows, which has made it the largest Indian original line-up over an OTT platform.

    Adding to its wide base of services, Amazon is also building an app which would connect truck drivers with shippers, making their debut in the logistics sector.

    public://prime-video.jpg

    The e-commerce firm also announced its global programme for start-up products, Launchpad, in India. Global Store was also launched in October for Indian shoppers from its US online stores, giving stiff competition to all e-commerce platforms.

  • Amazon invests Rs 2k crore; gives stiff competition to Flipkart

    Amazon invests Rs 2k crore; gives stiff competition to Flipkart

    MUMBAI: In an attempt to give tough competition to prime e-commerce website Flipkart, Amazon has infused US$ 296 million (Rs 2010 crore) in its Indian unit. According to regulatory filing, this investment has made Amazon’s total invested capital to Rs 7000 crore.

    The investment done in November was a timely move from Amazon as Indian brands such as Flipkart and Uber have been trying to take Government’s help in a bid to challenge foreign competition such as Amazon and Ola.

    Amazon India reportedly lost around Rs 1000 crore in the festive month of October with special offers and discounts to build a stronger consumer base. The e-commerce website is also losing around Rs 600 crore every month during non-sales periods. Recently, Amazon India launched prime services which offer quicker and early-access deals.

    Prime has a wide range of international movies and TV shows. Along with this, Amazon Prime has also announced the launch of nine Indian original shows, which has made it the largest Indian original line-up over an OTT platform.

    Adding to its wide base of services, Amazon is also building an app which would connect truck drivers with shippers, making their debut in the logistics sector.

    public://prime-video.jpg

    The e-commerce firm also announced its global programme for start-up products, Launchpad, in India. Global Store was also launched in October for Indian shoppers from its US online stores, giving stiff competition to all e-commerce platforms.

  • SonyLiv to present Piyush Mishra starrer ‘Kathakaar’

    SonyLiv to present Piyush Mishra starrer ‘Kathakaar’

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks’ (SPN) digital entertainment platform SonyLiv, is known to stay at the forefront with its rich and exclusive content offering to its viewers. The platform is now presenting the movie- Kathakaar to its audiences on 19 December.

    The film is in line with SonyLiv’s association with the film division of Whistling Woods International (WWI), Connect1. Renowned actor and lyricist Piyush Mishra plays the lead in the short film.

    “We are delighted to showcase Kathakaar exclusively on our platform. The narrative is powerfully evocative and we hope our viewers will enjoy watching it.Through our association with the film division of Whistling Woods International, we aim to present more exclusive and riveting entertainment to our viewers in the near future,” said SPN EVP and head digital business Uday Sodhi.

    Conceptualised by the students from WWI, the movie was also one of the semi-finalists in the Foreign Narrative Category at 43rd Annual Student Academy Awards. The film is directed by Abhimanyu Kanodia, produced by Shraddha Singh and Naveed M, captured by Mitesh Parvatneni, edited by Pavi Trehan and sound designed by Kunal Lolsure.

    Kathakaar is the story of Prakash, an old theatre projectionist who loses his job owing to changing technology and goes back to his native village. Depressed with this sudden loss of job, he struggles to figure out what to do with his life. After he succeeds in making a crying child laugh with his storytelling skills, he gathers his confidence, takes a chance to become a storyteller for the entire village, thereby rediscovering his passion. The narrative of Kathakaar, welcomes this new beginning in the life of Prakash.

    Mishra added, “With Kathakaar, I went purely with my gut feeling. I reject a lot of scripts, but there was an X Factor about this one. I also had a question in mind as to how so much could be projected in such a short time span of 10 minutes. As an actor, the character I play grabbed my interest. Having said that, I had no clue that the film would be so well made, and would go on to do so well.”

    The film has so far won 13 awards, including 3 international awards and has been officially selected at 26 film festivals across the globe. Amongst international honours, the film has bagged awards at renowned film festivals such as the 5th Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, 5th Washington D.C. South Asian Film Festival, Washington D.C., II International Motivational Film Festival, Russia and 6th Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai.

  • SonyLiv to present Piyush Mishra starrer ‘Kathakaar’

    SonyLiv to present Piyush Mishra starrer ‘Kathakaar’

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks’ (SPN) digital entertainment platform SonyLiv, is known to stay at the forefront with its rich and exclusive content offering to its viewers. The platform is now presenting the movie- Kathakaar to its audiences on 19 December.

    The film is in line with SonyLiv’s association with the film division of Whistling Woods International (WWI), Connect1. Renowned actor and lyricist Piyush Mishra plays the lead in the short film.

    “We are delighted to showcase Kathakaar exclusively on our platform. The narrative is powerfully evocative and we hope our viewers will enjoy watching it.Through our association with the film division of Whistling Woods International, we aim to present more exclusive and riveting entertainment to our viewers in the near future,” said SPN EVP and head digital business Uday Sodhi.

    Conceptualised by the students from WWI, the movie was also one of the semi-finalists in the Foreign Narrative Category at 43rd Annual Student Academy Awards. The film is directed by Abhimanyu Kanodia, produced by Shraddha Singh and Naveed M, captured by Mitesh Parvatneni, edited by Pavi Trehan and sound designed by Kunal Lolsure.

    Kathakaar is the story of Prakash, an old theatre projectionist who loses his job owing to changing technology and goes back to his native village. Depressed with this sudden loss of job, he struggles to figure out what to do with his life. After he succeeds in making a crying child laugh with his storytelling skills, he gathers his confidence, takes a chance to become a storyteller for the entire village, thereby rediscovering his passion. The narrative of Kathakaar, welcomes this new beginning in the life of Prakash.

    Mishra added, “With Kathakaar, I went purely with my gut feeling. I reject a lot of scripts, but there was an X Factor about this one. I also had a question in mind as to how so much could be projected in such a short time span of 10 minutes. As an actor, the character I play grabbed my interest. Having said that, I had no clue that the film would be so well made, and would go on to do so well.”

    The film has so far won 13 awards, including 3 international awards and has been officially selected at 26 film festivals across the globe. Amongst international honours, the film has bagged awards at renowned film festivals such as the 5th Vancouver International South Asian Film Festival, 5th Washington D.C. South Asian Film Festival, Washington D.C., II International Motivational Film Festival, Russia and 6th Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai.