ITV

Category: iWorld

  • Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent OTT races up the download charts

    Samay Raina’s India’s Got Latent OTT races up the download charts

    MUMBAI:  Some people know him for popularising chess to the masses, Others know him as one of the most popular comedians in India but Samay Raina is now also an entertainment-preneur – making a business out of his entertainment.

    Six months ago, Samay created a show on YouTube called India’s Got Latent. The show allows people to showcase their  talent or skill in front of a panel of judges curated by Samay Raina. Not another talent show? Hasn’t viewer fatigue set in?

    But, wait, India’s Got Latent is not just another talent show. For one,  it’s totally irreverent as far as its contestants, judges and special guests are concerned. Then it’s ticketed and the  live audience pays Rs 2,000 to just get in. Other talent shows decide the winner based on who gets the highest score. But not on Samay’s India’s Got Latent.  Contestants/participants score themselves individually  before they strut their stuff on stage. Then it’s the turn of the judges.  If the contestant’s  scores matches with the score given by the jury  he or she is the winner. and goes home with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, which is given by the sponsor of the episode.
     

    India's Go Latent

     

    The show combines humour (it’s very north Indian and we’d say GenZ, full of free flowing cuss words and double entendres) with a talent showcase giving an opportunity to common-as-garden individuals to present their talents.

    This unique show became viral like no other IP on YouTube, and it has been attracting subscribers like flies to a honeypot. The number has reached 6.7 million subscribers at the time of writing.Each episode is doing an average of 25 million with the recent ones clocking 30 plus million views.  

     

    So strong is the pull, that Samay has dared to make bonus episodes available on membership (a monthly subscription to its YouTube channel). Estimates are that he has close to 500,000  paid subscribers coughing up Rs 60 each a month which gets him about Rs 2 crore a month, deducting YouTube fees.

    India’s got Latent has become so popular not only on YouTube free and membership that it has encouraged Samay Raina to create a streaming app. Yes, a streaming app, and he announced on his Instagram handle that it’s there for downloading.  

    Samay Raina unflitered us tour

    He also said he’s got more – many more  IPs  in production – a poetry show and a rap competition which will be available on a monthly subscription of Rs 59. There will be some other services available including tickets to his shows in the app. At the time of writing, India’s Got Latent had reached amongst the top 50  downloaded apps in the country on the Google Playstore and at No 1 on the Appstore. That too within a day of its introduction on the two stores.

    Not just that. Samay has a north American tour Samay Raina Unfiltered planned between February and March first week with 10 shows  each planned for Canada and the US. Tickets for these are  already on sale online and they are selling out fast.

    Clearly, this is one social media sensation who is taking advantage of the right samay (time) and cashing it in. 

  • Mad Influence launches Xley – a marketplace for creators and brands

    Mad Influence launches Xley – a marketplace for creators and brands

    MUMBAI: Another influencer marketplace which claims to simplify life for creators and advertisers has been announced. Called Xley (pronounced zilley) it’s coming from the Mad group, which is the parent company of influencer marketing agency Mad Infuence.  

    An invite only market place, it claims to use AI and ML to simplify, optimise and elevate brand creator collaborations. It has access to about 200 million creators across YouTube, Instagram and Tiktok, in more than 54 languages, 10,000 cities ad 150 countries.

    The platform is claimed to have three core pillars: advance audience insights, extensive creator discover tools, and comprehensive campaign management and performance tracking.

    Xley’s key features are claimed to include creator discovery, utilising over 25 advanced filters for demographics, language, niche, and audience interests; ML-powered insights for campaign analysis and performance tracking; an effortless management dashboard to plan, execute, and monitor campaigns; scalability to suit various campaign needs; and data-driven decisions through advanced analytics to maximise ROI and refine marketing strategies

    “Xley is more than just a marketplace; it’s a movement to empower creators,” Mad Influencer and Xley founder Gautam Madhavan, “It’s  a platform that reimagines the creator economy.”

    “Our vision was to create a platform that not only offers real-time analytics of social profiles but also simplifies and automates end-to-end campaign management in one cohesive space. As development progressed, it became evident that Xley’s capabilities extended far beyond initial expectations – enabling a broader user base, optimising efficiency, and empowering content creators with enhanced visibility and streamlined brand partnerships. By significantly reducing manual workloads, accelerating timelines, and improving ROI, Xley stands as a transformative solution, redefining how brands and creators collaborate globally,” added Xley head of strategy Aman Narula.

    For brands, Xley  automates manual processes like creator vetting and campaign tracking, improves ROI through data-driven insights, and extends global reach by connecting with creators across diverse languages and regions. Creators benefit from global visibility, access to aligned campaign opportunities, the ability to build long-term partnerships, a centralised hub for managing campaign-related activities, business analytics, revenue tracking, and effective campaign management with faster approvals and reduced downtime.

  • Shobit Arora rejoins Network 18

    Shobit Arora rejoins Network 18

    MUMBAI: A group sales head at CNBC TV18, CNN18 and CNBC Awaaz for the northern region for nearly two years in 2019. Now Shobit Arora has come back to his alma mater as national head connected TV for the same three channels -building them across streaming devices and platforms.

    Shobit who believes heavily in education earned his BA and MA in economics from Guru Nanak Dev university, and followed those up with his MBA in finance from IIPM. He then joined Bennett Coleman & Co where he worked for nine years rising up to become manager. 

    What followed was his transition to TV with stints BTVi as senior manager  north sales (2017-2019, CNBC TV18 (2019-Dec 2020) and India Today  (AGM- connected TV, April 2022-August 2023.

    Shobit then made a surprising move by joining Oracle as a senior enterprise account manager for a short period of six months. After that, he rejoined  India Today as DGM -connected TV (February 2024-December 2024), following which he got the call from Network18 to head the national connected TV business for the three channels.

    Shobit likes to keep himself updated on new tech and has done a smorgasbord of courses: Linkedin Learning’s CMO Foundations Measuring Marketing Effectiveness RoI, NIIT’s Google Adwords Certification, Digital marketing workshops and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 2023 AI certified Foundations Associate course.

    All these should come handy as he takes the three channels he has charge of into new frontiers.

  • 2025: Will it be the year of cloud repatriation?

    2025: Will it be the year of cloud repatriation?

    MUMBAI: After less than two decades of buzz around the cloud and the one way transitions, the return journey has commenced !!

    One can debate and contest this statement but cloud repatriation is surely going to be the consideration in 2025 extending the era of technological reforms!

    Analysing the cloud-environment based designs, consistently catalysed by consultants and evangelists of the board room, I had always been an edge professional wondering and unconvinced towards fitment of it for all solutions.

    Having said that, I do believe that the proposition, ever since public cloud came into our lives, was the driver for many innovations and initiatives no doubt (SaasS, PaaS, IaaS etc are terms given birth by cloud tech).

    However, after dominating the infrastructure design principles over a period,  the public cloud has found as its competition, the traditional on-premise environment that can safely be called private cloud that it always was.

    My simple analysis goes onto conclude that pubic cloud certainly is the solve for a business with dynamic workload and for big data compute environment; additionally, it helps business for faster go to market (GTM)  goal besides not worrying about managing tech talent.

    However, the much significant parameter of costs does get a beating if we compare that with on prem/private cloud operations. The pronounced plus of public cloud being ‘pay per use’ promise is limited just for compute services but bigger overheads, 

    particularly ingress and  egress costs, more relevant for media industry, simply make an on-prem solution the big winner.

    This aspect practically locks the customer to a specific cloud too unfairly. On this the on-prem models come out with edge (pun intended :-)) over public cloud models.

    The other aspects of data security and  control and finiteness of costs and capacity besides latency/performance issues, add to the relative merit points in favour of the on prem cloud model.

    So, as we step into yet another exciting year, technocrats and businesses would actively adopt the hybrid approach with a mix of cloud plusses and  on-prem benefits,  working with the balance of scalability and flexibility at cloud while keeping critical and  heavy data (video media industry) and bespoke applications in their own infrastructure.

    This said, cloud repatriation is a phenomenon that is indeed live and would weigh in more and more in the days to come …  unless the big public cloud providers revisit their commercial model with yet another innovation.

    Wishing all a tech-citing and glorious year 2025 !!

    (The article has been reprinted from Rajat Nigam’s post on Linkedin after informing him. He is the  transition CTO of JioStar. The views expressed here are entirely his own and have nothing to do with his organisation – JioStar= where he works as a professional. Also indiantelevision.com need not subscribe to these views )
     

  • Stuart Barnes quits Vimeo; joins Yospace as VP international sales

    Stuart Barnes quits Vimeo; joins Yospace as VP international sales

    MUMBAI: Stuart Barnes has been quite a mover and a shaker in the sales world of streaming video. Now he’s moving again. Back to (category leader in dynamic ad insertion) Yospace as VP of international sales in January.

    Says Stuart: “Yospace was where I started my video journey some 20 years ago and I’m looking forward to coming full circle!”

    Indeed he did. For nearly five years between 2003 and 2008. He then joined Bauer Media for another couple of years leading the Yospace product portfolio after it was taken over. Then followed a long journey of more than nine years at Brightcove – which was taken over by Bending Spoons recently – where he rose to become vice-president  new business sales, North America based in New York.

    Initially, he began working for Brightcove in London as regional sales director, northern Europe but he was steered to the US with American market responsibility and he stayed put with the company in New York as vice-president sales, account management, north America for six years.  He finally .moved back to the UK last year as vice-president sales and account management EMEA for BrightCove.

    But he decided to go back home to Yospace when the opportunity came calling.  At Yospace, Staurt is looking forward to working with CEO Tim Sewell  and the team there. 

  • Shemaroo aims to set up metaverse and blockchain offshoot in Dubai

    Shemaroo aims to set up metaverse and blockchain offshoot in Dubai

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment is spreading its wings. The emerging media and entertainment giant is planning to set up a 100 per cent offshoot in Dubai called ShemarooVerse Digital. 

    The company got a go-ahead  from its board for this proposal and informed the Bombay stock exchange about its intent over the weekend.

    Shemaroo said it is taking this step to innovate and stay ahead in the evolving digital entertainment landscape. Shemarooverse will focus on creating immersive experiences and leveraging block chain technology to redefine ownership and interaction in the entertainment ecosystem.  

    Dubai, according to the company is welcoming web3 ventures and it has a very friendly web3 regulatory environment, which is critical for token-based transactions  and block chain integration. Talent too is available aplenty aside from cutting edge tech to support the development of a globally competitive product.

    The company added that the objective is to position Shemaroo as a leader in the web3 and metaverse space, ensuring scalability, innovation, and long-term growth. It aligns with Shemaroo’s vision of creating transformative consumer experiences and strengthening its position in the next era of entertainment. 

  • 2024: Indians placed 29 per cent more dinner orders than lunch on Swiggy

    2024: Indians placed 29 per cent more dinner orders than lunch on Swiggy

    MUMBAI: Dinner or lunch?

    Is that a no-brainer for all of us? 

    Not really. We thought it woud be an equal split between the two. But India’s online meal buyers  placed a whopping 215 million dinner orders in 2024 – nearly 29 per cent higher than lunch orders on Swiggy.

    It raises the question: why the gap?

    Are Indians resorting increasingly to intermittent fasting?  

    Or is  it that work pressure Is making them skip lunch?

    Or is it that somehow or the other they are able to prepare their lunch and lug it with them to the office?

     Or is it that India  can cook lunch at home unlike dinner for which the double income families (that are increasing in number)  have no energy left traveling home long distances from work in the evening?  Hence, an increasing number of them is ordering in.

    Be that as it may, this and lots of other nuggets of information have emerged from Swiggy‘s ninth annual report How India Swiggy’d in 2024.
     

    Breakfast

    Breakfast is often hailed as the most crucial meal of the day and prepares us to face the day with gusto! But does it remain a bastion of wholesome goodness, a sanctuary of nutritious beginnings? Or do guilty indulgences take over? 
    South Indian favourite, with 8.5 million dosas and 7.8 million idlis were way up front ahead of the rest. as breakfast  True to its roots, Bengaluru enjoyed an incredible 2.5 million masala dosas in 2024, while Delhi, Chandigarh, and Kolkata couldn’t do without their classic crowd pullers of chole, aloo parantha and kachoris, respectively.

    Snackables

    Munchies and snackables were the best accompaniments to get through a day that is not going your way or a day that you just cannot forget. They go well for consumers who can’t stop biting their nails at work, the ones who  are set for a  late night horror movie binge, watching that nail-biting football match, or finishing a last minute presentation.  The chicken roll proved to be the  utimate khiladi as the nation’s most ordered snack in 2024, with a staggering 2.48 million orders. Hot on its heels were the crowd-favorite chicken momos at 1.63 million orders, while potato fries stayed in the game with a crunchy 1.3 million orders, showing they’re no side dish in this meaty contest!

    The chicken burger proved to be the ultimate midnight indulgence with a staggering 1.84 million orders between 12–2 AM! Chicken biryani as a close second, continued to be the evergreen superstar- a 24×7 obsession! But the real night owl award goes to a Delhi user who ordered a jaw-dropping 250 Onion Pizzas in a single order—sounds like a wild pizza party!

    Desserts

    2024 was the year when Indians developed a real sweet tooth for chocolate desserts by ordereing  3.6 million choco lava cakes and 2.27 million chocolate truffle cakes. The Hyderabadis kept ordering shahi tukda while Ludhiani-ites opted for block forest cake. Falooda was the favorite of the folks in Kozhikode and Kochi. Additionally, that Indians are mama’s boys and girls  was proved by the number of cakes they ordered for their mums on Mother’s Day: 193 cakes per minute, making it the country’s unofficial cake day. Diwali strangely was the day when surprisingly 11.4 million milk cakes were ordered. Milk cakes? And we thought Indian sweets like kaju katri and barfis were out favourites. Ganesh chathurti is the festival when Mumbaikar immerse their beloved Ganpati Bappa, but a modak sweet is a necessary accompaniment and Mumbaikars went for  it with full gusto ordering 2,26,393 of them.

    Biriyani reigns 

    One of the most interesting pieces of data that has emerged is that Indians love biriyani more than any other dish. Late into the night, growling bellies ordered 83 million biriyanis, making for 158 orders a minute or roughly two biriyanis a second. Ramzan accounted for six million of these orders. Biriyani orders rose 15 per cent, haleem rose 1445 per cent, phirni 85 per cent, malpua 79 per cent,  falooda 58 per cent and dates 48 per cent during the iftaar perod. 

    Which of the cities  hogged  the most of this spicy rice-potato-chicken-mutton-vegetarian meal? It’s not Hyderabad,  if that was your guess, it’s actually Chennai which placed 46 million biriyani orders in 2024,; Hyderabad the city of nawabs, the city which serves the best biriyani in India accounted for only  9.7 million of the orders, with Bengaluru coming in at third spot with 7.7 million orders.  

    Indians tend to prefer the chicken variety of biriyani with 49 million orders being for chicken biriyani. The figure for mutton biriyani is just a paltry 2.2 million. Remarkably, buzz of mouth regarding this dish resulted in 2.8 million newbies on the app choosing biriyani as their first order. 

    The How India Swiggy’d 2024 report also came up with some other interesting findings:

    * In a chicken-heavy lineup, the humble dosa stole the show! 23 million orders and counting—this is the true culinary hit.
    * Move over mammoth movie budgets in 2024! A single consumer in Bengaluru spent Rs 49,900 on a pasta extravaganza, devouring almost 55 Alfredo dishes, 40 mac & cheese, and 30 spaghetti plates.
    * How could we have a hero recap without the new and swanky Bolt? In Bikaner, a dessert lover’s sweet tooth couldn’t wait, and neither could Bolt! In just three minutes, a delivery partner zoomed in with a trio of frozen delights: chocochips, strawberry, and roasted almond ice-cream from NIC Ice creams.
    * Continuing the reign of the sweet tooth on Bolt, rasmalai and sitaphal ice cream topped the charts as the most-ordered delights to curb hunger pangs in 10 minutes.
    * Turning our gaze towards eats of the east…. Move over momos, because noodles are stealing the spotlight in Shillong! This city’s love for these slurpy strands is unmatched, making it the most ordered dish of 2024 in the city.
    *  Swiggy  delivery partners clocked an epic 1.96 billion kilometers, – that’s like driving the distance from Kashmir to Kanyakumari 533 thousand times and still  have a stop for chai! Kapil Kumar Pandey from Mumbai delivered an incredible 10,703 orders this year, while Kaleeswari M from Coimbatore led the female partners with 6,658 orders!

  • Performance marketing agency The Automobile group set up as 2025 dawns

    Performance marketing agency The Automobile group set up as 2025 dawns

    MUMBAI: When you are itching to leave your mark on the world, the best way to do so is to turn entrepreneur. Give to the winds your fears, and take the plunge. With resolution as your motto, go ahead and do it.

    And, what if you fail? Well, you get up and begin again! It’s not how many times you fall, but how many times you get up that makes you a success.

    At least, that’s what Shwetank Pandit and Yash Vardhan believe in and they have fulfilled that  belief by setting up a digital agency called The Automobile group.

    Its  focus: transform how automobile brands connect with their audiences. By partnering with leading auto aggregator platforms and leveraging targeted digital campaigns, the agency says it will  help auto companies to  drive visibility, engagement, and measurable results.

    “It’s a New Year. It’s a new era in automobile advertising,” said Yash on Linkedin.

    “Both Yash and I have been friends for 10 years or more. The agency is built on the foundation of that friendship that combines trust, passion, and innovation to create an AI-driven platform that delivers results,” added Shwetank.

    Both said that The Automobile group is “a first-of-its-kind performance network designed to revolutionise how automobile brands connect with buyers. In an industry where precision and impact are everything, we’re here to help brands accelerate their reach and drive measurable outcomes.”

    Their entrepreneurial initiative is based on such a solid idea and need that the duo found their initial investors within a month and they already have their first round money in their bank account. 

    The two have divided their co-founder responsibilities amongst  themselves: while Shwetank is charge of delivery, Yash has taken on the responsibility of the business.

    Shwentak has close to 18 year of learnings in the digital world having worked for Tangence Solutions, Tyroo, Cardekho, Kinesiz Media, and Convertup Media either in mobile advertising or on ad networks or in media sales and planning.

    Yash too has got his hands dirty in digital media with stints in Digifish3, SilverPush, Convival Cords, ConvertUp Media, Moca Technology and click2commission over his eight year career.

    Their well-rounded exposure to the RoI driven world of performance marketing is what gave them the confidence to cobble together their start up.

    Making a solid pitch to potential clients both Yash and Shwetank said: “As you (CMOs, digital marketing  heads and media agencies) gear up to make 2025 a breakthrough year for your brand, The Automobile group is your partner in driving growth. Whether you’re launching a new model, boosting brand awareness, or optimising digital campaigns, we’re here to turn your vision into reality.”

    Will the automobile marketers help turn Shwetank and Yash’s vision into reality?

  • What customers ordered on Zepto in 2024

    What customers ordered on Zepto in 2024

    MUMBAI: What did India order online in 2024? At what time did  they get shopping happy? Were there any quirky or weird things they ordered?  

    Quick commerce company Zepto gives us some insights into the shopping habits of India’s online consumers! Read on as some are sure to bring a smile to your face while others may get you to raise your eyebrows in alarm.

    * A Chennai user ensured preparedness, ordering 481 condoms in 2024.(Did he also order Viagra?)
    * A Hyderabad user’s 217 Eno packets were a spicy year’s MVP.
    * Chennai’s pet lover stocked up with 5,234 quantities of pet food.
    * In Kolkata, 96 packs of Tata Tea Gold kept someone caffeinated all year long.
    * Bengaluru’s curd enthusiast led with 5,544 pouches of curd ordered.
    * Gurugram’s spirituality shone, with 707 pooja essentials bought.
    * Pune’s health-conscious customer ordered 768 carrots.
    * Ghaziabad stayed cool, ordering 721 packets of ice.
    * And yes, 481 watermelons found a home in Chennai—summer forever?
    * 16,663 packs of Amul Masti kept spirits high.

    What Kept You Up at Night (and Beyond)
    * Over 20 million snacks were ordered between 12 AM and 4 am.
    * Bengaluru showed self-care with 28,000 massagers ordered. (Hmmm…too much sitting at the desk coding or is it something else?)
    * 85,000 stationery orders were placed late at night—midnight creativity, anyone?

     What were you searching for?
    o 6,000 searches for “friends” (we feel you).
    o 877 searches for “sukoon” (same).
    o 7 searches for “2 BHK” (you do you).
     

     Veggie vibes:
    o 900,000 karelas (bitter gourds), 130,000  lakh tindas, 7.7 million bhindis (okra), 2.3 million lauki, and 4 million baigans (egg plant) made their way to homes.

    Combos that Made Us Laugh:
    * Dumbbells + samosas: Strength and snacks in perfect balance.
    * Pooja essentials + tonic water: Holy spirit, indeed.
    * Food from Zepto Café + pressure cookers: Modern mealtime prep.
    * Knives + Dettol: Safety first.
    * Momos + chocolate syrup: A pairing no one saw coming.

    Fun Facts from the Cities We Love
    * Bengaluru: Ordered 825,000 roses and more than 400,000 condoms (What’s up with the city; are the techies’ hormones raging wild ?).
    * Delhi: Loved their snacks with 1.2 lakh millions Magic Masala and over 800,000  mixer bottles (No wonder the city has so many accidents).
    * Mumbai: Truly the city that never sleeps, ordering 3.15 million  snacks between 12–4 AM.
    * Our fastest delivery this year? 25 seconds.
    * Delivery partners travelled 340 million km in total—equal to 8,000  times around the  Earth.
    * Scott from Delhi was the highest tipper, with ?58,000 in tips!
    * And Ravi from Hyderabad? The king of indigestion relief, ordering 217 Eno bottles.

    It takes all types to make this world right? Even  when they order goodies! At least that’s what Zepto’s analysis of the shopping habits of Indians reveals. 

  • Kuku FM partners with HubHopper; adds 21,000 new shows to its library

    Kuku FM partners with HubHopper; adds 21,000 new shows to its library

    MUMBAI: If you are an audiophile and you prefer listening to podcasts and shows rather than holidaying and partying, then come 1 January 2025, you should grab  your headset and your phone and lean back and sign into KukuFM.

    The audio hosting and distribution platform has partnered with another audio platform HubHopper and is offering its three million subscribers the latter’s 21,000 new shows across 30,000 plus hours of premium content at no extra cost (in a dedicated section featuring the new shows).

    A press release issued by Kuku FM  mentions that this integration means its library rivals even leading OTTs operating in India and is the largest audio catalogue  in the country.

    Listeners can chose from spirituality (Sadhguru, Osho and Jay Alani) to fiction to history  to business in various languages including English, Arabic, Hindi, Tamil Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Shows from NDTV are also available on the platform.

    Kuku FM co-founder Lal Chand Bisu pointed out that Indians prefer getting unmatched value for the money they are spending.  He added: “As our revenues doubled last year, driven by subscriptions, we’re poised to continue this momentum into 2025 with this enriched offering. By adding the shows, we’re not just growing our library but building a platform that resonates with diverse audiences—from native speakers across India to Indians abroad seeking high-quality content in their languages. This collaboration elevates our reach and engagement to new heights.”