ITV

Category: Video On Demand

  • Integrated video platform: Ooyala to showcase solutions at NAB

    MUMBAI: Ooyala, a global provider of video monetisation technology and services, will showcase the full breadth of its video solutions for media and entertainment companies at the NAB Show 2017 in Las Vegas in April.

    With its full set of offerings, Ooyala is leading the way towards delivering a fully Integrated Video Platform (IVP) specifically to meet the needs of today’s modern media content owners and production companies. With a common data set to drive insights and inform strategies, IVP is the next generation of OVP, evolving well beyond online video platform capabilities to deliver sophisticated solutions to understand the costs and return-on-investment of video content.

    “Publishing video online today is a rather mundane task, but building a sustainable business model around online video is a totally different animal,” said Frost and Sullivan senior director, Mukul Krishna. “IVPs, or Integrated Video Platforms, better reflect the new demands placed on the traditional OVP. An Integrated Video Platform extends traditional OVPs capabilities to include functionality to meet challenges spanning production, distribution and monetisation.”

    Ooyala Flex, the company’s versatile and customizable solution for video production and distribution workflows is designed to get content to market faster. It is a cornerstone in Ooyala’s transformation into an IVP, complementing its full set of product offerings across ad tech, analytics and video platform solutions.

    With Ooyala Flex’s tight integration with the Ooyala video platform, the solutions can streamline the entire process from creation to syndication and ultimately distribution across devices. Content owners have complete control over their operations, as well as insights into video performance and audience engagement. By combining Ooyala solutions customers are able to:

    * Sync metadata across Ooyala Flex and Ooyala’s video platform, simplifying asset search and management

    * Transform assets into any format in Ooyala Flex for distribution to any device with Ooyala’s video platform

    * Automate transcoding, packaging and syndication using Ooyala Flex to get content in front of audiences faster

    * Leverage metadata from Ooyala Flex for more personalised content recommendations with Ooyala Discovery, driving higher audience engagement and monetization

    * Understand video performance across properties with Ooyala IQ to inform future content production decisions and distribution strategies

    * Benefit from a single provider, versus many, supplying all solutions with aligned roadmaps and integrations

    “Ooyala Flex customers see significant time savings throughout their media operations, with some reducing project delivery times by more than 75%. Customers are realizing the return as Ooyala Flex connects silos and integrates systems, teams and processes, providing greater efficiencies and visibility into bottlenecks that are costing time and money,” said Ooyala co-founder and SVP of products and solutions Belsasar Lepe.

    He added, “Using simple APIs, Ooyala Flex acts as an integration layer connecting nearly any existing production system or software together, whether on-premise or cloud-based. This includes integrations with Adobe for editorial needs, Microsoft Azure for storage, and tailored integrations with Pebble Beach Systems for broadcast playout, along with a host of other commonly used solutions.”

    In addition to Ooyala Flex, Ooyala will provide demos at NAB 2017, including:

    Ooyala Pulse – Ooyala’s holistic sell-side video advertising platform, combining the ad server and programmatic trading platforms, designed exclusively for media companies and publishers to make smarter, more lucrative ad decisions. Plus, Ooyala Pulse Unlock, its client-side ad-reinsertion technology. With rich data and analytics, Ooyala Pulse provides unique, real-time insights through customizable reports to improve forecasting and decision-making, while enabling clients to pivot in real-time as a campaign runs.

    Ooyala Video Platform – Ooyala’s full set of video technology includes live streaming; live server-side ad insertion (Live SSAI) for seamless TV-like playback and ad-block prevention; its award-winning analytics product, Ooyala IQ; customizable HTML5 player; Ooyala AppStudio for getting OTT apps to market quickly; as well as Ooyala’s full back-end management system and services. At the heart of Ooyala’s video solutions is big data, empowering customers with a complete view of video performance and audience behavior to help strategically distribute video content and maximize ROI.

  • Amazon Prime brings Fugay & Autograph on Gudi Padwa

    MUMBAI: The festival of Gudi Padwa brings families and loved ones together to ring in the New Year and celebrate new beginnings. This year, Amazon Prime Video gives audiences another reason to celebrate by bringing together some of the best and biggest Marathi blockbusters on its platform. Just weeks after its theatrical release, catch the world premiere (before television) of Fugay starring Swwapnil Joshi and Subodh Bhave exclusively on Amazon Prime Video; and later in June 2017, Prime members can watch the popular movie Autograph with Ankkush Chaudhari and Amruta Khanvilkar in lead roles.

    Fugay is a story that revolves around two inseparable childhood best friends Swwapnil Joshi and Subodh Bhave. Swwapnil gets engaged to Prarthana Behere who is extremely possessive about him and also doesn’t approve of the bond between Swwapnil and Subodh. Assuming they won’t get to enjoy the same fun, they both decide to go for one last bachelor party to Goa. In Goa, they have a lot of fun but also make a mistake that leads to hilarious fun. What happens when they come back and how both Swwapnil and Subodh have to explain themselves, go back to clarify and prove their innocence is what makes the movie full of fun and laughter. Starring Swapnil Joshi, Subodh Bhave and Prarthana Behere in leading roles, this complete family entertainer sees the mayhem their unusual friendship creates. Directed by, Swapna Waghmare Joshi, this hilarious family drama can be seen exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

    Also, actor-director Nishikant Kamat will be seen as a villain in Fugay. He has directed ‘Dombivali Fast’ and ‘Lai Bhari’ earlier and debuts as an actor with this film.

    Upcoming Marathi film, Autograph, stars Ankush Chaudhari, Satish Rajwade, Amruta Khanvilkar and Manasi Moghe. Produced under the STV Networks banner, the film is set to release later this year. Watch the Marathi blockbuster produced by Inder Raj Kapoor exclusively on Amazon Prime Video this June 2017.

    Amazon Prime Video claims to have the largest selection of latest and exclusive movies and TV shows, ad-free across Indian and Hollywood movies, US TV shows, top/popular Indian and international kids’ shows, award winning Amazon Original shows along with content from top Bollywood, regional, Indian and international studios – all available in one location/service.

  • Amazon Prime debuts its US original ‘Z: The Beginning of Everything’

    MUMBAI: No couple epitomised the rebellion and the glamour of the Jazz Age like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald, and now their tumultuous romance and life will be brought alive in a bio-series titled Z: The Beginning of Everything on Amazon Prime Video. Z: The Beginning of Everything, is a 10-episode half-hour bio-series following the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald (Christina Ricci), Southern Belle turned flapper, writer and icon of modern feminism. The series dives into the fascinating life of a woman ahead of her time and tells the story of her passionate, yet turbulent relationship with husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald (David Hoflin).

    Z: The Beginning of Everything is a ground-breaking concept: a fictionalized bio series of the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the brilliant, beautiful and talented Southern Belle who becomes the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant, Jazz Age in the 20s. The series begins the moment Zelda meets the unpublished writer F. Scott Fitzgerald in Montgomery, Alabama in 1918 and moves through their passionate, turbulent love affair and their marriage – made in heaven, lived out in hell – as the celebrity couple of their time. It will show the alcoholism, adultery and struggle with dashed dreams and mental illness that leads to Zelda’s tragic, untimely end. Z: The Beginning of Everything dives into the fascinating life of a woman ahead of her time, an artist determined to establish her own identity in the tempestuous wake of a world-famous husband.

    Amazon Prime Video has the largest selection of latest and exclusive movies and TV shows, ad-free across Indian and Hollywood movies, US TV shows, top/popular Indian and international kids’ shows, award winning Amazon Original shows along with content from top Bollywood, regional, Indian and international studios – all available in one location/service.

  • Sky picks TiVo to search entertainment across linear TV & VoD using voice

    MUMBAI: TiVo Corporation, a global leader in entertainment technology and audience insights, ha sannounced that TiVo and Sky, Europe’s leading entertainment company have joined forces to deliver voice search for Sky’s next-generation box, Sky Q. TiVo is providing Sky Q with a natural language, voice-based search solution, making it quicker and easier for Sky Q customers to find the content they are looking for.

    The solution delivered by TiVo lets consumers use their voice to search for digital entertainment across linear TV and video on demand (VOD). By implementing Conversation Services on Sky Q, Sky is making it easier for customers to discover entertainment, sport and movies by providing a conversational experience through language recognition and naturally spoken responses.

    “With Sky Q, we continue to innovate and bring fantastic new features to our customers, who we know are watching more TV than ever before. We want to make it even faster and easier for them to search, discover and watch TV,” said Sky’s brand director of TV and content products Luke Bradley-Jones.

    “That’s why we’ve introduced voice search. With the technology delivered by TiVo, we are enabling our customers to use natural, voice-based queries to find new and favourite TV to enjoy.”

    The solution is built on TiVo’s knowledge graph engine, a dynamic knowledge base of entertainment metadata, capable of understanding trends and conversations. Updated continuously via data ingestion and news crawlers, the knowledge graph includes information produced and curated by hundreds of content editors, predictive search results, and behavioral indicators from social networks.

    “With more and more content choices and a great range of entertainment available across TV, TiVo is helping partners like Sky provide the best user experience whilst driving content consumption,” said TiVo senior vice president and general manager, advanced search and recommendations, Matt Berry.

    “This implementation further reinforces the value of TiVo’s product portfolio in bringing the latest capabilities to pay-TV homes across Europe.”

  • Amazon Prime expands reach, available to Voda subs

    NEW DELHI: With the battle for space among telecom service providers reaching a high pitch, Vodafone India has become the first telecom operator to partner with Amazon Prime Video India enabling customers to seamlessly access their large selection of latest and exclusive Bollywood, Hollywood and regional movies, US TV shows, kids’ programming and global Amazon Originals.

    Vodafone consumers can enjoy Amazon Prime with a special consumer offer on its data strong Vodafone SuperNetTM 4G network from 22 March 2017. After subscribing to Amazon Prime via MyVodafone App or Vodafone Website for an annual introductory subscription price of only Rs 499, Vodafone customers will get Rs 250 cashback as their Amazon Pay Balance. Currently, the offer is available only for Vodafone customers using Android devices.

    Vodafone India director – commercial Sandeep Kataria said, “The entertainment consumption patterns of customers are rapidly changing. They want more freedom and flexibility in the way they consume content. This partnership with Amazon Prime Video does just that, further strengthening our content proposition and reiterating our commitment to offering the best to our customers along with unique privileges. It makes available a wide range of latest, high-quality movies and TV shows to our millions of customers, giving them exclusive access to a diverse selection of entertainment and rich content with an unparalleled streaming experience on the data strong Vodafone SuperNetTM 4G network”.

    Amazon Prime Video India director and country head Nitesh Kripalani said, “At Amazon Prime Video, our focus is on offering latest and exclusive movies and TV shows to customers on a reliable service, with great playback quality and low data usage. This offer further extends our promise of delivering convenient, on-demand access to our large content selection to our customers.”

    Amazon Prime already offers unlimited free One-day and Two-day delivery to over 100 cities on eligible items from India’s largest selection of products, 30 minutes early access for members on top deals and more benefits for an unparalleled shopping experience.

  • ‘American Playboy’ to launch globally on Amazon Prime on 7 April

    MUMBAI: The Amazon Original series American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story will premiere on Amazon Prime Video in more than 200 countries and territories on 7 April.

    The series tells the story of Playboy magazine’s charismatic founder, Hugh Hefner, who set out to disrupt the status quo and created one of the most recognizable brands in history. The docuseries combines archival footage, pulling from thousands of hours from Hefner’s personal archives; interviews with notable figures including Jesse Jackson, Gene Simmons and Bill Maher; and cinematic reenactments.

    Amazon Prime Video members will be able to stream all 10 episodes of the docuseries and can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing.

    “At a time when civil rights are more in the news than ever, Prime members will be delighted to learn more about the Playboy brand and its contributions in that area,” said Amazon Originals head of unscripted Conrad Riggs. “This series will offer the unprecedented, behind-the-scenes story of Hefner’s life and his fight to protect and advance essential American rights, including free speech.”

    American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story is produced by the Emmy award-winning Stephen David Entertainment, a Banijay Group company, and Playboy Enterprises’ production company Alta Loma Entertainment, and executive produced by Stephen David, Peter Jaysen and longtime Playboy executive Dick Rosenzweig with co-executive producers Shirley Escott and Tim Kelly.

    It begins in post-war America and takes us through the launch of Playboy magazine in 1953 and the next six decades of Hefner’s life and career. As he built his empire, Hefner became both a social justice advocate and a target of the conservative movement while becoming an outspoken defender of civil rights, freedom of speech, gay rights and, of course, sexual freedom.

    The series is the result of unprecedented access to thousands of hours of never-before-seen footage from both Hefner’s and the Playboy archives and Hefner’s personal scrapbooks, which number more than 2,900 and constitute a Guinness World Record. The 90-year-old Hefner has been deeply involved in the development and production of American Playboy, imbuing the series with rich first-person accounts and never-before-told stories.

  • YuppTV Originals’ initial focus on regional content, to start feature film production

    MUMBAI: YuppTV has forayed into original content production. YuppTV Originals is set to bring forth unconventional story telling in collaboration with the top talent from the movie industry. This new content will be available in episodic format for the digital audience, exclusively on YuppTV’splatform.

    YuppTV founder and CEO Uday Reddy along with YuppTV’s Brand Ambassador Mahesh Babu has launched YuppTV Originals.

    Reddy said, “With YuppTVOriginals, we aim to disrupt the content space, following the needs of our evolving audience, and our vision of providing high-quality engaging content. Besides, YuppTV Originals will empower the content creators by providing direct access to the audience and thereby streamlining distribution. I’d further extend heartiest welcome to our associates from the film fraternity, ensuring optimum growth for the content ecosystem.”

    YuppTV Original’s initial focus is on regional content in episodic format, while also making endeavors for feature film production. To produce their first few series, it has associated with prominent production houses such as I-candy creation, Early Morning Tales – a division of Vijayanthi Movies, TrendLoud –digital arm of Vision Times, Madhura Entertainment and Tamada Media.

    Babu added, “I am confident that ‘YuppTVOriginals’ will have a wide reach, and recommend artists and visionaries from the industry to make use of this opportunity to showcase their creative pursuits and connect instantly with the internet audience.”

    Tollywood director Deva Katta said, “Originals provide immense creative freedom for the evolving talent in the industry. As YuppTV provides a direct reach to the audience it will also help us pool in fresh talent and bring their creativity to the spotlight. Myself, my partner Krishna Vijay and our company iCandy Creations is delighted to be part of Originals and look forward to a prolonged partnership in producing engaging new-age content.”

    YuppTV Originals’ first mini-series, Endukila, presented by Katta’ iCandy Creations, written and directed by Laxman Karya will be launched during Ugadi, followed by another exciting series produced by Swapna Dutt’s Early Morning Tales and director supervision by Nandini Reddy.

    Catering to global audience, YuppTV is overcoming the language barrier by including subtitles and will be dubbed in other languages.

  • Netflix originals may get mobile-specific cuts

    MUMBAI: Video streaming service Netflix plans to explore streaming mobile-specific cuts of its original movies and TV shows. With this plan, the platform’s chief product officer Neil Hunt wants to satisfy the growing audience of mobile Netflix watchers.

    “It’s not inconceivable that you could take a master [version] and make a different cut for mobile. To date, Netflix hasn’t been delivering different cuts for different viewing platforms, but it’s something we will explore over the next few years,” said Hunt.

    With small screens getting even smaller, the idea is to create versions that offer alternate shots, scenes and framing in order to make the most of the device the content is being streamed on.

    Hunt made the remarks as part of a two-day event at Dolby Laboratories and Netflix’s own headquarters, as the two companies gear up for the launch of Iron Fist, which launches this weekend.

    Netflix is now available globally, with the exception of a few markets, including China, and since then it has seen mobile usage soar. In established markets like the US and Canada, most Netflix watching still happens on TVs. Hunt added that Netflix’s expansion to over 190 countries across the globe now means that mobile screens are the majority consumption device.

  • iFLix hires Netflix’s Sean Carey as CCO

    MUMBAI: Malaysian video streaming service iflix has appointed former Netflix executive Sean Carey as its new chief content officer. Carey served Netflix as the vice-president of global television.

    iFLix’s chief content officer James Bridges will move to a new role as global acquisitions director, leading the service’s content acquisition strategy.

    Two-year old iflix claims to have 4.5 million customers and hopes to be what Netflix is in the United States to viewers in emerging markets.

    The streaming video provider, which has deals with more than 170 studios and distributors such as Viacom Inc’s Paramount and MGM, is currently in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines and is planning to enter the Middle East and Africa over the next few months.

    Liberty Global, the international telecommunications company controlled by American tycoon John Malone, and Zain, a Kuwait-based telecommunications operator, are investing in iflix, the companies announced last week.

    Liberty and Zain, along with existing shareholders Sky PLC, venture capital firm Catcha Group and Los Angeles-based merchant bank Evolution Media Capital, invested $90 million in iflix, the companies said.

  • Fox launches video streaming service in Asia

    MUMBAI: After Hooq, iflix, and Netflix, Fox Networks Group Asia has entered the digital space with the launch of its video streaming service Fox+.

    The streaming service app features TV series, first-run Hollywood blockbusters, hit Chinese series and movies, live sports and thrilling documentaries, all in one place, accessible from any device (on televisions, computers, tablet, smart phones) in high definition.

    The app was launched on 7 March at Makati City in the Phillipines by Fox Networks Group Asia president Zubin Gandevia. Its launch in seven more countries in the Asia Pacific is slated to follow suit within the year.

    The app showcase the latest TV series shown on the same day as the US, the latest movies shortly after theatrical release, both often one full year before other subscription services. It will have live sports via Fox Sports, amounting to more than 10,000 hours of content.

    Fox is not just a robust content creator with movies such as Deadpool, Logan, etc, but it also claims to be the biggest content-buyer in the region. Several studios like Walt Disney will also be making available their content on the service.

    The entry of Fox+ makes it the fourth streaming service in the country. A Fox+ subscription costs around approx Rs 512/month (P390) whereas its competitor Netflix starts at Rs 486/month (P370) for the basic tier while Hooq charges Rs 261(P199) and iflix Rs 169 (P129)

    Fox+ will be available for subscribers of Cignal and PLDT/SMART broadband subscribers for a discounted price as the company wants to preserve the loyalty of their fans.