Category: Video On Demand

Mumbai: Magnifi by VideoVerse – an AI-driven video technology company and powerful video-editing SaaS platform founded by Indian founders – has announced the support of the 2023 season of popular the Vietnam Pro Basketball League (VBA) with AI-powered video highlights of the matches, video on demand and social media features. The league has already witnessed over one million collective views on Facebook and Youtube till July 2023.

Magnifi’s offering for the VBA league includes full match highlights and player highlights, featuring dynamic graphic overlays and multiple aspect ratios of 16:9, 9:16, and 1:1. Additionally, the league benefits from Magnifi’s expert social media publishing on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, along with the customisable video on demand (VOD) packages and self-served dashboards, ensuring an exceptional fan experience throughout the entire season culminating in September.

The impactful results achieved since the VBA embraced Magnifi’s Highlights tool in early June show a staggering 773 per cent higher video production resulting in a 76 per cent increase in overall viewership. Social media engagement has also skyrocketed across all platforms.

Magnifi by VideoVerse CEO and co-founder Vinayak Shrivastav, highlighted the company’s commitment to forging robust collaborations with leagues and associations, stating, “As a company dedicated to providing sports broadcasting highlights, it is our priority to create powerful partnerships like the one with the VBA. Through our leading AI-powered platform, we have demonstrated how we can enhance efficiency and boost content engagement with sports fans.”

“VBA has always endeavoured to deliver the hottest play of the season in real-time and keep the engagement with our viewers ongoing. Keeping our fans happy and allowing them easy access to highlights and short videos was the challenge. Magnifi has played a pivotal role in making this season exceptional, and the VBA hopes to extend this fruitful collaboration for many years to come,” expressed Phuoc Truong at VBA.

Magnifi’s growth in the sports media highlights sector has been fueled by the surging popularity of social media platforms, the ascent of short-form video content, and the rising demand for real-time and personalised experiences.

Mumbai: DistroTV, one of the largest independent, free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) app, has announced that it is expanding its content offerings to OnePlus TV. OnePlus TV users can stream DistroTV’s impressive and diverse content lineup with 270 channels globally and 180 channels in India anytime on the Cloud TV platform.

DistroTV features more than 270 Channels globally and 180 channels in India and growing, with everything from news, sports, movies, music & entertainment, and lifestyle content. This includes original content and new channel offerings that cater to Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, English, Punjabi and adding more languages and channels. 

“We are excited to partner with OnePlus. India is a large and vibrant digital market with Smart TV volumes at more than 90% of all new Televisions sold in the country. We are bringing the best of Indian and International FAST content to the Indian audiences,” said DistroScale (parent company of DistroTV) co-founder & CEO Navdeep Saini. 

“The Connected TV ecosystem with FAST is bringing premium and brand safe AVOD opportunity with long form content partners on the live streaming channels. This partnership will emerge as a significant source of entertainment for OnePlus TV viewers. The advertisers will get an opportunity to reach out the premium digital audience on Connected TV with our ad solutions,” said DistroScale CEO (India, SEA and MENA) Vikas Khanchandani. 

Mumbai: NetRange MMH GmbH (‘NetRange’ an ACCESS company), the global provider of white-labelled, turnkey Smart TV and OTT ecosystems, has announced a new strategic partnership with Vidio. This agreement will extend the reach of Vidio’s premium video-on-demand service in Indonesia through inclusion in the NetRange Smart TV App Store ecosystem.

“The combination of ‘must watch’ Indonesian content like our massive hit ‘Married with Senior’ alongside global hits such as the English Premier League and Hollywood blockbusters has put Vidio in pole position in the race for streaming audiences in Southeast Asia’s largest video market,” said Vidio chief product officer Hadikusuma Wahab. “Expanding our reach through the partnership with NetRange enables us to capitalise on this success, bringing great content to even more people direct to the biggest screen in the home.”

Vidio is the region’s leading OTT streaming platform, with over 60 million active users and a strong focus on local content and innovation. Owned by PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk, the service boasts a range of content, free-to-air and subscription channels, live streaming, films and dramas, and television and has been downloaded more than five million downloads through the App Store and Play Store. Alongside premium regional content, Vidio offers high-quality international movies from leading Indian production houses such as Eros Now, which are highly popular in Indonesia, and Hollywood blockbusters such as Fast and the Furious, Jumanji, and John Wick. It also offers live sports coverage, including major international events such as the UEFA Champions League and the English Premier League.

NetRange Smart TV Portals and App Stores provide the most straightforward route for content creators, TV manufacturers, media, and entertainment distributors to ride the connected and Smart TV wave. NetRange provides portal and ecosystem solutions to CE device manufacturers, infrastructure providers (satellite, cable, and telecommunications), OEMs/ODMs, retailers, and content brands. NetRange always looks to expand its worldwide content portfolio with high value local providers, especially in emerging markets. The portal is continuously developed and enhanced to help its device and content partners deliver to consumers. NetRange portals and ecosystems can be operated as global solutions or designed for specific countries, to drive a key business strategy of providing content to an often-underserved region: this combination of global content with leading local content is a key focus for NetRange’s Smart TV portfolio.

“NetRange is delighted to embark on this journey with Vidio as part of our drive to bring high-quality content and innovative consumer experiences to consumers via smart TVs in the booming Indonesian video market,” said ACCESS CO., LTD. CTO Michi Uemetsu. “Inclusion in NetRange’s Smart TV Apps enables Vidio content to be enjoyed by even more of the region’s consumers.”

Mumbai: OTT platform Netflix recorded its highest daily subscription sign-up rate in the US since the start of the pandemic in April 2020 with the launch of its ad-supported plan on 3 November, according to a new report by Ampere Analysis.

Specifically, the release of the ad tier led to a 58 per cent increase in the streamer’s average daily sign-up volumes from 3rd to 5th November, compared to the three days before the launch.

Since the new plan became available to subscribers, eight per cent of those who signed up for Netflix or switched plans have chosen the ad-tier. Of these, three out of four are new signups, mostly re-subscribers (64 per cent) but also first-time users of the platform (36 per cent).

According to the study, over 75 per cent of new ‘Basic with ads’ subscribers are stacking at least three subscription video on demand (SVoD) services, with Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Hulu being the most common other choice.

Tier switching: One in four of the ad tier subscribers are existing Netflix users that have switched tiers. As expected, a large proportion (67 per cent) of these come from the basic tier – the most price-sensitive group of Netflix subscribers. One fifth of switchers (21 per cent) moved from the standard tier, and just 12 per cent come from the premium tier.

Ampere Analysis analyst Mayssa Jamil said, “Netflix’s ‘Basic with Ads’ tier, which is $3/month cheaper than the basic tier, has succeeded at drawing back more price-sensitive Netflix subscribers who had previously churned. In addition to this, with the strengthening of competitor services, the low $6.99 price point makes it more affordable to subscribe to multiple services at once and has therefore also appealed to heavy stackers. Finally, some basic tier users (who are more prone to churning as economic uncertainty and competition increase) have been downgrading to the ad-tier, which will aid customer retention in the long-term.”

Mumbai: Agra police arrested an IIT engineer for illegally uploading content from Disney Hotstar on his OTT platform, Supermat. Star India Pvt. Ltd. had complained to the Agra police commissioner on 11 January against the illegal practices of the Supermat application.

Since December 2020, the Agra Cyber Cell has been looking for the main accused, Ashish Dixit, who has been running the Supermat application with his brother, co-accused Akash Dixit.

Both accused registered their company, Dream Stake Pvt. Ltd., in 2020, where both of them are directors.

According to Agra police, Supermat has 17,000 subscribers, and they have partnered with a Netherlands-based cloud server with a Rs 10 lakh contract under which they used to take downloaded content from the Torrent and Telegram applications. Supermat, a third-party app, was running on a subscription-based model with VIP and gold subscription packages for Rs 478 and Rs 978, respectively.

The accused had collected Rs 67 lakh in the last two years from its customers, and currently, they have Rs 6 lakh in their bank, which has been seized by police.

Shahaganj Agra Police have arrested Ashish Dixit under IPC Act 420, IT Act 68 C & D, and the Copyright Act 1957. Ashish Dixit is an alumnus of IIT Jodhpur, where he completed his bachelor of technology studies.

As of now, Disney Hotstar has declined to comment on the matter.

Mumbai: Inox Leisure ltd. (Inox) has been selected as the official entertainment partner of the Yonex Sunrise India Open 2023. Under the partnership, Inox will promote the tournament across its cinemas in India and on its digital platforms. Adding to this, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) will be provided space in cinema lobbies and LED displays for tournament promotions by Inox.

The tournament is scheduled to take place from 17 – 22 January 2023, at the K. D. Jadhav Indoor Hall, IG Stadium, New Delhi.

To build awareness for the tournament, Inox has rolled out a new campaign, “Josh and Jashn,” featuring Prannoy HS, Srikanth Kidambi, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty to celebrate the passion and anticipated success of the Indian players in the field of badminton.

The campaign would run across Inox’s digital platforms, and across cinemas. Inox would also conduct engaging and experiential activations for its patrons. Inox patrons will also stand a chance to win match tickets and exclusive merchandise from the tournament.

Speaking on the association, Inox Leisure Ltd. chief executive officer Alok Tandon said, “Indian badminton has been making the country proud for many years. As our country is all set to host the biggest professional badminton tournament ever, we take pride in partnering with the Yonex Sunrise India Open 2023, organised by the Badminton Association of India, to promote it across our cinemas, and let our audiences get familiar with its grandeur. In the process, we aim to strengthen our bond with our patrons, by offering them unique brand experiences and privileges. We wish the very best to all the players participating in this prestigious championship and hope to see an Indian star lifting the trophy.”

According to Badminton Association of India secretary general Sanjay Mishra, “Yonex Sunrise India Open 2023 is a huge milestone in the history of Indian badminton, and we are looking forward to this partnership with Inox. Yonex Sunrise India Open 2023 is now a 750 category event, and it is one of the premier super series tournaments held globally. This year, we will see the participation of top badminton nations like China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and India among 22 countries participating in this elite badminton gathering. Presence of 242 badminton players from January 17 will ensure that New Delhi celebrates the biggest badminton festival ever witnessed in the country.”