ITV

Category: Video On Demand

  • Vigo India celebrates two years of connecting communities

    Vigo India celebrates two years of connecting communities

    MUMBAI: Vigo Video, India’s fastest-growing short-video platform, successfully completes two  years that sums up the brands transformation into a community building and relationship moulding platform. With over 20 million monthly active users, Vigo Video has brought Indian communities together through entertaining and heartfelt visual stories.

    To celebrate this community spirit and its memorable journey of two years,  Vigo Video kicks off celebrations across eight cities beginning September 20th. Travelling from Bardhaman, Kolkata, Murshidabad to Jaipur, Lucknow, Delhi, Patna and Ranchi, Vigo Video will host an array of exciting activities including Vigo’s first Parade with Vigo creators of each city, Canter bus tour around the city and a Grand Birthday Party to be attended by hundreds of Vigo fans and users! 

    The fun birthday party will also witness exciting games, interactions with the top Vigo creators like PrinceKumar, Rida Javed, Divyanka Sirohi: and many more, which will further bring the communities closer together.

    Within this short time span, the platform has been able to create a strong and unique identity amongst users. With regional content gaining prominence and creators using their regional dialects to create content, different genres have gained popularity across key markets. From comedy, sketch, acting, to video rendition, one can find multiple vertical categories for users to engage and create content with.

    Popular content created and shared also differ from one community to another. Original comedy skits and homegrown comedy groups are a hit in Kolkata and Ranchi, while heartfelt content around emotions are appreciated the most by Vigo fans in Jaipur and Delhi. Meanwhile, across the Hindi heartlands of Lucknow and Patna, shayari and storytelling reign supreme.

    “We are delighted to celebrate with communities pan-India two years of bringing real stories about real people to life through the power of short-form video,” said Ashray Sachdeva, Head of Marketing, Vigo Video. “Vigo users are now coming together to form communities and groups both online and offline, create long-lasting relationships. Our ambition in the coming is to further empower users to share their stories in the most authentic and engaging way.”

    Vigo Video is an engaging platform for the next generation of storytellers and connects with like-minded users sharing similar interests. In the last two years, Vigo Video has become tremendously popular across India with a huge community of loyal users eager to create and share content with their followers.

  • ZEE5 announces strategic partnership with OnePlus for much-awaited OnePlus TV

    ZEE5 announces strategic partnership with OnePlus for much-awaited OnePlus TV

    MUMBAI: ZEE5, India’s fastest growing ConTech brand, has entered into a strategic partnership with OnePlus, the global technology company for its upcoming OnePlus TV. Through this partnership, ZEE5 will come pre-installed on all OnePlus TVs giving consumers access to a wide repertoire of content available in 12 languages ranging from, Originals, Indian and international/bollywood movies and TV shows, music, kids content, cineplays, live TV and health and lifestyle.

    This partnership between ZEE5 and OnePlus is similar in more ways than one, as both the brands believe in combining the power of data, content and technology to challenge the status quo. Innovation is at heart of everything with ZEE5 pioneering the regional content landscape and OnePlus growing into a much-beloved smartphone brand with its premium offerings that pride itself on.

    “We are extremely delighted to partner with a global brand like OnePlus when it comes to providing value for product for consumers across all segments. With this partnership, consumers are in for a treat as they will be served with ZEE5’s massive content library and OnePlus’ state-of-the-art innovations which will further elevate content viewing experience on Smart TVs,” ZEE5 India business development and commercial head Manpreet Bumrah said.

    OnePlus India general manager Vikas Agarwal said, “With the much-awaited upcoming launch of our first-ever OnePlus TV, we are very happy to be partnering with ZEE5 to offer our users extensive content across genres for a seamless, variated viewing experience.” 

  • Hotstar withdraws as an associate sponsor of IPL

    Hotstar withdraws as an associate sponsor of IPL

    MUMBAI: Hotstar, Star India's online streaming platform, has withdrawn as an associate sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

    A BCCI source told India Today that there was an exit clause in the deal and Hotstar chose to exercise it.  The deal was worth Rs 42 crores per year and IPL associate sponsorships are reported to be in the range of 40-80 crore rupees.

    The report further said that the move will however have no bearing on Hotstar's digital streaming rights. Although the media rights deal was seen as being an ambitious one, this year after the end of the IPL, Hotstar claimed to have crossed 300 million viewers and to have registered a 74 per cent increase in watch-time compared with last year's IPL.

    Star India had bagged a five year IPL media rights deal for television and digital in 2017 worth 16347.5 crores.

  • Regional content start-up Matrubharti enters video streaming space

    Regional content start-up Matrubharti enters video streaming space

    Matrubharti, a vernacular content start-up which has been providing a curated platform for content creators to publish ebooks and snackable social media content in regional languages such as Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi besides English, has today announced that it has diversified its content offerings by entering the video streaming space with the launch of Matrubharti Vishesh.

    Matrubharti Vishesh is a premium, exclusive content section housed in the Matrubharti app and website for streaming of regional theatrical plays, short films, OpenMics (live poetry recitals and stand-up comedy) and literature festivals. Users can also gain first access to newly published books under this section.

    Going Beyond Ebooks: Stories in Video Format

    Matrubharti today has a community strength of over 7.5 lakh with active contributors in excess of 18,000. Since its inception in 2015, Matrubharti has helped authors publish 26,000 ebooks, which have been downloaded 7.5 Million times by 7 lakh readers. The platform also has over 2.5 lakh poems in text and image format across 4 languages.

    Explaining his rationale behind Matrubharti’s entry into the video streaming space, Mahendra Sharma, Co-Founder and CEO, Matrubharti said, “Videos are the most popular format of creative expression and OTT apps are riding this wave. We at Matrubharti wanted to target and engage more of India’s youth so that they can showcase their creativity on our platform, and also help them to connect with content in their mother tongue.  It was therefore the need of the hour for us to plug videos into our platform and earn more screen time from them.”

    Matrubharti began experimenting with stories in short form video format since the beginning of this year with shows such as Morning Maza, Raat Ke Jazbat and curated stories under its Kahani Metro initiative which have an App Jockey (AJ) narrating the stories with a run time of  about 3-5 minutes.

    The content library today has over 500 such short form video stories.

    Content Sourcing: The Offline Way

    While a significant number of videos on the platform are User Generated Content (UGC), the Ahmedabad based start-up has partnered with elite authors, poets, theatre groups to source exclusive content for its Vishesh segment. As part of its content sourcing strategy, it has forayed offline to forge event partnerships

    “It helps us reach offline audiences, strengthens our community and post the event, we get a huge set of videos for our platform from the performers”, Sharma said.

    The content library has more than 10,000 videos of poetry recitals from 50+ events and over 100 videos of regional theatrical plays, making it the only other platform other than Hotstar in India to stream plays.

    Engagement, Monetization and Future Plans

    The launch of Matrubharti Vishesh comes on the back of Matrubharti’s participation in US-based Gray Matters Capital’s digital accelerator program – GMC Calibrator.

    “From a monetization standpoint, videos open up avenues for Matrubharti to partner with brands and making its freemium revenue model a viable one”, said Omkar Kulakrni, GMC Calibrator Program Head, Gray Matters Capital. He added, “Since March 2019, the engagement rate on the Matrubharti app has gone up by 15-20% post behavioural science interventions and increased emphasis on data driven decision making.”

    “Matrubharti aspires to reach a user base of 1.8 million by adding content in 3 more regional languages – Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam by 2020. In 5 years, Matrubharti is aiming for a pan-India presence with content in 21 Indian languages, and users in excess of 10 Crore. We will be partnering with regional film production companies for web series and are aiming to become the Netflix of Bharat with our video content.”, signs off Sharma.

  • Bullish predictions for the Video Industry in India fuelled by VOD services but also for linear TV

    Bullish predictions for the Video Industry in India fuelled by VOD services but also for linear TV

    MUMBAI: The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) yesterday held a one-day conference, The Future of Video India 2019, with leading industry experts discussing the growth and prospects of the video industry in India.

    The story of the conference was that despite disruption, fragmentation and a need for consistent and credible measurement across TV and digital streaming services, the video industry in India today is in great heath and is only getting stronger.

    Romil Ramgarhia, the COO of BARC India started the day by painting a picture of growing time spent watching television and with 100m households still without TV, organic growth of TV uptake of all sorts would continue.  Ashish Bhasin, CEO Greater South and Chairman and CEO India for Dentsu Aegis Network later corroborated this and said all media will continue to grow in India over the next 3-4 years.

    While TV may be growing, the uptake of streaming video services is exploding with the lowest mobile data costs in the world and enormous growth of smart phone adoption still to happen, speakers throughout the day agreed we are on the cusp of an enormous wave of digital growth.  Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO and MD of Viacom18 in his keynote session predicted digital video growth would be shaped by three things – technology, culture and e-commerce.

    The digital video landscape is dynamic and changing and both Gaurav Gandhi, Country GM of Amazon Prime Video and Akash Banerji, Head of Advertising VOD for Viacom18 Digital Ventures agreed that fragmentation was an opportunity more than a problem, and the move from 1 television screen per household to 3-4 screens provides a new addressable market for VOD services.  Tarun Katial, CEO of ZEE5 pointed out that streaming services were not content to be only on the small screen and wanted to be able to grow consumption over TV as a device.

    And while it is clear that India’s love affair with video was only deepening, the business model behind streaming video services still has room to change and evolve.  Ad supported services are likely to be dominant but Sunil Lulla, the Group CEO of Balaji Telefilms pointed out that ad free subscription is entirely viable and there is enough scale for subscription to be very meaningful in India, especially where supported by strong content investments.

    Shantanu Sirohi, COO Interactive Avenues at IPGMediabrands and Ashok Venkatramani, Managing Director ZEE Media were very clear that advertisers were not giving up on digital and moving spends back to linear TV.  However, as Ashish Bhasin pointed out, advertising dollars will continue to grow across all services but growth on digital video was far ahead of ad growth on TV, which itself was still expected to be respectable 12-15% CAGR over the coming 5 years.

    The Future of Video India 2019 was supported by sponsors Accedo, Contentwise, Discovery India, Hansen Technologies, SES, Viacom18 and Vindicia.

  • SVoD subscribers to touch 743 mn globally by 2023

    SVoD subscribers to touch 743 mn globally by 2023

    MUMBAI: Subscription based video on demand (SVoD) is rising persistently and will draw a level with broadcast TV globally by 2023 in terms of viewing hours per day. According to a report from Rethink TV research, SVoD will surpass traditional TV viewing soon after.

    The report forecasts SVoD usage in all the regions as well as highlights the differences between AVoD dominated Asian market and SVoD-crazy US and European market. The research sees 478 million SVoD subscribers today growing to 743 million by 2023.

    China will have the most SVoD subscribers by 2023 although North America will still drive the largest dollar volume. The report also forecasts the US market reaching 236.6 million subscriptions by the end of 2023, from a base today of some 146.5 million.

    “Europe and Asia will be neck and neck in SVoD revenues by 2023, but with far fewer subscribers in Europe, each paying significantly more than those in Asia, a region dominated by frighteningly large Advertising VoD streaming numbers,” it said.

    Outside China, Netflix will continue to lead in SVoD in subscribers numbers. The streaming giant will make up 194 million SVoD customers out of 743 million globally by 2023, some 26 per cent of overall global subscribers.

    The report has also predicted that WarnerMedia, under its new AT&T defined, freemium strategy will emerge as the new leader in the US Market. It is predicted to reach 29.6 million SVoD homes by 2023. Disney is also likely to have multiple SVoD service types, but may struggle outside the US.

    While the Asia Pacific market is highly skewed with China expected to gather 245 million SVoD subscribers, the average spend will be just $2 to $3 a month. Latin  American market will see competition among Netflix, America Movil’s Claro TV and Televisa’s Blim.

    “Europe will be a mishmash of different approaches with pure-play US operators like Netflix and Amazon now established, US studios beginning to stake a claim, and local broadcasters ganging up to challenge them. The region has its own pure play SVoD players also such as Maxdome, Sky, Zattoo, and Rakuten TV,” it stated.

  • ZEE’s 37 LIVE TV Channels now available for Jio’s Subscribers

    ZEE’s 37 LIVE TV Channels now available for Jio’s Subscribers

    Mumbai: ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (“ZEE”), a global media and entertainment powerhouse and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. (“Jio”), India’s leading digital  services  provider,  today  announced  that  an  agreement  has  been  achieved  to release ZEE’s entire content library on Jio’s platforms, with immediate effect, enhancing the growth of the overall digital ecosystem.

    This decision enhances the experience of 227+ Mn subscribers of Jio, giving them an access to ZEE’s rich and engaging content, which comprises of 37 LIVE TV channels.

    In order to further integrate this strategic content alliance, ZEE5 App, the home of extensive digital content library of ZEE, which includes the Video on Demand (VOD) network content along with the recently launched ZEE5 Originals, Movies, TV Shows, Music Videos, Lifestyle shows, Kids shows and Plays, will also be available for download.

    The alliance aims to leverage ZEE’s rich and hugely popular content portfolio and nationwide reach of Reliance Jio to serve customers with exciting and innovative content solutions.

    Speaking on this decision, Mr. Amit Goenka, CEO, ZEE International & Z5 Global said, “We are extremely glad and excited about this positive development. As content creators our primary objective is to create rich and engaging content for our viewers across the nation and the globe. The expansive reach of Jio enables us to entertain a larger base of consumers with an appetite to consume content-on-the-go. Our content which spans across
    12 Indian languages, empowers Reliance Jio’s value offering to its subscribers and we’re
    extremely glad to take this association forward.”

    Akash Ambani, Director, Jio, said, “We are delighted that our esteemed customers will now  have  access  to  the  engaging  and  diverse  content  from  Zee  Group.  At  Jio  we  are

    committed to providing our consumers the best of content from India and the world in our
    quest to accelerate digital inclusion in the country.”

    ZEE Entertainment and Reliance Jio will jointly market the unique content offering by leveraging its independent consumer facing touchpoints.

  • SVoD subscriptions to see massive growth worldwide

    SVoD subscriptions to see massive growth worldwide

    MUMBAI: Streamers across the world are ready to pay for online video. According to a new study by analyst firm Digital TV Research, SVOD subscriptions will more than double between 2017 and 2023. While Global pay-TV and SVoD subscriptions are expected to reach 1.877 bn by 2023, traditional pay-TV(http://www.indiantelevision.com/dth/dth-operator/dish-tv) will only add 94 mn subscribers.
    At the end of 2017, the number of subscribers stood at 222 mn in US which is predicted to reach to 289 mn subscriptions by 2023. But China will see the highest rate of growth by adding 171 mn subscriptions during this period to take its total to 610 mn. However, its pay TV subscription will grow by 32 mn only. India will add 49 mn pay-TV and SVoD subscriptions in this period.
    Based on the new subscriptions, total subscription revenues (https://indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/global-ott-revenue-to-reach-129-bn-by-2023-says-study-180921) will increase by 11 per cent ($25.4 bn) to total $251 bn in this period. Due to cord cutting traditional pay-TV revenues will drop by $18.5 bn to $183 bn. On the other hand, SVoD’s revenue will climb by $43.7 bn to $69 bn. This revenue jump will lead to an increase in total share from 11 per cent in 2017 to 27 per cent in 2023.
    The market leader US will see total revenue from $108 bn in 2017 to $105 billion in 2023. While Pay-TV subscription revenues will drop by $20 bn, SVoD additions will not be able to make up the shortfall.

  • Viacom 18 adds ThinkAnalytics personalized multi-language recommendations to VOOT

    Viacom 18 adds ThinkAnalytics personalized multi-language recommendations to VOOT

    Pay-TV and OTT content discovery and viewer analytics vendor ThinkAnalytics™ today announced that Viacom18 in India has gone live with ThinkAnalytics on the ad-funded OTT service VOOT.  VOOT’s 37 million monthly active users now have personalized recommendations in seven languages on the home screen, making it quicker and easier to find content they want to watch.

    Viacom18 has also deployed the ThinkComposer UX engine and ThinkEditorial, integrated with the ThinkAnalytics Recommendations Engine, enabling its editorial team to automate and streamline content curation and promotions to better meet KPIs and business goals.

    The ad-funded VOOT service offers over 50,000 hours of original, domestic and international content for free. Content includes: COLORS TV, MTV India, Nickelodeon India, a wide range of Bollywood movies, and VOOT Original shows.

    The ThinkAnalytics Recommendation Engine uses machine learning and predictive analytics to understand individual viewer preferences and broader viewing trends in real-time and suggests new content, personalized to each viewer. As a result, operators see a substantial uplift in viewer engagement and loyalty.

    Mohit Srivastava, Head – Product and Engineering, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, said, “When we saw the data showing how much ThinkAnalytics boosts viewer engagement, we knew it was the right service for VOOT and for our viewers. Having ThinkAnalytics intelligent search and personalized recommendations on the main UI makes it easy for viewers to discover more exciting programs from the wealth of content available on VOOT.”

    Peter Docherty, Founder and CTO, ThinkAnalytics added, “ By adding ThinkAnalytics personalized recommendations to the VOOT home screen, Viacom18 is once again staying ahead of the innovation curve and offering its large and loyal customer base the ability to find suitable content fast. This represents the very best in personalized entertainment on a significant scale.”

    For over 15 years ThinkAnalytics has grown to become the leader in content discovery and viewer lifecycle management. By applying advanced machine learning technology and analytics to content discovery, editorial curation, ThinkAnalytics increases viewer satisfaction, boosts engagement across all TV and video content platforms and increases operator ARPU. Viewers’ interests and previous viewing behaviour are analyzed using advanced AI and machine learning techniques to help them find new content they want to watch quickly and easily.

    About Viacom18

    Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. is one of India’s fastest growing entertainment networks and a house of iconic brands that offers multi-platform, multi-generational and multicultural brand experiences. A joint venture of TV18, which owns 51%, and Viacom Inc., with a 49% stake, Viacom18 defines entertainment in India by touching the lives of people through its properties on air, online, on ground, in shop and through cinema.

    About ThinkAnalytics

    ThinkAnalytics’ flagship solution is the ThinkAnalytics Emmy® award-winning Content Discovery Platform, the most widely deployed real-time, personalized content and recommendations engine worldwide. More recently, the company has broadened its reach with ThinkInsight, the industry’s first Viewer and Video Insight Platform built specifically to meet the needs of TV operators. ThinkInsight incorporates the ThinkAnalytics Content Discovery Engine, ThinkBigData, ThinkCpmposer UX engine, ThinkEditorial and ThinkVoice marketing suite of products. It gives TV players a holistic view of their business, with full viewer lifecycle management enabling them to better address key industry KPIs that will help to boost loyalty, ARPU, customer experience and develop new revenue streams.

    The company’s customer base of over 80 video service providers serves more than 250 million subscribers worldwide. Customers include: Liberty Global, BBC, Proximus, Cox, Rogers, Sky, Swisscom, Astro, Singtel, TataSky, Viacom18 and Vodafone. The ThinkAnalytics Content Discovery  Engine now serves over 3 billion recommendations per day and is available as a cloud service or on premise.

    ThinkAnalytics is a private, employee-owned company with offices in UK, USA, Singapore and India.

  • India to be APAC’s fourth largest online video subscription opportunity by 2023: MPA

    India to be APAC’s fourth largest online video subscription opportunity by 2023: MPA

    MUMBAI: The latest report by Media Partners Asia (MPA) predicts that by 2023, India will be Asia Pacific’s fourth-largest online video subscription opportunity after China, Australia and Japan.

    The Asia Pacific Online Video & Broadband Distribution report goes on to say that Asia Pacific’s online video revenue, comprising net ad spend and subscription fees, is expected to grow at 18 per cent CAGR, up from $21 billion in 2018 to $48 billion by 2023.

    The growth of online video subscription has been impressive in China, with fees rising from less than $850 million in 2015 to a projected $5 billion in 2018. The growth of online video subscription fees has also been strong and increasingly scalable in Australia and Japan, while meaningful opportunities are opening up in India, driven by the growth of payment infrastructure as well as investment in sports rights, local movies and series. Online video sub fees in Southeast Asia (including Hong Kong) are relatively low, at a projected $267 million in 2018. This could grow to $724 mil by 2023, driven by greater momentum in Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines.

    China will account for the lion’s share of industry value, with more than 60 per cent of Asia Pacific online video revenue and more than 75 per cent of direct-to-consumer SVOD subs by 2023. After China, the largest markets by revenue in 2023 will be Japan, Australia, India, Korea and Taiwan. 

    MPA executive director Vivek Couto said,“Online video monetisation is starting to scale, supported by rising investment in premium entertainment and sports as well as the growth of broadband and digital payments. Strong digital ecosystems are emerging, especially in China while telcos are also becoming important aggregators of video services in markets such as Australia, India and Southeast Asia. Advertising is a major revenue stream for online video across the region, while subscription is also key, especially in Australia, China and Japan, and growing from a low base in India, Southeast Asia, Korea and Taiwan. Different payment models are emerging across China, India and Southeast Asia incorporating, including TVOD and shorter time commitments, freemium tiers, bundles and loyalty programs tied to a broader mix of digital services.”

    Net online video ad spend in Asia Pacific will grow from $13 billion in 2018 to $30 billion by 2023. Ex-China, this opportunity equates to more than $11 billion by 2023, versus $5 billion in 2018. YouTube and to some extent Facebook will remain dominant, with 73 per cent of online video ad spend ex-China by 2023, versus 78 per cent in 2018. The biggest online video ad markets after China by 2023 will be Japan, Australia, India and Korea. Local players will gain share with India leading the way, although Southeast Asia will lag behind.

    Online video content costs across Asia Pacific grew by 27 per cent in 2017 to reach $13 billion, with China contributing 85 per cent. Asia Pacific online video content costs will grow from $16.6 billion in 2018 to $31.5 billion by 2023, a 14 per cent CAGR, according to MPA. Ex-China, OTT video content costs will grow from $2.7 billion to $5.9 billion over 2018-23, a 16.5 per cent CAGR, with Australia, India and Japan driving momentum, followed by Korea.

    Advances in broadband will provide a significant boost to online video consumption, reach and monetisation. Mobile broadband will continue to grow, including the first flowering of 5G in North Asia and Australia post-2020, alongside a slow but steady transition to next-generation fixed broadband. Mobile broadband penetration in Asia Pacific ex-China will reach 80 per cent per capita by 2023 versus 57 per cent in 2018, with some of the biggest growth coming from India, Indonesia and Thailand. With China included, average mobile broadband penetration in Asia Pacific will grow from 74 per cent to 94 per cent per capita over the 2018-23 period. Average fixed broadband penetration in Asia Pacific will grow steadily from 50 per cent to 54 per cent of households over 2018-23, with the focus increasingly on upgrading networks using fibre and next-generation cable technologies.

    High level of online piracy leads the list of barriers to the growth. Apart from China, many local players are also struggling to scale in fragmented marketplaces. The top three SVOD players in a market typically have 50 per cent or more of online video subscription revenues, according to MPA analysis, leaving scope for future consolidation.

    Couto added: “We are in the early innings of an industry evolution which will require high levels of investment and strong balance sheets. For standalone players, there is no clear path to significant free cash generation in any market over the medium term, while integrated digital giants and large-scale TV players are subsidising losses for their online video services, although operational breakeven is likely in the near-to-medium term for local platforms in Australia, China, India and Japan.”