ITV

Tag: ALTBalaji

  • OTTs give much needed fillip to stand-up comedy

    OTTs give much needed fillip to stand-up comedy

    MUMBAI: Even as recently as a decade ago, making a decision to become a full-time stand-up comedian in India was fraught with uncertainty. Today, however, the business of being funny is taken seriously.

    The genre is still just beginning to get popular in semi-urban and rural areas and the growth of over-the-top (OTT) platforms has given it a much-deserved boost. Offline stand-up shows have time, place and ticket constraints whereas the web takes away all these pains and enables access on a click.

    Comedy as a genre is a hit in India in both movies and TV shows since the 1950s. The stand-up comedy era is a new one and is increasingly being banked upon Youtube, Facebook, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and ALTBalaji among other digital platforms.

    Women like Aditi Mittal, Mallika Dua, Radhika Vaz, Sumukhi Suresh, Kaneez Surka and Neeti Palta have proved that they can tickle your funny bone too. In mid-2017, TLC India launched an all-female stand-up comedy show to break the stereotype that women cannot be inherently funny.

    Most comedians get a breakthrough from YouTube and Facebook where anyone can upload their content. These platforms are open for beginners as well as professionals and have helped transform amateurs into professionals. One of the most viewed and subscribed channels on YouTube in India is ‘BB Ki Vines’ that belongs to comedian Bhuvan Bam, who started his career as a YouTuber and is a celebrity now.

    Amazon Prime India continues to bet heavily on comedy for its original content in India. After the streaming service released a slew of stand-up specials last year, betting high on faces like Kanan Gill, Biswa Kalyan Rath, Kenny Sebastian and others, it has released a new special with 23 acts from 16 March. The new show features Indian artists like Kunal Rao, Sorabh Pant, Zakir Khan and Sumukhi Suresh, among others, as well as sketch shows like The Improvisers, Put Chutney and Sketchy Behaviour featuring well-known comedians from all over the country.

    Since its entry, Netflix has delivered a high-profile comedy special every week. Aditi Mittal is the first Indian female comedian who made her debut on Netflix with Things They Wouldn’t Let Me Say. On the international front, Netflix has Indian-origin comedians like Vir Das, Hansal Minhaz and Brahman Naman to convert the chuckles into belly laugh.

    Looking at the Indian platforms, ALTBalaji has been at the forefront of regional language stand-up shows which has tremendous scope as cultural nuances in India are far and wide. ALTBalaji is the only platform to launch regional stand-up comedy videos in Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages. It focuses more on the last two languages for now because of their presence in India and abroad. In all, it has short, snacky and hilarious videos with 65 episodes and five hours 30 minutes of content featuring famous comic artists like Bharat Ganeshpure, Sagar Karande, Anirudh Madesia, Suresh Albela, Pratap Faujdar, Amit Khuva, Dharsi Baredia, Shanti Kumar, Shaik Baba Sharifuddin, Baggy, Manoj and Mervyn.

    ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi says that the platform saw viewership rise by 10-15 per cent after adding these comedy bits into its content lineup. He further added, “We have seen significant double-digit growth in this genre especially in 18-40 age segment from top 30 cities. We have seen new consumers coming to our platform because of our comedy content.”

    ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair believes, “Users on ALTBalaji consume snacky content during commute time and we see a jump in consumption of stand-up acts during these time periods.” Sethi adds that by adding comedy content from various languages, each with its own flavours, they have been able to hit the sweet spot.

    Earlier, comedy was driven by broadcaster demands who would decide on the content and even own the intellectual property. But OTT platforms are willing to experiment with unconventional content.

    By far, stand-up comedy is emerging as a high growth genre for web audiences. Until a few years ago, career and stand-up comedy in a sentence together would only come up as an example of an oxymoron. But gladly times have changed and people have become more audacious, informed, and most importantly accepting and online platforms have been quick to realise the hidden potential in it.

    Also Read :

    Localised content the way forward for Netflix in India

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV 

    Indians among top commute streamers for Netflix

  • Airtel and ALTBalaji join hands to offer exciting digital content

    Airtel and ALTBalaji join hands to offer exciting digital content

    MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s largest telecommunications services provider, and ALTBalaji, a wholly owned subsidiary of Balaji Telefilms, today announced a strategic partnership to bring exciting digital content from ALT Balaji’s portfolio to Airtel TV app users.

    ALTBalaji’s complete range of original shows and hit movies is now available on Airtel TV app. This includes popular shows like Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat, Haq and Bollywood hits like One Upon a Time in Mumbai and Lootera. This will help ALTBalaji in extending its content distribution to Airtel TV app’s fast growing user base. 

    With this strategic partnership, Airtel TV has further strengthened its content catalogue, which is amongst the largest in India. Customers can choose from over 350 + LIVE TV channels and 10,000 + movies and shows on Airtel TV app. All content on Airtel TV app is completely free for Airtel Postpaid and Prepaid customers till June 2018.   

    Wynk – CEO, Sameer Batra said, “We are thrilled to partner ALTBalaji and bring their rich content on to Airtel TV app. This will add to the wide range of exciting digital content available to our users. As Airtel TV continues to rapidly expand its user base, we remain focused on offering our users easy access to differentiated line up of entertainment content on the go.”

    Airtel has forged partnerships with all leading broadcasters and production houses to bring the best of content on a single platform and offer a compelling experience to customers.

  • It’s raining awards for ALTBalaji this 2018!

    It’s raining awards for ALTBalaji this 2018!

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji which is India’s largest OTT platform for original and exclusive shows across various genres is on a winning splurge these days with awards and recognition in the digital and OTT space. 2018 has started on a high note for the digital platform as it was awarded as one of MUMBAI’S HOT 50 BRANDS at Mumbai Brand Summit 2018. 

    The digital platform was awarded the BEST OTT PLATFORM OF THE YEAR by a leading trade publication. Along with this highly prestigious trade award, the OTT platform was also recognized for it super talented artists like Rajkummar Rao and Ssumier Pasricha. Rajkummar Rao bagged an award in the Best Actor Among any OTT Content category for BOSE: Dead/ALIVE and Ssumier Pasricha was awarded as the Star Entertainer of the Year for Pammi Aunty. 

    Along with these awards, THE MOST ENTERPRISING BRANDS & LEADERS OF ASIA 2018 also felicitated Mr. Nachiket Pantvaidya, Group COO and CEO, ALTBalaji as the Most Enterprising CEO of the Year – Digital Entertainment for his outstanding contribution to the medium and for phenomenal success that ALTBalaji has garnered. 

    Speaking about the recent achievements, ALTBalaji, CMO, Manav Sethi said, “We are elated to be recognized and honored at such various and prestigious award shows and what is more exciting is that we have achieved this within 11 months of our launch. ALTBalaji is the only OTT platform in India to launch about 16 original shows that are LIVE in over 90 countries, and that too with a team of 70 people. This is a testimony to the amazing work our team has done so far and validation to fact that we understand the kind of entertainment audience wants. From here we just want to climb up the ladder as we have some great content in pipeline for our viewers.” 

    With more than 15 million mobile and web users and available in over 90 countries ALTBalaji currently offers 16 original shows in Indian languages across various genres such as romance, mystery, drama, comedy and offers entertaining original shows for kids.

  • ALTBalaji launches original stand-up comedy in Tamil, Telugu

    ALTBalaji launches original stand-up comedy in Tamil, Telugu

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji has added a pinch of fun, sarcasm, wit to its collection for Tamil and Telugu users. The OTT platform recently launched original stand-up comedy videos inthese languages.

    Tamil episodes feature popular stand-up comedians like Shanti Kumar and Shaik Baba Sharifuddin to name a few, while the Telugu library comprises talented and well-known artists Baggy, Manoj and Mervyn.

    “We are thrilled to bring original regional stand-up comedy on ALTBalaji. It is fast emerging as a high growth genre for web audiences. Offline stand-up shows have time, place and ticket constraints whereas web as a medium takes away all these pains and enables access on a click. Based on consumer insight, we understood that the stand-up available to viewers in India is mostly English or Hindi, neglecting the regional language demand and so we have identified local talents from these regions and got them on board,” ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi commented on the new episodes.

    It recently launched regional stand-up comedy videos in Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati languages as well.

    Also Read:

    Known actors profitable to web series: ALTBalaji’s Manav Sethi

    ALTBalaji bets big on first-time producers with Haq Se

  • Localised content the way forward for Netflix in India

    Localised content the way forward for Netflix in India

    MUMBAI: Global to local seems to be the key strategy of Netflix to spread its wings in India. ‘Netflix and Chill’ is the popular term across the OTT ecosystem but the number of Indian consumers chilling with Netflix’s high-quality content dwarfs in comparison to users in other markets. However, it is adapting to Indian tastes and modifying its pure international content line-up. Will this shift drive the growth for Netflix?

    Netflix launched in India in January 2016 and has since created a niche for itself for high-quality TV series and Hollywood movie content for the English-speaking audience in the country but it is far behind other OTT players in terms of subscribers. Currently, it is the fifth largest player in India, behind players such as Hotstar, Voot and Amazon, according to the Counterpoint Technology Market Research report.

    With the rollout of 4G internet services by the top telecom providers, especially Reliance Jio, streaming in India has taken a giant leap forward. In the year 2017, Netflix acquired more subscribers than local cable connections in the US (according to data from Statista and Leichtman Research Group). However, even after spending two years in India, things aren’t quite as rosy for the company as in the US. On average, the Indian consumer would spend around $32 dollar (close to Rs 2200) per year on entertainment, whereas in the US, people spend around $2260 (close to Rs 1.5 lakh) annually, according to global entertainment and media outlook 2017-2021 report by PWC.

    How does Netflix aim to take over the minds of India when cable connections give you 100-150 channels at just Rs 1100-200? Netflix subscriptions can vary from Rs 500-800 a month. An annual plan can range from Rs 6000-9600.

    Netflix CEO Reed Hastings believes that the amount that an Indian consumer pays for cable services, on a global level, is very low, which keeps the industry smaller than it should be. Speaking at an event, he had said that Netflix’s strategy is to build up local and global content. Though he admitted that Netflix’s rates were higher than cable TV, they were significantly lower than movie tickets and other entertainment experiences. Hastings is aligning the OTT player as competition to the bigger entertainment options and not the idiot box.

    So far, Netflix has focussed on pushing its global content such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Master of None, Stranger Things, Narcos and Daredevil to Indian subscribers. While it has made significant progress in adding regional content, it still has a lot of ground to make up.

    Now, Netflix sees a potential of adding a massive 100 million Indian customers. According to Hastings, Netflix has around 120 million subscribers in over 190 countries who consume over 140 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, and about 60 million are from the US. However, in the price sensitive market of India, Netflix banks on close to 1.5 million subscribers.

    How does Netflix aim to break the ice? The answer is local content. Hence, instead of price, Hasting suggested that Netflix wants to be sensitive to great local stories and content and be able to invest in them. So, the strategy will be to build up the local content that includes regional stories as well.

    But will producing local content be enough for Netflix to chill in India? Commenting on the same, PwC partner & leader, media & entertainment Frank D’Souza says, “Growing smartphone and internet penetration across the country has created a wide range of opportunities for OTT players. Focus on creating and producing regional content should be of utmost importance considering the fact that India is a multilingual country. A ‘one size fits all’ approach would not work for the country with over 22 official languages.”

    OTT platforms have realised the power that regional content has over the dissected Indian audiences. Amazon Prime was one of the first to take the plunge followed by Zee5, Hotstar, ALTBalaji, Voot, Viu etc.

    Netflix recently announced three Indian original productions Ghoul, Leila and Crocodile apart from four productions already under works which include Sacred Games, Selection Day, Again, and Bard of Blood. On Valentine’s Day, Netflix released its first India original Love Per Square Foot by Ronnie Screwvala.

    Where the platform is likely to get cold feet is in growing in tier II and III cities and the rural audiences. Commenting on the same, D’Souza says, “These are price sensitive segments of the Indian market. Considering the fact that OTT requires one to incur additional costs like that of internet subscription, it is important for players such as Netflix to have value added services or bundled services to penetrate these markets. Tying up with internet service providers and telecom operators in rural markets would give them an early mover advantage.”

    Netflix has one more interesting feature to bet on—sharing the subscription package among people. Many networks limit the number of people who can watch programming at the same time. Netflix allows two to four simultaneous streams per subscription, depending on the plan, and charges more for the higher number of streams. So, the premium plan can be shared among four people or in a family of four.

    By focussing on producing more local content from India, Netflix is betting on product over pricing when it comes to adding the next 100 million users. As a part of its future strategies, it should create movies and TV shows that Indians will be ready to die for while also keeping in mind the various languages.

    Also Read :

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV    

    Indians among top commute streamers for Netflix

    Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

  • Bollywood actors hit their stride in web series

    Bollywood actors hit their stride in web series

    MUMBAI: Film actors have found a new cosy space to snuggle into–over-the-top (OTT) platforms. OTT shows till now encouraged unknown faces to be stars but the real Bollywood stars are now taking over.

    Digital platforms experimented with Bollywood actors in 2017 and the trend is set to continue this year, too. Platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Voot, ALTBalaji and Viu featured popular actors in their web series like Rana Daggubati in Social, Rajkummar Rao in Bose Dead/Alive, Vivek Oberoi and Richa Chadha in Inside Edge, R Madhavan and Amit Sadh in Breathe, Swara Bhaskar in It’s Not That Simple, Lisa Haydon in The Trip and Nimrat Kaur in The Test Case.

    Voot EVP and head content Monika Shergill believes that digital is the way to go across the world. She says, “The opportunity to explore acting in roles that are coming up in digital are phenomenal, the kind of storytelling and performing opportunity that artists are getting are exceptional.”

    Amazon Prime India has seen the most popular faces in its shows. Says director content Vijay Subramaniam: “It always starts with the story. All our casting is driven by what does the story demands. It depends on the character requirement.”

    ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi agrees with Subramaniam saying, “We don’t sign actors because of their one-shot success or one-time failure. While scripting, we scout for talents to suit a character. We as a creative shop and storytellers, don’t go behind celebrities, we go behind actors.”

    The ease of restrictions is probably the most alluring part of the digital business. But does a web series work only on the name and fame of a popular actor? Shergill doesn’t agree and says, “Digital is not about faces, it is about high concept stories, disruptive and eye catchy short stories that bring curiosity and serious commitment in viewers to dedicate their 8-10 hours and watch it. An interesting face can bring people to the first episode but after it’s your content that hooks them.”

    However, Shergill feels that digital is extremely challenging in comparison to the cinema because you are just a tap and click away from disappointing viewers. Casting is a very thorough thought process and a big face may not deliver in the continuity of consumption. “We have to convince viewers a 30-60 second trailer that the actor justifies the character.”

    The web is a great kick-starter of careers, feels Subramanium. “To tell fantastic stories, highly compelling with a variety of things and great quality, the web is a great opportunity. The creative talent, both in front and behind the camera, they all recognise this opportunity too. They believe it is a great option to add to their versatility and add one more dimension to their acting, directing, writing or judging talent. Digital is the new way of consumption of entertainment and Bollywood recognises that and want to be a part of it,” he says.

    But does a bigger face need a higher amount of marketing spends? The answer is yes. “When you have a big cast, it works both ways. The name pulls some audience in but because of the name, we also feel to push it out more. So, it is a symbiotic process, the name gives you purchase and you push it more also,” reveals Shergill.

    The pay scale of movies is significantly higher than a web series but these actors have been paid significantly well. However, the payment also depends on the days of working and the schedule. An industry source reported that actors have been paid in the range of Rs 50 lakh to 1.5 crore for a series and far more in the case of A-list actors.

    According to Sethi, signing a known face instead of fresh is more convenient. “It increases the ability to reach to millions of people requiring significantly less effort in terms of marketing and communication, though it increases the cost of production. The difference of cost of production ranges from 25 per cent to 50 per cent after signing a known face,” he reveals.

    It may seem like the actors have no agenda in picking web series but Shergill opines that movie actors go to television either to promote their movies or to host a reality show. She said that web series is like a windfall for them. There are large gaps between their films and they keep twiddling their thumbs until the next film. But, shooting a digital series is a continuous schedule of 40-50 days at maximum and an actor is required to dedicate less than a month sometimes to complete his role. At times, the actors are signed up for multiple seasons of the same show.

    In the year 2018, some popular actors will be seen in great series like Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte in Sacred Games of Netflix, Swara Bhaskar in It’s Not That Simple S2, Vivek Oberoi in The Family, Irfan Khan in The Ministry at Amazon Prime Video. Khan has previously starred with AIB in several web videos. Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment partnered with Netflix to produce eight-episode political espionage series Bard of Blood.

    However, the international digital market is ahead of India. The international actors or the A category actors are not only helming digital series but are also becoming executive producers and producers like in the case of Issa Rae, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Kevin Spacey.

    Web series allow actors to stay in the minds of their audience during gaps between movie assignments while also compensating them well. It’s about time more actors got themselves knee deep into this budding content arena.

    Also Read :

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV

    Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

  • Ace filmmaker Subhash Kapoor signed by ALTBalaji for its next #ALTBalajiOriginal

    Ace filmmaker Subhash Kapoor signed by ALTBalaji for its next #ALTBalajiOriginal

    Since its launch in April, ALTBalaji has more than 15 million mobile downloads. The ad free, subscription-based platform is available in over 90 countries and offers original content in various Indian regional languages, making it India’s largest repository for original and exclusive digital content.

    ALTBalaji has made some big announcements in the last few weeks. Recently, the digital platform announced its association with the highly acclaimed writer-director Habib Faisal and now ALTBalaji has signed up ace filmmaker Subhash Kapoor for its next #ALTBalajiOriginal based on the infamous 1959 Nanavati Case – making yet another big announcement in just one week!

    Subhash Kapoor who is known for directing satirical hits like Phas Gaye Re Obama, Jolly LLB and Jolly LLB 2 to name a few would be making his digital debut with ALTBalaji. 

    The show is in its pre-production stage and the cast is yet to be finalized.

  • Tax adjustments bring Balaji Telefilms’ Q3 numbers back in the black

    Tax adjustments bring Balaji Telefilms’ Q3 numbers back in the black

    BENGALURU: Tax adjustments of Rs 31.38 crore returned consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 24.82 crore for Balaji Telefilms Ltd (Balaji Telefilms) for the quarter ended 31 December 2017 (Q3 2018, the quarter under review). The company had reported consolidated net loss after tax of Rs 1.86 crore for the corresponding year ago quarter (Q3 2017) and net loss of Rs 13.84 crore for the immediate trailing quarter (Q2 2018). The company reported operating loss (negative EBITDA) of Rs 7.08 crore in Q3 2018 as compared with operating loss of Rs 10.58 crore in Q3 2017.

    Overall, the company reported higher realisation per programming hour of Rs 0.33 crore for Q3 2017 as against Rs 0.32 crore in Q2 2018. However, due to a 32 per cent year-on-year (yoy) decline and a 25 per cent quarter-on-quarter (qoq) decline in commissioned programmes, the company’s segment revenue decreased. Along with declines in its films and digital segments, Balaji’s consolidated revenue for the quarter under review declined to half yoy to Rs 65.15 crore as against Rs 130.37 crore.

    Segment Revenue

    Balaji Telefilms has three segments–commissioned programmes (CP), films and digital.

    Revenue from CP declined by 17 per cent yoy in Q3 2018 to Rs 69.47 crore from Rs 83.74 crore. CP reported 44.7 per cent higher yoy operating profit of Rs 16.59 crore for Q3 2018 as compared with Rs 11.47 crore. The film segment revenue in the quarter under review declined by 95.6 per cent yoy to Rs 0.85 crore from Rs 19.20 crore. The segment reported lower operating yoy loss of Rs 0.28 crore in Q3 2018 as against Rs 0.51 crore in Q3 2017. Balaji Telefilms’ digital segment (aka ALTBalaji) reported revenue of Rs 1.14 crore for Q3 2018 as against nil in Q3 2017. The segment’s operating loss more than doubled yoy to Rs 8.15 crore in Q3 2018 to Rs 8.76 crore from operating loss of Rs 4.35 crore.

    Let us look at the other numbers reported by Balaji Telefilms

    Balaji Telefilms’ total expenditure for Q3 2018 reduced by 25.8 per cent yoy to Rs 76.40 crore from Rs 102.98 crore. Cost of production/acquisition and telecast fees in the current quarter reduced by 2.16 per cent yoy to Rs 75.77 crore from Rs 77.37 crore. Employee benefits expense in Q3 2018 increased by 3.7 per cent yoy to Rs 6.87 crore from Rs 6.63 crore. Marketing and distribution expense in the quarter under review increased by yoy to Rs 7 crore from Rs 0.2 crore. Other expenses grew by 27.8 per cent yoy to Rs 12.08 crore from Rs 9.46 crore.

  • Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

    Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

    MUMBAI: Edgy and fresh, web content has made its mark in India, breaking free from staid television formats and rules. No time frames, no censorship issues, and women don’t turn into snakes. The west has been bingeing on shows on the internet for long, whereas India has just woken up to the concept recently, thanks to better connectivity and high-resolution video streaming. But, has launching all the episodes, together, caught on as a trend? The answer is both yes and no.

    One of the most talked about series under binge watching section is Amazon Prime Video’s first India original Inside Edge. The Bollywood-cricket web series garnered a tremendous buzz before and after its launch. The most amusing thing is the staggering figure of Rs 40 crore spent by Amazon on the show, speculated as half of it for marketing and the rest for production.

    Amazon Prime Video India director content Vijay Subramaniam said, “When we launched a little over a year ago, we realised there is a clear expectation and desire from our customers to have access to gripping storytelling, high-quality and compelling content. With the customer being at the center of everything we do, we are committed to bringing the best of content for our audiences, supported by immensely talented content creators matched by the most innovative ways to bring them to our audiences.”

    However, Amazon Prime, while releasing its second India original, Breathe, experimented with a new strategy where half the series can be binge-watched and for the rest, you have to wait a week for every new release. The first four episodes of the series were out on 26 January and the remaining four will release every Friday until 23 February. Being a thriller, the strategy is to leave viewers in suspense at a certain point.

    The marketing budget to promote Breathe is around Rs 20 crore. Amazon rolled out a robust, 360-degree campaign across India including highly engaging TVCs, print, digital, cinema, mobile, outdoor campaigns and activations for Breathe. Subramaniam called it a ‘path-breaking digital content in India’. Amazon is tight-lipped about the marketing plan for the last episode.

    Interestingly, India beats the rest of the world in binge watching a series. 71 per cent Indians in 2017 watched more entertainment in a public place than year 2016, according to the study released by Netflix. It was one of the first platforms to start the concept of releasing all episodes at one time for binge watching and others like ALTBalaji, VB on the Web, Voot, SonyLiv etc, followed suit.

    Binge watching has found popularity because Indians are alien to the idea of waiting a whole week for the next episode. They are ready to gulp their favourite series back to back, a trend that rose from the daily saas-bahu serials on TV too. Some OTT players allow paid subscribers to binge watch and unpaid ones have to wait a week. Viu released Spotlight 2 for binge watching, whereas all other series are released on weekly basis.

    SurveyMonkey found that 52 per cent Indians binge watch most at cafes and restaurants, and 37 per cent in waiting in line. Indians binge watch in parks, on the way to work, while shopping and at the gym. The study says that Indians took three days to devour an entire TV series on average, while the global average is four days.

    But the weekly episodic trend is also catching up. Since 2011, YouTube has worked with regional studios to help them get a wider distribution. In 2014, content creators from Mumbai including The Viral Fever (TVF) and AIB were making waves on YouTube and gaining traction while releasing episodes on weekly basis. TVF is said to be the pioneer of Indian web series and still release episodes on a weekly basis on their app TVF Play.

    Despite the fact that binge watching or releasing all episodes at one go attracts more audiences, Amazon took a risk with Breathe. Although, releasing shows in parts have the chances and risk to lose the viewership but weekly releases enable the audiences to keep guessing. Which side will platforms sway in the near future will be an interesting scene to look out for.

    Also Read :

    Amazon Prime Video announces a new original series, Skulls and Roses

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV    

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

     

  • Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan to make his digital debut with ALTBalaji’s next crime-based web series

    Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan to make his digital debut with ALTBalaji’s next crime-based web series

    ALTBalaji is India’s largest OTT platform for original and exclusive shows. Since its launch in April, ALTBalaji has more than 15 million mobile downloads. The ad free, subscription-based platform is available in over 90 countries and offers original content in various Indian regional languages, making it India’s largest repository for original and exclusive digital content.

    2018 has started on a high note for ALTBalaji with big announcements such as Habib Faisal and big back to back hits like The Test Case and Haq Se. With many more engaging and interesting #ALTBalajiOriginals in the pipeline, the digital platform has announced its next collaboration – The platform has signed up Bhojpuri superstar Ravi Kishan for its next crime based digital show tentatively titled The Family. ALTBalaji had recently announced Vivek Oberoi in the project and now this news comes in as yet another big surprise!

    Ravi Kishan who is making his digital debut with ALTBalaji will be seen playing a pivotal role in the show. Sharing his excitement for the project, Ravi said “Very very excited to debut in a web series and what better association than ALTBalaji. The concept is different and not explored much. This is also the first time that I am collaborating with Ekta Kapoor and I am very excited about it.”

    Interestingly Vivek recently took to his social media handle to announce Ravi Kishan’s association with the project.

    Owing to the popularity of crime dramas in the International digital space, ALTBalaji is now all set to explore the genre that focuses on the dark world of the mafia land.