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Tag: ALTBalaji

  • Ragini MMS Returns to ALTBalaji with racy marketing

    Ragini MMS Returns to ALTBalaji with racy marketing

    MUMBAI: A tagline, splattered across auto rickshaws, that is sure to make your head turn twice. That’s the effect that the makers of ‘horrex’ digital show Ragini MMS Returns and ALTBalaji want to have on you.

    ‘Ragini ka Naya MMS Dekha Kya?’ (have you seen Ragini’s latest MMS?) is the eye catchy and racy lines visible on 20,000 autos in 11 cities of north and west India-Mumbai, Delhi, Indore, Bhopal, Lucknow, Gwalior, Kanpur, Chennai, Agra, Bangalore and Pune.

    Commenting on the auto-rickshaw branding activity to promote the digital show, ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi said, “Within 6 months of the launch, ALTBalaji has become India’s top repository of original, unique and edgy content. We have ensured that its digital extension, Ragini MMS Returns, is a right mix of edgy content, rich talent and a marketing strategy that will create strong visibility for the show. Auto-rickshaw branding activity is an initiative that is sure to capture attention and intrigue individuals across key cities and maximum internet consumption regions.”

    First look of the show along with teasers and trailers have already piqued audience curiosity across various online and offline platforms. This strategy is planned, keeping in mind the high usage of internet across Western and Northern belt of India.

    Ragini MMS Returns redefines boldness and sensuality all over again with actors like Riya Sen, Karishma Sharma, Nishant Malkani and Siddharth Gupta in the lead. The show explores Ragini’s life, which is entangled beyond understanding, into the deadly cocktail of horror and sensuous chaos.

    Also Read:

    Selective, snackable, short episodes, niche mktg vital, says Manav Sethi as ALTBalaji ranks among top OTTs

    ALTBalaji media mandate pocketed by Lodestar UM 

    ALTBalaji identified local talent for regional language comedy shows, says Manav Sethi

  • ALTBalaji show Bose ‘anthem of protest’ is full of adrenaline, says Hansal Mehta

    ALTBalaji show Bose ‘anthem of protest’ is full of adrenaline, says Hansal Mehta

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji is all set to stream the mysterious tale of Subhash Chandra Bose in their new show Bose Dead/Alive. The character of Bose has been played by Rajkummar Rao.

    On 18 August, ALTBalaji launched the 2.12-minute video trailer of Bose. The trailer begins with a voiceover that says, “The world thinks Bose is dead.” In the sneak peek, people ponder over Bose’s death or if this is yet another disappearing act.

    The video ends with the news of Bose’s death published in a newspaper, but a voice in background hints at his return.

    The title track of the show has been released with an aim of amplifying the audience excitement. The fast-paced, thrilling number, penned by Mc Todfod and Doktorgandu, has been rendered by the composer Neel Adhikari and Q (Qaushiq Mukherjee).

    The title track of Bose is available for streaming on websites – Hungama, Gaana and Saavn. Adhikari is known for his work in Brahman Naman and Saheb Bibi Golaam. Q has done films like Gandu and Tasher Desh. The release of the song is the gripping stunt to keep the audience on the edge, while setting a perfect background for the show.

    Directed by Pulkit, Bose Dead/Alive seeks to clear the air around the enigma of Subhas Chandra Bose, whose life and death left people baffled for decades.

    ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi said, “The song has been beautifully composed and captures the beat of the show. We released it on leading streaming platforms as it ensures wider reach and core TG presence.”

    The show will trace the journey of the freedom fighter from being an introverted 14-year-old to a 48-year-old brave nationalist. There are perhaps more myths to Bose than accurate histories. From ageless rumours in Kolkata about Bose pulling off histrionics akin to those of superheroes to his eventual destination after a plane crash in 1945, there are countless theories.

    Bose: Dead/Alive is all set to paint the mystery red.

    The show’s creative producer Hansal Mehta said, “We wanted the soundtrack to reflect the spirit of Bose. The track had to be subversive, a ‘cool’ anthem of protest and something that would represent the thriller that Bose’s life journey was. I’ve been a huge fan of Q, both for his films and his music. He has rapped his heart out for this number. It is such a cool composition, so edgy and such an adrenaline rush.”

  • Guest Column: Race to the bottom(line) – From consumption to subscription

    Guest Column: Race to the bottom(line) – From consumption to subscription

    It’s been a quick and busy 36 months since the advent of the very first OTT services and between all of the media-owning majors, the flush-with-money global players and the battling aggregators and the ever-growing flock of Indie hot-shops, it’s a whole load of original and aggregated content that has been unloaded on the Indian consumer. Complemented by falling data costs, average consumption (data) has shot up 6 times with video being the clear driver.

    One thing is for sure. 100 million+ video consumers on OTT (predominantly the phone) within the year is a certainty and a target of 200 Mn+ in the coming 24 months seems a very realistic possibility. And to get to that goal, almost everyone is working to make the consumption process from app download to sign-ups to browse and watch to recommend and return an almost frictionless experience. The question of payment and monetization is a reality for everyone with the only variable being ‘when is the right time to bring it up?’

    With all the tentative attempts so far, and piecing together a lot of disparate data, and depending on how optimistic a view you would like to take, it looks like we may have anywhere between two to three million viewers paying something for their OTT video. And these payments range from Rs.500/- at the highest end (admittedly an exception) to Rs.20/- at its friendliest, and with an average possibly in the early triple figures. Now, admittedly this is small change compared to the investments in content that is being witnessed.

    From the wildly astronomical figures witnessed in recent sporting acquisitions to the scarily exuberant movie acquisitions by global majors to even the more measured investments from the original content creators, it all adds up to a serious amount of investment that is all being gussied up to make these 100 million and the next 100 million users default to their connected devices for video. Everyone realizes the habit has to come before the money. And, the majors opening that tap in full force and running it mostly for free makes it pretty difficult for the others to push the monetisation button on the subscription front.

    Having said that, the move towards subscription has begun in earnest over the last year with all major services. The likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime have always been pay. And, arguably while Hotstar’s conversion of free to pay was pretty low, this has to be seen in the light of the monstrous funnel of free users that they have been able to create. From hereon, one could assume that the subscription push will begin to intensify, already in evidence through the live cricket feed versus delayed cricket feed as a strategy to push conversions. Bolder new launches like ALTBalaji and SunNxt have started off with a paid model. 

    So, is there still a question about whether a subscription model will work in India where content has famously been sold cheap historically? There is no data that shouts an emphatic NO to that question but emerging models are clearly making it less of an unknown. 

    To my mind, among all the things happening, two aspects that pretty much decide the issue of subscription success are:

    a. Distinctive content – without a doubt, this seems to be the most crucial factor in your ability to find a core audience that will evangelise your stories. Youtube is crawling with a lot of me-toos with a phone-cam, hastily pulling together half-baked stories of clichéd youth issues presented sensationally with a liberal dash of promiscuity and abuse. As a way to make people sit up and take notice, promiscuity and abuse did show promise but as a means to create a distinctive and engaging story-telling equity, they don’t take you much past the gate. And that’s where a lot of the focus will need to be, if you hope to ever get even a part of your audience to pay. A frequently asked question is how many apps/ services is a user going to have on their devices. Well, everyone cannot and will not have everything. It’s a country of a billion different people with demographic, ethnographic and psychographic variations. 

    Finding a meaningful core audience will probably become the most critical skillset for survival. A case in point is the south-focussed offering of a SunNxt. 

    b. Charging (payments) – for a long time since the advent of e-commerce we have bemoaned the low credit card penetration and how cash on delivery is still a reality of our market. Neither helps the small-ticket digital products business. However, the one tsunami of payment enablement rapidly bubbling up is the rise of wallets. From telcos to transporters and banks to Google, everyone will have one and a significant part of their customer base can be expected to adopt. Pricing, for almost all the Indian services, is at a very realistic level. It was charging where a bulk of the problem lay. And the wallets in this context can only be good news. This can and will change the charging and subscription scenario. Examples like the Vodafone Play service with a single gate-pass for a wide ranging content offering will showcase the difference that frictionless charging can make. Thus also making the case for more charging platforms/ wallets to offer aggregated media services. 

    As this drama unfolds over the next 24 months and as the majors, minors and everyone in between tries out various strategies to bring you into their subscription net, sit back (or stand), pop the screen of your choice, choose your poison and hit Play. 

    public://vamsi.jpgThe writer is the founder and CEO of Apalya Technologies. The views expressed here are of the writer’s, and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to  them.

     

  • ALTBalaji identified local talent for regional language comedy shows, says Manav Sethi

    ALTBalaji identified local talent for regional language comedy shows, says Manav Sethi

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji, an OTT platform for original and exclusive shows, has launched regional stand-up comedy in Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati and more Hindi videos on its digital platform.

    The short, snacky and hilarious videos feature famous comic artistes – Bharat Ganeshpure, Sagar Karande, Anirudh Madesia, Suresh Albela, Pratap Faujdar, Amit Khuva and Dharsi Baredia. The entire library offers English subtitles for easy understanding.

    ALTBalaji is catering to the diversified needs of a population that speaks multiple language and experience life differently as per their culture. The content offers a slice of life of these cultures, be it anecdotes of a Sardar traveling to Germany, a Gujarati stuck in a bizarre situation in Bengaluru or a Marathi talking about cricket. The comedians add tadka to everyday mundane events and serve them up loaded with the perfect garnish of humour. They leave nothing and no one, from Lucknow to Valentine’s Day to Dhoklas to Rajinikanth! The laughing riot is bound to tickle audience’s funny bone.

    ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi said, “Based on consumer insight, we understood that the stand-up available to viewers 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. The highly talented, witty and humorous artistes bring in the flavour of their language and culture on stage; hope the viewers like it.”

  • Differentiated brand critical as online video, mobile ads may expand at 40-51 pc CAGR by ’21: KPMG-FICCI

    Differentiated brand critical as online video, mobile ads may expand at 40-51 pc CAGR by ’21: KPMG-FICCI

    MUMBAI: The ‘Over the top’ (OTT) video consumption in India has rapidly evolved over the last year, given the advancements in digital infrastructure and efforts by platforms to create compelling content for consumers at price points which provide value.

    Growing internet penetration and data consumption is likely to help increase digital advertisement spends in India at 30.8 per cent CAGR between 2016 and 2021 with mobile advertisement spends and social media-aided digital video advertisement spends expected to expand at 50.9 per cent and 40 per cent CAGR between 2016 and 2021, respectively, according to the KMPG’s “The ‘Digital First’ Journey” report launched in FICCI Knowledge series 2017 conference – Fast Track India.

    The Fast Track India conference, in association with LA India film Council (LAIFC), was focused on building out a digital company, the impact of evolving digital infrastructure on content consumption and rise in online piracy.

    Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh highlighted the need for M&E businesses to be future-ready in his keynote speech. He said, “Digital transformation of the M&E industry is unstoppable, and companies will need to focus on innovation and disruption. It will be important to get the digital building blocks to fall in place – be it in content creation or getting the right business model.”

    At the inaugural, KPMG India partner and co-head of media and entertainment Girish Menon said, “OTT consumption in India has reached a tipping point, with the 4G rollout and related data wars which have resulted in a dramatic and rapid growth in internet penetration and video consumption. Building a digital business is an evolving process and organizations would need to adopt a systematic approach balancing scalability and flexibility with speed to market and customer centricity.”

    The conference focused on three key features, i.e., evolution of content strategies from creation to monetisation, the impact of evolving digital infrastructure on content consumption patterns and the rise of online piracy – threats and remedies.

    OTT consumers continue to demand seamless access to services, compelling stories and value for money. The era of on-demand content has reached a tipping point with consumption becoming on-demand across mobile screens and going ‘mass’ – particularly on the back of pan India 4G roll outs by telecom operators.

    During the discussion, panellist agreed upon the fact that the mass launch of 4G services by Reliance Jio in 2016 and subsequent launches by incumbents was an inflection point in India’s data story. This disruption led to a rapid surge in data usage on the back of promotional offers by all leading telecom operators.

    The conference was divided into three panel discussions. The first panel, who have discussed broadly on building a digital platform, was held with Arre co-founder Ajay Chacko, Culture machine president Tuhin Menon, Qyuki Digital Media COO Sagar Gokhale and ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya and moderated by KPMG management consulting Neha Punater.

    Next panel on digital infrastructure transforming consumption of the content was addressed by the BARC business head Jamie Kenny, the Facebook India content head and media partnerships India-South Asia Saurabh Doshi, the Voot marketing head Akash Banerji and the Shemaroo director Hiren Gada.

    Lastly, on the protection of the online content in a digital economy, Disney India assistant regional counsel Anju Jain, the Viacom 18 SVP Thomas George, the Eros International general counsel Aamod Gupte, the TFCC governing council executive member Rajkumar Akella, the MPA Asia Pacific VP communications Stephen Jenner and The Indian Music Industry president and CEO Blaise Fernandes. Punnaryug Artvisions’ founder Ashish Kulkarni deliverd the welcome note.

    About the roadmap to become a digital company, Pantvaidya said, “The focus has to shift from just getting big numbers to actually engaging audiences. Watching videos on internet especially shows is slowly becoming an integral part of every Indian’s life – Thanks to quality internet being offered by Telco’s at affordable prices. We, at AltBalaji, believe that this trend can be effectively monetized by offering multi targeted, exclusive, original Indian content at a never before seen scale.”

    Qyuki Digital Media COO Sagar Gokhale said, “It’s a changing market, when we started, we saw 50 per cent split between mobile and computers but today it exceeds to 80 per cent towards mobile. Understanding of content is very important according to the consumer’s need. In India, large platform like Youtube is male dominated precisely under the age group of 18-35. So easy understanding is to create male centric content like comedy and music which works out the most. According to our data analysis, post-Jio, a lot of viewership was noted from tier 2-tier 3 cities like Jharkhand.”

    The four pillars of digital transformation outlined in the report comprise a holistic approach including; clearly defining the organisation’s digital vision and strategy, thorough understanding of the customer proposition, accurately assessing the business design and, lastly, carefully designing the execution plan.

    On building a robust enforcement model to protect content in a digital economy, MPA Asia Pacific VP communications Stephen Jenner said, “Around the globe, close collaborations between multiple stakeholders have lead to a number of successful content protection initiatives. This bodes well for growing digital economies, and the many creative people contributing to media and entertainment in those markets.”

    Doshi said, “Being passionate or even finicky about user experience is the key to building a successful digital platform. In this age of hyper-competition, it is imperative to focus on building a strong brand that is differentiated. With over 200 million people in India every month and millions globally on the platform, we think deeply on the best user experience we can provide and instant articles, live etc. are such examples.”

    Fernandes said, “Digital India is attracting lots of investments in content creation and distribution over the various digital platforms. This sets off a multiplier effect, employment generation, tax revenues and soft power. While all this happens it is necessary for protection measures to be in place, glad that FICCI and the LA India Film Council are giving copyright protection in the Internet age adequate weightage in their various forums”

    The path to digital transformation encompasses a holistic approach including; clearly defining the organisation’s digital vision and strategy, thorough understanding of the customer proposition, accurately assessing the business design and, finally, carefully designing the execution.

  • Selective, snackable, short episodes, niche mktg vital, says Manav Sethi as ALTBalaji ranks among top OTTs

    Selective, snackable, short episodes, niche mktg vital, says Manav Sethi as ALTBalaji ranks among top OTTs

    MUMBAI: The consumer who is on the move doesn’t consume long-form content. Snackable content is crucial. Every show is split into 10-12 episodes ranging between 20-30 minutes. Ninety per cent of the marketing spends is on digital. These are some of the critical insights Indiantelevision.com gleaned from an expert at ALTBalaji, which has ranked third among 34-odd India-based revenue-grossing video streaming apps, within six months of its existence.

    Online video (OTT) platform for original and exclusive shows ALTBalaji has been ranked amongst the Top 3 as per ‘State of  Video Streaming Apps in India’ report compiled by App Annie Intelligence — the ranking is a combination of iOS App Store and Google Play Store for H1 2017 period.

    The report focuses on the state of video streaming apps in Asia-Pacific region including emerging markets such as India, China and Thailand, among other. Since its launch in April, ALTBalaji has had more than 10 million mobile downloads with more than 1M+ web viewers. The ad-free, subscription-based platform is available in over 80+ countries, catering to the need of Indians and Indian diaspora spread across the globe. It is offering content in various Indian regional languages — Bengali, Tamil, Punjabi and Gujarati, etc.

    About the traction ALTBalaji gets, CMO Manav Sethi opened up with his geographical analysis: “Our Tamil show ‘Maya Thirrai’ not only garnered the southern audience but also has gathered traction from countries such as Singapore and the middle east because of the largest Tamil-speaking diaspora there.”

    He added: “Within 24 hours of announcement and trailer upload of our Bengali show ‘Dhimander Dinkaal,’ we observed spike from Dhaka (Bangladesh). From the regional standpoint, we are glued to the areas where internet bandwidth is available and the language-speaking diaspora has the acceptability of new-age content. This also helps in picking particular language and genre.”

    The video streaming app currently offers 10 active shows of various genres such as romance, mystery, drama, and comedy. ALTBalaji will soon launch more shows on the app.

    Sethi said, “In the last six months, we had 10 original shows which nobody including Amazon and Netflix had been able to launch in India. We are working on 50+ concept which are at various stages in our release pipeline. And, when a show goes live, it never goes on TV. By the exit of March 2018, we are committed to have 200-250 hours of original show content.”

    Sethi said, “Our content clarity and customer acquisition strategy worked for us to grow in such short time. We have never made content for the small universe, we have always endeavoured to create it for bigger universe. The shows that ALTBalaji put on the app are mainly in Hindi and other Indian languages. If we look at the top-rated GECs, news channels and circulated trends, English is a very miniscule component of consumption.” He further added with an example of YouTube that “YouTube claims to have 200 million unique monthly users consumption, wherein the part of English consumption is just 12 per cent.”

    One of the major reasons behind the growth of ALTBalaji is Ekta Kapoor, said Sethi, adding, “Ekta’s strength in identifying the stories and the narratives which have never been told in the past, and TV as a medium can’t handle it, holds a big part of our growth strategy. We did ‘Romil and Jugal’ where two boys fall in love with each other, ‘Dev DD’ where we have showcased a female as Devdas then ‘The Test Case’ with Nimrat Kaur which was about women in combat role, are some examples of stories never heard and told.”

    An interesting subject to know is whether ALTBalaji would now redesign their content strategy structure. Commenting on the strategy, Sethi said, “Our content strategy will remain the same. We will be creating more content in Hindi and in Indian languages. We have launched the Tamil and Bengali shows, and currently we are doing an epic show ‘Bose: Dead or Alive’ starring Rajkumar Rao which is releasing soon.

    Sethi added: “We are working on a new show ‘Mangalyaan’ which will revolve around three women, and will talk about various aspects of the Mars Orbiter Mission at ISRO. We have announced a Gujarati and Punjabi show each as well. We have already released an original comedy series ‘Pammi Aunty’ with Ssumier S Pasricha. From today (4 October), people will see stand-up comedy in four languages including Marathi and Tamil.”

    According to Sethi, the consumer was always on a move and did not consume long-form content on mobiles. “So, from a marketing standpoint, we have created snackable content which is easily downloadable across thin bandwidth,” he said. He further describes that their every show was split into 10-12 episodes which ranges between 20-30 minutes each.

    About the growth, Sethi said, “We were cautious in our advertising and marketing spends. Ninety per cent of our spends is focused on digital. Also, when we launched ALT as an OTT platform in April 2017, we did four weeks’ campaign on TV, which resulted in creating the awareness and launching it as a brand. But, since then, we are largely focusing on digital.”

    Also Read:

    Rajeev & Surveen’s digital debut on ALTBalaji’s Haq Se

    ALT Balaji announces Dhimaner Dinkaal – its  first Bengali original

    ALTBalaji is essentially everything that Balaji on TV is not: Sameer Nair

    ALTBalaji welcomes Pammi Aunty & family

  • Rajeev & Surveen’s digital debut on ALTBalaji’s Haq Se

    MUMBAI: OTT platform for original and exclusive shows ALTBalaji has announced the star cast of its new show Haq Se. Ekta Kapoor has brought two extremely popular faces together, Rajeev Khandelwal and Surveen Chawla.

    Rajeev will be debuting his digital innings with ALTBalaji’s Haq Se. There is a lot of buzz around the lead pairing, which is, needless to say, both fresh and inspiring. Creators of the show are really excited about them playing the lead roles. Other than them, famous actors like Simone Singh and Karanveer Sharma are playing important roles.

    Haq Se is set in the beautiful valleys of Kashmir, apart from being a beautiful love story Haq Se is also a captivating story about four sisters Meher, Jannat, Bano and Amal in Kashmir, Haq Se explores their ambition how are they bound down by their geographical situation and the rising fundamentalism in the region. The show is directed by Ken Ghosh, who has directed films such as Amit Sahni ki List and Phir Se and quite a few web shows prior to Haq Se.

    Notable cast also includes: Parul Gulati as Jannat Mirza, Aanchal Sharma as Bahira Mirza and Nikeesha Rangwal as Amal Mirza.

  • Reliance Industries buys Balaji Telefilms stake for Rs 4.13 bn

    MUMBAI: The Board of Directors of Balaji Telefilms Limited, in its meeting held on Thursday, considered and approved an investment by Reliance Industries Limited, one of India’s leading corporates, through a preferential issue of 25.2 million equity shares at Rs 164 each, aggregating to Rs 4.13 billion, subject to necessary shareholder and other approvals. Axis Capital Limited acted as the sole investment banker for this transaction.

    Balaji is India’s leading entertainment content producer operating across television, movie and digital platforms. The company recently launched ALTBalaji, a multi-device subscription video on demand platform, which offers original, premium and exclusive content for a global digital audience and in a short span, post its launch, has garnered over four million downloads across 80 countries.

    This transaction marks a landmark event for the Indian OTT industry and is expected to further accelerate the growing trend of media consumption ‘on-the-go’. The proceeds from the transaction would be utilized to further speed up content development initiatives, especially for ALT, thereby providing it with a strong ability to compete with other OTT service providers- both global and Indian.

    Balaji chairman Jeetendra Kapoor said, “We welcome Reliance as a partner in our growth journey towards becoming the preferred content producer for the Indian diaspora across all means of video consumption and across all geographies. This investment is a vote of confidence to the Company’s strategic move to own our IP and our viewers.”

    Earlier, Jio and Zee Entertainment reportedly denied reports of being offered to buy a stake in ALTBalaji. Balaji was planning to sell up to 26 per cent stake in its subsidiary ALTBalaji Digital and reportedly in talks with the media companies. Launched in mid-April ALTBalaji has 250 plus hours of programming.

  • Opera TV tieup: ALTBalaji to be on smart TVs, Blu-rays & STBs

    MUMBAI: OTT business in India seems to be a game of good yet reasonable content in the most accessible form.

    ALTBalaji, a digital platform for exclusive and original shows from India, has announced its content availability on Opera TV. This means that all Smart TVs, Blu-ray disc players and set-top boxes powered by Opera TV, will provide instant access to over 250 hours of original content from ALTBalaji. Simultaneously, ALTBalaji subscribers will now be able to access the service using the Opera TV store.

    ALTBalaji was launched globally on 16 April 2017 with six original show. The app claims to have already clocked more than three million downloads with subscribers from over 75 countries. Opera TV is a leader in enabling OTT through its embedded and cloud software portfolio that is integrated by manufacturers and operators. In the past five years, over 150 million connected TV devices have been enabled by Opera TV, awarding it a global market share of 33 per cent in Smart TVs.

    ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair said, “With this partnership, our content will be accessible for viewers on Smart TVs as well as other platforms like Blu-ray Disc players and set-top boxes. As per statistics, 29 per cent of TVs are Smart TVs, and 93 per cent of Smart TV owners connect their TV to the Internet. The wider offering and the intensive use of video on-demand content, fuel this development. Our aim is to provide a seamless and enjoyable user experience through our integration with Opera TV and making available our shows on the connected screens.”

    “We, at Opera TV, are excited to partner with ALTBalaji as we share similar objectives of offering a variety of content to end users through state-of-the-art user experiences on the big screen. Digital shows offered by ALTBalaji are rich and resonates well with our existing selection of informative, entertaining and educational content. Today, a majority of our smart TV audience use OTT apps for watching movies and original shows and this partnership ensures that they’ll continue to avail of the best of entertainment through a hassle-free experience,” said Opera TV CEO Aneesh Rajaram.