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Tag: Amazon Prime

  • Green Gold, Amazon Prime put Kerala martial art on the map

    Green Gold, Amazon Prime put Kerala martial art on the map

    MUMBAI: Green Gold Animation is rediscovering Kalaripayattu, a lost martial art form of Kerala. With the purpose to educate through entertainment, the animation studio is making an exclusive series for Amazon Prime titled Kalari Kids. The series will be launched around Christmas with 20 episodes of 11 minutes each in season one.

    Recently, the animation house also inked a deal with Netflix to digitally broadcast Mighty Little Bheem—a spinoff of its popular character Chhota Bheem.

    Talking about the new series, Green Gold Animation CEO Rajiv Chilaka said, “The IP rights of Kalari Kids will be with Green Gold but we may have co-producers as partners. Amazon Prime will hold the OTT rights and programming license. This is a multi-season deal between us. The first season will take a year of production to complete.”

    The show will be telecast on television later as one episode per week. Currently, the deal is under process to give television rights to the broadcaster. The production cost of Kalari Kids is higher than Chhota Bheem but lower than Mighty Little Bheem. Green Gold is making a total of 60 episodes for Amazon over three seasons with a dedicated team of 100. Twelve episodes are already in the bank.

    According to Green Gold Animation vice president (content sales) Bharath Laxmipati, Kalaripayattu is a dying art and not many kids are aware of it. “We have never made any show on Indian martial art form, so for us, it is an opportunity to entertain kids with a purpose. Therefore, through our show, we want to teach martial arts and talk about courage & bravery because a sport like Kalari builds strength and character in children,” he said.

    The marketing and promotions of the show will be done by the Amazon Prime team with heavy focus on digital. According to Laxmipati, Amazon is leaving no stone unturned to market the show. 

    The animation or graphic style of the show is reminiscent of the beauty, sophistication and stylisation of the traditional Kerala paintings. The animation company has taken the best artists and culturally highlighted the beautiful creations of India.

    Kalari Kids is based on Kalaripayattu martial art form that has three variants, Arappa Kay, Pilla Thangi and Vatta Thiripp, which are distinguished by their attacking and defensive patterns. Surprisingly, this lesser-known martial arts form was developed in the 6th century BC. Let’s see how Amazon and Green Gold Animation bring Kalaripayattu back to life.

  • OTT platforms to captivate Gen Z on Children’s Day

    OTT platforms to captivate Gen Z on Children’s Day

    Mumbai: Today’s kids, a part Generation Z, hold a lot sway when it comes to decision-making in the Indian household. Their say is not limited to what is watched on television or viewed on OTT platforms. As a result, kids’ content on OTTs has become a rapidly growing segment. According to Vidooly, YouTube’s video content for kids ranked third with 1.3 billion views in September alone. A McAfee report suggests that 84 per cent Indian parents allowed their child to bring an internet-connected device to bed. Parents often hand over their mobile devices to children to keep them busy enabling them to watch online content.

     

    This Children’s day (14 November), various OTT and VOD players plan to shoot twinkling rockets of educational and entertaining content for kids. Here’s a look at what some of the platforms are doing:

     

    ALTBalaji

    ALT has five originals shows for kids. It will be streaming its top series, Get Crafty With Rob, in which do-it-yourself expert, Rob, takes parents and kids on a creative journey with easily available everyday materials, Ding Dong Bell L-O-L, a story of two friends Ding and Dong who are fun loving and believe in experimenting, and Moe Doe The Frenemies, which is a story of a wonderful and adventurous journey of Moe who is a little boy and Doe who is a baby dinosaur, are also a part of the line up.

    Apart from the shows, ALT has a bucket full of the most iconic nursery rhymes, compiled especially for young ones to learn, sing, dance and express themselves. For making shapes and maths more colourful and interesting, it has Happy Lucky ki Katti Batti that is a story of Happy, Lucky, and a flying squirrel, Tabby.

     

    Amazon Prime

    Amazon Prime is offering an extended variety of national and international content for kids. Kids can watch originals like Stinky and  Dirty, Just Add Magic and Wishenpoof. It is also streaming a series of old and popular international favourites like Powerpuff Girls,Dexter’s Laboratory and Johnny Bravo. In our very own Indian content, Prime has kept all-time favourite Tenali Raman, Chhota Bheem, Mighty Raju, and Selfie with Bajrangi and Baahubali – The Lost Legends accessible.

     

    Chu Chu TV

    Chu Chu TV is one of the most successful YouTube channels for kids content in India. On Children’s Day, Chu Chu TV will be playing regular shows along with the nursery rhymes with the message of love, sharing and caring. Apart from this, the team has a tour plan to visit schools in Chennai. Regarding their visit, CEO Vinoth Chandar says, “We are going to three to four schools in Chennai and will be playing our content on the projector to entertain as well as educate them.” For LKG, UKG, first- and second-standard students, a colouring contest has been organised with certificates and gifts. Primary and upper-grade students will get sketch colours, pencils, cups etc. Third, fourth and fifth standard students will get Chu Chu TV branded pens.

     

    Lattu TV

    Lattu TV recently launched its app and will have shows like The Treasure Hunt, Talking Tom and Friends, Trigo, Maya – The Bee, Lee & Coco and more. Apart from online streaming, the team of Lattu TV is going on a social cause tour. Lattu TV CEO Vivek Bhutyani says, “The entire team of Lattu TV will be going to a kids orphanage and we will be showing our content to them. We are creating a small screening room for them and will be playing The Treasure Hunt. It will be like a theatre for them. We are taking our mascot Trigo, who will be playing with the kids. We will play games with the kids and, in the end, we will give them gifts.”

     

    YouTube Kids

    A while back, YouTube launched a dedicated app for kids to enable a safe and secure platform for educational and entertaining content. Starinn, a budding channel on YouTube Kids, is also launching a new channel called Go Yoga, wherein a mother-child duo (Tina and Daria) will be doing inspiring yoga, on Children’s Day.

  • OTT players claim voluntary compliance as TRAI petitioned on anti-tobacco norms breach

    OTT players claim voluntary compliance as TRAI petitioned on anti-tobacco norms breach

    MUMBAI / NEW DELHI: Even though the Indian government has asked the broadcast carriage and telecoms regulator TRAI to rein in OTT platforms for alleged flouting of norms relating to tobacco and alcohol advisories in programmes, a majority of digital players claim to be voluntarily adhering to government directives meant primarily for TV shows despite absence of regulations for the sector.

    “As we belong to the traditional medium of television, it comes from within to carry Indian government-advised disclaimer (relating to scenes in TV shows and films involving tobacco and alcohol consumption),” Alt Balaji CMO Manav Sethi told Indiantelevision.com, adding, it is “not mandatory” for OTT platforms to do so, though.

    According to Arre co-founder and CEO Ajay Chacko, “OTT platforms are regulated under the Information Technology Act, but carrying a disclaimer relating to tobacco and alcohol consumption in shows depends upon the online content creators. We certainly carry a disclaimer highlighting the negative effects of alcohol and tobacco on health in our shows as done in films.”

    In a controversial and much-debated move, which some critics dubbed as killing creative freedom, the ministry of health and family welfare, some years ago, had come out with a directive stating that all films and TV shows had to carry a disclaimer regarding the negative effects of tobacco and alcohol consumption during scenes where artistes were shown doing the same.

    But why a hue and cry now relating to shows on OTT platforms?

    The ministry of health, according to a report in Millennium Post yesterday, has written to TRAI to ensure that OTT players such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar, Reliance Jio and Voot adhere to the ministry’s directive relating to anti-tobacco and alcohol norms. The ministry felt that OTT and digital platforms were not running health-related disclaimers as done by movies and traditional TV shows. 

    But, why lobby with TRAI, which doesn’t regulate or govern content-related issues? In the opinion of the ministry of health, as enunciated by the newspaper report, internet-based services fell within the purview of the Telecoms Ministry and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the issue was flagged with TRAI since anti-alcohol and anti-tobacco agencies were finding it difficult to enforce the rule on errant OTT players.

    Though a source in Voot said it voluntarily runs during shows a health warning ticker — like “Smoking is injurious to health” — as part of “best practices”, the health ministry’s letter to TRAI highlights the conundrum of content regulation relating to OTT platforms.

    Indian films and TV programmes started carrying disclaimers on the negative effects of alcohol and tobacco consumption to adhere to the health ministry directive, indirectly enforced by the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB), but at present there are no regulations relating to OTT platforms in India.

    TRAI has been debating the issue of OTT regulations, as part of net neutrality, with the stakeholders for over a year now but is still in the process of finalising its recommendations, which are expected to be unveiled some time soon.

    However, it is pertinent to point out that TRAI’s jurisdiction doesn’t extend to content regulation and is limited to content distribution and distribution platforms. As there’s no official content regulator like the Ofcom or the FCC, Indian TV channels broadly follow industry-formulated self-regulation norms, guided by pointers enumerated in the Cable TV Networks Regulation Act that’s enforced by MIB.

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  • IPL ownership, key BCCI rights put Star India in position of advantage: ICICI Securities Media Content Meter

    IPL ownership, key BCCI rights put Star India in position of advantage: ICICI Securities Media Content Meter

    BENGALURU: ICICI Securities released a Media Content Meter report today. The report titled Sports – Battle heats up commenced saying that this month was marked by two significant events in Indian sport broadcasting industry: 1) The Supreme Court restrained Prasar Bharti from giving live feed of sport events of national importance to cable TV and private DTH platforms; and 2) Star India won TV and digital broadcasting rights for IPL for Rs 163.5 billion. With sport viewership in India largely dependent on cricket, ICICI Securities believes the ownership of IPL and key BCCI rights puts Star India in position of advantage.

    The report mentions the rise in the value of the Indian Premier League (cricket, IPL). The payout per season for the broadcast and the digital rights rose by two and a half times and thirteen times respectively. Even the payout for the title sponsorship of the IPL had increased by 1.8 times- Vivo paid Rs 4.4 billion for the title sponsorship for a period of five years (2018 to 2022) against the Rs 1 billion paid for a period of two years (2016 and 2017).

    Sports leagues, including homegrown leagues, other than cricket were also gaining traction in India. Among the homegrown leagues, Star Sports has the rights to a majority of successful leagues such as Indian Super League- Football (ISL), the Premier Badminton League (PBL) and the Pro Kabbadi League (PKL). Sony has the rights to the Premier Futsal League – Football and Pro Wrestling League.

    The report says that the Supreme Court decision will help boost up viewership of Star Sports channels and its ability to price channels as pay-TV subscribers will no longer have access to free cricket. With control over so many sports, Star India should be able to command higher ad rates and this was evident from Star India’s exorbitant ad rates during the recent India Australia series.

    In the content space, the report highlights some key developments. These include Zeel’s launch of premium English movie channels &Prive HD, which was fourth channel in the English premium movie genre. Sony Entertainment Television (SET) plans to launch a sub-brand – SET-Originals by the end of 2017. SET-Originals will focus on premium audience-featuring premium content such as concerts, finite series and home grown shows. Further, Sony is also planning to launch a number of new shows in the near future. Colors was also strengthening its weekend programming. Also, Star Plus after re-launching afternoon slots about six months back has decided to shut it down.

    The report says that in the Hindi GEC market, Sony has been gaining market share on the back of the ninth season of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), while Zee TV and &TV were gaining in Hindi GEC all day viewership. Star India’s rebranded Hindi GEC channel Star Bharat gained marketshare with new shows.

    Among the non-South regional channels, in the Marathi space, Zee Marathi was the unchallenged leader, while Star Jalsha led in the largely two-player Bangla space, the other contender being Zee Bangla.

    In the South Indian regional space, Star Vijay and Star Maa gained in the Tamil and the Telugu spaces respectively on the back of Bigg Boss. While Sun TV was the absolute leader in terms of viewership in the Tamil market, Bigg Boss helped Star Vijay bag additional viewers in the primetime band.

    In the Telugu GEC regional space, Gemini TV had slipped to third place in terms of all day viewership. During primetime, Zee Telugu and Star Maa were neck-to-neck. In the Kannada GEC space, Zee Kannada was closing in on leader Colors Kannada, in terms of all-day viewership, though Colors Kannada was a leader during primetime. In the Malayalam GEC space Asianet ruled the all-day and primetime viewership.

    In the annexure to the report, ICICI shared some interesting numbers on viewership share of the Hindi GEC space during primetime starting 1930 hours until 2330 hours. For every half hour from 1730 hours to 2000 hours, Star Plus had the highest viewership share. Colors programmes led the viewership game in the 2000 hours to 2030 hours slot, while Sony SAB led in the 2030 to 2100 time slot. The 2100 to 2130 slot belongs to Zee TV in terms of viewership. Star Plus programmes had led in the 2130 hours to 2200 hours earlier, but in the recent past, it is Zee TV programmes that had the highest viewership share.

    Star Plus programmes have the highest viewership share in the 2200 to 2230 time slot. Over the past few weeks, Colors programmes have had the highest viewership share in the 2230 to 2300 hours, while Sony programmes leads in terms of viewership share during the 2300 hours to 2330 hours time slot.

    On the OTT front, Amazon Prime announced six new comedy series created by some of India’s top comedians. The report says that Amazon is after regional content also, including exclusive digital rights as well as streaming rights before the television premiere of a few Telugu films. Pan-regional OTT service Viu was also planning to launch four new original shows by the end of December 2017 in Hindi and Telugu languages.

    Note: (1) In the specific case of KBC, the ICICI Securities report generally refers to weeks 26 to 38 of 2017, while in the case of primetime and all-day viewership, the charts in the report cover quarterly periods starting from Q3-15 until Q2-18. The report states that the numbers for Q2-18 are estimates.

    (2) This article does not reflect the opinion of The Indian Television Dot Com Pvt Ltd. Group or any of its constituent people, employees, consultants and associates.

  • Niche regional OTT player Hoichoi offers Bengali content on iOS, Android and Chromecast

    Niche regional OTT player Hoichoi offers Bengali content on iOS, Android and Chromecast

    MUMBAI: As predicted by most observers, regionalisation as well as niche services are coming to the VOD or OTT ecosystem in India. It’s happening at a trickle now, but could gain momentum over the next few months. For with its large population of more than a billion mobile users, there is room for more — for sure. Kolkata-based Bengali entertainment major Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF), is the latest to take the plunge with its OTT play called Hoichoi.

    Vishnu Mohta – one of the promoters – who has worked with KPMG Risk Advisory and Lloyds TSB corporate strategy in their London offices, is the driving force behind the new platform which is targeting 220 million Bengalis globally. With original web-series, short films, and documentaries exclusively for Hoichoi in the pipeline, the service will also offer over 500 Bengali Movies and 1000 songs for subscribers. Recently, in the run-up to the Hoichoi launch, SVF had rolled out an innovative social media campaign to promote its upcoming original web series, an adult-comedy, Dupur Thakurpo.

    Among the big players in the game figure global players such as Amazon Prime and Netflix, and homegrown startups such as Hotstar, dittoTV, Voot, ALT Balaji and SonyLiv, as well as independent platforms such as TVF Play and Spuul. The congested Indian OTT market has around 32 plus players – some with an overwhelming or exclusive content, some with niche content or pricing plans and others who want to be counted.

    SVF, on its part, had selected ViewLift, a global content distribution and monetisation platform, as its technology partner. The VOD service claims to provide the largest collection of the best in Bengali entertainment content on Web, iOS, Android, and Chromecast. ViewLift CTO Manik Bambha states, “Hoichoi is well positioned to capture significant opportunities in the space with a niche offering meant for Bengali consumers. Hoichoi will benefit from our extensive marketing, data and analytics tools that will help them enhance interaction with their audience.”

    “ViewLift is an expert in the OTT space,” says Vishn, who has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Bond University Australia and MSc in International Business from Aston University Birmingham, UK. With enhanced service architecture, extensive data and analytics insights, and global client support, ViewLift delivers high quality video consumption experiences worldwide.

    SVF is helmed by Shrikant Mohta, Mahendra Soni and Vishnu. Shrikant is SVF’s creative muscle who produced the internationally acclaimed ‘Chokher Bali’ and five other national award-winning films — ‘Raincoat’, ‘Memories in March’, ‘Apur Panchali’, ‘Chotoder Chobi’, and ‘Chander Pahar’. President of Eastern India Motion Pictures Association (EIMPA), and an active member of Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), he initiated the shooting of Bengali films abroad.

    Under Soni’s leadership, SVF distributed almost 900 films including blockbusters like ‘Dangal’, ‘Sultan’, ‘Dabangg’, ‘Ghajini’, ‘’Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’, ‘Kahaani 2’, ‘The Jungle Book’, ‘Kapoor & Sons’, ‘Neerja’, ‘Airlift’ and Drishyam.’ He also drives satellite and music syndication deals, along with film acquisitions.

    Mohta and Soni are pretty gung-ho about Hoichoi. The Indian consumer who has access to OTT entertainment — with internet penetration around 32-34 per cent today, and one-third owning smartphones — may well be spoilt for choice, now.

  • Amazon Prime to stream new originals in reality series format

    Amazon Prime to stream new originals in reality series format

    MUMBAI: Amazon Prime Video India has announced the creation of multiple Unscripted Originals (reality shows) for India, a first for a digital streaming service.

    The lineup comes to life with three new reality shows – Jestination Unknown, The Remix and Comic Kaun featuring industry stalwarts such as Vir Das, Anu Menon, Amit Trivedi, Sunidhi Chauhan and Nucleya; and comedians Tanmay Bhat, Sumukhi Suresh and Abish Mathew. With this foray into reality shows, Amazon Prime Video is once again changing the way video content is created and consumed in India.

    Prime Video head of content – Asia Pacific James Farrell said, “Reality shows are now more popular than ever, across a variety of genres. Customers globally have told us how much they enjoy reality shows, like the Japanese Prime Video fan favorite, The Bachelor Japan. With the launch of multiple new Original reality shows, we’re aiming to offer our Indian customers a variety of quality new reality content to enjoy.”

    Amazon Prime director – content Vijay Subramaniam said “We’re always looking for new ways to engage with our customers. We know Indians enjoy reality TV, so we are creating new originals with the best new concepts and local Indian talent. We’re excited to add more variety to our service, and continue to reinvent the way Indian customers watch TV.”

    Amazon revealed details of three reality shows which include a mix of comedy, music, travel and experiential content.

    Jestination Unknown: Jestination Unknown will be a six-episode travelling comedy show that follows celebrated Indian comedian, Vir Das, and a rotating group of his comic friends. As each episode explores a new city across India, Das and his comic friends will explore the most important question of this show: what does India find funny, what doesn’t it find funny, how does the whole package of local culture – be it food, folklore, music, dance – change the perspective of a stand-up comedian, and their quest for comedy in India. Each episode will feature a series of sketches, vignettes, keen insights into how a comedian ticks, and will, eventually, culminate to a new stand-up comedy performance based on the group’s experience in the current city.

    Some of the talent that will feature in the show, produced by ‘Weirdass’, along with Vir Das include Sharul Channa, Anu Menon, Kavi Shastri and Ashwin Mushran.

    The Remix: Based on an established format that has been sold in 15 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe, The Remix will be a 10-episode music reality competition show where DJs and singers pair up to create remixes and compete for a big prize. In each episode, the DJ/singer pairs will reinterpret a popular song in a new style or format, which will change from challenge to challenge. At the end of every performance, a panel of celebrity judges will choose who advances and who will be eliminated. The Remix will be the first series to incorporate a DJ and electronic music, but will feature many of the same core storytelling elements as its predecessors.

    Some of the talent that will feature as judges in the show, produced by ‘Grey Matter’, will include Nucleya, Sunidhi Chauhan and Amit Trivedi.

    Comic Kaun (Working Title): Comic Kaun will be a 10-episode nationwide hunt to find India’s next big comic sensation. A panel of top comedian judges will preside over a pool of emerging comedians in India who will compete for the coveted prize. Each episode will focus on a specific comedy genre (e.g. anecdotal, observational, and improvisational) and the judges will serve as mentors in their genre of expertise. Comic Kaun offers an opportunity to embrace this genre in a fresh, new competition format that has not been used in India yet.

    Some of the talent that will feature in the show, produced by ‘OML’, will include well-known comics Abish Mathew and Sumukhi Suresh as the hosts along with top comedians like Tanmay Bhat, Kenny Sebastian, Naveen Richard, Aadar Malik, Sapan Verma, Kanan Gill, Kaneez Surka and Biswa Kalyan Rath.

  • Amazon Prime country head Nitesh Kripalani quits

    MUMBAI: After the neck-and-neck race in  the OTT space in India with originals, regionals and prominent content deals, comes a speed bump. Nitesh Kripalani has resigned as the country head of Amazon Prime Video in India, an Amazon India spokesperson confirmed late last evening. 

    “Amazon confirms that Nitesh Kripalani, who is leading Amazon Prime Video in India, has decided to move on from Amazon due to personal reasons.  Nitesh helped build the team and deliver a great experience to our customers.  We wish Nitesh the best in his future endeavors,” the spokesperson said.

    Prime Video, available in over 200 countries and territories, with an eligible membership, allows one to watch movies and TV shows from its website on your computer, or through its app on any of the following devices: Android smartphones and tablets, iOS devices (iPhone, iPad & iPod touch), and Smart TVs (supported Samsung, Sony & LG models).

    Two years after Kripalani joined Amazon, Amazon India launched Prime Video in December 2016 and subsequently tied ups with several leading content creators and production houses such as Excel Entertainment, Dharma Productions, Vishesh Films, TSeries, and Yash Raj Films, among other.

    One of the investors in Timesaverz Dotcom since October 2011, Kripalani worked with Sony Pictures Network as an EVP where he oversaw business development, new media, and digital/syndication and reportedly instrumental in planning SonyLiv.

    The SVoD player has since claimed to have seen a crucial growth in subscriber figures. The streaming service recently launched its first India original ‘Inside Edge’ and also stitched a deal with exclusive streaming of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s future movies.

    Amazon Prime has seen significant growth after it invested majorly in TV shows, exclusive movies, and stand-up comedy content.

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  • Amazon Prime plans to add more originals & evaluating regional content

    MUMBAI: Amazon Prime is loading its platform with worthwhile content with each passing month and week. It is moving swiftly on having original as well as acquiring aggregated content. Now, it has plans to add more originals, and is also looking at having regional content. Amazon has content deals with Mukesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Films, Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions, and Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series for their existing and upcoming films.

    In India, apart from reportedly being in the neck-and-neck IPL race as it aims to bring exclusive cricket content to its viewers, it has recently signed up deals with superstar Salman Khan, reputed filmmakers — Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. Amazon Prime Video announced a first-of-its-kind, worldwide exclusive content deal with Salman Khan Ventures which made Amazon the exclusive streaming home of future titles of Khan commencing with the recently released Tubelight.

    Amazon Prime Videos has said that it would roll out three more original series by the end of 2017 calendar year. The move comes as its first India-produced series has found a favourable global audience. Amazon Prime director & country head Nitesh Kripalani told BusinessLine that they were looking to create content which could also be taken to the global market. Original content would be the key differentiator, he added.

    The OTT arm of Amazon has also partnered with around 50 content creators and production houses to enhance its offerings including Excel Media, Phantom Films (Stardust), Big Synergy (Vishpuri) and AIB.

    Original content is a plan that Amazon follows in the global market. It streams series such as You are wanted in Germany, Hitoshi Matsumoto for Japan, and The Man in the High Castle in the US.

    Kripalani said that the company was evaluating regional content. India was like many countries within a country where stories were quite different region-wise. The company was looking at the regional market. he added.

    Prime Video head of content – Asia Pacific James Farrell has said that India was a top priority market for Amazon and they believed that the love India has for films, the passion, the energy and the talent of India needed to be on a worldwide stage for the global audience. Kripalani is on threshold of unleashing the streaming service’s first Indian original — Inside Edge, with, voila, all of only 10 episodes on 10 July across 240 countries. 

    Also Read:

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    ALTBalaji now available on Amazon’s Fire TV stick globally

    Eros Now available with free Amazon Fire TV subs

  • Amazon Prime offers deals to subscribers

    MUMBAI: Amazon India has announced its first Prime Day to be held on 11 July. Prime members can enjoy 30 hours of deal shopping starting at 6pm on 10 July — and be the first in India to get exclusive access to over 30 exclusive new launches from the country’s top brands.

    Prime Day is an annual event which has expanded to 13 countries this year including the U.S., U.K., Spain, Mexico, Japan, Italy, India, Germany, France, China, Canada, Belgium and Austria. Amazon India SVP and country head Amit Agarwal said, “Prime brings to members the best of Amazon with unlimited free fast delivery, ad-free video streaming, exclusive selection and deals, and much more.”

    India’s first Prime Day

    • Exclusive access to 30 new launches – Prime members will be the first in India to get exclusive access to the latest launches from over 30 major brands like Honor Mobile Phones, IFB, LG, Sharp, ASICS, Rocky S, GAP, Lavie, Louis Philippe, Lego, Delsey and Puma among others.

    • Thousands of Deals – Prime Day gives Prime members 30 hours to shop from great deals across a wide range of categories with new deals being added through the day.

    • Never before seen offers from Amazon Devices – Great deals on the newly launched Amazon Fire TV stick and Kindle

    • 20% Extra Cashback on Amazon Pay – Members topping up their balance starting June 29 will get extra 20% cashback upto Rs. 200/. When members use their Amazon Pay balance they can enjoy fast and easy checkouts, quicker refunds coupled with a secured shopping experience on Amazon.in.

    • Special Offers for every member – All Prime members who shop on Prime Day will get assured offers worth Rs.1100/-from MakeMyTrip, BookMyShow and Swiggy.com. Customers using HDFC Bank debit and credit cards can avail a 15% cashback of upto Rs.2000/ on a minimum purchase of Rs. 5000/

    • Explore Deals you’re into – Find deals organized by most shopped for themes. From gadget gurus to those who are fashion forward – find your deals even faster. Watch, track and shop deals on-the-go with deal alerts on the Amazon App.

    Prime Day will start early on Amazon Prime Video with a stream-fest from 5 – 10th July. Six latest Indian and International blockbusters will be launched over six days, starting July 5th. July 10th marks the premiere of India’s first Amazon Original, the thrilling Inside Edge.

  • Amazon Prime: Keshet brings ‘Baker and Beauty’ to 200 countries

    MUMBAI: Keshet International (KI) has announced a worldwide licensing deal in more than 200 countries and territories for the addictive Israeli romantic comedy series The Baker and The Beauty. Prime Video will be the premium subscription streaming home for season one and season two which is currently airing in Israel, with both seasons amounting to 20 half-hour episodes.

    Later this year, Prime members will be able to stream The Baker and The Beauty via the Amazon Prime Video app for TVs, connected devices including Fire TV and mobile devices or online. Members can also download the series to mobile devices for offline viewing at no additional cost to their membership. The series will be a global release and available on Amazon Prime Video for members to watch via the Prime Video app or online at PrimeVideo.com in more than 200 countries and territories.

    The Baker and the Beauty, created and written by Assi Azar and produced by Endemol Israel (season one) and Shenhar Productions (season two) for Keshet Broadcasting is one of the highest-rated scripted series ever in Israel and has been successfully adapted The Netherlands (Net 5). The global Amazon deal was brokered by KI senior sales manager Rose Hughes.

    KI COO Keren Shahar and president – distribution said, “Owing to its totally universal appeal and uncompromising high production values, The Baker and the Beauty has found itself another new home on one of the world’s most prestigious content platforms, Amazon Prime Video. Following the acquisition of The A Word for US Prime members, we’re delighted to be in business with Amazon again, and this time on a global level.”

    This addictive romantic comedy follows the impossible love story between a simple baker and an international superstar. Noa Hollander has it all: she’s the most famous woman in the country, the beautiful daughter of a hotel magnate, a successful model with an international career and – up until now – one half of a Hollywood power couple. Amos is a simple 28-year-old guy who still lives with his parents and works at the family baker. A chance meeting leads to an unlikely love story.