Tag: Android

Zee TV’s mobile app crosses ‘1 million downloads’ mark

MUMBAI: Zee TV‘s interactive mobile app for its non-fiction shows has crossed a milestone of one million downloads according to Mobilox Innovations.

Leveraging the success of Zee TV‘s popular non-fiction shows like ‘Dance India Dance‘, ‘DID L‘il Masters‘ and ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa‘, the mobile app boasts of a wide array of interactive features that engage users, offering them a unique window of experiencing these shows.

According to the channel, Zee TV‘s current non-fiction property ‘India‘s Best Dramebaaz‘ is delivering overwhelming response from viewers across India. Hence, the app is now titled ‘India‘s Best Dramebaaz‘ app and is available on all key digital platforms such as iOS, Android, Blackberry and Symbian.

In one of the mobile innovations, Zee TV has converted the original mobile app created for ‘DID Season 3‘ into apps for each successive season of its ongoing non-fiction shows, thereby retaining its original user base, while adding more users with each new season.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises marketing head-national channels Akash Chawla said, “Zee TV‘s shows have consistently topped viewership scorecards, making them the rulers of the on-air space. Even off-air, it is gratifying to note that our non-fiction shows have emerged as the front-runners of the digital space with their mobile app crossing a milestone of 1 million downloads. At a time when ‘on-demand‘ entertainment is the order of the day, we have been successful in providing our viewers with content that has kept them engrossed and engaged.”

Following a successful collaboration for the mobile application of its previous non-fiction shows, Zee TV has continued its partnership with Mobilox Innovations to develop the WAP and app technology for ‘India‘s Best Dramebaaz‘.

In addition to keeping the tech-savvy youth connected with their favourite shows, the app provides users with exclusive behind-the-scenes peeks into the shows, connecting them with contestants, judges and skippers. The live chats with judges and personalised dance tutorials by skippers of ‘DID L‘il Masters 2‘ have been crowd favourites while the easy voting feature has seen the contestants register a staggering number of votes on every season of Zee TV‘s non-fiction shows.

Mobilox COO Rohit Kaul said, “A million app downloads means a million new touch-points on the most personal device these days. Just technology development wouldn‘t have made it successful. The three key factors which helped the app scale to million downloads were Strong Product Concept, App Store Optimisation and App Store Affiliations. Mobilox will continue to do the same for Zee TV and add newer innovations to Mobile App Marketing to achieve multi-million downloads in future. This new benchmark set by Zee, apart from its existing reach via TV, will create newer trends and innovations in the way audiences interact with the same brands on multiple screens.”

April 22, 2013
LinkedIn acquires Pulse for $90 million

MUMBAI: LinkedIn, the world‘s largest professional network, has agreed to acquire Pulse, a leading news reader and mobile content distribution platform, for $90 million as it seeks to expand its ecosystem of content offerings.

The transaction is a combination of 90 percent stock and approximately 10 percent cash, and the stock being issued in the transaction will be done so in a private placement. The acquisition is expected to close during the second quarter of 2013.

Pulse was founded in 2010 by Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta while they were students at Stanford University. It quickly grew to become one of the most widely used platforms for content consumption on the Internet.

Pulse currently has more than 30 million users who have activated its iOS and Android-based news reader apps in more than 190 countries. Pulse is available in nine languages, and approximately 40 per cent of users are outside the United States. More than 750 of the world‘s leading publishers distribute their content through Pulse.

“We are thrilled to be able to add Pulse‘s considerable talent, technology, and products to our growing ecosystem of content offerings, and we believe that they will help us accelerate our ability to deliver to our members the insights they need to be better at what they do, on any device,” said LinkedIn SVP of Products and User Experience Deep Nishar.

“To continue to deliver that value to our members, our vision for content is that LinkedIn will be the definitive professional publishing platform, and Pulse is a perfect complement to this vision.”

“News-the people, the places, the stories-is part of our daily conversation. Over the past three years, Pulse has established itself as a key part of that conversation; it has grown from a small project, to a platform for millions of readers to access their favorite content,” said Kothari.

Gupta added, “Now that our team is part of LinkedIn, we‘ll work together to expand the possibilities for content discovery, helping readers engage in conversations with colleagues, mentors, industry leaders, and beyond.”

Following closing, members of the Pulse team, including those from Engineering, Product and Design, will join LinkedIn at the company‘s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The existing Pulse apps will continue to be supported as the integrated Pulse and LinkedIn teams work to build future generations of professional content consumption products.

April 13, 2013
Facebook unveils updated news feed

MUMBAI: Online social network Facebook has announced changes to its news feed. The aim the company says is to reduce clutter and focus more on stories from the people that users care about.

Users Facebook explains will see all the stories they saw in the news deed before, but with a fresh new look. Each story has been completely rebuilt and the aim is to be much more vibrant and colorful and highlight the content that friends are sharing.

To make sure users are seeing all the stories that they want to see, Facebook has introduced several new feeds to explore in addition to the same News Feed that users have:

All Friends – a feed that shows users everything that friends are sharing

Photos – a feed with nothing but photos from friends and the Pages that the user likes
Music – This is a feed with posts about the music that the user listens to
Following – a feed with the latest news from the Pages that the user likes and the people followed.
Facebook adds that with the new design, it now has the same look and feel on mobile, tablet and web. For example, the left-hand menu is accessible anywhere one goes on Facebook. Users also have a way to jump right to the top of News Feed whenever new stories come in.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has described the revamped news feed as being richer, simpler, more beautiful. Facebook plans to roll out the redesigned feed in the coming weeks.

on web and mobile. If users want to get it early, they can visit www.facebook.com/newsfeed and add themselves to the waiting list. These design updates will be available on the iPhone and iPad in the coming weeks and to Android soon after.

This news comes at a time when teens are losing interest in the social network. In its annual 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission report Facebook noted, “We believe that some of our users, particularly our younger users, are aware of and actively engaging with other products and services similar to, or as a substitute for, Facebook. For example, we believe that some of our users have reduced their engagement with Facebook in favor of increased engagement with other products and services such as Instagram. In the event that our users increasingly engage with other products and services, we may experience a decline in user engagement and our business could be harmed.”

March 11, 2013
Time Warner Cable launches TWC TV on Roku

MUMBAI: Time Warner Cable has launched TWC TV channel on Roku players. Customers will be able to stream up to 300 channels of live programming in their homes through the Roku device at no additional cost.

“This fourth platform launch for TWC TV represents a new viewing experience for our customers. It’s a great complimentary service in the home, offering thousands of programs at their fingertips. We’re proud to add TWC TV for Roku to the growing collection of devices our customers use to watch content in the home,” said Time Warner Cable SVP and GM, Video Mike Angus.

Key features on TWC TV for Roku include: access to up to 300 channels of live programming, ability to browse carousels of genre-grouped titles, option to view recently viewed channels and create favorite channel list, and parental control channel blocking.

Time Warner Cable plans to add On Demand content to the offering later this year. TWC TV for Roku is available to Time Warner Cable video subscribers with a TWC authorized modem and a Roku 3, Roku 2, Roku HD, Roku LT player or Roku Streaming Stick.

Customers also need their TWC ID and password. Channel line-ups vary per market and depend on which video subscription package a customer subscribes to. TWC TV is also available on Apple iOS, Android devices and PCs and Macs via TWC website.

March 9, 2013
Nielsen launches solution to measure advertising on apps

MUMBAI: Nielsen, a global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy, has launched a solution Nielsen Mobile Brand Effect that measures the resonance of brand advertising within mobile apps.

Nielsen Mobile Brand Effect debuts amid continued adoption of the mobile app environment by both consumers and advertisers. In the past year, the number of U.S. consumers using mobile apps nearly doubled to 101.8 million and mobile advertising spending is now estimated at $4 billion annually.

Available immediately in the United States, Nielsen Mobile Brand Effect is the latest addition to the Nielsen Brand Effect product suite, which already measures ad resonance across TV and computer browsers.

Building upon the technologies and best practices utilized for measuring ad resonance in online display and video ads, Nielsen Mobile Brand Effect captures consumer sentiment through an in-app survey and delivers performance against the primary marketing objective of the campaign using classic brand lift metrics such as awareness, attitude, favorability and purchase intent. The solution works across mobile operating systems, including Apple iOS and Android.

As with Nielsen Online Brand Effect, the mobile in-app resonance solution is built around a real-time, collaborative model that allows everyone with a stake in the campaign to measure and optimize performance in-flight. The results, in total and by app, segment, lifetime performance, creative and frequency, are displayed in a web-based dashboard in real-time. In addition, the scalable nature of the solution means that a larger portion of a marketer’s ad spend can be measured and optimized.

“Mobile is a consumer’s best friend: a companion, helper, teacher, entertainer. It’s no wonder time spent on mobile continues to grow as options like apps expand and enhance the user experience,” said Nielsen President, Global Product Leadership Steve Hasker. “As more marketers tap this evolving medium, we’re excited that Nielsen Mobile Brand Effect will be there to help them understand how their ads resonate on mobile and across platforms.”

The launch of Nielsen Mobile Brand Effect is the latest development in Nielsen’s strategy to deliver end-to-end solutions that measure the reach, resonance and reaction to ads across platforms and around the globe. Nielsen’s TV and online Brand Effect solutions are available in the U.S. and in select markets internationally.

March 7, 2013
Universal Music partners Appytunes to provide Android and iOS apps

MUMBAI: Universal Music has tied up with Bangalore based developer Appytunes to provide Music Album apps on Android and iOS platforms.

Universal Music India GM – Digital P K Prasannan said, “The concept of the album app is to give the end user the same experience that they would get from a physical CD. Great Music, Lyrics, Caller tunes, Information on the Album, Artist Biography and links, a Dynamic Gallery and a Multi share option for the app makes for a killer combination.”

He added, “Basically the concept gives the end user “More Than Just The Music” and with the Lite App they can sample at least one free track and if required they can upgrade to the full version with no Ads, the ability to leave comments and all tracks.”

Appytunes Director Sahil Jagtiani said, “We have so far created about 36 album apps both paid and dree versions for Universal Music which is available on Android and IOs. Soon we will launch Blackberry Apps for all 36 albums on Blackberry World and for sale on appytunes.com.”

March 1, 2013
MSM launches multi-platform VoD service Sony Liv

MUMBAI: Multi Screen Media (MSM) has taken the plunge into the digital space with the launch of its multi-platform Video-on-Demand service, Sony Liv.

Targeting the youth, Sony Liv will serve as the online destination for content from the Sony stable – Sony, Sab and Max. The Sony Liv application is available globally for free online on Sonyliv.com, for download on major app stores – iTunes and Google Play (Android).

Apart from enabling viewers to view current shows, Sony Liv will also gives them a chance to go back in time and watch past episodes of shows from Sony’s programming archives on Liv Classics. Liv will also showcase a large archive going back 17 years of movies and special events like Stardust and Filmfare Awards.

MSM CEO Man Jit Sigh said, “Liv is aimed at providing entertainment on the go for young India on the move. With the launch of this user friendly and highly interactive application, Liv is slated to change the way this nation consumes entertainment. It is a great platform for brands to enhance their Engagement & Interactivity with today’s young consumers.”
MSM‘s VoD service has three main features – Mood Wheel, My Q and Liv Guru.

With Mood wheel, viewers can search for videos based on mood/genre and time preferences. The My Q feature enables the registered users to create their own playlists of their favourite videos, and enables them to watch it across devices, with a single log on experience.

The Liv Guru feature is Sony’s Loyalty Program for loyal fans and rewards engagement. This feature builds on a loyalty points system on audience interactions on Liv. These points will eventually enable the viewers to win goodies, gift hampers and show set-visits.

“Innovation is the bedrock of business at Sony and our latest offering, Sony Liv reiterates our commitment to engage and interact with our audience in a whole new way. Through Liv, we want to strengthen our viewership in the digital space and provide the best entertainment preferences to our audience,” said MSM COO NP Singh.

January 22, 2013
Tencent‘s messaging app WeChat launches on Blackberry

MUMBAI: Tencent, a leading internet company, has announced the availability of its mobile messaging app WeChat on the BlackBerry platform.

With its launch on BlackBerry platform, millions of BlackBerry users will now be able to also use WeChat. BlackBerry loyalists in India can download the application for free from the BlackBerry App World.

WeChat for BlackBerry comes with the app’s core features like ‘push-to-talk’, Instant Messaging, Voice Messaging, Group Chat and Photo Sharing, and new features to be introduced along the way.
WeChat, which claims to have crossed 300 million registered users globally, is a free mobile voice and text messaging application which was launched in India in July last year across iPhone, Android, Symbian, and Windows platforms. It will now also be available for BlackBerry users.

Dennis Hau, Head of Product Center, International Business Group, Tencent said: "With our new record growth of 300+ million user accounts globally, we are continuing with our mission to be accessible on more platforms. Now, we are delighted to announce the official launch of WeChat’s BlackBerry app.”

Research In Motion (RIM) Director Alliances and Business Development Annie Mathews said, "BlackBerry smartphones are extremely popular and renowned for instant messaging and social networking capabilities. We are pleased to have WeChat available on BlackBerry App World, offering another great way for our customers to stay connected with their friends and family while on the move.”

January 22, 2013
Facebook launches Messenger app on Android

MUMBAI: Facebook has launched a new messenger app for Android phones which will allow mobile users to sign up for a messenger account with name and phone number and send messages to their phone contacts instantly.

The app has been launched on Messenger for Android, first in India, Australia, Indonesia, Venezuela and South Africa, and then to countries soon.

"Users can now sign up for a messenger account with just their name and phone number, so they can send messages to their phone contacts instantly," Facebook said in a statement. "The goal is to make the new messenger experience better by expanding its reach and giving its users the ability to connect with all of their phone contacts."

The Messenger will allow anyone with a phone number, and not just those on Facebook, to send and receive messages. While an update to Messenger for Android is available today, the Messenger accounts will become available over the next few weeks. It is a stand-alone mobile application and is free to download. It will use customer‘s existing data plan.

People who do not have the Messenger app on their phone will receive chats and messages sent to them wherever they log on to Facebook.

December 5, 2012
StarHub in multi-platform deal with ESS

MUMBAI: Singapore telecom operator StarHub has signed a multi-platform deal with ESPN Star Sports (ESS) to carry its portfolio of multi-media assets including television, broadband, and mobile services on a non-exclusive basis.

StarHub is a full-fledged telecommunications company providing a range of services over mobile, internet and fixed platforms in Singapore.

The deal comprises six ESPN Star Sports channels, which brings the number of dedicated sports channels on StarHub TV to 22; the broadband video player ESPN Player; and the live streaming mobile service, Mobile ESPN.

The channels and ESPN Player will be launched on StarHub TV on 14 December while Mobile ESPN will be introduced on StarHub’s Mobile platform later in December.

Sports fans can look forward to a comprehensive line-up of sports coverage on ESPN, Star Sports, the high-definition 24-hour sports channel ESPN HD, the 24-7 sports news channel ESPNews and premium cricket channels in Star Cricket and Star Cricket HD.

Customers will also be able to access ESPN Player via StarHub’s Internet TV service, TV Anywhere. Mobile ESPN apps for iPad, iPhone and Android devices will be launched soon, allowing Singapore sports fans Anywhere, Anytime access to their favourite sports.

“We are excited to welcome ESPN Star Sports back to our sports content line-up. Combined with our current spread of sports channels, viewers can now look forward to the widest range of sports programming, including all the tennis and golf majors, on our trusted network. Customers can also take advantage of our TV Anywhere service to savour exciting ‘live’ sports coverage on their personal devices on their personal devices. By delivering a comprehensive range of sports content across multiple platforms, we are confident that customers will have the finest sports viewing experience possible,” said StarHub Head of Marketing & Products Chan Kin Hung.

ESS features sports content that includes exciting football properties (the Spanish La Liga BBVA, Asian Football Confederation events); motor-racing (Formula One, SBK, MotoGP, Nascar, Dakar Rally); Grand Slam tennis (Wimbledon, Australian Open); events from the WTA Tour and ATP World and the Hopman Cup, the Golf Majors (The Masters, US Open and The Open Championship) as well as the PGA Grand Slam of Golf; popular American sports (Major League Baseball, NCAA College Football and Basketball), premier Asian sports (Asean Basketball League, OneAsia golf tournaments, HSBC Asian Five Nations); and top cricket properties (ICC events, Champions League Twenty20, international and domestic cricket from the BCCI, Cricket Australia and England and Wales Cricket Board).

“We‘re very happy to be able to offer the full range of our programming to the widest possible audience in Singapore and to return back to StarHub after two-and-a-half years away with a new long term agreement,” said ESS MD Peter Hutton.

ESPNEWS will be a complimentary channel available to all StarHub TV customers at no additional cost. With the addition of ESPN, Star Sports and ESPN HD to the Sports Group, the subscription to the Sports Group will be revised to $19.26 per month (with GST), effective from 15 January.

The Sports Group subscription includes access to ESPN Player and other sports channels such as Racquet Channel, Football Channel, SuperSports, SuperSports Arena and Setanta Sports via TV Anywhere. Currently available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, Mobile ESPN will be added to StarHub’s Gee! portal later this month. Star Cricket and Star Cricket HD will be available on the Cricket Group, which is unchanged at $32.10 per month (with GST).

December 3, 2012