MUMBAI: Airtel TV, the popular LIVE TV & Video streaming app from Airtel, today rolled out a highly interactive gamification experience for its users with ‘Airtel TV Free Hit’, an in-app quiz based game where users have to answer a set of interesting questions related to the ongoing T20 action. What’s more, there are daily cash prizes to be won from a total kitty of over two crore rupees.
The Airtel TV FREE Hit gaming experience is available to users in two version – Airtel TV Free Hit LIVE that can be played every day before the T20 match at 7:30pm and a non-LIVE version that can be played along the with the T20 match telecast.
Bharti Airte, CEO – Content and Apps, Sameer Batra: “The idea behind these contests is to gamify the whole cricketing experience for our users while making it highly engaging. With this new, intuitive platform, we are offering everyone the chance to be a winner during this ongoing T-20 extravaganza. We invite our users to participate in this exciting contest and make their experience more rewarding.”
To get started, users need to upgrade to the latest version of Airtel TV app on their smartphones and register themselves. Airtel TV FREE Hit is available to Android users right now.
Airtel TV FREE Hit LIVE is a first of its kind, simple skill based in-app game that is played LIVE with a digital anchor. To play the game, users should log into the Airtel TV app at 7:30 pm sharp daily, prior to the match. The digital anchor will bounce off 11 interesting question about the ongoing T20 matches. Users who get all 11 questions correct will share the winning amount.
This game will also offer users the option of ‘life’ which is active during the course of T20 matches and will help users evade elimination. Users are also granted extended ‘lives’ upon watching an existing game till the end and can be utilized for the next/ upcoming match as well.
Airtel TV FREE hit: This non-LIVE version gets activated at the beginning of every T20 match and has been designed specifically for the sit-at-home cricket lovers. Users simply have to correctly analyse the match outcome to win instant money. Users will be awarded runs for each correct answer and the ones reaching the targets (set at the beginning of the game) and will share the winning amount at the end of the match, daily.
Winners of both the contests will be notified via in-app notification. The quiz will run for the duration of the ongoing T20 series.
Airtel TV app was the most downloaded* video OTT app in India during January and February 2018. All content on Airtel TV app is FREE for Airtel Postpaid and Prepaid customers till June 2018. With the addition of exciting LIVE IPL action, Airtel TV app is the go to destination for end-to-end entertainment from LIVE TV to Movies, Shows, Original Series and more.
MUMBAI: Now mobile users who are fans of spiritual gurus like Morari Bapu, Shivani, Acharya Balkrishna and Swami Ramdev will be able to watch their programmes and discourses while on the go. The Swami Ramdev-Acharya Balkrishna-owned Vedic Broadcasting today launched an app which will stream the live linear channel feed of the TV channels of the Aastha group – including Aastha Bhajan, Aastha TV, Vedic and Arihant. In addition to that it features over 500 hours of VOD content and users will be able to watch catch up TV for the previous nine days.
Interestingly, Aastha TV is already available as a live channel on YuppTV.
According to Swami Ramdev, the Aastha app would bring “bring people across the world closer to Indian spirituality and meditation. It will break national boundaries and anyone anywhere will be able to watch the best of spirituality and natural wellness through Yoga and Ayurveda.”
Balkrishna believes that the app will “help connecting the younger generation across India and the world with the Indian spiritual value-based system and help them enrich their lives spiritually, mentally and physically.”
Swami Ramdev at the launch of the Aastha app in Delhi on 17 January
The app has been powered by OTT YuppTV’s white label service, which has moved on from being just an OTT platform to being a technology service provider to video companies wanting to deliver content via mobile and OTT services.
Says Yupp TV CEO Uday Reddy: “We are glad to associate with Aastha channel and expedite its reach across digital channels via our multi-screen white-labelled video platform. While the channel promotes spirituality and culture amongst the youth and elderly alike, our white labelled OTT Platform will ensure the channel's direct reach and accessibility to the users."
Adds Aastha TV CEO Pramod Joshi: "The present-day user is equipped with digital mediums, smartphones and tablets and their viewing habits have changed. Hence, it is important for us to be present where our users are and make it convenient for them to watch our content and have a direct connection with them. We thank YuppTV's white-labelled OTT Platform for helping us successfully navigate through the world of OTT and making Aastha channels directly accessible to users via iOS and Android mobile apps, websites and connected TVs."
The Aastha app will be free for users in India but will be available for a subscription, after an initial free period, in different markets globally.
The content on the app will also be available in regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Bangla and Marathi.
The app will also have also beam videos of Ramdev's yoga camps as well as his discourses, which will be dubbed in regional languages for wider reach.
MUMBAI: The unstoppable Arnab Goswani’s RepublicWorld app is expected to make its appearance in four to seven weeks.
Earlier, Republic TV’s founder editor Arnab Goswami had formally announced the unveiling of its digital cousin –Republicworld.com – on 7 July. This was confirmed by Goswami at session at Vidnet 2017.
The app is aimed at changing the look of news apps by other groups. The design and the look ofrepublicworld.com is very clean and visual heavy with news being segregated under various sections right from general news to politics to sport to lifestyle to tech to entertainment. Visitors can also watch Republic TV’s shows such as Arnab’s Sunday debate, The Anupam Kher show, R.Access, Patriot, and the new one: The Nation Wants to Know.
Furthermore, the reader can customise the language for the site, according to his preferences. Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, and Odiya are the options given to him.
Republicworld has been able to offer that wide a range of thanks to its partnership with various media houses with eight of them being specifically with digital outlets. The media partners include Business World, OTV, Sambad, News Live, Niyomiya Barta, North East Live, Punjab Kesari, Aajkaal, S Newz, Dainik Bhaskar, Nirmana News, Kashmir Monitor, Lokmat, Vikatan TV, Polimer, Asianetnews.tv, Asianet News, Kannada Prabha, Suvarna News, News Mobile.in; across India and the community partners include tripoto.com, RSJ, LBB.in, yourstory.com, digit.in, and AutoX.
Additionally, what strikes one is the experimentation that is being attempted on republicworld.com in the form of the handful of 360-degree videos that have been put out on the site. Republic’s video content is being streamed in HD with the app slated for a launch in the next three weeks. It will feature long-format live and VoD content in the form of vertical videos, especially created for mobile audience as reported by indiantelevision.com on 30 June.
As Republic TV CEO Vikas Khanchandani had said: “Innovation is very critical to succeed. We were clear that we want to differentiate. Look at the digital success and traditional success stories. Often, one of the primary reasons behind the triumph is technology, which is as important as content. Also, one needs to understand the consumer and the journey across platforms. Therefore, it’s critical to make sure that you are able to draw up a strategy that gives you maximum reach.”
Republicworld.com COO Jay Chauhan had added: “In the digital content space, there is no dominant global player operating out of south Asia, and that’s a big opportunity for us. Republicworld.com is at the intersection of content and technology, so we will keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible to constantly engage and improve upon the user experience.”
On the technology front, RepublicWorld has tieups with American and Canadian companies. Pierre Friquet (VR director/ writer/ consultant) from Canada and Ando Shah (founder & CEO at Tesseract) from San Francisco trained its producers for a month to shoot content in VR.
MUMBAI: The new interactive, play-along pre-school videos created by new proprietary suite of technology allows Nick’s creative teams to produce linear and interactive digital video simultaneously,
Nickelodeon, the number-one kids entertainment brand, is introducing a brand-new collection of interactive, curriculum-driven preschool episodes in its NOGGIN video subscription service, beginning June 1 initially on iOS platforms. Nick’s play-along preschool videos were created by an in-house team using a proprietary authoring tool which enables the simultaneous creation of interactive digital content alongside the production of linear TV content. This inaugurates the use of a new production model that can grow across all Nickelodeon’s platforms moving forward.
“The introduction of our play-along videos mark the evolution of preschool interactivity that Nickelodeon initiated with Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer,” said Matthew Evans, Executive Vice President, Digital and New Business, Nickelodeon Group. “We can now transform our linear production capabilities through an authoring tool of our own design that allows us to create complementary interactive, digital video that truly lets kids participate in, and learn from the story.”
Nickelodeon’s play-along videos allow preschoolers to engage with their favorite characters by tapping, touching, swiping or speaking to navigate through enhanced educational experiences that promote science, technology, engineering, math and social-emotional skills–all while having fun every step of the way. At launch, more than 30 play-along videos will be introduced, including Blaze and the Monster Machines, Bubble Guppies, Team Umizoomi and short-form content featuring longtime beloved characters Moose and Zee.
Nickelodeon’s new play-along video authoring tool puts the ability to create interactive digital content into the hands of Nick’s show creators, producers and animators. The tool supports real-time scene editing and a live preview that allows the teams to layer in interactive elements, to create brand-new play-along moments within any episode. Interactive writers and producers can also be integrated into a show’s creative team, allowing them to generate engaging, story-driven interactive videos from the start of a production and deliver both linear and play-along versions of the same episode simultaneously. Additionally, the play-along video player can be integrated into the existing Nickelodeon video apps, eliminating the need to download a separate app.
Nick’s play-along videos were also created in partnership with curriculum and research consultants who helped shape the interactions to enhance the existing educational value of the shows. Throughout each interactive adventure, kids engage with content that fosters the development of cognitive, social and emotional skills.
NOGGIN is an ad-free, video subscription service that features hundreds of iconic, full-length library episodes, short-form videos, educational content, music videos featuring preschoolers’ favorite Nickelodeon characters, and more, with new content added weekly. Consistently ranking at the top of the charts in the Family and Kids categories, the NOGGIN App is one of the top 10 grossing Kids apps on the App Store, in addition to being the number-one grossing app for Music and Video in the Family Category on Google Play. NOGGIN was also selected by Apple as an Apple TV app of the year. Currently available for iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, Android, Fire tablet and Roku devices, NOGGIN has 25 series to date including the recently added Yo Gabba Gabba!, Trucktown, Miffy and Friends and Teletubbies. Additional titles in the NOGGIN lineup include Blue’s Clues, Go, Diego, Go!, Franklin, The Backyardigans and Pocoyo, among others.
MUMBAI: The explosion of smart mobile phones in India and the penetration of internet has led to a boom in several innovative business proposals that explore the digital platform. With India leading the startup scene, everyday new ideas are turning from just business plans in a ppt file to an actual revenue generating business, backed by an aggressive venture capitalists.
At the same time, it has pushed several small and medium enterprises to go online, as their customers have already made the shift. It not only means a booming in the digital market, it also means more demand for technology to sustain its rapid growth — right from hardware to software. The Mobile App industry is estimated at $ 143 billion and counting. As more businesses start thinking mobile in their digital marketing initiatives, traditional agencies too are realising the need to include application development skilsl in their portfolio to sustain clients.
As per Gartner’s IT Spending Forecast, by 2017 the demand for enterprise mobile apps will exceed the supply available, especially in India — which comes as an opportunity for cloud-based Mobile app creation platform Instappy.
“Though India is one of the largest base for developers, globally the number of developers required and the apps in which are in demand has a gap of 1:5 and by 2017 this gap is only going to grow. A good application requires at least five developers working on it and needs a time period of at least 45 to 60 days on a an average. Whereas the number of enterprises and small businesses who want an application is far more than that. Had the pool of developers grown at the same rate that the SMEs are shifting to digital, this gap would have been avoided, but the mobile industry has seen a rapid boom and the developers aren’t keeping up,” explained Instappy, founder and MD Ambika Sharma
Instappy’s business model is based on this simple ratio, as well as the fact that SMEs prefer a platform that helps them get an app without going through complicated technical discussions with developers.
Observing the current trend in the market, Sharma shared that the small and medium enterprises jumping the digital bandwagon understand the importance of mobile and how it is going to build on their revenue in the long run.
While Instappy does get an occasional request of ‘an ola app’, or a ‘zomato app’, for the most part users are fairly well aware of keeping their app identity unique, though certain features may be replicated as reference.
“The only area that SMEs need to be educated about is building an application is not the end of it, it needs constant maintenance, software updates and improvements. Technology is changing fast and the business owners need to be updated for the most part as well,” she added.
Non technology savvy business owners and marketers often shy away from getting themselves an application to avoid dealing with the technical specifications because they are overwhelmed by the complexity. Therefore the cloud based platform thrives amongst Small and Medium Sized enterprises, making it a more democratised playing field for all businesses.
On an average the platform sees anything between 35 to 40 users building apps every week. Barring the first free trial month, the subscribers start off at Rs 30,000 to be on the platform, and the rates go higher depending on the services a user claims. Apart from this Instappy also entertains clients who ask for a more customized application for their businesses, which commands premium rates. But that is nothing compared to the ongoing rates if a professional team of developers are hired for the job.
For a basic application that serves a simple purpose, a business enterprise will have to pay a small group of developers anything between Rs 15 to Rs 20 lacs and the price can go up to crores if well known developers are hired and difficult coding is required.
“We are currently getting requests from across industry, but the ones that stand out are travel, learning and education, retail and stationery and beauty services business. Interestingly mass manufacturing industry, which is very traditional in its nature has also come on board with us to get an application out,” she shared.
The sudden rush to get an application has also brought in its own set of challenges for the development market. While most businesses want to go digital to expand their market online and open new ways to interact with the consumer, there are also some who want an app just for the sake of it. Sharma stayed clear of them.
“No smart business will create a app just for the sake of it or due to herd mentality. While it’s a trend, the applications have to serve a business purpose for them. It is very difficult to develop an app that covers all the needs of a business, while keeping the functionality in mind, and without going overboard with features. It takes almost 30 days to even figure out what all they want in it, and most of the time a specialised team has to step in to keep the businesses updated about the latest features they can avail or offer their customers through the app. Half the time businesses lack clarity on exactly what they want from an app.That is where the support team comes in and guides them based on their requirement,” Sharma pointed out, adding that Instappy mostly works with businesses who have their content ready.
To reach out to fresh new users, Instappy has a very active digital marketing strategy that banks on content marketing as well. “As a B2B portal that targets businesses online, without platform being on digital, our marketing spends are also largely inclined on digital campaigns with an occasional print advertisement,” Sharma said.
Launched in December 2015 in India, and in the European market in March 2016, the platform is already seeing positive acceptance from both the markets.
When asked about its yearly targets, Sharma said, “At this point we want to have at least 500 applications pushed out in the next 18 months time. Any business takes time when marketing dynamics are changing. We already making money with a revenue increase on a week – on week basis. Keeping in mind that we constantly want to invest in the platform from the technology standpoint to ready on demand features for customers, we cant put a date on when we will break even, but it shouldn’t take longer than two years for sure.
MUMBAI: The explosion of smart mobile phones in India and the penetration of internet has led to a boom in several innovative business proposals that explore the digital platform. With India leading the startup scene, everyday new ideas are turning from just business plans in a ppt file to an actual revenue generating business, backed by an aggressive venture capitalists.
At the same time, it has pushed several small and medium enterprises to go online, as their customers have already made the shift. It not only means a booming in the digital market, it also means more demand for technology to sustain its rapid growth — right from hardware to software. The Mobile App industry is estimated at $ 143 billion and counting. As more businesses start thinking mobile in their digital marketing initiatives, traditional agencies too are realising the need to include application development skilsl in their portfolio to sustain clients.
As per Gartner’s IT Spending Forecast, by 2017 the demand for enterprise mobile apps will exceed the supply available, especially in India — which comes as an opportunity for cloud-based Mobile app creation platform Instappy.
“Though India is one of the largest base for developers, globally the number of developers required and the apps in which are in demand has a gap of 1:5 and by 2017 this gap is only going to grow. A good application requires at least five developers working on it and needs a time period of at least 45 to 60 days on a an average. Whereas the number of enterprises and small businesses who want an application is far more than that. Had the pool of developers grown at the same rate that the SMEs are shifting to digital, this gap would have been avoided, but the mobile industry has seen a rapid boom and the developers aren’t keeping up,” explained Instappy, founder and MD Ambika Sharma
Instappy’s business model is based on this simple ratio, as well as the fact that SMEs prefer a platform that helps them get an app without going through complicated technical discussions with developers.
Observing the current trend in the market, Sharma shared that the small and medium enterprises jumping the digital bandwagon understand the importance of mobile and how it is going to build on their revenue in the long run.
While Instappy does get an occasional request of ‘an ola app’, or a ‘zomato app’, for the most part users are fairly well aware of keeping their app identity unique, though certain features may be replicated as reference.
“The only area that SMEs need to be educated about is building an application is not the end of it, it needs constant maintenance, software updates and improvements. Technology is changing fast and the business owners need to be updated for the most part as well,” she added.
Non technology savvy business owners and marketers often shy away from getting themselves an application to avoid dealing with the technical specifications because they are overwhelmed by the complexity. Therefore the cloud based platform thrives amongst Small and Medium Sized enterprises, making it a more democratised playing field for all businesses.
On an average the platform sees anything between 35 to 40 users building apps every week. Barring the first free trial month, the subscribers start off at Rs 30,000 to be on the platform, and the rates go higher depending on the services a user claims. Apart from this Instappy also entertains clients who ask for a more customized application for their businesses, which commands premium rates. But that is nothing compared to the ongoing rates if a professional team of developers are hired for the job.
For a basic application that serves a simple purpose, a business enterprise will have to pay a small group of developers anything between Rs 15 to Rs 20 lacs and the price can go up to crores if well known developers are hired and difficult coding is required.
“We are currently getting requests from across industry, but the ones that stand out are travel, learning and education, retail and stationery and beauty services business. Interestingly mass manufacturing industry, which is very traditional in its nature has also come on board with us to get an application out,” she shared.
The sudden rush to get an application has also brought in its own set of challenges for the development market. While most businesses want to go digital to expand their market online and open new ways to interact with the consumer, there are also some who want an app just for the sake of it. Sharma stayed clear of them.
“No smart business will create a app just for the sake of it or due to herd mentality. While it’s a trend, the applications have to serve a business purpose for them. It is very difficult to develop an app that covers all the needs of a business, while keeping the functionality in mind, and without going overboard with features. It takes almost 30 days to even figure out what all they want in it, and most of the time a specialised team has to step in to keep the businesses updated about the latest features they can avail or offer their customers through the app. Half the time businesses lack clarity on exactly what they want from an app.That is where the support team comes in and guides them based on their requirement,” Sharma pointed out, adding that Instappy mostly works with businesses who have their content ready.
To reach out to fresh new users, Instappy has a very active digital marketing strategy that banks on content marketing as well. “As a B2B portal that targets businesses online, without platform being on digital, our marketing spends are also largely inclined on digital campaigns with an occasional print advertisement,” Sharma said.
Launched in December 2015 in India, and in the European market in March 2016, the platform is already seeing positive acceptance from both the markets.
When asked about its yearly targets, Sharma said, “At this point we want to have at least 500 applications pushed out in the next 18 months time. Any business takes time when marketing dynamics are changing. We already making money with a revenue increase on a week – on week basis. Keeping in mind that we constantly want to invest in the platform from the technology standpoint to ready on demand features for customers, we cant put a date on when we will break even, but it shouldn’t take longer than two years for sure.
MUMBAI: The OTT space has been growing denser with the mushrooming of more and more players. Players are vying for eyeballs and advertisers are looking to differentiate their content, and shifting focus to unexplored areas. nexGTV has launched its new OTT app that targets kids between 2 to 10 years of age with specially tailored content, with an aim to expand business reach and grow subscriber base.
Explaining the demand for kids’ content in India, nexGTV COO Abhesh Verma says, “I have noticed that despite the fact that there is good kids’ content in the country, it is not easily accessible for them. Moreover we realised that kids content can’t be piled up with everything else. There is a need for a kids’ friendly app that will give proper showcase to the content, and parents can let their kids on it without worrying about insensitive content.”
nexGTV is also playing on the fact that parents and guardians of kids these days are concerned about the ‘freeness’ of the internet and worried about the objectionable content that their child may be exposed to. Therefore curating a library strictly for the little ones was of prime importance when strategizing for the kids’ only OTT app. “Our editorial team has been extremely careful while curating content for this app. Every single content is been screened by our team to keep it kids friendly with the age group in mind. Our content is a blend of learning and entertainment for kids. Whether its craft, art, nursery rhymes and moral science through fun content, parents can be rest assured that through fun and frolic their kids are learning something.” Between Akbar Birbal, Stories of Panchtantra, Vikram & Betal, Ducktales, Malgudi Days and Champak World, the app already has a vibrant library of shows for the tiny tots to enjoy this summer.
The app can downloaded from Google Play Store for Android devices or the Apple store for iPhones or other apple devices. Others can shoot a missed call to 0120-4848222 to get nexGTv Kids app.
As a matter of fact, going by international standards, there is only ‘E’ for ‘everyone’, and ‘G’ for ‘general audience’ rated programming in the content library for nexGTV Kids. “We haven’t kept shows that need parental guidance as we want the kids and parents to have a stress free streaming experience,” says Verma.
Currently available in a ‘freemium’ model with no advertisements to interrupt seamless viewing, the content beyond the subscription wall is priced at Rs 125 a month, which coincides with what it costs to subscribe to nexGTV. “As part of the promotion for this launch we are currently allowing any nexGTV subscriber to access nexGTV Kids content and vice versa. Depending on the nature of consumption, content strategy etc., we will take a call to separate the two apps for subscribers or offer it to them in a bundle for a viable price that works for both – the consumers and us,” said Verma as he explains the pricing.
As a business model, the revenue for the new app will depend highly on the subscription. Kids’ content also opens up a vista of monetising prospects for the OTT player.
For starters, nexgTV has gone the VOOT way and acquired kids content from existing content partners who are regular contributors to nexGTV’s library such as Shemaroo, Rajshri Productions etc. But the OTT player’s ambitious plans for their new kids app doesn’t stop there — from producing branded content for advertisers, to commissioning and featuring content from independent content creators, to licensing and merchandising rights sales — nexGTV is eyeing a big chunk of the kids content pie.
“Currently we are getting content from partners who are working with us for the last four – five years. At the same time we are looking to create original content going forward that will be made by our production team for our app. We are also welcoming everyone who can creating content for kids. We want to showcase their content to our user base provided it goes past our editorial guidelines for the kids’ app. There are many who may not have a platform, but have the right talent, whom we plan to feature through our app as long as the content is within our guidelines,” Abhesh reveals.
Keeping lts options open, nexgTV is ready to explore all kinds of partnerships, whether it allows it to own the content’s full IP or it is commissioning for production or co-owning the IP and sharing its IP rights with another content producer. Verma also hints that the OTT player is already in talks with some major production houses to produce exclusive kids’ content for nexgTV.
With a few deals under discussions already under way, be they for content creation with other production houses or with brands, currently the player is weighing its options carefully for the right content strategy.
“We want to make sure that we have the product out there first and some audience on it. And then based on the consumption pattern we want to invest in the programming. It will be like shooting in the dark if we produce a show which we don’t have an audience for,” Verma states frankly.
Given the fact that the target audience of the content isn’t the device owners who can facilitate the consumption, a smart marketing strategy is needed to reach the guardians first, Verma shares. While kids can be the key to reach the parents, the equation flows the other way round when it comes to marketing for kids.
“We have three key aspects to our marketing initiative for this new app. Firstly, on the digital front we are running targeted campaigns towards parents on Facebook to make the app more visible. Secondly, the current subscribers of nexGTV are getting the new app as part of their package. We have 14 million installs (1.4 crore) and within which we have close to a million (10 lakh) subscribers who will get this app with their regular nexGTV apps.”
Apart from this, the OTT player will promote through radio and few other traditional modes of communication as well. With more on the marketing platter that nexGTV plans to surprise audience with in due time, Verma shared that so far the company hasn’t set an upper ceiling to its marketing spends for the new app.
“Honestly this is our first big launch since the launch of our new app and we are heavily promoting it. We are not restricting it to 20 to 30 per cent of marketing spends but instead going by ‘returns on the hours’ basis. If a particular campaign is giving us the returns we want we are strengthening it,” Verma shares while refraining from commenting on the actual marketing spends on the new project.
MUMBAI: The OTT space has been growing denser with the mushrooming of more and more players. Players are vying for eyeballs and advertisers are looking to differentiate their content, and shifting focus to unexplored areas. nexGTV has launched its new OTT app that targets kids between 2 to 10 years of age with specially tailored content, with an aim to expand business reach and grow subscriber base.
Explaining the demand for kids’ content in India, nexGTV COO Abhesh Verma says, “I have noticed that despite the fact that there is good kids’ content in the country, it is not easily accessible for them. Moreover we realised that kids content can’t be piled up with everything else. There is a need for a kids’ friendly app that will give proper showcase to the content, and parents can let their kids on it without worrying about insensitive content.”
nexGTV is also playing on the fact that parents and guardians of kids these days are concerned about the ‘freeness’ of the internet and worried about the objectionable content that their child may be exposed to. Therefore curating a library strictly for the little ones was of prime importance when strategizing for the kids’ only OTT app. “Our editorial team has been extremely careful while curating content for this app. Every single content is been screened by our team to keep it kids friendly with the age group in mind. Our content is a blend of learning and entertainment for kids. Whether its craft, art, nursery rhymes and moral science through fun content, parents can be rest assured that through fun and frolic their kids are learning something.” Between Akbar Birbal, Stories of Panchtantra, Vikram & Betal, Ducktales, Malgudi Days and Champak World, the app already has a vibrant library of shows for the tiny tots to enjoy this summer.
The app can downloaded from Google Play Store for Android devices or the Apple store for iPhones or other apple devices. Others can shoot a missed call to 0120-4848222 to get nexGTv Kids app.
As a matter of fact, going by international standards, there is only ‘E’ for ‘everyone’, and ‘G’ for ‘general audience’ rated programming in the content library for nexGTV Kids. “We haven’t kept shows that need parental guidance as we want the kids and parents to have a stress free streaming experience,” says Verma.
Currently available in a ‘freemium’ model with no advertisements to interrupt seamless viewing, the content beyond the subscription wall is priced at Rs 125 a month, which coincides with what it costs to subscribe to nexGTV. “As part of the promotion for this launch we are currently allowing any nexGTV subscriber to access nexGTV Kids content and vice versa. Depending on the nature of consumption, content strategy etc., we will take a call to separate the two apps for subscribers or offer it to them in a bundle for a viable price that works for both – the consumers and us,” said Verma as he explains the pricing.
As a business model, the revenue for the new app will depend highly on the subscription. Kids’ content also opens up a vista of monetising prospects for the OTT player.
For starters, nexgTV has gone the VOOT way and acquired kids content from existing content partners who are regular contributors to nexGTV’s library such as Shemaroo, Rajshri Productions etc. But the OTT player’s ambitious plans for their new kids app doesn’t stop there — from producing branded content for advertisers, to commissioning and featuring content from independent content creators, to licensing and merchandising rights sales — nexGTV is eyeing a big chunk of the kids content pie.
“Currently we are getting content from partners who are working with us for the last four – five years. At the same time we are looking to create original content going forward that will be made by our production team for our app. We are also welcoming everyone who can creating content for kids. We want to showcase their content to our user base provided it goes past our editorial guidelines for the kids’ app. There are many who may not have a platform, but have the right talent, whom we plan to feature through our app as long as the content is within our guidelines,” Abhesh reveals.
Keeping lts options open, nexgTV is ready to explore all kinds of partnerships, whether it allows it to own the content’s full IP or it is commissioning for production or co-owning the IP and sharing its IP rights with another content producer. Verma also hints that the OTT player is already in talks with some major production houses to produce exclusive kids’ content for nexgTV.
With a few deals under discussions already under way, be they for content creation with other production houses or with brands, currently the player is weighing its options carefully for the right content strategy.
“We want to make sure that we have the product out there first and some audience on it. And then based on the consumption pattern we want to invest in the programming. It will be like shooting in the dark if we produce a show which we don’t have an audience for,” Verma states frankly.
Given the fact that the target audience of the content isn’t the device owners who can facilitate the consumption, a smart marketing strategy is needed to reach the guardians first, Verma shares. While kids can be the key to reach the parents, the equation flows the other way round when it comes to marketing for kids.
“We have three key aspects to our marketing initiative for this new app. Firstly, on the digital front we are running targeted campaigns towards parents on Facebook to make the app more visible. Secondly, the current subscribers of nexGTV are getting the new app as part of their package. We have 14 million installs (1.4 crore) and within which we have close to a million (10 lakh) subscribers who will get this app with their regular nexGTV apps.”
Apart from this, the OTT player will promote through radio and few other traditional modes of communication as well. With more on the marketing platter that nexGTV plans to surprise audience with in due time, Verma shared that so far the company hasn’t set an upper ceiling to its marketing spends for the new app.
“Honestly this is our first big launch since the launch of our new app and we are heavily promoting it. We are not restricting it to 20 to 30 per cent of marketing spends but instead going by ‘returns on the hours’ basis. If a particular campaign is giving us the returns we want we are strengthening it,” Verma shares while refraining from commenting on the actual marketing spends on the new project.
NEW DELHI: Not satisfied with having gained fame as the social media app where people share their music videos, YouTube is now setting up Foundry to help new musicians to gain name and fame.
Music makes up more than 30 percent of videos watched on Google’s YouTube, and Foundry is its latest product to create original music. Content from Foundry will be hosted on YouTube itself as well as in the YouTube Music app. The company will highlight videos from Foundry artists in its music app via a playlist feature, and has floated similar initiatives with music industry executives.
YouTube has already hosted workshops with over 25 artistes at its production facilities in Los Angeles and London to teach them how to better use the site. Videos of live sessions recorded during those workshops will first appear on YouTube.
NEW DELHI: Not satisfied with having gained fame as the social media app where people share their music videos, YouTube is now setting up Foundry to help new musicians to gain name and fame.
Music makes up more than 30 percent of videos watched on Google’s YouTube, and Foundry is its latest product to create original music. Content from Foundry will be hosted on YouTube itself as well as in the YouTube Music app. The company will highlight videos from Foundry artists in its music app via a playlist feature, and has floated similar initiatives with music industry executives.
YouTube has already hosted workshops with over 25 artistes at its production facilities in Los Angeles and London to teach them how to better use the site. Videos of live sessions recorded during those workshops will first appear on YouTube.
