ITV

Tag: AVOD

  • Sony acquires Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia’s AT&T

    Sony acquires Crunchyroll from WarnerMedia’s AT&T

    NEW DELHI: WarnerMedia’s AT&T has agreed to sell Crunchyroll to Sony in a deal worth $1.175 billion.

    Crunchyroll is an anime direct-to-consumer service within AT&T’s WarnerMedia segment with three million plus SVoD subscribers. It currently serves 90 million registered users across more than 200 countries and territories offering AVoD, mobile games, manga, events merchandise and distribution.

    Funimation is a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) subsidiary, Aniplex.

    “The Crunchyroll team has done an extraordinary job of not only growing the Crunchyroll brand but also building a passionate community of anime fans. Crunchyroll’s success is a direct result of the company’s culture and commitment to their fans,” WarnerMedia CRO Tony Goncalves said. “By combining with Funimation, they will continue to nurture a global community and bring more anime to more people. I’m incredibly proud of the Crunchyroll team and what they have been able to accomplish in the digital media space in such a short period of time. They’ve created an end-to-end global ecosystem for this incredible art form.”

    “We are proud to bring Crunchyroll into the Sony family,” Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman and CEO Tony Vinciquerra said. “Through Funimation and our terrific partners at Aniplex and Sony Music Entertainment Japan, we have a deep understanding of this global art form and are well-positioned to deliver outstanding content to audiences around the world. Together with Crunchyroll, we will create the best possible experience for fans and greater opportunity for creators, producers and publishers in Japan and elsewhere. Funimation has been doing this for over 25 years and we look forward to continuing to leverage the power of creativity and technology to succeed in this rapidly growing segment of entertainment.”

  • Mzaalo launches AVOD platform

    Mzaalo launches AVOD platform

    New Delhi: Mzaalo, a blockchain-based video streaming application today announced the launch of its AVOD platform. The gamified video ecosystem is designed to reward consumers for viewing content on the platform. Mzaalo's system is secured by blockchain, trusted infrastructure for content and brands to own engagement and commerce for their users.

    The AVOD platform offers consumers 50,000+ hours of premium content from over 25 content partners. The content library features a mix of Bollywood and regional movies, original series, music videos, linear television programing and more that will be available in Hindi and nine other Indian regional languages. 

    The wide-ranging content catalogue will attract users who can enjoy an immersive experience in which they can earn for watching content, interacting with the community, inviting friends as well as sharing, liking, and commenting on social media platforms. The process of watching content and being incentivized in the form of blockchain-based rewards adds to Mzaalo's credibility in building engagement, loyalty and driving growth. 

    The earned reward coins are stored in the users' digital wallets and can be spent on premium experiences, physical merchandise, partner products and services, digital goods, games, and charitable giving. Mzaalo plans to on-board established brand partners spanning across range of categories such as health & fitness, fashion, accessories, electronics, travel, wellness, and much more.

    Mzalo COO Vikram Tanna said, "Technology is increasingly becoming the centre of every human interaction. Also, brands today are adopting to innovate and engage with users by creating bespoke, experiences without disrupting the entertainment journey. Mzaalo’s consumer-centric ecosystem is the first to reward consumers for their time and attention. Moreover, our engagement algorithm is designed for advertisers to build valuable user–brand experiences based on data transparency and privacy.”

    Mzaalo has conducted consumer research across the country to understand user sentiments towards sharing personal data on various platforms and the process of selecting winners and rewarding customers. Understanding the requirement of user privacy and data protection, Mzaalo created an ecosystem that addresses consumers' needs by providing a rewarding entertainment experience in a trusted environment.  

    Mzaalo shall adopt a secured Decentralized Ledger Technology (DLT) to establish a trusted entertainment ecosystem where participants derive value from their contribution to the network. Additionally, users will be empowered to take control of their digital identity and shall be gratified for valuable behavior such as providing engagement on the platform through recommendations and for bringing peers onto it.

  • HONOR collaborates with ZEE5 to reach Indian consumers for its latest smartphones

    HONOR collaborates with ZEE5 to reach Indian consumers for its latest smartphones

    KOLKATA: The leading OTT platform ZEE5 continues to be a brand favourite, when it comes to reaching out to a diverse set of audiences across the country in the most targeted and effective manner. The newest one to join the bandwagon and choose ZEE5 as one of its preferred OTT advertising platforms is HONOR, a global leading tech brand for the youth.

    HONOR India, with the collaboration with ZEE5, aims at educating Indian consumes about its latest smartphones – HONOR 9A and HONOR 9S and at the same time, reach out to people looking for an enhanced smartphone experience, at a pocket-friendly price.

    As part of its stated 1+8+N strategy, HONOR introduced its affordable smartphone range – HONOR 9A and HONOR 9S in under Rs 10K segment, along with the brand’s first laptop for the market – HONOR MagicBook 15, featuring India’s first laptop with three breakthrough innovations – Pop-up Webcam, 2-in-1 Fingerprint Power Button and 65W Type-C Compact multi-device fast charging, at a price of under Rs 50K range, and powered with Microsoft Windows 10 Home, AMD Ryzen™ 5 3500U and RadeonTM Vega 8 Graphics processor. The latest offerings are a testimony to HONOR’s commitment of bringing innovative and progressive products for Indian consumers, while meeting the varied requirements of the users.

    With a surge in viewership post lockdown, ZEE5 has fast tracked its vision of democratising access to bespoke content and enhanced user experience through various initiatives to keep India entertained 24×7. HONOR’s latest launches align with this vision as it aims to offer the latest offerings to a larger base of consumers without them having to compromise on technology and quality. 

  • SVOD sees 82% growth in urban India

    SVOD sees 82% growth in urban India

    KOLKATA: Contrary to popular belief that Indians don’t pay for content, Kantar’s ICUBE 2019 report has found that SVOD has seen a significant surge of 82 per cent in India over the last one year. Moreover, smaller towns have driven growth. 

    While total online video users count rose to 294 million in December 2019, online video usership in urban India grew by 25 per cent over the last one year compared to 11 per cent active internet user growth.  Notably, the growth of online video users in urban India is highest among 45 years and above age group. In addition to that, the proportion of this age group watching online video is higher among smaller cities than metros and large cities.

    Along with the surge in the number of users, the engagement of users has also gone up as 65 per cent of online video watchers watch video online daily. On-demand video content watchers are on the rise in urban India. Thanks to affordable internet and a wide range of curated content, on-demand video has seen significant growth over the last year. 

    While SVOD content has witnessed a significant surge over the last one year with users growing to the tune of 82 per cent in urban India over the last one year, AVOD has also marked growth in users by 29 per cent. The growth of social media video users has been slower compared to AVOD or SVOD growth rate. Although there is an increase in the number of social media video viewers by 18 per cent, the proportion of video users accessing social media video has dropped over the last year.

    The growth of SVOD is driven by smaller towns (less than five lakh population). SVOD users have witnessed a significant demographic change over the last one year. 37 per cent of SVOD users now belong to small towns compared to 10 per cent of 2018. SVOD users are more mature as the majority of them are already using both social media and AVOD content. 99 per cent of the SVOD users watch either AVOD or social media videos. 

    The report says that while SVOD has witnessed a huge surge in the last one year, AVOD will continue to be the most-watched video platform for foreseeable future due to its short format videos in comparison to long format videos of SVOD. It has also added that people watch AVOD content more frequently than SVOD content. But video watched on AVOD platforms is shorter than that of SVOD content. The majority of the AVOD content has a duration of lower than 10 minutes whereas the majority of the SVOD content has a duration of 15 minutes to up to one hour.

    Music and movies have emerged as the two most-watched online video content in urban India. YouTube dominates on-demand video usage across genre, from music videos to news, except live sports, which is dominated by Disney+ Hotstar. 

    Kantar Insights Division executive vice president  Biswapriya Bhattacharjee said, "The one line verdict on digital entertainment for the year is that of uninterrupted growth. There is good news, for both platforms and marketers.  The digital medium is way younger than its offline counter parts but we already see a very discerning audience base. The concept of specialisation is already in place and the platform allows the content creators to bring out their creative best on this platform.”

  • ZEE5 emerges as top pick for brands, courtesy user growth, ad-suite, transparent measurement

    ZEE5 emerges as top pick for brands, courtesy user growth, ad-suite, transparent measurement

    MUMBAI: Brands cannot overlook over-the-top (OTT) platforms while planning media mix. Broadcaster-led streaming services like ZEE5, Hotstar, VOOT with their impressive number of monthly active users and large scale of content have started taking away some of the TV ad dollars. But the lack of unified measurement has been one of the major concerns of brands as they want clarity on impact and reach. However, while the industry is grappling with the hardship, ZEE5 has initiated numerous partnerships to offer measurable results to its advertiser community.

    ZEE5 entered partnerships with Moat, a standard verification across the digital industry that measures viewability of video and display ads. The streaming service’s digital creatives are exceeding Moat benchmarks thus giving more confidence to brands that users are spending more time viewing them and ads are reaching completion more frequently. While the Moat benchmark of ad playing to completion is 39.4 per cent, ZEE5 has touched 71 per cent. For Moat’s audibility, the benchmark for the percentage of impressions where the video was audible at a given period of time is 47.5 per cent, while ZEE5 has almost doubled to 93.9 per cent.

    A recent report from Deloitte Global predicted that revenue from ad-supported video services will reach an estimated $32 billion in 2020 whereas Asia (including China and India) will lead with $15.5 billion in revenue in 2020, nearly half of the global total. Although the report came out before COVID-19 crisis and there might be changes in statistics, but the increasing affinity of brands towards streaming services is significantly noticeable. At such a critical juncture, ZEE5 will have an edge over others on the back of credibility from a third-party tool.

    Last year, ZEE5 also integrated with Nielsen to deliver the best accountability for brands and partners on their advertising front. The Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR) provides a method of measuring online advertising audiences, delivering reach, frequency and gross rating point (GRP) metrics along with demographics like age and gender. Moreover, DAR reports demographic information from Facebook, with Nielsen correction & calibration factors.

    ZEE5 has been taking proactive measures as AVOD business is poised for growth. The Deloitte report also added that these streaming services are in the process of convincing advertisers to shift some of the TV ad budgets to streaming video by placing forward innovative ad models and personalised content. 

    As brands look at more consumer insights and metrics while deciding on marketing mix spends,  ZEE5 also offers data from the Media Rating Council (MRC). MRC is a standard devised to determine whether an ad impression is viewable or not. According to MRC, a display ad will be considered as “viewable” if 50 per cent of the ad creative is visible for at least one second in the viewable space of the browser. ZEE5 is overreaching CTR and VTR also, as per MRC standard. While other OTT platforms have 30-40 per cent VTR, ZEE5 has more than double, ranging between 75-85 per cent. At the same time, ZEE5 achieves 0.5-1 per cent CTR while other OTT platforms attain 0.2-0.5 per cent.

    ZEE5 is leaving no stone unturned to maximise the ROI for brands. It launched an industry-disrupting ad-suite last year which helps deliver brand KPIs on aspects like reach, saliency, lead generation and SOV while allowing for segmentation, personalisation and measurability to ensure higher returns on marketing investments. 

    AdVault helps advertisers to reach its target through a vast range of solutions as per the campaign needs. AMLI5 supports bands to intensify the impact by offering influencers marketing, social media, content marketing, brand integrations, SMS-email campaigns. On the other hand, Play5 helps brands integrate with the content through customised gamification, branded polls and quiz. Wishbox enhances the chart aiming at higher engagement through video commerce. Infonomix leverages the flexibility and effectiveness of Ad Suit to deliver value through action led campaign planning.

    ZEE5’s humungous number of monthly active users have already accentuated its top position in the pecking order of the streaming services. The platform has also been named ‘India’s Most Desired Video Streaming Brand’ by TRA’s Most Desired Brands 2020 report. The smart user interface and depth of content across languages have taken it beyond the premium tier easily. ZEEL’s big bet on OTT has undoubtedly emerged as a way for brands to reach masses on the back of its content, tech and data. 

  • OTT: The new kid in town for brands to reach their TG

    OTT: The new kid in town for brands to reach their TG

    MUMBAI: OTT consumption has been on a steep upward curve in India for the last three years. Now, after the country has entered a lockdown phase, taking social life out of lives, the media and entertainment industry is suddenly abuzz with a new wave of growth. More people are maintaining social-distance and staying at home, tasting new content and exploring new platforms in this unprecedented crisis. While the staggering change in the M&E landscape is already underway, the sudden lifestyle change is truly a bonanza for OTT platforms. 

    According to the latest BARC-Nielsen report, the time spent per user on video streaming apps excluding YouTube grew by 11 per cent in the second week of lockdown. Original series has driven the growth, followed by movies. The statistics only reaffirms that the new-age viewers don’t let go of any opportunity to binge, be it a lockdown, a vacation or even commute time during a busy day. 

    Therefore, it’s not surprising that advertisers and agencies, who have been riding the AVoD bus, rolling out campaigns or getting into branded integration deals with the streamers, will take more OTT platforms into consideration for media planning. That is good news for India's media and entertainment companies like Star, Zee, Sony and Viacom18. Their linear television business model has been hit by economic static, especially as production has stopped and advertising revenue will see a bump.  

    Despite the huge reach of linear TV, the new-age urban audience have already been considering streaming services as its source of entertainment. IPSOS Predictions 2020 also state that 72 per cent of urban Indians watch more TV from streaming services opposed to cable TV. This shift to OTT is now being accelerated by the stay-at-home direction, especially as theatres have been shut down and leading GECs are unable to churn out fresh content.

    Even before this sudden surge in viewership, brands are looking at OTT platforms primarily because of these factors for the last couple of years to reach out to end consumers. They also look for brand safety, integration opportunities, full video views, and indeed, the ability to sharply target a specific set of consumers/cohorts. Home-grown players like ZEE5, Hotstar, VOOT, MX Player and SonyLIV are gradually taking space in the media mix of brands. Moreover, now that live events and big sporting tournaments are getting cancelled, coupled with the absence of new content on TV, advertisers can potentially shift ad spend to digital despite scaling back on the expense. The platforms can increase ad-inventory based on an increase in viewing hours as well as revenue per user. 

    ZEE5 has seen a staggering 22 per cent increase in MAU and a 15 per cent increase in DAU compared to last month. The platform has witnessed the upsurge in viewership across all geographies. Because viewers have plenty of free time, the streaming service has seen the highest increase in binge-watching with double-digit growth in long-form content consumption. Moreover, the platform has revealed its content lineup for April with a mix of popular old shows, Korean shows, and digital original films.  

    "In the era of social distancing and limiting exposure to the external world, consumers and viewers are turning to forms of digital entertainment and Eros Now is playing its part. We have seen an increase of 200 per cent in paid subscribers on a daily basis and App Annie shows a 78 per cent increase in daily traffic on the platform,” Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein said.

    The platforms are experimenting with the pattern of content offering, too. ZEE5 has made some of its premium and new original content available for free, breaking down the paywall, the first player in the industry to do so. Amazon Prime Video has also rolled out a similar strategy making a selection of kids and family content available free to watch for all Amazon customers. Eros Now consumers can access two months of free Eros Now subscription if they subscribed prior to 31 March.

    While a social cause is undoubtedly driving such decisions, OTT platforms are going to see a jump in users even after the crisis is over. As more audiences are getting to taste the premium content, many of them will later opt for subscriptions. Other than that, if this lockdown continues for more than a month, a significant chunk of ad spend will also start moving towards OTT from TV as the latter will be bereft of fresh content for a long time. As brand-building activity has suddenly stopped, many brands will look at OTTs to reinitiate the spending given the recent boost in viewership. However, we will see more clarity in the space in due course of time.

    According to the FICCI-EY 2020 report, digital advertising grew to Rs 191.5 billion in 2019, 24 per cent higher than in 2018. Ad growth was driven by increased digital media consumption across social media, news, gaming, sports and entertainment, leading to a growth in sellable inventory.

    GCPL media services head Subha Sreenivasan Iyer said that the ability to target a specific set of consumers/cohorts is what makes sense for brands while choosing OTT platforms. She also added that there's a wide variety of content, multiple types of readily-available audience, enabling sharper targeting across OTTs.

    Loreal media head Neel Pandya pointed out the factors which drive brands to OTT platforms: brand safety, ability to drive full video views, content associations and partnerships that can go beyond advertising and more creative and out-of-the-box thinking.

    He added that apart from conventional video buying options, there are opportunities in OTT platforms that can be used to influence consumers across the journey. The key factors include building salience through associations and integrations, building advocacy by creating content and leveraging celebs that also have massive social media following. He added that OTTs help drive consumers to the brand's online shop through innovative formats designed to drive traffic.

    GroupM change planning and transformation principal consultant Vishal Jacob noted that while all the brands are depending on TV, they don’t mind expanding their spend to online video. He noted that when it comes to online video, predominantly there are two options –YouTube and OTT.  But, he added, OTT players provide full visibility to the ads and a stronger brand safety environment. According to Jacob, OTT advertising is largely dominated by CPG players like Colgate, Unilever, GSK, Pepsi, etc.

    GroupM India partnerships and trading president Ashwin Padmanabhan stated that as OTT platforms have started engaging a huge number of consumers, significant ad spend is moving there. He added that brands like ZEE5, Hotstar, Voot, SonyLIV are investing in technology, leading to higher engagement and brands are looking at capitalising that.

    “In essence, content on OTT is quite similar to TV in its audio-visual and storytelling but with a large scope of multi-level targeting by way of multiple cohorts. So categories that choose TV are a natural fit for OTTs as well,” GCPL’s Iyer added.

    However, there are a few existing challenges. As Indiantelevision.com spoke to experts, all of them mentioned the need for a single currency to measure ROI. “A single currency is the need of the hour,” as Iyer puts. GroupM’s Jacob also added that a lot of brands are now questioning the effectiveness of OTT platforms as it has been taken largely on words till now. 

    “Duplication among OTT and other digital platforms is very high. And currently, there is no major platform where we can do unified targeting reducing this duplication and bring about efficiencies,” Loreal’s Pandya echoed the tone. However, this challenge bothers linear TV, too. 

    “Another (challenge) is the cost-effectiveness; it’s important to remember that running longer films/edits may not really be a viable option given the costs,” Iyer added. Pandya said that keeping aside tentpole properties, the platforms still lack the scale that some of the large platforms have.

    However, leaving aside the challenges, ad spends on OTT are set to grow. According to experts, advertising on OTT will see an increase between 10 to 15 per cent in 2020 (the numbers may be revised after the COVID-19 impact is taken into account). The future looks more promising as 26 per cent growth is expected by 2025.

  • Lockdown binge-watching a boon for OTT

    Lockdown binge-watching a boon for OTT

    MUMBAI: This unprecedented crisis called COVID-19 has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for OTT platforms. With people locked indoors, the only refuge has been their smartphones, giving way to, possibly, the next wave of growth for OTT companies. New-age entertainers, such as ZEE5, MX Player, Voot, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, seem to be the obvious beneficiaries as people stay cocooned in the comforts of their homes for weeks.

    Will ad and subscription revenue go up along with the viewership?

    According to the BARC-Nielsen report, the time spent on smartphones, the main device to consume online content in India, has increased by almost three hours per week in week 2 of COVID-19 disruption. Time spent on video streaming apps also grew by 11 per cent which was driven by original series and movies. Hence data has proved what experts predicted at the beginning of the crisis.

    “There will be an impact on all industries. OTT is one of the few sectors which will have a silver lining. Bandwidth for data consumption for telcos will also shoot up. A lot of reality shows and soap-operas which are on a running model have suddenly dried up for short to mid-term and TV channels have to show alternate content. However, when you are confined at home, content consumption both on TV and OTT will go up dramatically. While the supply chain has certainly been affected, content creators and media players will have to be smart enough to see how they build their business continuity plan of content and how they maximise the increased TV or OTT viewership,” says PwC India media, entertainment and sports advisory, partner and leader Raman Kalra.

    SBICap Securities institutional equity research head Rajiv Sharma reaffirms that this is a great thing for the sector. He believes the industry will see a quantum jump in OTT viewership and consumption. Sharma adds that while TV channels are running out of content, OTT platforms have a lot of content which has not yet been consumed by all viewers. According to him, some platforms like Netflix can always have more English content. He, however, reminds that if the lockdown gets prolonged to three to six months, then OTT platforms too will struggle to churn out fresh content.

    Sharma adds that movies can play a role here. Those that were slated for a theatrical release, but had to be called off due to the current situation, can be released digitally through OTT platforms. Irrfan Khan-starrer Angrezi Medium had a short run in theatres before it decided to make its digital debut on Disney+ Hotstar.

    Kalra believes that the situation could even boost subscription for OTT platforms. As more people consume content, some of them will get converted into paid subscribers, bringing in revenue to the digital medium. Sharma also believes that these new subscribers will rake in the moolah for OTT platforms once the situation stabilises.

    The next 90 days will witness growth for the space, according to Sharma. Ad spends will shift to digital, but at a lower rate than the normal. According to him, overall ad sales combining TV and digital may decline by 15-20 per cent if COVID-19 disrupts the business for more than 30 days.

    “With this surge in traffic, telecom operators are struggling to provide adequate bandwidth. When bandwidth consumption reaches the threshold, the user experience gets affected. At this point, companies wouldn’t want to show ads because that will put an extra burden. Currently, ad-dollar is down and no brands want to push them. The only ones that can break through are those that can create relevant content around COVID-19,” says DigitalKites senior vice president Amit Lall says.

    The promise of innovative offerings

    Eyeing opportunities, some platforms have opened up their premium content for free viewing during this period. Some others are trying to push their content to television or partnering with payment gateways. These are inorganic growth mechanisms that are being targetted.

    Amazon Prime Video has brought out a special catalogue of children and family content, available for free; and ZEE5 has also made an array of premium content available on the AVOD side. Eros Now is offering a free two-month subscription. Three of Alt Balaji's shows are being run on Zee TV.

    While media planners laud the social cause behind these moves, they also mention that this is a big opportunity for the SVoD players to get consumers to sample premium content. Media professional Lalit Agrawal says that this sampling will help consumers make an informed choice about the quality of content when they would want to subscribe in the future after the turmoil is over.

    Lall says, “For two to three months, consumers will get to taste the content and since everybody has a sizable inventory in terms of content, once viewers are habituated, they can stick. These people who are now getting into the wheel will move up to pay.”

    Indeed, this phase, caused by a sudden change in lifestyle, is scripting a new chapter for online content with more consumers adapting to streaming services and existing ones increasing the uptake and sampling more platforms. Both AVOD and SVOD platforms will try to convince new floating users with not only great content but also volume. 

  • The top shows on AVOD services

    The top shows on AVOD services

    MUMBAI: It’s been raining premium originals on streaming services such as ZEE5, Hotstar, Netflix, Hoichoi, Arre, ALTBalaji and MX Player. The genres have been varied, but what makes the shows stand out is the quality of storytelling, production values, and casting. The good ones have a cinematic quality about them. Some of them hide behind pay walls and some are on free services, dependent on advertising. But there’s no doubt they are generating buzz amongst subscribers and viewers – some more than the other.

    What’s also working well on a handful of broadcaster-linked streaming services is the catch-up shows which either debut on their OTTs or on television. Some of these get larger audiences and watch times than do the premium originals made for OTT.

    They also serve to bring viewers back almost daily to watch the release of new episodes or catch up with the ones they have missed. Most of the top notch premium originals are on SVOD services, which release data when they want to.

    Choosing the most popular ones without any metrics or data to rely on is therefore  a challenge. However, we at indiantelevision.com took a shot at drawing up a list of shows on advertising video on demand (AVoD) platforms that we think made an impression and were a favourite amongst the OTT-bingers.

    The list is not definitive, is in random order, and it is subjective without any malice intended towards those who do not feature in it. Read on to find out.

    Kumkum Bhagya :

    Kumkum Bhagya is a ZEE TV drama series about a star-crossed couple Abhi and Pragya, who are now separated. Ranbeer falls in love with their daughter Prachi, while their other daughter Rhea vies for his attention. The show with a very high BARC rating has been running for the past five years on television, but it attracts viewers on Zee TV’s ZEE5 service as well.

    Thinkistan:

    Made by Rajnish Lall of Jigsaw Pictures, it is the story of the Indian advertising world in an era when the industry was just beginning to stand out. Created and written by Paddy, set in an ad agency in the 1990s, it chronicles the journey of two advertising professionals in an entertaining manner. It also touches upon one of the most prevalent problems which was deep-rooted in the industry – inherent bias against languages other than English. India’s answer to Mad Men has already launched its second season too.

    Kundali Bhagya:

    Kundali Bhagya is a ZEE TV drama television series starring Shraddha Arya, Dheeraj Dhoopar and Manjit Joura. The story revolves around the two sisters of Pragya, from Kumkum Bhagya. Her sisters are Preeta and Shrishti who discover the existence of their mother Sarla and sister Pragya, after their father’s death. The sisters try to unite with their mother and sister.

    Big Boss:

    The saga of friendship, betrayal, love, bonding, feud, laugher, tears in a house full of celebrities – the formula to keep the audience glued to a show even in its thirteenth edition. Big Boss changed the meaning of reality shows in the country since its first season. The star-studded contestant list, and the association of Salman Khan with the show for more than a decade have favoured it to sustain the excitement, engagement among its fans. While the 100-day reality show is being aired on Colors, it gets millions of viewers on Viacom18’s digital arm VOOT as well.  

    Sembaruthi:

    Sembaruthi is a ZEE Tamil romantic drama TV series about circumstances that force Parvathy and Aditya, the son of an affluent woman, Akhilandeshwari, to get married secretly. But will the shrewd Akhilandeshwari, who has high hopes for her son, learn their secret? If you are not able to watch it on TV, you can definitely go to ZEE5 to find the answer.

    Queen:

    The MX Player original Queen has really ruled the web-entertainment space after it was launched in December. Shakti Seshadri, the central character of the web-series, bears strong resemblances to the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. In the course of portraying a majestic political leader, the narrative does not glorify the character. The realistic emotional tonality of the story makes viewers connect to it. Along with a strong storyline, Queen offers a brilliant screenplay to from its  writers.

    Fuh se Fantasy:

    Fuh se Fantasy , the VOOT original is about the delight in modern relationships that dare to explore their deepest, quirkiest and most exciting desires. The 10-episode series which started streaming on VOOT last year features popular faces such as Karan Wahi, Plabita Borthakur,Naveen Kasturia, Anshuman Malhotra , Gaurav Pandey and Anupriya Goenka. The millennial audience will certainly connect to the anthology as it takes a look at the tabooed and unsaid desires.

    Feet up with the Stars:

    You may like to peep into the lives of your favourite celebrity but all the quintessential interviews make you wane. VOOT has a brilliant alternative, Feet up with the Stars  – a chat show which has caught word of mouth for its intimate and personal conversation. The celebrities here talk more about themselves in a personal and cosy set up rather than taking a dig on others in the B-town. After its first season cut through the clutter of chat shows, the one of its kind chat show came back with the second season last year.

    Agga Bai Sasubai:

    Agga Bai Sasubai on ZEE Marathi tells the story of the loving bond Asawari shares with her daughter-in-law, Shubhra. The women stick together during good times and bad and help each other face the challenges life throws at them. A refreshing and unique take on saas-bahu relationships is also available anytime anywhere on ZEE5.

    Rani Rashmoni:

    Rani Rashmoni is a Bengali television period drama series starring Ditipriya Roy in the lead. The show on Zee Bangla revolves around the life and struggle of Rani Rashmoni, widow of Babu Rajachandra Das of Janbazar, Kolkata. She took charge of the zamindari and business, after her husband's death and proved herself as an effective leader. The show has created a buzz in the Bengali market and has become a part of daily routine in many Bengali households.  If you are keen to look back at the life of a fierce lady of the colonial era, it can be watched on ZEE5 as well.

    Kalyana Vaibhogam:

    Kalyana Vaibhogam is a ZEE Telugu drama television series that also lures viewers to ZEE5 platform too. The Suryadevara Family is cursed and the first wife of all their first sons are bound to be chomped by the jaws of death. While Nithya and Jai, the current heir of the family, fall in love, Nithya’s mother is aware of the curse and replaces her daughter with a lookalike, Manga, an innocent village girl. How things fall in place between Jai, Manga and Nithya forms the crux of the story.

    Hello Mini:

    Someone has been watching, following every move of a girl living alone in Mumbai. Does it sound terrifying? MX Player’s thriller drama series Hello Mini revolves around her life. The protagonist Rivanah Bannerjee who moved from Kolkata to Mumbai seems to have everything at the place in the beginning – a good job, loving boyfriend but as the story goes on her life also goes topsy-turvy. The mystery around the stalker, however, prevails throughout the series making it binge-worthy.

    Gattimela:

    Gattimela is a drama television series on ZEE Kannada starring Sudha Narasimharaju, Rakshith Gowda and others. The story revolves around Vedanth and Amulya, 2 people with contradicting personalities, who are constantly at loggerheads whenever they meet. Whether both of them will turn their sour relationship into a loving one forms the rest of the story. The local users love sampling the show on ZEE5 also. 

  • OTT platforms should focus more on retention: VOOT’s Akash Banerji

    OTT platforms should focus more on retention: VOOT’s Akash Banerji

    MUMBAI: As more and more users are flocking to over-the-top (OTT) platforms, the contenders in the race are getting aggressive about acquiring new users. Viacom18’s digital arm VOOT has garnered 100 million monthly active users amid this fierce competition. The three-year-old streaming platform is, however, focusing more on retention of users, engagement on the platform and consumer life-time value (CLTV).

    In a media briefing, VOOT Advertising Video Platform (AVoD) business head Akash Banerji stated that the sharp focus on driving constant engagement and reach through partnerships, product and tech innovations, and content strategy has lead to the success. Along with reaching 100 million MAU target, the platform said it's first in terms of engagement (46 minutes) and frequency of visits according to App Annie data.

    Elaborating on the importance of customer retention, Banerji pointed out that 90 per cent of consumers who install an app on day one, do not use or install the app on day 30. He also added that digital video business is about driving habit like TV.

    Banerji who emphasised on good watch time also spoke of a different metric to pay attention to. “Watch-time still is the only story half-told. In this new era, the story is clearly going to be about what is driving CLTV. What is indeed driving the value I am getting out from a consumer versus the cost I am incurring to dish a certain piece of content on my platform. Till the timing I am driving higher CLTV, I am taking tangible steps to make profitability for my business,” he commented.

    After the media briefing we caught up with Banerji for a short chat to delve deeper into the platform’s strategy. Here are the edited excerpts from the interview:

    What are the challenges for consumer retention on platform? How does VOOT ensure that users keep using the platform?

    Retention happens at three levels -content, product experience and technology. A platform which has a rich roster of content that can at different points in time appeal to the varying and changing tastes of consumers has a much higher propensity to be able to retain consumer. Higher the chances a platform offering all your needs and hence a platform which has a massive catalogue of good quality content always in a much better position.

    Second comes experience. You have content but if you are unable to help the user to discover that content, your story is already gone. Now, if your content is there, discoverability is there, you are bombarding him with too many ads, consumer will be pissed. Experience is great, content is great, minimal ads are there but on your 3g phone it does not work, your app us not compatible with it or keeps on buffering, streaming is not great then also consumer will leave.

    So, across these three facets is what eventually drives retention- content, UI,UX, and third is the tech part.

    Across each of these three things, what we have built is good balance of reality shows, drama shows, big roster of content across languages, across audience segment. On UI, UX side we have launched a new version, a V3, refreshed app. At the backend, we are building our own-house expertise.

    What is your strategy to reach the target profitability?

    I think two things we need to do that- to look at each and every user segment, the value that I get from him, value basis the demand from advertisers to chase that audience and what is the content cost, marketing cost, streaming cost, product cost to service that user. If I can do this for one user, 100 users, 1 million, 100 million users, then I exactly know that each and every user at any given point in time is giving me as a value and what is the cost I am incurring to service him. If the cost is high, then I am okay to let go of that consumer. If the user is very very valuable then I will do anything to get him on that platform. The more I am able to drive value higher than my cost, then I can drive profit.

    What is the current ARPU of users on the platform?

    I am looking at CLTV as the whole foundation stone. From the marketing point of view, for marketing cost point of view, my CLTV is higher than marketing cost.

    What will be other key areas in 2020?

    We will keep focusing on driving more revenue, streamlining cost, partnerships, regional content. This year was about big high revenue, big milestone in user, watch time. The story for next year is about not just user and watch-time but all of it eventually leading to profitability where specific intervention on marketing, on product, ad sales are supposed to drive towards that.  

    How are you taking decisions of commissioning or licensing content?

    User is going to be at centre of this. Product, marketing, tech, content revolves around him. Either it can get me a lot of new users which are not there on my platform today or to my existing audiences it will drive higher views.

    Did you feel the heat of economic slowdown as brands cut down on their marketing spend?

    It has affected in a way that people have realised that this proportion of money spending on content and marketing for a sustainable period of time is not going to help the cause. What you need is a very clear focus on hardcore business metrics. And hence I feel the debate is going to be about retention as opposed to acquisition.

  • Paying OTT subs to reach 30-35 mn by 2021, only 2x growth in ad revenue

    Paying OTT subs to reach 30-35 mn by 2021, only 2x growth in ad revenue

    MUMBAI: Digital media is set to overtake filmed entertainment in India this year in terms of revenue. While TV will retain its pole position as the largest segment, digital will also overtake print by 2021 to reach $5.1 billion, according to a report from FICCI and EY report on ‘How a billion screens can turn India into a media and entertainment powerhouse’.

    In this overwhelming growth of digital media, telecom operators will be the future MSOs. As per the report, while 60 per cent of total consumption today is through telco bundles, it is estimated to grow to over 75 per cent by 2021 and cater to over 375 million subscribers. Smartphone penetration is just 36 per cent in 2018, leaving massive room for growth. 30 per cent of phone time is dedicated to entertainment.

    “While watch time could grow 3 to 3.5x over the next five years, resulting in a massive inventory growth, advertising revenues will grow only around 2x. CPMs will correspondingly fall during the period for non-premium inventory,” the report added.

    Along with growth in advertising revenues, subscription revenue is also projected to grow. The report predicts 30-35 million paying OTT video subscribers and 6-7 million paying audio subscribers by 2021.

    “Digital segment will benefit from the growing popularity of e-sports, AR/VR technologies, online gaming and fantasy sports, all of which are “Generation Z” products,” it added. “With its massive base of internet users, India’s digital media market is attractive to global streaming platforms looking to capitalise on the country’s fast-growing digital consumption. This is especially true as competitively priced 4G services become more widely available.”

    The report went on to mention that despite the growth in digital media consumption, piracy threat is
    “likely to restrict full monetisation of content as well as large-scale acceptance of SVoD in India”. It mentioned, “Indian market is highly price-sensitive and is driven majorly by advertising revenues. Several sectors such as print, digital, television and radio derive major share of their revenues from advertising.”

    The report highlighted that consolidation will be needed for platform profitability as contest costs will remain high as each platform produces or acquires content to meet its needs. It also added that post the new tariff order regime, OTT platforms are sure to benefit due to increased parity between television and OTT content choice and costs.