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Tag: AVOD

  • India’s OTT paid video subscribers pegged at 1.3 million: Frost and Sullivan

    India’s OTT paid video subscribers pegged at 1.3 million: Frost and Sullivan

    MUMBAI: OTT (over-the-top) was the buzzword in the Indian media and entertainment sector in 2015 with multiple players firming up their game plan to tap into the lucrative and booming digital space. With the emergence of numerous OTT service providers in the past two years coupled with the entry of Netflix in India, the space is poised to grow at a fast pace in the years ahead.

    According to Frost and Sullivan’s market insight on the OTT video market in India, there are about 66 million unique connected video viewers in India every month, and about 1.3 million OTT paid video subscribers. Growth in the space can be attributed to increase in smart-phones penetration as well as the improvement in Internet speed in India.

    Despite facing several challenges today, the OTT market growth will be fuelled by various disruptive innovations in technology and business models over the next five years, as per Frost and Sullivan. 

    “With an increase in the use of smart devices in India, content owners and aggregators are using non-TV platforms to improve reach and generate revenues through subscription and advertisement. However, it’s hard to woo the Indian consumer. Success in OTT video distribution will depend on the ability to offer variety of content, new content, at a reasonable price and impeccable user experience,” said Frost and Sullivan research director Vidya Subramanian Nath. 

    While today a few broadcasters such as the Star TV Network and Zee Entertainment are driving services as well as viewership for OTT video with Hotstar and DittoTV respectively, over the next five years, there will be more broadcasters as well as cable and DTH operators expanding their OTT services. However, inadequate bandwidth speeds and the incumbency of YouTube in the market have challenged market participants.

    “India may have over 225 million Internet users, but for consuming video, one needs high-speed broadband access and only about 35 per cent of these users have access to it, informed Nath. “OTT video subscription numbers fluctuate dramatically every month. We find that advertising video on demand (AVOD) is the most preferred mode of OTT video delivery in India currently,” she said.

    Among content types, there is an increasing demand for short duration video content. This is primarily attributable to the average low Internet speeds and changing preferences of many Indian viewers. It is common to find online viewership peak during major sports events like the IPL, elections, or breaking news.

    Platforms such as YouTube offer opportunities for independent content creators who can publish their videos online without the hassles of negotiation with large networks. Now, with the entry of Netflix in India, independent professional content production will continue to grow. Broadcasters who have their own content or video platforms with a variety of publishers are driving the market. While Viacom18 is all set to launch its service called VOOT next month, Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms is also burning the midnight oil to launch its OTT platform – ALT Digital by June this year. Balaji Telefilms CEO Sameer Nair has huge expectations from the platform and expects ALT Digital to have a whopping four million paid subscribers globally by 2020. 

    With substantial investment being pumped in by companies like by Star India (Hotstar), Sony Pictures Networks India (Sony Liv), Zee Enterprises (dittoTV), Eros International (ErosNow) and Singtel, Sony & Warner (HOOQ) amongst others, the competition in the OTT space is set to intensify with the key differentiators being user experience and variety of content offering.

  • Ditto TV aims to double revenues this fiscal; plans more original shows

    Ditto TV aims to double revenues this fiscal; plans more original shows

    MUMBAI: It’s gotten late off the blocks but it sure is looking to sprint ahead and fast. We are talking about the Zee network’s digital over the top (OTT) offering Ditto TV.

     

    Zee Digital Convergence (ZDC) Chief Executive Officer Debashish Ghosh told PTI over the weekend  that his goal is to double his company’s revenue from around Rs 30 crore to Rs 60 crore this year, with almost 95 per cent of it coming courtesy subscription.

     

    With 1.8 million subscribers on a monthly basis and almost 60 percent of them being repeat viewers, Ditto TV is present in 167 countries. Most of its consumption is however happening in India. With the exception of Star and Sun group channels, Ditto TV offers 156 channels across 13 languages. Ghosh further told PTI that almost 30 per cent of Ditto TV subscribers consume live TV.

     

    ZDC  has invested around $5 million in Ditto TV over the past three to four years, Ghosh disclosed. That is slated to go up in the coming months as it starts pumping in money into original content. The first of these is a music based show called Life is Music; other programmes are being planned in-house as well as with outside producers.

     

    Clearly, the OTT original content space is seeing a lot of action.

     

    Netflix is slated to launch in India by mid next year and invest top dollar in cutting edge content. Star India’s Hotstar already has an average of 20 million users every month. It has paid a fat commissioning fee to stand up comedy group All India Bakchod to produce shows running over 20 episodes. Then it has been premiering some of its big-ticket Bollywood movies and TV shows on Hotstar.

     

    Entertainment major Eros International recently announced that the registered user base of its OTT service Eros Now has grown to 30 million as of 30 September.  It has ordered six new original shows which are slated to debut soon and feature big name stars.

     

    MSM Media’s Sony Liv, on the other hand, notches up an average of 5-7 million monthly users, and is also getting into OTT content.  It is experimenting with a fiction show titled  Love Bytes. Then the Viacom18 group is also pacing on the sidelines, gearing up to launch its own OTT service under the leadership of Gaurav Gandhi.

     

    Ghosh, while speaking at IDOS (organized by Indiantelevision.com and MPA in September) said that the hyper activity is good for the OTT sector as a whole.

     

    He further  told PTI, that India is expected to have 500 million Internet users by 2017, out of which 382 million would be smartphone users, 70 per cent whom would be 3G/4G customers. And that is what is exciting the Zee TV network to further invest in Ditto TV.  Add to that the prediction that almost 60 per cent of India’s population is going to below 40 by 2020, and that both wired and wireless broadband infrastructure will be in place. That’s the positive side.

     

    “But the fact is that the OTT players will find the going challenging,” says a media observer. “At least until the numbers really scale up and bandwidth constraints and costs fall. Indian consumers are chary of paying for content, apart from cricket. Hence, Hotstar has taken the AVOD route (advertising video on demand). But advertisers and agencies have been reluctant to buy into the medium; at least at prices Star has envisaged. Eros Now has announced a multiple revenue stream offering which includes advertising, transactional (TVOD) and subscription video on demand (SVOD), with differential pricing for Indian and international consumers. Ditto TV is primarily SVOD and its growth has been limited so far. Each of them has to find a robust and sustainable revenue model.”

  • Balaji Telefilms targets OTT as core business in 5 years’ time

    Balaji Telefilms targets OTT as core business in 5 years’ time

    BENGALURU: Just a couple of days back at the Indian Digital Operators Summit (IDOS) 2015 organised by Indiantelevision.com and Media Partners Asia, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) principal advisor SK Gupta said that ‘the customer was king’ and suggested that players in the broadcast industry ecosystem look at over-the-top (OTT) platforms to cater to the consumers need.

     

    Taking a cue from the current ‘over the top’ mood in the Indian broadcast industry, Balaji Telefilms Ltd is planning to make digital B2C (business to consumer) as its core business in five years’ time. This strategy will be driven via its own content as well as curated content.

     

    As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, this business will be housed under Balaji’s subsidiary company ALT Digital, which was re-launched in Q2-2016 with renewed vigour.

     

    With a three-pronged growth strategy covering television, films and digital B2C, Balaji Telefilms is looking at becoming a diversified media company. The most important component of the company’s growth strategy is to diversify into new opportunities via digital B2C. Balaji’s plans are built around the emerging changes in the consumers’ viewing habits.

     

    Through ALT Digital, Balaji plans to offer original and curated premium content on its own Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) and advertising -Video on Demand (AVOD) platform across multiple genres and languages to garner a share of the online mobile and video market. The subscription driven platforms on ALT mobile app and other connected devices as well as the ALT website are slated for a Beta launch in Q3-2016 (quarter ending 31 December, 2016). Additionally, technical development, content production, promo launch and pre-launch marketing is also being targeted in the same quarter. The formal launch is being targeted for Q4-2016 (quarter ending 31 March, 2016).

     

    While Balaji has been a content company, it seldom has had the chance to interact directly with the consumers. Now with the digital foray, not only will it have an opportunity to connect with consumers but will also be the owner of the digital IP unlike in television content where the IP of the show belongs to the broadcaster.

     

    According to the company, a majority of content available online are either re-runs or DIY, which in turn leaves a big opportunity to offer original web-series for internet audience.

     

    The business model that Balaji has chalked out for digital is subscription based ‘freemium’ approach as the primary source of revenue. Revenue from advertising, licensing and sponsorship will be the secondary source of revenue.

     

    Targeting an urban and semi-urban audience group that comprises smartphone internet users active on YouTube and social media in the 19-34 age group, Balaji plans to use global ‘best of breed’ technology to ride on the imminent explosion of internet bandwidth in the country. Viewers will have streaming and offline viewing options, delivered over multiple screens. 

     

    The company’s strategy is to churn out original, edgy, never-seen-before content in India created especially for the OTT platform.

     

    Balaji Telefilms is in the process of putting together a skilled team. Additionally, a robust implementation plan is being executed to help realise the opportunity and meet its goals.

     

    Apart from its digital focus, Balaji Telefilms’ other two areas of focus are its existing businesses of television content and film production. On the television front, the company, which has had Hindi fiction as its mainstay until now, is planning to foray into regional and non-fiction content by making selective risk-reward plays. On the other hand, for films Balaji’s strategy is to scale moderately and become profitable.