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Tag: Bengali OTT

  • Hoichoi’s first independent property Tangra Blues debuts on the platform

    Hoichoi’s first independent property Tangra Blues debuts on the platform

    KOLKATA: Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi’s first independent property, Tangra Blues, premiered on the platform on Saturday a month after its theatrical release while simultaneously being available in multiplexes.

    Directed by National Award-winning director Supriyo Sen, along with National Award-winning cinematographer Ranjan Palit, and music director Nabarun Ghosh, the film is an underdog story of a band that refuses to die and rewrite its destiny through music. 

    Ahead of its World Premiere on Hoichoi, Tangra Blues had opened to an overwhelming response and rave reviews in theatres a month back on 15 April. The film is inspired by the lives and struggles of Sanjay Mandol & group, Kolkata’s most popular waste band group, who went on to become a runner-up in a popular talent reality show in the country.

    The film stars renowned actors Parambrata Chatterjee and Madhumita along with Saimul Alam, Oishani Dey, and Atmadeep Ghosh among others.

    Hoichoi revenue & strategy VP Soumya Mukherjee said, “With our huge bank of World Premiere movies and Original Shows, we are prepared to provide entertainment to our user base even at a time like this. Tangra Blues being our first independent property, we are excited for our users across the globe to enjoy it from the safety and comfort of their homes. At Hoichoi, we endeavour to bring great content and latest releases on our service for our users to experience.”

  • Hoichoi aims to double its size and revneue

    Hoichoi aims to double its size and revneue

    KOLKATA: From the beginning of its journey, the Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi has relied on a subscription-based model to run its business. While naysayers used to say Indian audience would not pay for content, the faith on people’s will to pay for good content has paid off the streaming service. With an impressive subscriber base of 13 million, it aims to double its size and revenue for the next few years as every year the addressable market will increase.

    The platform has always talked about leveraging the diaspora audience. It appears to be a perfect strategy for it as 40 per cent of its revenue coming from international markets. Bangladesh has obviously a very big market for it but what is more interesting is it has seen many subscribers coming from Japan, Sweden, as Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta shared.

    Read more news on Hoichoi

    It is now experimenting with other business models like sachet pricing. The ‘Carrier Billing’ will make it easier to buy a weekly or monthly subscription by paying with mobile balance. While it will be launched soon in the Middle East and Bangladesh, Mohta said it would open up access to blue-collar workers. He also added that the platform is making some free content available soon.

    According to Mohta, Hoichoi’s subscribers come from both urban and rural areas. However, he mentioned that the latter holds the next big opportunity for Hoichoi. A number of new users have come to the internet for the first time during this lockdown who are now consuming free content on platforms like YouTube. He is of the belief that they will convert to premium content at some point of time and the lockdown has made that process faster.

    Read more news on OTT business in India

    Hoichoi entered the market in 2017 with very witty campaign #Hoyejak. As it has unveiled a stellar content line up on its third anniversary, it will again launch a campaign during Durga Puja. From October to March, the platform plans to launch at least three originals every month including one marquee content.

    It is not only taking its content game one step ahead but investing in technology as well. The platform has also revealed today its new UI/UX design. Mohta said they have incorporated user feedback as well as an internal assessment as technology has updated rapidly in the last three years. They are also planning to launch a windows 10 application soon.

    “We are still at a very nascent stage. We have not been able to scratch the surface of how many people we may get to pay. That market will grow organically. I think we will be able to encash that growth,” Mohta stated.

  • Hoichoi achieves a subscriber base of 13 million

    Hoichoi achieves a subscriber base of 13 million

    KOLKATA: The leading Bengali OTT platform, Hoichoi, has completed three years in the industry with its grand launch in 2017. It has achieved a subscriber base of 13 million with 40 per cent of its revenue coming from international customers. It has also doubled its revenue in the past year.

    With the vision of "entertaining people in their local language” and having over 60 Originals and 50 World Digital Premieres, Hoichoi has unveiled a fresh slate of 25 new Originals, two first day first show films and multiple world digital premieres for the upcoming year.

    As a Hoichoi subscriber spends 50 minutes a day on the platform, the OTT player is always keen on bringing the best of technology for its customers. It has revealed a sneak peek into its new UI/UX (user interface/user experience) built which is seamless and easy to use for the customers.

    Read more news on Hoichoi

    A parental control feature will soon be added, which comes with Hoichoi being among the top 15 OTT platforms of India who have signed up for a unified self-regulation process with IAMAI for classification and demarcation of content available on all video-on-demand apps and websites in India. 

    Having customers over 100 countries including places like Japan, Sweden, Argentina, Iceland and more, Hoichoi has also announced Carrier Billing. It is an affordable way to consume content in the form of sache pricing and to buy a weekly or monthly subscription by paying with their mobile balance. This will be soon available for users in Bangladesh and Middle East. There’s also, subscription bundling, specifically for customers in India with JioFibre and Bangladesh with its top telecommunication network. 

  • Content catalogue, brand awareness major achievements of Hoichoi: Vishnu Mohta

    Content catalogue, brand awareness major achievements of Hoichoi: Vishnu Mohta

    MUMBAI: The opportunities for OTT players to flourish in the regional market may be huge. But challenges still keep players out. In the Bengali field, we have SVF-backed Hoichoi, nearing its one year anniversary.
    At the new juncture, it is strengthening its presence in other potential markets with enough Bengali speaking population. Hoichoi(http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/hoichoi-to-double-original-content-to-100-hours-this-year-180521) co-founder Vishnu Mohta sees its content catalogue and brand awareness as the biggest achievements in the first year.
    Bangladesh and the UAE are two markets Hoichoi is looking at for international expansion due to the Bengali speaking crowd as well as diaspora. The apps have been present there for a while but awareness is being done now.
    Mohta thinks it has not done enough local activity, local marketing and personalisation to enable people to know about the platform. To get the pulse of the market he mentions the importance of proper local teams. “We have got an office in Bangladesh and already recruited a few people over there. We plan to do the same thing in the Middle East. So a combination of our own team, the right set of partners will help Hoichoi to reach as many people as possible in that local market,” he said.
    The head of SVF’s new media section also mentions the need for on-ground activation, specific targeting, and influencer marketing in local markets. The two new markets demand different strategies. For Bangladesh, he thinks producing local content is a smart move, while for UAE they plan to work more on marketing, distribution. In UAE they want to be more precise, have local press releases, take help from biggest telcos for larger data and communication network.

    For Bangladeshi market, it has already announced Dhaka Metro, a show directed by renowned Amitabh Reza Chaudhuri. Though Mohta did not reveal too much, he indicated that it might come up with more such shows. Accepting the fact that Bengals from the two sides of the border have different taste in content, he says the uniformity in language will let the problem not be critical.
    In the one year of launch, Mohta realised the difference in Hoichoi not being available in Bengali. The lack of pay per view option was another issue. For a platform backed by SVF, having an option to watch movies on a-la-carte basis could bring huge money.
    Now Hoichoi wants to take its content to other language speakers through dubbed versions. Though the plan seems very optimistic, it’s still in the ideation stage. Dubbed versions could be available on platforms like Airtel TV. After testing the water with a selected number of people, it will take it to a larger level.
    Byomkesh, Dupur Thakurpo, Japani Toy, 6 and Holy Faak have emerged as the most popular shows in the last year which are returning for season two. Among the 30 originals, most of them will be released for binge watching while few, based on the nature of the show, will be launched in two-three episodes together.

    Last year, Hoichoi(http://www.indiantelevision.com/iworld/over-the-top-services/bengali-ott-players-prioritise-market-growth-over-competition-180705) created a buzz in the market with #Hoyejak campaign during Durga Puja. On 1 October, the platform is set to launch another campaign on the same lines to reap benefits from the festive season of Durgapuja again. The platform has a remarkable trend to create witty hashtag campaigns which go viral easily. “We are called Hoichoi(non-stop excitement) , if we don’t get Hoichoi, we are doing injustice,” Mohta says in a light mood giving credit to the in house social media team for the campaign.
    While SVF’s magnitude in terms of financial profit is unquestionable, the young digital arm of it has a long way to go break even. Mohta says it brings a new energy to the parent company.
    “SVF, the leader in this business, has been in the market for 22 years. We are still very young. It infuses that energy and newness to the overall ecosystem allowing us to constantly innovate and renew our content strategy. A film might release every month and Hoichoi has to be updated every day, every week. So that vibe transcends to SVF as a team and keeps the DNA very healthy today,” he commented.

  • Hoichoi to introduce pay-per-view, offline payment method

    Hoichoi to introduce pay-per-view, offline payment method

    MUMBAI: SVF, the big name in Bengali entertainment industry, last year launched its Bengali OTT platform Hoichoi riding the wave of digital growth.  In the second season of its journey, it is expanding its footprint into Bangladesh and UAE market. Though dependent on the SVOD model since birth, it will now introduce pay per view model as well. Moreover, in a first of its kind move in the industry, it has launched Hoichoi Top Up card which will be available in nearest retailers or upcoming Hoichoi kiosks. Given the preference for cash payment, this is an offline payment method.

    Along with a new payment method and business plans, it has the ambition to add more than 100 hours of original content in the upcoming year. The new content pipeline includes 30 original shows, some of which are second seasons of popular web series already aired on the platform. While SVF, the parent company has a rich history in the Bengali film industry, the digital venture aims to add 12 original films.

    Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta mentioned the high user engagement of the app though kept mum on subscriber numbers. He claims the average time spent in-app is one hour per day. It is not certain how the company has been able to get its return but the awareness of Hoichoi has been created.

    Like other OTT platforms, Hoichoi is also seeing traffic from tier-II and III cities. In addition to that, almost 40 per cent of the audience comes from non-urban areas and Hoichoi director and co-founder Mahendra Soni mentions this as the rationale behind introducing offline payment method.

    While Bengali industry makes many good films, the natives living outside Bengal don’t get the chance to watch them in theatres often. The plan of digital premiere is aimed to bridge this gap. “In yet another first in the Bengali entertainment space, we are now introducing the ‘pay per view’ feature as part of the TVoD model. We will be releasing movies on Hoichoi very soon after their theatrical release and the viewers will have the option to pay for the content on an a-la-carte basis,” Hoichoi director and co-founder Shrikant Mohta said.

    A partnership with Airtel TV in India, Robi in Bangladesh and Etisalat and du in UAE have also been struck.

    There is also a plan for a Bengali app and website interface making it more comfortable for users. Simultaneously, Hoichoi wants to dub the shows into other languages like Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. To position it more strongly as a brand, the platform also start merchandising.