ITV

Tag: Bollywood

  • Disney India’s Captain America rings in 70 brands; raises Rs 150 crore

    Disney India’s Captain America rings in 70 brands; raises Rs 150 crore

    MUMBAI: You know you are doing something right when you beat your own record and that is exactly what Disney India has done for their chef d’oeuvre — Captain America: Civil War, which is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The studio has gone ahead and signed media and merchandising deals with 70 brands, one upping their previous record of 50 brand associations each for Star Wars: The Force Awakens  and Avengers: Age of Ultron.

    “For the India market, we have a record number of 70 brands collaborating for Captain America: Civil War, which is a testament to its growing popularity. This is by far the highest for any Hollywood or Bollywood movie,” asserted Disney India, consumer products VP and head Abhishek Maheshwari.

    Disney India’s consumer product business has associated with a wide variety of brands in categories such as apparel, toys, FMCG, ecommerce, accessories, finance and more. To make the most of these partnerships, the brands too are leaving no stone unturned in promoting the film.

    When asked why brand association with a movie like Captain America is a good opportunity for an eCommerce brand, Amazon.in category management VP Samir Kumar replied, “In the past, we have  experienced the excitement from  fans who flock to the Amazon.in marketplace and love to shop for their favourite movie merchandise as the movie readies for release. Disney movies has ardent fans, so we look forwards to making their shopping experience delightful this time too.”

    As per a source close to the development, around Rs 150 crore have been raised through these associations, with Rs 35-40 crore coming from  ATL and BTL promotions (across five brands, Lifebuoy, Axe, Nearbuy, Dell and Audi) and Rs 100-110 crore through retail sales value.

    Disney India claims that it is the growing popularity of superhero based Hollywood blockbusters in the country that is attracting brands to pump in huge amount of ATL & BTL spends. The Jungle Book’shumongous success in the Indian box office has also solidified the brands’ faith in the popularity of international movies.

    “Over the years, the Hindi audience for Marvel’s movies has grown rapidly and we are doing a lot of promotions for Marvel fans also,” shared Disney India studios VP Amrita Pandey, adding that to make the movie more relatable to the Indian audience Varun  Dhawan was the voice actor for Captain America in the movie.

    “We build our franchises through our content across Films, Television and Digital. We have a long term vision for our franchises and in the case of Marvel, we have our movie slate chalked out for the next five years, which our partners value,” Maheshwari added.

    Some of these innovative associations include, Jack & Jones’ apparel range inspired by ‘Civil War’, ICICI Bank’s co-branded Civil War Expression debit cards, Funskool’s latest range of action figures, playsets, board games and role-play items of Marvel Super Heroes.

    “Captain America: Civil War is the most anticipated movie of this year, packed with Super Heroes, making it a visual delight for fans. With the immensely strong affinity for Marvel Super Heroes, toy lines across key categories such as collectibles, role-play and construction will be the main drivers to get the excitement going. We have launched a wide range of Hasbro products including figurines and role-play sets, Lego construction sets, as well as board games for kids and young adults”, Funskool sales and marketing SVP R Jeswant quipped on their association with Disney India.

    Apart from this Lifebuoy has released 46 lakhs packs inspired by Captain America: Civil War & Iron Man movie art. Axe too is promoting their variants of Champion and Maverick with Captain America and Iron Man respectively, while Lanmart is carrying out a massive in store promotion for brand Captain America.

    While Marvel fans eagerly await 6 May for the movie’s India release to enjoy their favourite superheroes or to  flock the theaters for the stellar starcast — Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner,  and many more — brands ride high on the ‘Civil War’ wave.

  • Unravelling Housefull Action’s strategy

    Unravelling Housefull Action’s strategy

    MUMBAI: One of the most loved film genres across geographies was action was the thought that prompted the launch of a new movie channel – Housefull Action. Launched on 21 February this year, the channel specifically caters to the action hungry audience that is constantly looking for more. The channel says that it will be showcasing the best of content from Hollywood, Bollywood and Tollywood.

    Housefull Action is marketed by White Pixel in association with Swami Films and is broadcast by Triumph Media Vision Pvt Ltd (Triumph MVPL).

    Speaking with Indiantelevision.com, Swami Films founder and director Ajit Joshi said, “With the launch of Housefull Action, our aim is to cater and entertain the action movies lover. Primarily, our focus will be on South Indian movies but we will also be airing Bollywood and Hollywood action films.”

    To ensure that even the interiors of the country could view its offerings, the channel first launched on DD Freedish. Currently, Housefull Action is available on Dish TV’s DTH platform, as also on Den, Hathway and major MSOs’. Further, the channel is in talks with other MSOs’ as well, hence in the coming couple of months the distribution of the channel will become more robust.

    Marketing strategy

    Being just two months old, the channel is yet to have advertisers on board. In the meanwhile the channel has sold time slots to several brands for teleshopping. On an average, sources within Housefull Action said that the channel earns revenues of between Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 for half an hour from teleshopping. On a given day, the channel airs teleshopping for four to five hours.

    Unravelling Housefull Action’s strategy, Joshi said, “There are two ways for the business – teleshopping or commercial advertisements. We will go with the both the ways in future.”

    With digitization happening across metros the channel will be generating revenue through ad sales, Joshi said, “White Pixel clearly feels that it has been getting good response from the market and that people are keen to add more channels in the plans to build frequency”.

    Joshi revealed, “We are waiting for our BARC ratings to stabilize so that we can pitch to our advertisers. Keeping our competitors in mind, we will freeze the 10 sec ad rates. We have good financiers working with us, therefore we hope for the best.”

    Triumph MVPL director Sudhir Singh said, “There is a huge market available for the action genre and we want to capitalize on it. We have done our primary research work and the results show us that this market still wants more action movie channels”. While sources within the channel revealed that it is looking to garner around 15 to 20 GRPs’ in the first year of launch Singh explained, “We are not in the numbers game here. We clearly want to sustain ourselves and be there.”

    White Pixel director Abdul Aziz Khan said, “Within the Hindi movie genre, ours is a niche genre. For the action movie genre, the core audience is male (age group 15 +). Since there are not many players who cater to this niche genre, we will be targeting those brands that are looking to cater to the male TG as their primary audience.” Reiterating, Aziz said, “We have a very clear definition of catering to the hard core action lover who is primarily male and taking to that audience to the advertisers who want to target the male TG.”  

    To garner eyeballs, Housefull Action currently spends around Rs 20 to Rs 25 lakh towards marketing with plans to up that figure to about Rs one crore. There are also plans for on-ground activations and other marketing activities lined up for the coming months.

    Joshi further revealed that apart from the movie channel, his group is planning to launch a website Housefultv.com very soon. “For the first time a movie channel will go live. Audiences can watch movies of their own choice. They can easily log in. Initially it will be free of cost. 

    Sources within the channel say that it has movies like Border, Sarfarosh, Shehenshah, Deewar, Tridev, Deva, Rakshak and Kalavaram in its library.  According to industry sources, the acquisition prices of the movies that the channel has in its kitty so far have ranged between of Rs 5- 50 lakhs.

    The management says that it will be pumping in money to strengthen its distribution as it wants visibility across all platforms. It also wants to build its visibility by targeting the trade fraternity and customers directly by giving them regular updates on the developments at its end. It has plans to acquire other interesting properties on a regular basis.

    The group managing Housefull Action has firm plans to make its venture a profitable one. It is left for time to determine how successful its efforts will be.

  • Unravelling Housefull Action’s strategy

    Unravelling Housefull Action’s strategy

    MUMBAI: One of the most loved film genres across geographies was action was the thought that prompted the launch of a new movie channel – Housefull Action. Launched on 21 February this year, the channel specifically caters to the action hungry audience that is constantly looking for more. The channel says that it will be showcasing the best of content from Hollywood, Bollywood and Tollywood.

    Housefull Action is marketed by White Pixel in association with Swami Films and is broadcast by Triumph Media Vision Pvt Ltd (Triumph MVPL).

    Speaking with Indiantelevision.com, Swami Films founder and director Ajit Joshi said, “With the launch of Housefull Action, our aim is to cater and entertain the action movies lover. Primarily, our focus will be on South Indian movies but we will also be airing Bollywood and Hollywood action films.”

    To ensure that even the interiors of the country could view its offerings, the channel first launched on DD Freedish. Currently, Housefull Action is available on Dish TV’s DTH platform, as also on Den, Hathway and major MSOs’. Further, the channel is in talks with other MSOs’ as well, hence in the coming couple of months the distribution of the channel will become more robust.

    Marketing strategy

    Being just two months old, the channel is yet to have advertisers on board. In the meanwhile the channel has sold time slots to several brands for teleshopping. On an average, sources within Housefull Action said that the channel earns revenues of between Rs 60,000 to Rs 70,000 for half an hour from teleshopping. On a given day, the channel airs teleshopping for four to five hours.

    Unravelling Housefull Action’s strategy, Joshi said, “There are two ways for the business – teleshopping or commercial advertisements. We will go with the both the ways in future.”

    With digitization happening across metros the channel will be generating revenue through ad sales, Joshi said, “White Pixel clearly feels that it has been getting good response from the market and that people are keen to add more channels in the plans to build frequency”.

    Joshi revealed, “We are waiting for our BARC ratings to stabilize so that we can pitch to our advertisers. Keeping our competitors in mind, we will freeze the 10 sec ad rates. We have good financiers working with us, therefore we hope for the best.”

    Triumph MVPL director Sudhir Singh said, “There is a huge market available for the action genre and we want to capitalize on it. We have done our primary research work and the results show us that this market still wants more action movie channels”. While sources within the channel revealed that it is looking to garner around 15 to 20 GRPs’ in the first year of launch Singh explained, “We are not in the numbers game here. We clearly want to sustain ourselves and be there.”

    White Pixel director Abdul Aziz Khan said, “Within the Hindi movie genre, ours is a niche genre. For the action movie genre, the core audience is male (age group 15 +). Since there are not many players who cater to this niche genre, we will be targeting those brands that are looking to cater to the male TG as their primary audience.” Reiterating, Aziz said, “We have a very clear definition of catering to the hard core action lover who is primarily male and taking to that audience to the advertisers who want to target the male TG.”  

    To garner eyeballs, Housefull Action currently spends around Rs 20 to Rs 25 lakh towards marketing with plans to up that figure to about Rs one crore. There are also plans for on-ground activations and other marketing activities lined up for the coming months.

    Joshi further revealed that apart from the movie channel, his group is planning to launch a website Housefultv.com very soon. “For the first time a movie channel will go live. Audiences can watch movies of their own choice. They can easily log in. Initially it will be free of cost. 

    Sources within the channel say that it has movies like Border, Sarfarosh, Shehenshah, Deewar, Tridev, Deva, Rakshak and Kalavaram in its library.  According to industry sources, the acquisition prices of the movies that the channel has in its kitty so far have ranged between of Rs 5- 50 lakhs.

    The management says that it will be pumping in money to strengthen its distribution as it wants visibility across all platforms. It also wants to build its visibility by targeting the trade fraternity and customers directly by giving them regular updates on the developments at its end. It has plans to acquire other interesting properties on a regular basis.

    The group managing Housefull Action has firm plans to make its venture a profitable one. It is left for time to determine how successful its efforts will be.

  • LeEco appoints Divya Dixit as director content marketing for India; will launch VOD platform in FY 2016

    LeEco appoints Divya Dixit as director content marketing for India; will launch VOD platform in FY 2016

    MUMBAI: The global internet and technology conglomerate LeEco also called as the Netflix of China for its content eco-system has appointed Divya Dixit as its new director of content marketing for India. Dixit will be based in Mumbai. In her new role, she will look after the global content platform in digital space and will work towards building the brand’s presence stronger in India. Dixit was unavailable for comment.

    The company will focus on embedded content for TV and mobile phones and will also launch its own direct content platform in this financial year. For this new platform, the internet and technology organization will acquire content as well as produce substantial hours of original content for its audience.

    In January this year, the company had tied-up with Eros Now for video-on-demand (VOD) and YuppTV for TV content streaming. While its partnership with Yupp TV will give its users access to YuppTV’s catalogue of live TV channels, the deal with Eros Now will allow the on-the-go users to watch Bollywood content and regional movies on LeEco phones.

    It has now renewed its exclusive partnership with Flipkart for the launch of its next phone in India. An agreement to this effect was signed yesterday by LeEco India COO smart electronic business Atul Jain and Flipkart VP business Anil Goteti.

    The international firm headquartered in Beijing has already set up a service office in Delhi while its content division will be based in Mumbai. The company’s technical office is based in Bangalore. All the executives in the top management from India will report to the senior management in Beijing. The company is undergoing restructuring inform sources.

    Earlier, the company had launched two smart phones in India, Le 1s and Le Max, which were available exclusively on Flipkart. With a record of bringing path breaking innovations to the country, the LeFans will see entertainment playing a whole new way and can expect a super announcement on 3 May 2016.

    LeEco also launched an all-electric concept on 26 April 2016 that aspires to beat Tesla at its own game. It presented its first self-driving automobile, dubbed LeSEE Super EV, at the Beijing Motor Show and described it as a smart connected electric vehicle.

  • LeEco appoints Divya Dixit as director content marketing for India; will launch VOD platform in FY 2016

    LeEco appoints Divya Dixit as director content marketing for India; will launch VOD platform in FY 2016

    MUMBAI: The global internet and technology conglomerate LeEco also called as the Netflix of China for its content eco-system has appointed Divya Dixit as its new director of content marketing for India. Dixit will be based in Mumbai. In her new role, she will look after the global content platform in digital space and will work towards building the brand’s presence stronger in India. Dixit was unavailable for comment.

    The company will focus on embedded content for TV and mobile phones and will also launch its own direct content platform in this financial year. For this new platform, the internet and technology organization will acquire content as well as produce substantial hours of original content for its audience.

    In January this year, the company had tied-up with Eros Now for video-on-demand (VOD) and YuppTV for TV content streaming. While its partnership with Yupp TV will give its users access to YuppTV’s catalogue of live TV channels, the deal with Eros Now will allow the on-the-go users to watch Bollywood content and regional movies on LeEco phones.

    It has now renewed its exclusive partnership with Flipkart for the launch of its next phone in India. An agreement to this effect was signed yesterday by LeEco India COO smart electronic business Atul Jain and Flipkart VP business Anil Goteti.

    The international firm headquartered in Beijing has already set up a service office in Delhi while its content division will be based in Mumbai. The company’s technical office is based in Bangalore. All the executives in the top management from India will report to the senior management in Beijing. The company is undergoing restructuring inform sources.

    Earlier, the company had launched two smart phones in India, Le 1s and Le Max, which were available exclusively on Flipkart. With a record of bringing path breaking innovations to the country, the LeFans will see entertainment playing a whole new way and can expect a super announcement on 3 May 2016.

    LeEco also launched an all-electric concept on 26 April 2016 that aspires to beat Tesla at its own game. It presented its first self-driving automobile, dubbed LeSEE Super EV, at the Beijing Motor Show and described it as a smart connected electric vehicle.

  • Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    MUMBAI Event Capital, the live IP  arm of Laqshya Media Group has roped in Tribe Asia IP director Swaroop Banerjee  as its CEO. Banerjee’s mandate at Event Capital involves expanding the current bouquet of Live intellectual properties owned by Event Capital and introduce focussed live and digital content creations.

    Based out of Mumbai he will oversee development of new verticals in lifestyle, music and sports. Deepak Choudhary, the co-founder of Event Capital, will now focus on acquisitions, collaborations and investments as Director of Event Capital.

    “Banerjee’s unfathomable experience with building IPs, combined with his genuine passion for festival culture, music and alternative sports, makes him absolutely ideal to lead Event Capital as the chief executive. EC currently has several IPs in Lifestyle, Sport, Music, Education and Trade and Banerjee’s strategy of creating the right balance on IP creations and acquisitions is in sync with our vision. We are glad to have him on board”, said Event Capital director and co founder Deepak Choudhary.

    “When we took on the initiative to make Event Capital India’s largest IP creator and aggregator, we were extremely focussed and with the support of our entire Laqshya Media machinery we are committed to make this brand a world class live and digital content hub. Banerjee has been on our mind from quite some time and with him we are confident to take the next big step in this game changing IP environment” Laqshya Media Group MD Alok Jalan added.

    “It is a gigantic opportunity and I am excited to work with such a talented team. I am overwhelmed by their generosity in supporting me and allowing me total autonomy to create a lifestyle, music and sports vertical from scratch and revitalize the existing genres of live content that we own. You will very soon hear announcements from us on larger than life collaborations with Bollywood, International Music, Alternative Sports and Lifestyle”, said Banerjee on his new role.

  • Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    Laqshya Media Group ropes in Swaroop Banerjee as Event Capital CEO

    MUMBAI Event Capital, the live IP  arm of Laqshya Media Group has roped in Tribe Asia IP director Swaroop Banerjee  as its CEO. Banerjee’s mandate at Event Capital involves expanding the current bouquet of Live intellectual properties owned by Event Capital and introduce focussed live and digital content creations.

    Based out of Mumbai he will oversee development of new verticals in lifestyle, music and sports. Deepak Choudhary, the co-founder of Event Capital, will now focus on acquisitions, collaborations and investments as Director of Event Capital.

    “Banerjee’s unfathomable experience with building IPs, combined with his genuine passion for festival culture, music and alternative sports, makes him absolutely ideal to lead Event Capital as the chief executive. EC currently has several IPs in Lifestyle, Sport, Music, Education and Trade and Banerjee’s strategy of creating the right balance on IP creations and acquisitions is in sync with our vision. We are glad to have him on board”, said Event Capital director and co founder Deepak Choudhary.

    “When we took on the initiative to make Event Capital India’s largest IP creator and aggregator, we were extremely focussed and with the support of our entire Laqshya Media machinery we are committed to make this brand a world class live and digital content hub. Banerjee has been on our mind from quite some time and with him we are confident to take the next big step in this game changing IP environment” Laqshya Media Group MD Alok Jalan added.

    “It is a gigantic opportunity and I am excited to work with such a talented team. I am overwhelmed by their generosity in supporting me and allowing me total autonomy to create a lifestyle, music and sports vertical from scratch and revitalize the existing genres of live content that we own. You will very soon hear announcements from us on larger than life collaborations with Bollywood, International Music, Alternative Sports and Lifestyle”, said Banerjee on his new role.

  • Sony Liv adds Hollywood blockbusters for subscribers

    Sony Liv adds Hollywood blockbusters for subscribers

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks’ (SPN) VOD service Sony LIV has announced the launch of a cinematic extravaganza for all movie fans with its Hollywood library. Besides a wide range of TV shows, sports properties, Bollywood flicks, songs and original web content, cinema aficionados can now enjoy instant access to internationally celebrated movies anytime and anywhere.

    Sony Liv is going the extra mile to enhance the entertainment experiences for its viewers wherein the biggest upcoming Hollywood blockbusters will premiere on the platform before their television airing.

    Sony Liv EVP and head for digital business Uday Sodhi said, “At Sony Liv, we are committed to continuously enhance the entertainment experience of our viewers. After receiving an overwhelming response for our Bollywood library, we are now extending our catalogue to allow English movie buffs to catch up with their Hollywood dose of entertainment- right from award-winning favourites to unseen gems. Our endeavour is to make an entire bouquet of eclectic yet engaging cinematic properties accessible at ease since Sony Liv is a complete digital entertainment destination that consumers can turn to for riveting content of every kind.”  

    The library gives viewers a chance to access a wide selection of hugely popular American movies on their own preferred digital devices. The platform claims to offer comprehensive and attractive for its discerning digital audience through its Hollywood library.

    Liv already offers an extensive Bollywood library with over 1,000 films from across genres. It already has a portfolio of critically acclaimed films like The Pursuit of Happyness, Django Unchained, The Da Vinci Code, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Angels and Demons and the Spiderman series, etc.

    The platform also rolled out a web-series for the online platform called #LoveBytes. It has also rolled out a digital film entitled Chhoti Khushito support a social media campaign, #LIVThisDiwali.

  • Sony Liv adds Hollywood blockbusters for subscribers

    Sony Liv adds Hollywood blockbusters for subscribers

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks’ (SPN) VOD service Sony LIV has announced the launch of a cinematic extravaganza for all movie fans with its Hollywood library. Besides a wide range of TV shows, sports properties, Bollywood flicks, songs and original web content, cinema aficionados can now enjoy instant access to internationally celebrated movies anytime and anywhere.

    Sony Liv is going the extra mile to enhance the entertainment experiences for its viewers wherein the biggest upcoming Hollywood blockbusters will premiere on the platform before their television airing.

    Sony Liv EVP and head for digital business Uday Sodhi said, “At Sony Liv, we are committed to continuously enhance the entertainment experience of our viewers. After receiving an overwhelming response for our Bollywood library, we are now extending our catalogue to allow English movie buffs to catch up with their Hollywood dose of entertainment- right from award-winning favourites to unseen gems. Our endeavour is to make an entire bouquet of eclectic yet engaging cinematic properties accessible at ease since Sony Liv is a complete digital entertainment destination that consumers can turn to for riveting content of every kind.”  

    The library gives viewers a chance to access a wide selection of hugely popular American movies on their own preferred digital devices. The platform claims to offer comprehensive and attractive for its discerning digital audience through its Hollywood library.

    Liv already offers an extensive Bollywood library with over 1,000 films from across genres. It already has a portfolio of critically acclaimed films like The Pursuit of Happyness, Django Unchained, The Da Vinci Code, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Angels and Demons and the Spiderman series, etc.

    The platform also rolled out a web-series for the online platform called #LoveBytes. It has also rolled out a digital film entitled Chhoti Khushito support a social media campaign, #LIVThisDiwali.

  • TV meets digital; Sab TV ties up with Twitter

    TV meets digital; Sab TV ties up with Twitter

    MUMBAI: Gone are the days when the social media platform Twitter was just for a casual chit chat, it is now an important tool for mainstream media. Breaking the stereotype trend, Sab TV staying true to its brand belief of ‘Differentiation through Innovation’, brings to its audience yet another unique concept- Khidki.  The channel in partnership with television producer JD Majethia and Bollywood director Umesh Shukla has called in for entries i.e. stories from the common man through Twitter – #TweetAFunnyStory.

    The brief is that entries should encompass unique yet funny stories that one has experienced in life, something that holds a special place in one’s memories and brings out the laughs. The shortlisted stories will then be presented to the world in the form of an episodic series on the channel.

    Sab TV will give an opportunity to millions of families to tell their funny stories to the world. The viewers can submit their entries on Twitter or email them to humarifunnykahani@setindia.com. The most interesting and entertaining story will be told on-screen and the family will also get a chance to be a part of the series as the story heads towards the climax.

    Until now, the channel has received around 4,000 stories.  The show Khidki will be a half-hour weekday show. Though the channel has not finalized the date as yet, it is planning to launch the show post IPL.

    Speaking with Indiantelevision.com, Sab TV senior EVP and business head Anooj Kapoor said, “The show will be based on real life stories. So we are asking them to send their stories and incidents to us which we shall develop into an episode. At the end of that particular episode, the person who sent that incident will get a chance to appear on the show and get to talk little more about it. This will be not only give a chance to the viewer to get the sense of complete engagement, it will also make the story extremely relative to the audiences.”

    Kapoor further added, “We have to attract such stories from various platforms and therefore the partnership with Twitter became a very obvious choice because it is very easy for twitterti to tweet the story and same could be evaluated by us.”   

    The channel is following a robust marketing strategy for Khidki. Sab TV is going all out to aggressively promote the show and invite stories through innovative marketing.

    Using a unique concept, the channel is conducting marketing activation programs in the Rajdhani Express and the Shatabdi Express and some long distance trains to engage with family commuters and invite stories.  Further, window-structured ‘Khidki’ outdoor innovations have been installed to generate a buzz around the initiative. These are in addition to the traditional media mix which includes television, print, radio and outdoor. “Besides our partnership with Twitter for #TweetAFunnyStory, we are collaborating with multiple digital platforms to generate stories,” revealed Kapoor.

    Twitter is complementary to the full experience of viewing a TV channel today, with each tweet being an opportunity for channels to strengthen relationships with their audiences. Twitter India continues to build strategic partnerships with broadcasters helping them amplify their message, drive more viewers and generate more user engagement with their content on the platform

    On the partnership between the channel and Twitter India, Twitter India TV partnership head Viral Jani said, “We are coming together and inviting stories from the platform to give consumers a platform. We amplify their effort on our platform and with this initiative we want to tell to the world that it is a great example how you can use Twitter to reach out to your consumer. There is no deal per se, but it’s a partnership which can be mutually beneficial and also beneficial for our consumers.  Sab TV is not only engaging with our users, but also giving them an opportunity to be a part of a TV show. It is just a first step in the long term relationship with Sab TV. We will be in partnership with Sab TV for more events that it is planning to launch in few months, this is just a beginning.”  

    With television being one of the largest conversation generators on the platform, Twitter aims to become the second screen to TV in India engaging audiences in real-time with the best of television content. “Twitter has always been a second screen app for TV viewers, globally and as well as in India. People watch shows on television and tweet about those shows on Twitter. They love to engage with the shows, channels and celebrities who are the part of the television series. They are interested in behind the scenes, pictures, videos, and they love to do interactions, be it for a reality television show or a new show. Twitter is like a unique platform where all of them can interact with each other. Considering this, there was a hunger from the users and the TV partners, and we believe that it’s a great thing for us and for them,” concluded Jani.