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Tag: Dekkho

  • Dekkho & VuLiv tie up for video sharing & syndication

    Dekkho & VuLiv tie up for video sharing & syndication

    MUMBAI: Dekkho, an online streaming platform, has partnered with popular mobile-based platform VuLiv. The tie-up is aimed to help both achieve a 100 million+ viewership base over the next 3-4 years. Dekkho and VuLiv will collaborate to showcase more than one lakh videos of ‘snackable content’ across genres including music, food, fashion, comedy, gossip, and lifestyle.

    Content from major providers such as ScoopWhoop, Pocket Aces, Times Music, AIB, EIC, Miss Malini and Pinkvilla available on Dekkho can be accessed on VuLiv. A major component of this partnership is to address content discovery by users to supplement on-device video consumption and the need for content curation.

    Dekkho co-founder & MD Tanay Desai said, “When we talk about online video content, YouTube holds a good position in the global OTT market. However, YouTube is a search-driven platform lacking a strong recommendation feature, which has reduced the discovery of content on the platform. Similarly, Google and Facebook are based on aggregating online user information and re-targeting relevant content to them. With this partnership, Dekkho and VuLiv will aggregate on-device offline data as well as online content to adopt a similar targeting approach as these players. We believe that this data can be leveraged to build better solutions and offer insightful recommendations to achieve greater reach for both platforms.”

    VuLiv co-founder Manoj Gupta said, “It is hard to believe, but today so much of offline, on device information exists which has never been utilized by any ecosystem player. We believe that this on-device un-connected state information can be leveraged to build a better solution with recommendations and build bigger reach and relevance. With the partnership and Dekkho’s extensive content directory, users will get a seamless on-device and online watching experience.”

    In addition to mainstream English and Hindi videos from popular creators, Dekkho will offer its extensive catalogue of content in six regional languages to target a larger non-English speaking market in the country. Additionally, Dekkho will provide a gamut of social features to users for in-content and in-app interaction through its catalogue on VuLiv.

  • Dekkho expands regional language content offering

    MUMBAI: Dekkho has partnered with some of the top online content creators in the country such as ScoopWhoop, Pinkvilla, 9X Media, Put Chutney, Being Indian and East India Comedy. In a bid to create an entirely alternate destination and divergence from YouTube and Facebook, and to increase its reach in tier II and III cities, Dekkho will expand its regional language content offerings through these collaborations in addition to mainstream content in English and Hindi.

    Through a long-term content strategy, Dekkho aims to reach 100 million users over the next five years, focussing on the vernacular segment of viewers who do not consume videos on Facebook or YouTube. It will also venture into content translation, dubbing, and voiceover of content for this segment, creating a new, non-overlapping market for creators. Additionally, Dekkho will localise its UI for different markets as well as the newsfeed for regional content.

    Commenting on its strategy, Tanay Desai, co-founder, said, “Dekkho’s initial strategy, which focussed on young urban viewers, has helped us carve a niche in the online entertainment market. Our next phase of expansion is targetted at a much larger viewer base that resides in the smaller towns, highlighting our larger focus at becoming a default social video network for the masses. Unlike incumbent platforms like Facebook and YouTube, which are highly fragmented in terms of content, we want to position Dekkho as a hyper-local, curated video platform. This will be supplemented by an engaging social layer aiming to represent India’s first large-scale video network. To effect, the platform will have a unique, localised avatar for each region and leverage the rising digital penetration across tier II and III towns in India.”

    Around 65 per cent of users on Dekkho belong to tier II and III cities. Around 30 per cent of these users have been acquired through focused regional marketing and do not consume videos on YouTube. As part of its marketing strategy, Dekkho has tied up with leading telecom operators and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to offer greater exposure to content developed by independent creators. Users streaming videos through Jio Internet subscriptions constitute nearly 30% of the total video consumption on the platform, contributing significantly to the growth among this demographic.

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    Brightcove expands into India, counts Republic, SonyLiv, Dekkho & Hero among clients

    Dekkho to identify non-production house talent, plans four web series in Sept-Oct

  • Dekkho to identify non-production house talent, plans four web series in Sept-Oct

    MUMBAI: Dekkho will largely focus on youth-based videos and regional content across six languages, primarily serving the 18-30 year old mobile audience.

    The online video streaming platform has announced plans to establish itself as the destination for talent discovery in India and showcase premium content from non-production house talent. Having collaborated with 80+ creators to curate premium videos across genres such as food, fashion, travel, lifestyle, comedy and gossip, the platform is now gearing up to run multiple digital promotions and events to identify emerging talent and get them on board over the next three to four quarters.

    The platform will also mark its foray into original content co-creation with four branded video properties, lined up for September-October period, in the form of web series, music videos, and short-form videos.

    Dekkho’s latest move is aimed at tapping into the unscripted and independent creator market, which comprises around 80 per cent of the overall production volume of online entertainment.

    As part of its marketing strategy, Dekkho has tied up with leading telecom operators and original phone equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to offer greater exposure to content developed by independent creators. The platform has additionally collaborated with partners like Amazon Fire TV.

    Co-founder Tanay Desai said, “Viewers today want more of short, snackable content that independent creators like AIB or Miss Malini produce. Our aim now is to create visibility through a bunch of exciting developments like localising our UI, promoting offline viewing and building for low data consumption. We are focused on Tier II, Tier III consumers who constitute the masses, and provide them a focused, curated experience that is missing on YouTube and Facebook.”

    “Dekkho,” he said, “will primarily host creators who are not associated with a label or production house. This initiative is synergistic with that vision, and will help us in discovering exciting talent from across the country to provide our viewers with premium content across age groups, geographies, and languages.”

    Says he: “Not only are we providing them with global exposure and monetisation opportunities through our advertising network and brand integrations, but this is the first time their ongoing content will be represented on a big screen format via our partnerships.”

    Dekkho aims at realising its target of reaching five million monthly active users within the next year and have 200 channels on board.

  • Dekkho claims 200% m-o-m growth in first quarter, fastest growing short-format app

    MUMBAI: Dekkho, a leading online video streaming platform, has released statistics on its performance, indicating an impressive first quarter for the newly launched brand. The platform has emerged as India’s fastest growing app in the short-format video segment, achieving a whopping 200% month-on-month growth.

    Within only a span of three months since its launch, Dekkho’s network has touched over 1,000,000 unique visitors without any ATL marketing campaigns.

    Dekkho also received 1000+ reviews with an average rating of 4.6 on the Play Store. Dekkho is available both on iOS and Android.

    Having launched its beta version in December 2016, Dekkho went live at the end of February 2017 on iOS, Android and the web. Through its mobile-first strategy, the platform is actively tapping the growing number of smartphone users in the country and offering them the most accessible entertainment options. This is evident in the fact that more than 90% of users on Dekkho consume content through mobile devices. Dekkho aims to take independent creators, which constitute 85% of the video production market to multiple distribution channels, including its native apps, website, affiliate websites, OEMs and Telecom players. The platform focuses on driving a simplified browsing and viewing experience for its users by bringing them the most relevant content through peer group recommendations as well as by matching it with their viewing preferences. In addition, features like sharing videos on social media and artist interactions drive the highest number of young users to the platform with nearly 33%+ users belonging to the 25-34 years age segment. Dekkho is monetised by video advertising, which is currently dominated by Facebook and Google, and is slated to become a Rs 20,000 crore market by 2020.

    Dekkho co-founder Tanay Desai said, “Our prime focus has been user retention and engagement through interactive features. We have outdone most short-format peers through superior delivery of video. We are investing in content licensing and upscaling technology infrastructure to offer users with a selection of highly engaging and new-age content on a smart platform. We have creators across music, food, fashion, travel, comedy, lifestyle and fitness. Dekkho feels the pulse of the audience in terms of snackable video and aims to become the default destination for short-format video across multiple languages. Moreover, our collaborations with content creators, telecom operators and equipment manufacturers provide fully customized solutions to meet a user’s daily need for a premium viewing experience. Scripted content has been done with across numerous business models. Various media houses and telcos have tried AVOD, SVOD and TVOD, albeit with lukewarm success. On the unscripted side, which is a way larger pie, we are the company with deep Indian roots. Our long-term goal remains focused on creation of a sustainable, three-way ecosystem for creators, advertisers, and users through a free-to-use service.”

    Dekkho has deployed an intelligent content recommendation feature, which has resulted into 1.6x growth in views per user session. Dekkho’s video play rates are over 90%, which is amongst the highest in the premium segment for any OTT platform. The web platform has a watch-time of a staggering 11 minutes+ per visit, while the mobile platform records 8+ minutes of watch-time for each visit. Each user consumes 7 pages on the web platform per visit and 4-5 pages on the app. Live channels and content on Dekkho contribute nearly 3 times to watch-time statistics with a 94% rate of video ad completions. Its weekly and monthly user retention is 2.5-3 times that of the industry average in the short-format category, hosting 60%+ of its user base on a monthly active (MAUs) basis. In a bid to scale its operations, Dekkho has undertaken strategic partnerships with some of the largest OEMs and telecom players for content distribution in order to realize its goal of touching the mass over the next year.

    Offering content across various genres like music videos, fashion, food, travel, lifestyle and comedy, Dekkho adds nearly 1000 hours of licensed content from producers and distributors each month to its library. Dekkho’s library consists of over 150,000+ videos, 12,000+ hours of content, and 80+ channels across seven languages.

  • Brightcove expands into India, counts Republic, SonyLiv, Dekkho & Hero among clients

    MUMBAI: Brightcove Inc., a leading provider of cloud services for video, is expanding its global market leadership into India with key customer wins and the launch of a new office in Mumbai, India. With several of the country’s top-tier media companies as customers, Brightcove is demonstrating that it is the go-to partner for a wide range of broadcasters, publishers and OTT services as they seek to launch and monetise their online video experiences.

    Brightcove’s key customer wins in India include:

    Sony Liv, an Indian general entertainment VOD service that is owned by Sony Pictures Networks India.
    The Viral Fever, one of India’s leading online content creators that recently launched their OTT entertainment channel, TVFPlay.

    Dekkho, a streaming video service specializing in delivering premium content from India’s top content creators.

    Hero Talkies, a SVOD OTT service that specializes in streaming Tamil movie content across 80 countries.

    Republic World TV, a newly launched Indian English-language news television channel streaming news across satellite, cable and online.

    According to research from Media Partners Asia (MPA), the market potential of online video in India is massive. Online video advertising is expected to surpass US$1 billion in net revenue in India by 2021, according to MPA analysts. Despite having the lowest broadband penetration among APAC’s 14 biggest economies, broadband penetration is on the rise and expected to reach 622 million mobile broadband subscriptions by 2021, according to the MPA study. India’s OTT video market is already the fourth-biggest in the region, behind China, Japan and Australia.

    “With 462 million active Internet users1, India is a sizable market for online video and OTT – and it’s growing. Data shows that only 35 percent of the Indian population is using the internet,” Brightcove Asia vice president Tomer Azenkot said. “This growth represents a tremendous opportunity for Brightcove which, even prior to its office opening, powers video for some of the top-tier Indian media companies. By adding a talented team on the ground, it will only elevate the way that we serve our customer base and shape the future of video experiences moving forward.”

    Founded in 2004, Brightcove has been revolutionizing online video experiences for over a decade. Media companies, publishers and brands worldwide use Brightcove to publish and distribute video across the web, mobile and connected devices. Brightcove is headquartered in Boston, with its Asia Pacific offices in Singapore, South Korea, Sydney, Tokyo and now Mumbai.

  • Dekkho makes big-screen debut with Amazon fire TV stick

    MUMBAI: The online video streaming Dekkho has partnered with Amazon to make its big-screen debut and provide its content on Amazon Fire TV Stick.

    Dekkho will be one of the featured apps on the streaming device, allowing users to access its entire content library of movies and videos across genres such as music, food, fashion, travel, lifestyle and comedy on a preferred basis. In addition, Fire TV Stick users can access content from Dekkho offline as well.

    The Amazon Fire TV Stick is a plug-and-play device that connects to the television’s HDMI port and allows users to access digital video content from a host of providers. The device can be set up in just three, simple steps — plug the device in to the HDMI port on the TV; attach the USB cord to the power source; and connect to the wi-fi.

    Dekkho will provide a range of specially curated content for Fire TV, offering a television-like experience through a smart, digital medium. Unlike other paid apps, Dekkho’s Content on Fire TV will be available on a free-to-use basis, thus enabling greater exposure for content creators through a new channel while monetising their properties. Dekkho’s attempt to bring independent online content creators on the big screen and provide them exposure through Amazon’s strong distribution model is the first by any Indian player.

    Dekkho co-founder Tanay Desai said, “Dekkho currently enjoys a unique position in the Indian OTT entertainment market. In a bid to expand our content outreach to smart TVs and similar large-screen offerings, this strategic partnership with Amazon Fire TV Stick will help us increase exposure for content creators on our platform. Moreover, it offers Dekkho an extremely promising entry into a larger online entertainment market and the chance to reach out to maximum viewers between 18 to 30 years of age. The resulting increase in reach can also be leveraged to extend our presence on more big-screen apps in the future and allow our users to stream our massive content catalogue on any digital device of their choice, conveniently and seamlessly.”

  • ‘Common standard’ good to measure ‘unbundled’ viewership & ads cost-effectiveness: EKAM

    MUMBAI: BARC India has announced the phased roll-out of its much-awaited digital measurement service. 

    EKAM Pulse will measure video ad campaigns and will be the first digital offering to be rolled out by BARC India. EKAM Beam, the next product lined up for release, will measure linear broadcast that is viewed on a Digital device. EKAM Stream, will measure both non-linear and pure play digital video content. BARCIndia will also provide industry with EKAM Ad-Scan – which will be a global first-of-its-kind product. 

    EKAM Integra – will help industry with common, robust and independent audience numbers that will give more accurate incremental reach figures. To do this,BARC India’s TV data will be tied with Digital Video data with the help of Single-Source and Digital Booster panels on top of the census measurement and big data.

    www.indiantelevision.com spoke to a cross-section of the industry on the new scale. Sony Pictures Networks India EVP and Head – Digital Business Uday Sodhi, and Dekkho co-founder Tanay Desai both find the proposed new system interesting. 

    Speaking on the announcement, Sodhi said, “While digital advertising spends in India have witnessed exponential growth over the past couple of years, measuring the cost-effectiveness of video advertisements across TV and digital properties has been one of the biggest pain points for brands in India. The launch of EKAM by BARC India comes as a very welcome development in such a scenario. Not only will it allow advertisers to analyze quantifiable differences in video ad impressions, but will also allow them to see unique and de-duplicated reach and frequency across multiple platforms to accurately ascertain the ROI. It will enable fairer pricing for both advertisers and publishers, and will allow for incremental ad revenues for platforms which provide the maximum consumer reach and impressions. Looking forward to the market launch of the EKAM suite of products and the disruption it will bring in the digital ad industry.”

    On the launch of the BARC digital measurement tool, Zee Entertainment Z5 Business head of digital – India Archana Anand said:

    “This is a very positive development, not just for the OTT segment but for the media industry at large. Given the pace at which the digital entertainment industry is growing, it is becoming more and more critical to have a standardized tool for measurement. A common currency for digital measurement  will allow OTT players to benchmark their performance better across standardized metrics and catalyse overall growth of the industry. This will also help broadcasters get a holistic and more integrated analysis of their viewership across broadcast and digital media, enabling them to feel a greater sense of ownership rather than feeling that they are losing out to digital.“

    Viacom18 digital venture’s COO Gaurav Gandhi: said While digital video services are all fully measurable, there is no common industry measurement nor is there common standard for things like viewability.

    Having a common industry measurement will help all industry stakeholders. It will be a big boost to the fast growing digital video business to realize fair values for audience delivered and help the agencies to plan across TV and digital video better (as well as across various digital video services) – as they will now be able to implement true cross media plans. It will also give more confidence to the advertisers that their audience deliveries are backed by a common industry validated source.”

    Dekkho co-founder Tanay Desai replied to indiantelevision.com queries:

    Was it eagerly awaited? How do you see it?

    Tanay Desai: BARC ‘s Ekam measurement system was eagerly awaited given the lack of transparency in Indian digital media. Today, advertisers on mainstream platforms are often unaware about their exact spends, resulting into 60% inaccuracy in reporting at times. The common denominator for measurement will be challenging to implement — in terms of defining what makes a view, along with specialised metrics for mobile and web for demographic measurement.

    Which are the other methods you have been using?

    Tanay Desai: In-house analytics along with trusted and verified third party vendors to track activity on video, channel and page level. Metrics include engagement, source of session, demographic and geographic data. Dekkho allows advertisers to associate with individual videos, channels and pages of content unlike a fully automated/programmatic allocation system. This ensures brand safety and correct targeting while optimising use of media spends for brands aiming for specific audiences.

    How would it give a fillip to the ecosystem?

    Tanay Desai: OTTs that belong to production houses often sell inventory on a bundled basis. i.e. – TV + digital. This results into little transparency regarding actual views on digital. With the new system in place, digital viewership measurement will be isolated from TV be it a production house backed OTT or an independent aggregator. On the other hand, OTT players themselves will command higher CPMs through superior audience targeting. Media agencies and buyers will have relative knowledge i.e. – compare one OTT’s offering with its peers while spending on behalf of clients.

  • Dekkho: Integration ease aids Brightcove power OTT service

    MUMBAI: Brightcove, a leading provider of cloud services for video, announced today that Dekkho, a streaming video service specializing in delivering premium content from India’s top content creators, has selected Brightcove to power its OTT service. The service, which debuted in February 2017, was built on Brightcove Video Cloud, enabling Dekkho to leverage an industry-leading online video platform to offer consumers VOD access to 12,000 hours of programming across desktop and mobile applications.

    Dekkho provides its customers with a curated, high-quality video experience with video content ranging from three to 45 minutes. It partners with leading content producers such as Sony Music, Zee Music, Culture Machine, Times Group, and OML.

    “Brightcove constantly remains ahead of the curve, rapidly innovating to incorporate and leverage the constant changes in the online video industry,” said Dekkho co-founder Vinay Pillai.

    “Scalability was most critical for us. We need to deliver our content across a broad range of customers, from those with low-end phones and slow internet connections to people with high-end mobile devices and larger screens. Not only has Brightcove enabled us to do that technically, but their service has been outstanding. We were promised Tier-1 support and Brightcove has delivered.”

    Improving the viewing experience is one of the top challenges facing media organizations in 2017, and Dekkho required a platform with robust APIs that was easy for their application development team to leverage; in particular, the publisher was eager to integrate the video platform with its CMS for simpler ingestion of its videos. The scalability of the Brightcove platform, along with integrations with the majority of the content management systems (CMS), ad networks, and CDNs differentiated Brightcove from other providers.

    “Dekkho is yet another great example of the rise of OTT in India. They’ve managed to quickly launch an intuitive and unique experience, and we’re looking forward to being part of their success,” said Brightcove Asia VP Tomer Azenkot. “Brightcove is excited to be working with this innovative service and helping the company as online video consumption in India evolves.”

  • Budget ’17: OTT players hoping for tax rationalisation to boost growth

    Budget ’17: OTT players hoping for tax rationalisation to boost growth

    MUMBAI: 2016 was indeed a critical year for the over-the-top (OTT) services in India. In an emerging market like India, the potential of more content consumption is certainly a reality. Increasing availability of smart phones, internet penetration, affordable data rates, 4G rollout, availability of good quality content and new entrants have led the OTT industry to bloom in 2016 and the trend is likely to continue. But the segment players are also looking up to the government for a clearer economic roadmap after the shockwaves of demonestisation.

    “The entertainment industry has always been on the forefront of economic contribution. Though it is expected that GST rollout (as and when it happens later this year) would bring about more uniformity in the system of paying multiple taxes, it is also expected that finance minister Arun Jaitley will announce reforms, which will help control piracy issues in the country and help boost video on demand market in India,” said Muvizz.com COO and co-founder Abhayanand Singh.

    Zee’s business head of digital for India Archana Anand opined that 2016 will go down as the year in which the wheels were set in motion for the growth of OTT. According to her, OTT platforms likely to become the go-to source of entertainment in the coming years, particularly for the millennials, who do not have easy access to a TV set and for whom it’s really about the content and not the size of the screen. But for that economic incentives are also needed from the government.

    Echoing similar views, Web Talkies chairman and managing director Virendra Shahaney asserted the government needs to beef up digital infrastructure like Internet and faster implementation of free wi-fi projects. “A relaxed taxation policy for start-ups would be welcome and tax breaks for start-ups should increase to five years with a significant improvement in ease of doing business,” he added.

    Pointing out that India downloaded six billion apps in 2016 making service usage the highest globally, Dekkho co-founder Tanay Desai said ,”The BHIM app has been downloaded 10 million times already indicating a healthy potential payment pipeline. GST will aid online payments for users as well as brands by reducing tax barriers across states in India and the industry looks forward to additional (tax) relaxation measures in the upcoming Budget.”

    Also Read:

    Budget ’17: Media segments seek succour, digital direction from govt

  • Budget ’17: OTT players hoping for tax rationalisation to boost growth

    Budget ’17: OTT players hoping for tax rationalisation to boost growth

    MUMBAI: 2016 was indeed a critical year for the over-the-top (OTT) services in India. In an emerging market like India, the potential of more content consumption is certainly a reality. Increasing availability of smart phones, internet penetration, affordable data rates, 4G rollout, availability of good quality content and new entrants have led the OTT industry to bloom in 2016 and the trend is likely to continue. But the segment players are also looking up to the government for a clearer economic roadmap after the shockwaves of demonestisation.

    “The entertainment industry has always been on the forefront of economic contribution. Though it is expected that GST rollout (as and when it happens later this year) would bring about more uniformity in the system of paying multiple taxes, it is also expected that finance minister Arun Jaitley will announce reforms, which will help control piracy issues in the country and help boost video on demand market in India,” said Muvizz.com COO and co-founder Abhayanand Singh.

    Zee’s business head of digital for India Archana Anand opined that 2016 will go down as the year in which the wheels were set in motion for the growth of OTT. According to her, OTT platforms likely to become the go-to source of entertainment in the coming years, particularly for the millennials, who do not have easy access to a TV set and for whom it’s really about the content and not the size of the screen. But for that economic incentives are also needed from the government.

    Echoing similar views, Web Talkies chairman and managing director Virendra Shahaney asserted the government needs to beef up digital infrastructure like Internet and faster implementation of free wi-fi projects. “A relaxed taxation policy for start-ups would be welcome and tax breaks for start-ups should increase to five years with a significant improvement in ease of doing business,” he added.

    Pointing out that India downloaded six billion apps in 2016 making service usage the highest globally, Dekkho co-founder Tanay Desai said ,”The BHIM app has been downloaded 10 million times already indicating a healthy potential payment pipeline. GST will aid online payments for users as well as brands by reducing tax barriers across states in India and the industry looks forward to additional (tax) relaxation measures in the upcoming Budget.”

    Also Read:

    Budget ’17: Media segments seek succour, digital direction from govt