ITV

Tag: dittoTV

  • Ditto TV sees more demand for regional content

    Ditto TV sees more demand for regional content

    MUMBAI: With an aim to be the default app on every internet enabled smartphone in India for content delivery, Zee’s dittoTV seems to have got its marketing pitch correct with #BeeskaTV and #DeshkaTV campaign.

    Poised to clock an annual revenue of Rs 150 crore (according to a media analyst) from a base of approximately six million installs (downloads), mostly in the Hindi speaking markets (HSM), the OTT service is attracting audience from a segment that is still growing in India.

    “We have received a phenomenal response across all our platforms— six million installs and counting! The viewers loved our television commercial and we trended at no. 3 worldwide on Youtube when the campaign went live,” gushed dittoTV business head Archana Anand.

    #BeeskaTV and #DeshkaTV were among the top 10 Twitter trends worldwide, according to Anand who added that the the dittoTV app trended at #1 in the entertainment category in both the Android and iOS app stores.

    With an aim to build on this trending success and further enhance penetration, the digital platform has tied up with sister company Siticable, which is one of the oldest and largest MSOs in the country. Both come from the Subhash Chandra and family-promoted Essel group.

    As part of this collaboration, Siticable will be pushing the authentication and subscription to dittoTV from its portal to the subscribers of its cable TV service for free. The cable TV service will share 20 per cent as revenue for every ditto TV subscription that the operator sells.

    dittoTV subscription charges for three months, six months and one year are Rs 50, Rs 90 and Rs 170, respectively.

    “They say well begun is half done. By that theory, we are in an extremely good position. With the new alliance rolling out and the masses sharing the phenomena of #BeeskaTV, we see the start of a fun and exciting journey,” Anand explained, adding a strong uptake is also reflected on the service’s usage and good content consumption.

    Anand and her team are working on getting new business partnership for the platform and some alliances are said to be in the pipeline, which were not disclosed.

    The platform credits its success to a combination of factors: width and depth of content and its incredible pricing. dittoTV offers access to over 100+ Hindi, English and regional-language channels encompassing general entertainment, sports, movies, news and lifestyle at just Rs 20 a month.

    What worked best on Indian television (general entertainment) seems to have mirrored on the OTT service too as GECs were key drivers of dittoTV, followed by regional and news channels.

    “Regional language content performs superbly across all our platforms and is rising steadily,” opined Anand claiming that regional viewer is also a `returning viewer’ and spends higher time compared to the platform average.

    “On certain days, we’ve actually seen higher consumption for certain regional GECs as compared to key Hindi GECs. Sports and News are very event based and do extremely well for us in bursts when there is a sporting event or breaking news,” Anand said.

    The average view time on the platform has been up to 24 minutes per user. What the reason? Events like cricket (the West Indies vs. India series) and the bundling of dittoTV with data packs with telcos like Idea Cellular have contributed to this substantially.

    dittoTV has deliberately positioned itself differently from other similar players in the markets like HotStar, Sony Liv and Voot as they follow a simple and clear strategy of providing live content similar to what is available on television.

    An aggressive pricing strategy notwithstanding, dittoTV is still far away from replacing cable TV or DTH from consumer homes as a primary source of video consumption, but Anand is upbeat.

    “TV is synonymous with entertainment for the Indian masses and dittoTV being a linear TV offering remains synonymous with TV. I strongly believe that our platform will be a game changer and will help us drive volumes as well as change the way people consume content on-the-go,” she concluded.

  • ItzCash gets bullish on DTH, cable, movie and mobile bookings

    ItzCash gets bullish on DTH, cable, movie and mobile bookings

    MUMBAI: Essel group company and digital payments facilitator ItzCash generates around 20 per cent to 22 per cent of its Rs 3,000 crore business from satellite cable / DTH recharge by subscribers for Dish TV. Now the company has set itself a scorching growth target of 42 per cent per annum as it bids to notch up business worth Rs 5,000 crore by 2018.

    It is banking on the rapid growth in pay TV subscriptions, its new strategic partnerships with India’s largest online ticketing entertainment brand Bookmyshow, mobile bookings and Zee TV group’s on the go OTT platform dittoTV to help it get to that target.

    BookMyShow has added a new Cash Top-Up feature to its ‘MyWallet’ to make it even easier for everyone to transact on the app or website. The partnership allows users to recharge their MyWallet by paying cash at the nearest ItzCash World outlet. While in its partnership with dittoTV, the company aims to capitalise on its offline network to offer revolutionary Rs 20 easy-recharge for monthly subscription.

    Says ItzCash chief growth officer Bhavik Vasa, “Our partnership with BookMyShow and dittoTV will benefit the larger sections of the society while enhancing customer experience. While with these tie-ups, our partners will leverage our deep entrenched retail network, we plan to aggressively build on our customer base in the online entertainment industry.”

    ItzCash has a presence across various segments serving 35 million consumers having 110 million accounts and over 75,000 franchisees branded as “ItzCash World” in 3000 plus cities and towns.

    To be fair, the company has been growing at 40 per cent per annum year on year in the entertainment sector. And that’s what’s making Vasa that much more confident.

    Says he: “ India is fast becoming a digital country and will soon be the world’s second largest market with 650 million internet users and 520 million smart phone users by 2020 as per a recent Google-BGC Digital Payments report. The food and entertainment sector tops the list of adoption and growth of digital payments.”

    Adds BookmyShow vice-president business intelligence and marketing Marzdi Kalianiwala: “At BookMyShow, we believe in customising our offerings to address the needs of our consumers. While acceptance for online payments is on the rise, a significant set of users still remain to be apprehensive about it, either due to lack of proper internet infrastructure facilities or security concerns, which prevents them from actively using BookMyShow to meet their entertainment demands. By introducing Cash Top-Up to our ‘MyWallet’, we are eliminating these barriers and extending our services to those who prefer cash as their preferred mode of payment. We are delighted to partner with ItzCash, which will enable users book tickets on the BMS app and website without having to use their credit/debit cards or net banking.”

  • ItzCash gets bullish on DTH, cable, movie and mobile bookings

    ItzCash gets bullish on DTH, cable, movie and mobile bookings

    MUMBAI: Essel group company and digital payments facilitator ItzCash generates around 20 per cent to 22 per cent of its Rs 3,000 crore business from satellite cable / DTH recharge by subscribers for Dish TV. Now the company has set itself a scorching growth target of 42 per cent per annum as it bids to notch up business worth Rs 5,000 crore by 2018.

    It is banking on the rapid growth in pay TV subscriptions, its new strategic partnerships with India’s largest online ticketing entertainment brand Bookmyshow, mobile bookings and Zee TV group’s on the go OTT platform dittoTV to help it get to that target.

    BookMyShow has added a new Cash Top-Up feature to its ‘MyWallet’ to make it even easier for everyone to transact on the app or website. The partnership allows users to recharge their MyWallet by paying cash at the nearest ItzCash World outlet. While in its partnership with dittoTV, the company aims to capitalise on its offline network to offer revolutionary Rs 20 easy-recharge for monthly subscription.

    Says ItzCash chief growth officer Bhavik Vasa, “Our partnership with BookMyShow and dittoTV will benefit the larger sections of the society while enhancing customer experience. While with these tie-ups, our partners will leverage our deep entrenched retail network, we plan to aggressively build on our customer base in the online entertainment industry.”

    ItzCash has a presence across various segments serving 35 million consumers having 110 million accounts and over 75,000 franchisees branded as “ItzCash World” in 3000 plus cities and towns.

    To be fair, the company has been growing at 40 per cent per annum year on year in the entertainment sector. And that’s what’s making Vasa that much more confident.

    Says he: “ India is fast becoming a digital country and will soon be the world’s second largest market with 650 million internet users and 520 million smart phone users by 2020 as per a recent Google-BGC Digital Payments report. The food and entertainment sector tops the list of adoption and growth of digital payments.”

    Adds BookmyShow vice-president business intelligence and marketing Marzdi Kalianiwala: “At BookMyShow, we believe in customising our offerings to address the needs of our consumers. While acceptance for online payments is on the rise, a significant set of users still remain to be apprehensive about it, either due to lack of proper internet infrastructure facilities or security concerns, which prevents them from actively using BookMyShow to meet their entertainment demands. By introducing Cash Top-Up to our ‘MyWallet’, we are eliminating these barriers and extending our services to those who prefer cash as their preferred mode of payment. We are delighted to partner with ItzCash, which will enable users book tickets on the BMS app and website without having to use their credit/debit cards or net banking.”

  • Can OTT players leverage market opportunities & rationalize rising content costs?

    Can OTT players leverage market opportunities & rationalize rising content costs?

    MUMBAI: In a bid to grab eyeballs, spending on digital advertising is on the increase, but this increase also comes with challenges, if KPMG is to be believed.

    KPMG director Girish Menon said that digital advertisement is likely to cross Rs 25,500 crore in 2020, but digital ads do not come without challenges with major concerns being inability to track mobile activity, ad fraud, ad blocking and measurement.

    Making a presentation at an event organised by FICCI here yesterday, Fast Track India: Bolstering Growth in the Digital Content, Menon added, “OTT video is likely to become the holy grail in digital media. The advent of OTT services and on-the-go content, aided with competitive tariffs and falling average retail price of smartphones, has helped to drive video consumption in India.”

    According to him, approximately 40 per cent of mobile data traffic is being driven by video and audio consumption.

    The Indian market is highly price sensitive and broadcast services are well accepted, making the growth and profitability of OTT video players an uphill task. As digital media consumption grows in the country, content owners and delivery platforms need to reflect on innovative ways of monetizing digital content. OTT players need to leverage market opportunities while rationalizing rising costs of acquiring or producing digital content.

    “Profitability still continues to be a major challenge coupled with infrastructure and affordability of data tariffs and payments models. It is imperative for the OTT players to address these concerns through innovative means to achieve the medium’s full potential,” added Menon.

    Discussing future trends to grow this market, through effective monetization of content, while delivering consumer value, in addition to evaluating various payment models at FICCI Knowledge Series 2016 were Film Producer Vishesh Bhatt, DittoTV business head Archana Anand, Arre co-founder and CEO AJay Chacko and Eros Digital COO Karan Bedi.

    Sparking the discussion was Bhatt who observed how this conversation flagged off last year with everyone talking about content that has come to a point where it’s annoying. He is of the opinion that serious content makers fuelling the various platforms have to first understand the ecosystem. “In my opinion, even the platforms have not taken initiatives to educate the content makers. The ecosystem currently is extremely poor. The content makers have to understand the economics first or open my own platform to air content and then make money out of it.”

    Various content monetization options are being explored with the rapid adoption of digital platforms. Ad remains the major source of advertising. Short format made-for-digital content is being leveraged for immediate monetization opportunity. Existing content is being repackaged and delivered across digital platforms owned and 3rd party (YouTube, Mobile Apps, etc.). Existing content infrastructure is being leveraged to create purpose built content (interactive shows, online polls, etc.).

    The focus has now shifted to original/exclusive content for digital media, to drive subscription revenues

    Enlightening the audience further, Chacko pointed out how the content consumption medium has evolved from print to broadcast and now to digital. While there is 70 per cent investment in content creation for digital, the showdown does not stop there. “Investing more on content is the rule.”

    Citing the example of Pokemon Go, Bedi asserted how the game is earning roughly 1.6 million per day which is just 10 per cent of what they can make if monetised properly. “The cost of data, infrastructure, etc, remains an issue for us. We are definitely not there yet with the subscription model, but it’s not far.”

    Anand though strongly surmises that platforms need to set their strategies right. “You have to establish with masses first to get subscribers. We followed the consumer behaviour trend on mobile and made it affordable for them. Like anyone else, we never told them to download our app, rather gave them the option to give a miss call to download it. To solve bandwidth constraints, we tied up with Telcos and payment wallets and the usage has been phenomenal.”

    dittoTV has a clear road map set wherein it has first focused on getting eyeballs to its platform. Anand also opined that the platform does not have to necessarily follow a linear model in future.

    But how will the value change make money? Answering that, Bedi said that the three levers- revenue generation, content creation and marketing acquisitions. “Netflix does not invest on marketing acquisitions. In the end, it depends on the platform to decide what model it wants to follow and it has to make it work right.”

    “SVOD also allows multiple things to be done. There is an inherent ability to share piece of profit with partners by tying up with various partners”, added Anand.

    With various global players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc, entering India, the players will have to focus on producing original quality content to drive viewers. But is it beneficial to the creators here to put their content on the different platforms. Bhatt strongly affirmed that the West has made its content makers worth. It’s no more only about money but about environment.

  • Can OTT players leverage market opportunities & rationalize rising content costs?

    Can OTT players leverage market opportunities & rationalize rising content costs?

    MUMBAI: In a bid to grab eyeballs, spending on digital advertising is on the increase, but this increase also comes with challenges, if KPMG is to be believed.

    KPMG director Girish Menon said that digital advertisement is likely to cross Rs 25,500 crore in 2020, but digital ads do not come without challenges with major concerns being inability to track mobile activity, ad fraud, ad blocking and measurement.

    Making a presentation at an event organised by FICCI here yesterday, Fast Track India: Bolstering Growth in the Digital Content, Menon added, “OTT video is likely to become the holy grail in digital media. The advent of OTT services and on-the-go content, aided with competitive tariffs and falling average retail price of smartphones, has helped to drive video consumption in India.”

    According to him, approximately 40 per cent of mobile data traffic is being driven by video and audio consumption.

    The Indian market is highly price sensitive and broadcast services are well accepted, making the growth and profitability of OTT video players an uphill task. As digital media consumption grows in the country, content owners and delivery platforms need to reflect on innovative ways of monetizing digital content. OTT players need to leverage market opportunities while rationalizing rising costs of acquiring or producing digital content.

    “Profitability still continues to be a major challenge coupled with infrastructure and affordability of data tariffs and payments models. It is imperative for the OTT players to address these concerns through innovative means to achieve the medium’s full potential,” added Menon.

    Discussing future trends to grow this market, through effective monetization of content, while delivering consumer value, in addition to evaluating various payment models at FICCI Knowledge Series 2016 were Film Producer Vishesh Bhatt, DittoTV business head Archana Anand, Arre co-founder and CEO AJay Chacko and Eros Digital COO Karan Bedi.

    Sparking the discussion was Bhatt who observed how this conversation flagged off last year with everyone talking about content that has come to a point where it’s annoying. He is of the opinion that serious content makers fuelling the various platforms have to first understand the ecosystem. “In my opinion, even the platforms have not taken initiatives to educate the content makers. The ecosystem currently is extremely poor. The content makers have to understand the economics first or open my own platform to air content and then make money out of it.”

    Various content monetization options are being explored with the rapid adoption of digital platforms. Ad remains the major source of advertising. Short format made-for-digital content is being leveraged for immediate monetization opportunity. Existing content is being repackaged and delivered across digital platforms owned and 3rd party (YouTube, Mobile Apps, etc.). Existing content infrastructure is being leveraged to create purpose built content (interactive shows, online polls, etc.).

    The focus has now shifted to original/exclusive content for digital media, to drive subscription revenues

    Enlightening the audience further, Chacko pointed out how the content consumption medium has evolved from print to broadcast and now to digital. While there is 70 per cent investment in content creation for digital, the showdown does not stop there. “Investing more on content is the rule.”

    Citing the example of Pokemon Go, Bedi asserted how the game is earning roughly 1.6 million per day which is just 10 per cent of what they can make if monetised properly. “The cost of data, infrastructure, etc, remains an issue for us. We are definitely not there yet with the subscription model, but it’s not far.”

    Anand though strongly surmises that platforms need to set their strategies right. “You have to establish with masses first to get subscribers. We followed the consumer behaviour trend on mobile and made it affordable for them. Like anyone else, we never told them to download our app, rather gave them the option to give a miss call to download it. To solve bandwidth constraints, we tied up with Telcos and payment wallets and the usage has been phenomenal.”

    dittoTV has a clear road map set wherein it has first focused on getting eyeballs to its platform. Anand also opined that the platform does not have to necessarily follow a linear model in future.

    But how will the value change make money? Answering that, Bedi said that the three levers- revenue generation, content creation and marketing acquisitions. “Netflix does not invest on marketing acquisitions. In the end, it depends on the platform to decide what model it wants to follow and it has to make it work right.”

    “SVOD also allows multiple things to be done. There is an inherent ability to share piece of profit with partners by tying up with various partners”, added Anand.

    With various global players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc, entering India, the players will have to focus on producing original quality content to drive viewers. But is it beneficial to the creators here to put their content on the different platforms. Bhatt strongly affirmed that the West has made its content makers worth. It’s no more only about money but about environment.

  • Q1-17: Zeel numbers up on higher ad, subscription revenue, PAT up 22 percent

    Q1-17: Zeel numbers up on higher ad, subscription revenue, PAT up 22 percent

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra led content and broadcast player Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) reported a 19.2 per cent  hike in consolidated revenue for the quarter ended 30 June 2016 (Q1-17, current quarter) as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The growth was driven by a 19.2 percent growth in Zeel’s advertising (ad) revenue, supplemented by a 14.2 percent growth in subscription revenue. Zeel reported consolidated revenue (Total income from operations, TIO) of Rs 1,571.62 crore in Q1-17 as compared to Rs 1,326,68 crore in Q1-16.

    Profit after tax (PAT) for the current quarter increased 21.8 percent to Rs 216.96 crore (13.8 percent margin) as compared to Rs 178.18 crore (13.4 percent margin) in Q1-16.

    Ad revenue in the current quarter was Rs 911.98 crore (58 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 765.33 crore (57.7 percent of TIO) in Q1-16. Subscription revenue in the current quarter was Rs 528.16 crore (33.6 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 462.53 crore (34.9 percent of TIO) in Q1-16.

    Zeel’s Operating profit (EBITDA) for Q1-17 stood at Rs 453.15 crore (28.8 percent EBITDA Margin) which was 44.1 percent higher than the Rs 314.57 crore (23.7 percent EBIDTA margin) in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Total Expenditure in Q1-17 increased 11.2 percent to Rs 1,143.58 crore (72.8 percent of TIO) from Rs 1,028.21 crore (77.5 percent of TIO) in Q1-16.

    Finance costs in the current quarter declined 2.6 percent to Rs 7.5 crore (0.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 7.7 crore (0.6 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Employee benefit expense in Q1-17 increased 14.1 percent to Rs 149.93 crore (9.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 131.40 crore (9.9 percent of TIO) in Q1-16.

    Advertising and Publicity expense in the current quarter increased 23.9 percent to Rs 119.71 crore (7.6 percent of TIO) from Rs 96.65 crore (7.3 percent of TIO) in Q1-16.

    Company Speak

    Chandra added, “The financial results once again highlight the strong underlying fundamentals of the company. The advertising and subscription revenues continue to drive the company’s growth. Taking a long term view of the business trends we are committed to become a global content company and will make suitable investments to achieve that objective.”

    Zeel managing director and CEO Punit Goenka, Managing said, ““We have started the new fiscal on a positive note, delivering successful result in the first quarter. On the back of continued steady economic recovery, the company once again managed to outperform the market. The advertising growth is holding up and the subscription revenue is maintaining a steady growth. While the advertising could receive a fillip if the consumer spending improves, on the subscription front the industry awaits the regulatory guidelines which will shape the subscription revenue growth over the next few quarters.”

    The preference of the consumers keeps on evolving with time and we have consistently stayed ahead of the curve, and in many cases helped shape it. As an entertainment company, it is imperative for us to experiment with new content and innovate new formats, and we will continue to do so. We are making investments in new growth verticals with an aim that they will start contributing to company’s success in the future. An effort in this direction was the relaunch of company’s paid OTT platform dittoTV with new subscription plans. Our movie production business has started delivering results which is evident with movies like Sairat which became the highest grossing Marathi movie of all time.”

    Note: (1) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

    (2) All numbers in this report are consolidated unless stated otherwise.
     

    Click Here

  • Q1-17: Zeel numbers up on higher ad, subscription revenue, PAT up 22 percent

    Q1-17: Zeel numbers up on higher ad, subscription revenue, PAT up 22 percent

    BENGALURU: The Subhash Chandra led content and broadcast player Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) reported a 19.2 per cent  hike in consolidated revenue for the quarter ended 30 June 2016 (Q1-17, current quarter) as compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. The growth was driven by a 19.2 percent growth in Zeel’s advertising (ad) revenue, supplemented by a 14.2 percent growth in subscription revenue. Zeel reported consolidated revenue (Total income from operations, TIO) of Rs 1,571.62 crore in Q1-17 as compared to Rs 1,326,68 crore in Q1-16.

    Profit after tax (PAT) for the current quarter increased 21.8 percent to Rs 216.96 crore (13.8 percent margin) as compared to Rs 178.18 crore (13.4 percent margin) in Q1-16.

    Ad revenue in the current quarter was Rs 911.98 crore (58 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 765.33 crore (57.7 percent of TIO) in Q1-16. Subscription revenue in the current quarter was Rs 528.16 crore (33.6 percent of TIO) as compared to Rs 462.53 crore (34.9 percent of TIO) in Q1-16.

    Zeel’s Operating profit (EBITDA) for Q1-17 stood at Rs 453.15 crore (28.8 percent EBITDA Margin) which was 44.1 percent higher than the Rs 314.57 crore (23.7 percent EBIDTA margin) in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Total Expenditure in Q1-17 increased 11.2 percent to Rs 1,143.58 crore (72.8 percent of TIO) from Rs 1,028.21 crore (77.5 percent of TIO) in Q1-16.

    Finance costs in the current quarter declined 2.6 percent to Rs 7.5 crore (0.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 7.7 crore (0.6 percent of TIO) in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Employee benefit expense in Q1-17 increased 14.1 percent to Rs 149.93 crore (9.5 percent of TIO) from Rs 131.40 crore (9.9 percent of TIO) in Q1-16.

    Advertising and Publicity expense in the current quarter increased 23.9 percent to Rs 119.71 crore (7.6 percent of TIO) from Rs 96.65 crore (7.3 percent of TIO) in Q1-16.

    Company Speak

    Chandra added, “The financial results once again highlight the strong underlying fundamentals of the company. The advertising and subscription revenues continue to drive the company’s growth. Taking a long term view of the business trends we are committed to become a global content company and will make suitable investments to achieve that objective.”

    Zeel managing director and CEO Punit Goenka, Managing said, ““We have started the new fiscal on a positive note, delivering successful result in the first quarter. On the back of continued steady economic recovery, the company once again managed to outperform the market. The advertising growth is holding up and the subscription revenue is maintaining a steady growth. While the advertising could receive a fillip if the consumer spending improves, on the subscription front the industry awaits the regulatory guidelines which will shape the subscription revenue growth over the next few quarters.”

    The preference of the consumers keeps on evolving with time and we have consistently stayed ahead of the curve, and in many cases helped shape it. As an entertainment company, it is imperative for us to experiment with new content and innovate new formats, and we will continue to do so. We are making investments in new growth verticals with an aim that they will start contributing to company’s success in the future. An effort in this direction was the relaunch of company’s paid OTT platform dittoTV with new subscription plans. Our movie production business has started delivering results which is evident with movies like Sairat which became the highest grossing Marathi movie of all time.”

    Note: (1) The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR). The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

    (a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

    (b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

    (2) All numbers in this report are consolidated unless stated otherwise.
     

    Click Here

  • Siticable partners dittoTV; to push OTT to cable TV and broadband subscribers

    Siticable partners dittoTV; to push OTT to cable TV and broadband subscribers

    MUMBAI: It was over the weekend that Zee Digital Convergence’s unleashed a TVC blitzkrieg, promoting its low priced over the top (OTT) service dittoTV. And now it has announced that it is partnering with Essel group cable TV MSO and sister company Siticable.

    As part of this, Siticable will be pushing the authentication and subscription to dittoTV from its portal to the subscribers of its cable TV service. Its broadband customers will be able to subscribe to OTT service at no extra cost to them. Siticable and dittoTV will do joint promotions on the ground even as last mile operators will also work on further distributing the OTT platform and servicing those who subscribe to it.

    Says dittoTV business head Archana Anand: “We are excited to be partnering with Siticable to give a push to our OTT service. We are looking at maximizing our distribution through the partnership. We launched our TVCs over the weekend and the response has been way beyond our expectations.”

    Adds SitiCable CEO V.D. Wadhwa: “The partnership is an exclusive one for Siticable as an MSO. And it is going to be a win win for both of us.”

    SitiCable has 12 million subscribers nationally to its cable TV service – an attractive potential captive audience for dittoTV.. Last mile operators who push the OTT service will benefit as a revenue share is being given to them.

    The 132,000 Siti Broadband users in Kolkata and Delhi are another lucrative bunch of potential subscribers for dittoTV, especially since it is being bundled with it and being given away free to them. In Delhi, SitiCable delivers broadband using Docsis 3,0 modems to its 30,000 odd subscribers while in Kolkata the number is in excess of 100,000 but the delivery mode is Ethernet on cable. Average revenue per user (ARPU), according to Wadhwa, in Delhi is at Rs 600 while in Kolkata it is Rs 500. While the average bandwidth consumption is 30 GB in Delhi, the figure is half that in the eastern city.

    “Broadband users will be able to watch dittoTV’s 100 channels on their laptops, tablets, and smart TVs in the comfort of their homes using our broadband,” says Wadhwa.

    That probably should lead to a lift in bandwidth consumption, say observers, and an increase in broadband ARPU for Siticable once customers start using the dittoTV app and streaming the linear 100-odd channels that it is providing.

    This apart, SitiCable’s cable TV subscribers, who are using other broadband services – dongles or Chromecast or what have you – will also be able to sign up and stream dittoTV on different devices.

    Anand says the two of them will observe how the partnership is panning out in its Delhi pilot before rolling it out into other towns. Overall she has already said ZDCL was looking at 6 million subscribers in FY-2017. Of these, she says about a million should come courtesy its SitiCable partnership.

    In all probability, dittoTV is going to serve as Siticable’s offering of an anywhere TV app – a la Tata Sky – as the operator says it is not interested in launching one of its own in the foreseeable future.

    As a recap, dittoTV was relaunched last month with an offer of 100 + Hindi, English and regional language channels (excepting Sun TV and Star India) encompassing general entertainment, sports, movies, news and lifestyle following its relaunch last month. It has come in as a low price warrior with its price tag being Rs 20 for a month, Rs 50 for three months, Rs 90 for six months and Rs 170 for a year.

    “We are definitely serious about OTT, hence we have priced it so low and are targeting large subscriber volumes,” says Anand. “We are investing in it for the future.”

  • Siticable partners dittoTV; to push OTT to cable TV and broadband subscribers

    Siticable partners dittoTV; to push OTT to cable TV and broadband subscribers

    MUMBAI: It was over the weekend that Zee Digital Convergence’s unleashed a TVC blitzkrieg, promoting its low priced over the top (OTT) service dittoTV. And now it has announced that it is partnering with Essel group cable TV MSO and sister company Siticable.

    As part of this, Siticable will be pushing the authentication and subscription to dittoTV from its portal to the subscribers of its cable TV service. Its broadband customers will be able to subscribe to OTT service at no extra cost to them. Siticable and dittoTV will do joint promotions on the ground even as last mile operators will also work on further distributing the OTT platform and servicing those who subscribe to it.

    Says dittoTV business head Archana Anand: “We are excited to be partnering with Siticable to give a push to our OTT service. We are looking at maximizing our distribution through the partnership. We launched our TVCs over the weekend and the response has been way beyond our expectations.”

    Adds SitiCable CEO V.D. Wadhwa: “The partnership is an exclusive one for Siticable as an MSO. And it is going to be a win win for both of us.”

    SitiCable has 12 million subscribers nationally to its cable TV service – an attractive potential captive audience for dittoTV.. Last mile operators who push the OTT service will benefit as a revenue share is being given to them.

    The 132,000 Siti Broadband users in Kolkata and Delhi are another lucrative bunch of potential subscribers for dittoTV, especially since it is being bundled with it and being given away free to them. In Delhi, SitiCable delivers broadband using Docsis 3,0 modems to its 30,000 odd subscribers while in Kolkata the number is in excess of 100,000 but the delivery mode is Ethernet on cable. Average revenue per user (ARPU), according to Wadhwa, in Delhi is at Rs 600 while in Kolkata it is Rs 500. While the average bandwidth consumption is 30 GB in Delhi, the figure is half that in the eastern city.

    “Broadband users will be able to watch dittoTV’s 100 channels on their laptops, tablets, and smart TVs in the comfort of their homes using our broadband,” says Wadhwa.

    That probably should lead to a lift in bandwidth consumption, say observers, and an increase in broadband ARPU for Siticable once customers start using the dittoTV app and streaming the linear 100-odd channels that it is providing.

    This apart, SitiCable’s cable TV subscribers, who are using other broadband services – dongles or Chromecast or what have you – will also be able to sign up and stream dittoTV on different devices.

    Anand says the two of them will observe how the partnership is panning out in its Delhi pilot before rolling it out into other towns. Overall she has already said ZDCL was looking at 6 million subscribers in FY-2017. Of these, she says about a million should come courtesy its SitiCable partnership.

    In all probability, dittoTV is going to serve as Siticable’s offering of an anywhere TV app – a la Tata Sky – as the operator says it is not interested in launching one of its own in the foreseeable future.

    As a recap, dittoTV was relaunched last month with an offer of 100 + Hindi, English and regional language channels (excepting Sun TV and Star India) encompassing general entertainment, sports, movies, news and lifestyle following its relaunch last month. It has come in as a low price warrior with its price tag being Rs 20 for a month, Rs 50 for three months, Rs 90 for six months and Rs 170 for a year.

    “We are definitely serious about OTT, hence we have priced it so low and are targeting large subscriber volumes,” says Anand. “We are investing in it for the future.”

  • Zee gets aggressive with dittoTV relaunch

    Zee gets aggressive with dittoTV relaunch

    MUMBAI: Media watchers have been speculating for some time about what Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) would do in the live and linear OTT and VOD space with its dittoTV service. The reason: even as rivals Hotstar, Voot and others such as Hooq, YuppTV seemed to be having strategic direction, dittoTV seemed to be going adrift.

    The riposte came from the Zee management yesterday with its announcement that it would be launching dittoTV with a bouquet of 100 plus channels at a price point of just Rs 20 per month.  As part of the relaunch Zee Digital Convergence Ltd (ZDCL) has re-positioned dittoTV as desh kaTV with a promise to make live television available to every Indian via any device – viz phones, tablet or PC. The price gets even more lip smacking for users subscribing for three months (Rs 50), six months (Rs 90) and annually (Rs 170). 

    The platform has tied up with major Indian broadcasters with the exception of the SunTV group and Star India giving it a portfolio of 100 plus Hindi, English and regional language channels, encompassing general entertainment, sports, movies, news and lifestyle on board.

    “With the new avatar of dittoTV, we aim to change the media landscape to suit the evolving media consumption preferences of consumers. It will allow users to control where they watch television in a way that has not been possible before. We are proud to present a platform that will help scale up this transformation by making it affordable for people across a wide economic spectrum,” opines Zeel MD and CEO Punit Goenka.

    dittoTV business head Archana Anand gives the rational for the competitive and low pricing. Says she: “We really wanted to go mass and affordable with this pricing.  We see it serving as your first and only screen, as your second screen or just your TV on the go! Keeping the Indian landscape in the mind, dittoTV will soon be available in all regional languages. A huge aspirational audience of ours is college students who we believe will use this especially given the Wifi in the colleges. They are the specific TGs that we are chasing. We have found that there is a huge need gap in hostels and we intend to be at youth festivals and various events to make sure that ditto is their one stop entertainment destination.”

    She points out to dittoTV’s adaptive technology which will adjust to a range of internet speeds in order to deliver a seamless viewing experience, making it suitable for both urban and rural markets. A broad marketing campaign – which observers say will include TVCs on the Zee network, Siticable and dishTV – has been drawn out to push the #deshkatv and #beeskaTV to the potential target audience.  

    In a bid to encourage sampling of dittoTV, ZEEL has partnered with Birla group owned telecom provider Idea Cellular. Under this, a promotional offer has been drawn up which allows customers in Idea 3G and 4G provider circles to subscribe to dittoTV free of cost, along with select monthly data packs until 31 July 2016.

    “With the rapid rollout of our 4G services and increased penetration of smartphones in the country, we are providing our customers an array of rich digital services to meet their demand for engaging apps and content,” explains Idea Cellular chief marketing officer Sashi Shankar. “TV being synonymous with entertainment for the Indian masses, we are excited to partner with dittoTV to enable consumers to carry their entertainment wherever they go.”

    Anand adds that dittoTV has sewn up carrier billing deals with almost all the telecom providers. Says she: “It’s not just with Idea. But we are glad to have them on board to bundle dittoTV with their data cards.  We have reached out to a wonderful telecom partner for our distribution. They also see this as valid proposition for them because there is nothing more massy which consumes data than TV. They see it as a good service for their subscribers and in the process getting data consumed. So, there is an increased synergy between the two.”

    dittoTV has also reached out to other service providers within the Essel group – Siti Cable and ITZ Cash – to give it a retail push and make it available to subscribers. 

    Will the low rates of dittoTV spark off a price war in this segment? The jury is out. A media observer states that it is quite possible that rivals such as YuppTV, Airtel’s PocketTV may have to reduce what they charge to consumers.  While YuppTV’s larger offering of 200 plus channels (it also offers SunTV channels) is priced at Rs 99 a month, Airtel’s PocketTV is priced at Rs 45 a month for a bouquet of 150 plus channels.  And then there is the Reliance Jio juggernaut which is set to roll with its much larger channel portfolio JioPlay. The pricing for JioPlay has not yet been revealed but observers expect it to bring about a paradigm shift.

    Anand, on her part, is not letting the competitive noise frazzle her. “Reliance is going to disrupt everything in the broadband ecosystem. So I don’t let that worry me at all,” says she. “We are focused on offering our customer a service that’s good and that’s ditto for television, which means, offering television to them wherever they go.” 

    Amen to that!