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Tag: Eros Now

  • Airtel launches Xstream Premium aggregator service, onboards 15 OTT brands

    Airtel launches Xstream Premium aggregator service, onboards 15 OTT brands

    Mumbai: Further democratising the growing digital entertainment ecosystem in India, Bharti Airtel (Airtel), on Thursday announced the launch of its new video streaming aggregator service – Airtel Xstream Premium. The company is targeting 20 million subscriptions through the new offering.

    Aggregating content from 15 Indian and global OTT platforms in one app, Airtel Xstream Premium will give customers access to Live channels and a catalogue of over 10,500 films and shows from SonyLIV, ErosNow, Lionsgate Play, Hoichoi, ManoramaMax, Shemaroo, Ultra, HungamaPlay, EPICon, Docubay, DivoTV, Klikk, Nammaflix, Dollywood, and Shorts TV. More OTT players will be onboarded going ahead, said the statement.

    Airtel Xstream Premium offers its service with a single app, single subscription, single sign-in, unified content search and AI-driven personalised curation for each user. It can be accessed across mobile devices through the web, and on TV through the Xstream set-top-box. The service will be available exclusively to Airtel customers at Rs 149 per month.

    “Airtel Xstream Premium is a game-changing innovation to democratise OTT content in India by solving the key challenges of content discovery, affordability and distribution,” said Airtel digital CEO Adarsh Nair. “As a unified digital platform, it’s a win-win proposition for customers and OTT players alike as we begin an exciting journey to make digital entertainment mainstream in India.” 

    SonyLIV’s growth and monetisation head Manish Aggarwal added, “Our partnership with Airtel Xstream will bring premium content – from originals, movies, sports and Sony India network content in all the leading languages, along with top shows from Hollywood to over 340 million Airtel customers. SonyLIV’s rich content library coupled with Airtel Xstream’s deep distribution reach and massive scale capabilities make it for a perfect partnership for both sides and we look forward to a long and successful association.”

    “Hoichoi has always been committed to making its content available to a wider audience base. Airtel, being one of the most widely used network, with a similar aim of serving people from all corners of the country, makes this partnership a truly dynamic one. This will enable Hoichoi to penetrate deeper into the Tier – II and Tier – III cities by providing Airtel users with a Hoichoi subscription bundled with an attractive Airtel recharge pack,” remarked Hoichoi CEO Soumya Mukherjee.

    “Eros Now is a mass-market consumer proposition with thousands of movies, original series, music videos, short-form content and more in multiple languages,” stated Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein. “This symbiotic partnership with Airtel Xstream will further accelerate Eros Now’s adoption in India and allow an even larger number of video users to access our popular and engaging content. I am confident that consumers will enjoy the experience of accessing the best of entertainment and internet on a single platform.”

  • Eros Now partners with Global Networks Infocom to expand its reach

    Eros Now partners with Global Networks Infocom to expand its reach

    Mumbai: Eros STX Global Corp-owned OTT entertainment platform Eros Now on Thursday announced that it has partnered with Global Networks Infocom Pvt Ltd (GNIPL), supplier of IT infra and network equipment along with value added services to internet service providers, telcos, and system integrators across India through its brand – Globenet.

    Following this, Eros Now’s filmi library of over 12,000 digital titles as well as premium original episodic series, and music videos, will be available to GNIPL’s customer base across India. Globenet will bundle Eros Now’s yearly subscription packs along with their products and services and distribute them to its premium users nationally.

    Commenting on the partnership, Eros Now SVP and business head tech zone Manpreet Bumrah said, “Over the past year, we have seen a radical change in consumer behavior. People are more inclined towards watching new content online as they spend more time at home. With our partnerships with service providers, we are looking at benefitting these consumers by offering a plethora of content and expanding our national reach.” 

    Globenet director Harshal Dalal shared, “India is currently an OTT driven market, and we are delighted to announce our partnership with Eros Now – one of the leading OTT players in India. Through this partnership, we aim to create a holistic digital ecosystem and offer unlimited entertainment with bundled services to our customers.”

    According to a recent study by consultancy firm Ovum, India has one of the highest numbers of users with carrier-bundled paid media services. As a value-conscious country, Indians are drawn to service providers offering multiple streaming services, whether for mobile or broadband connections on smart TVs. Carrier-bundled media services provide users with options and encourage consumption, thus helping in maintaining a loyal consumer base

  • Sling TV partners with Eros Now as part of South Asia expansion

    Sling TV partners with Eros Now as part of South Asia expansion

    Mumbai: The app-based streaming service Sling TV has announced plans to continue expanding its South Asian offering with the addition of video streaming platform – Eros Now.

    Following the launch, Sling’s international subscribers will have access to Eros Now’s over 1,500 titles – including top web originals and films. The Eros Now library on Sling will continue to grow over the coming months to over 6,000 film titles and will be available in Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and other regional languages, said the statement.

    Sling TV is a provider of international and multicultural programming, with content from 27 countries in over 20 languages. “Sling TV is the leading American provider of South Asian content and continues to perfect our offering to connect consumers to the content they love,” Sling TV vice president of international Liz Riemersma. “Eros Now offers an expansive web originals and film collection for our South Asian customers, and will make a fantastic addition to our Desi Binge bundle.”

    Eros Now service will be available to customers with the ‘Desi Binge package,’ which includes other leading South Asian content like SonyLIV and Voot, as well as the Hindi pack and the Hindi mega pack at no additional cost to customers. Customers may also purchase Eros Now as a standalone service or as an add-on to another Sling TV service for $ five per month.

    “Indian content is hugely popular in North America. With Eros Now packaged and bundled on a popular service like Sling TV, the audiences will get access to the best catalogue of Indian films and original series,” said Eros Now chief executive officer Ali Hussein. “This partnership also dovetails nicely into Eros Now’s strategy of building audiences on the large screen in North America and further accentuates our strong distribution in the region.”

  • Eros Now extends partnership with BSNL to cover postpaid customers

    Eros Now extends partnership with BSNL to cover postpaid customers

    Mumbai: Eros Now, the South Asian OTT entertainment platform owned by Eros STX Global Corp, has announced the extension of its partnership with the Indian state-owned telecommunications company Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL). Eros Now had first partnered with BSNL in 2019 for its prepaid user base.

    As a part of this association, Eros Now’s content catalogue comprising over 12,000 film titles, premium originals, music videos, and short-form content will also be available to BSNL’s entire postpaid user base. The partnership with BSNL, which has a pan-India presence across all the 22 telecom circles in India, will serve the growing demand for content in different languages across the country, said the streaming platform in a statement on Thursday.

    “It is our constant endeavor to address the growing demand for premium content across markets and bolster the growth of the digital ecosystem. As we continue to entertain consumers across India, including smaller cities and towns, our ability to choose the right partner becomes critical, stated Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein. “No one covers India like BSNL and this partnership will give a massive boost to our reach in the Indian heartlands while giving users access to our premium content.”

    As per research by Digital TV, the language services market is growing exponentially. The global localisation industry has grown up to 40 per cent in the last three years, with OTT content localisation being the defining factor for this rapid growth. Eros Now offers content in multiple languages including Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, and Gujarati among others.

    “Digital media consumption has increased exponentially in the past few years,” said BSNL director –consumer mobility Sushil Kumar Mishra. “They prefer engaging content in their native language. I am excited for our users across India who will now have access to Eros Now’s massive library of premium content in various Indian languages.”

  • Eros Now to launch film festival on Facebook Watch this Diwali

    Eros Now to launch film festival on Facebook Watch this Diwali

    Mumbai: Eros Now is launching a month-long Bollywood film festival on Facebook Watch this Diwali. As part of the collaboration, the OTT platform will stream a film every day from its library of over 12,000 Indian films on Eros Now’s Facebook page from 3 November to 2 December. The films will be powered by Mzaalo, a blockchain-based video streaming application in the gamified video and entertainment ecosystem. 

    The list includes popular titles from the 90s and 2000s such as “Tere Naam,” “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam,” “Devdas,” “Cocktail,” “Love Aajkal,” “Shubh Mangal Savdhan,” “Raanjhanaa,” “Manmarziyaa,” “Vicky Donor,” “Hathi Mere Sathi,” and more.

    Commenting on the campaign, Eros Now senior vice president – marketing Ramakrishnan Laxman said, “Our data science-led research indicates that Bollywood movies have a strong repeat watch value, and during festival season, this repeat viewing increases many folds. With people preferring to stream long-form content on their devices nowadays, this partnership with Facebook allows us to extend the joy of watching the old and new gems of Bollywood this Diwali to billions of social media savvy audiences.”

    “Our focus in India with Facebook Watch has been reflective of the diverse consumer tastes in the country. With movies and cinema being extremely popular with our community, we are excited to partner with Eros Now to enable fans to watch their favourite Bollywood movies on Facebook Watch. We hope this experience will enable people to share, connect and entertain themselves with content they like on Facebook,” added Meta director – media partnerships Paras Sharma.

    Eros Now has a 10 million-strong community of fans on Facebook, and this collaboration between the two companies is expected to provide them with an interactive viewing experience.

    “This industry-first initiative is a great example of democratising the best of Bollywood content. Our association with Eros opens new avenues of user–brand experiences to drive social entertainment commerce. We are certain that this unique festive partnership will pave a path for more engagement and result in further uptake of our content,” stated Mzaalo COO Vikram Tanna.

  • Airtel launches CPaaS solution ‘Airtel IQ Video’ to democratise video streaming

    Airtel launches CPaaS solution ‘Airtel IQ Video’ to democratise video streaming

    Mumbai: Communication solutions provider Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Tuesday announced the launch of its video platform as a service (CPaaS) ‘Airtel IQ Video’ that will allow businesses to build world-class video streaming products for large and small screens with minimal investment in infrastructure and technology. The solution has been developed by Airtel’s in-house engineering teams.

    Airtel IQ Video is an end-to-end managed solution that brings convenience along with cost benefits. It encompasses a variety of features ranging from app development, content hosting, curation, and lifecycle management to search and discovery, analytics, and monetisation models (advertising, subscriptions, transactions).

    “Airtel IQ Video brings an easy-to-use platform that can enable anyone to quickly build and scale their business in video streaming. This will encourage enterprises to focus on content while Airtel IQ Video anchors the end-to-end technology ensuring a great viewing experience for customers,” stated Bharti Airtel – chief product officer Adarsh Nair. “With Airtel IQ Video, we expect to see more content startups and traditional content companies coming online and directly engaging with consumers digitally.”

    Airtel IQ Video is a cloud-based omni-channel communications platform that enables brands to deepen engagement with customers through timely and secure communication. It eliminates the need for multiple communication platforms for different channels while allowing businesses to embed communication services such as voice, SMS, IVR, and video in their applications and digital properties across desktop and mobile, all through a unified platform, said the statement.

    According to RBSA Advisors, India’s video OTT market is expected to touch $12.5 billion by 2030 from the current $1.5 billion. The report also highlighted that the next wave of growth in the OTT landscape will come from tier 2, 3 and 4 cities and regional languages at the centre of this growth story. Keeping these changing trends in sight, existing regional OTTs are looking to scale their technology platforms to accommodate the rising number of users. Traditional content providers such as regional TV broadcasters are looking to digitise their content libraries through OTT applications.

    During the beta phase, Airtel IQ Video has also been deployed by Eros Now and CG Telecom of Nepal. Airtel is expecting to onboard 50+ brands on the platform in the coming year as interest from the market has been high.

    “We have cherished our partnership with Airtel over the years and are now excited about our technology collaboration. Their robust infrastructure and extensive network coverage have been helping us deliver blockbuster content seamlessly to the end consumers,” shared Eros Now- CEO Ali Hussein. “Airtel’s latest ‘Airtel IQ Video’ platform is an innovative offering that is built to scale and can assist Eros Now in reinforcing its value proposition to the rapidly expanding video subscriber base.” 

  • Eros Now deepens Australia footprint with launch on SBS On Demand

    Eros Now deepens Australia footprint with launch on SBS On Demand

    Mumbai: Eros STX Global Corp-owned OTT platform Eros Now on Friday announced its partnership with Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). With this association, SBS On Demand platform viewers will get access to the Eros Now channel with a selection of Bollywood films.

    “Australia and India enjoy a strong connection through their shared colonial history, Cricket, Bollywood, and Tourism. And the bond has only strengthened over the years,” said Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein. “Through our partnership with SBS, we will further expand our presence and provide the Australian audience with premium Indian films and original series they have been looking for. The synergies brought by both Eros Now and SBS will cater to the growing Indian entertainment consuming audience in Australia.” 

    According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Indian population has significantly increased in Australia in recent years, with Hindi and Punjabi making it to the top 10 languages spoken in the country. This has contributed to the growth in popularity of Cricket and Bollywood amongst native Australians as well as South Asian communities, including the Indian community in Australia.

    Eros Now has seen an upsurge in consumption in Australian markets primarily from the South Asian diaspora through its previous partnerships with Apple TV and Abu Dhabi T10 tournament. Owing to its striking diversity and strong demand for Indian content, the association with SBS will further help Eros Now deepen its consumer footprints in the Land Down Under, said the statement.

    “We are delighted to bring a hand-curated selection of some of the most exciting and entertaining Bollywood movies from Eros Now to SBS On Demand for our viewers as part of our continued commitment to showcase the best movies from all over the world and grow our multilingual services and audiences,” said SBS On Demand channel manager Haidee Ireland.

    Bollywood films from ErosNow including “Manmarziyan,” “Tanu Weds Manu Returns,” and “Raanjhana” will now be available on SBS On Demand.

  • Eros Now expands digital footprint in Africa

    Eros Now expands digital footprint in Africa

    Mumbai: Eros Now, the video streaming service owned by Eros STX Global Corp, on Friday announced the partnership with Digital Media 333 (DM 333), an African OTT entertainment platform.

    With this association, Eros Now’s premium Bollywood content line up with new and classic Bollywood films, originals, exclusive online premiers, and more wide-ranging content in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati languages will be available with English subtitles for audiences in African countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, DRC, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

    DM 333 will be offering seamless entertainment through the recently launched AVVATTA, a complete digital mobile entertainment experience.

    “As a leading global premium SVOD platform, it is our constant endeavour to deliver entertainment to audiences worldwide,” said Eros Now, CEO, Ali Hussein. “Indian content has been receiving greater interest globally and Africa remains one of the most significant markets for players offering the best of Indian entertainment. The partnership enables Eros Now to build a deeper connect in African countries and cater to their growing demand for online streaming.”

    As per the Digital TV Research report, the African OTT market is set for an explosion over the coming years, with the market set to reach $1.7 billion by 2026. SVOD services will continue to make up the bulk of the market. 

    “With the growing Indian content consuming population in the African region, this association will further strengthen and satiate the demand for Indian entertainment content amongst its viewers and expand Eros Now’s reach in international markets,” the platform said in a statement.

    “African people are constantly looking for premium entertainment experience and are in love with Indian content. I spotted this gap and realised it is the right time to offer premium content to South Africans at an affordable subscription,” said DM 333, founder, Surie Ramasary.

  • Eros Now partners with Live Satellite Media to bolster presence across India

    Eros Now partners with Live Satellite Media to bolster presence across India

    Mumbai: South Asian entertainment platform Eros Now has partnered with Mumbai-based Live Satellite Media, part of the ABS group to ensure delivery of video services across all parts of the country. As part of the deal ABS Subsidiary, Live Satellite Media will distribute and enable Eros Now subscriptions through various modes, including unique bundling, prepaid codes, and API integration of the SVOD platform across its extensive customer base. 

    “We will do bundling of various OTT apps and will distribute to ISP, MSO, LCO & other platforms all India. This will be a unique distribution of bundling of all OTT platforms under one company,” said ABS Group CMD Atul B Saraf. “And, by partnering with Eros Now, we can offer a unique experience of OTT platforms to our customers. We will leverage our 30 years of distribution network management experience to ensure the service reaches the multicultural and multilingual audience at large.”

    A noted multi-system operator- ABS Group carries a strong presence in Mumbai for 30 years. Live Satellite Media was founded in 1996 to distribute corporate advertisement on cable networks across India with over 2000 MSO affiliated to it. In 2004 India’s only health & wellness channel was launched by the group with 100 per cent in-house production with more than 1000 hours of library. In 2008 through its subsidiary ABS Media Service had distributed various satellite channels on all platforms for carriage fees & revenue as pay channel. ABS also owns various other companies such as ABS digital cable, ABS broadband services.

    The company is now in the process of finalising as many as six OTT platforms. “We should be able to close it by next month,” said Saraf, who has been in the Satellite and Cable TV Industry for over 30 years. In 1994 he founded Seven Star Satellite Cable Network in Mumbai which became one of the biggest Independent Multi System Operators.

    Talking about the partnership, Eros Now, senior vice president – distribution and alliances, Manpreet Bumrah said, “This partnership is unique and enables us to tap into Live Satellite Media’s massive distributions network of customers and serve them with Eros Now’s enormous library of Bollywood movies, originals, music, short-format content, and more.” 

  • Eros Now expands existing partnership with Xfinite’s Mzaalo

    Eros Now expands existing partnership with Xfinite’s Mzaalo

    Mumbai: South Asian OTT platform Eros Now owned by Eros STX Global Corporation announced details of its amended partnership with Mzaalo, a gamified video streaming service owned by Xfinite Global Plc (“Xfinite”).

    Aimed at bolstering Eros Now’s footprint in the emerging segment of advertising video-on-demand (AVOD), the partnership will allow Eros Now to continue building its core subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service. The agreement also provides ErosSTX with positive optionality on the potential growth in digital assets and blockchain technology, said the company on Wednesday.

    One of the company’s strategic imperatives is to fully monetize the Eros Now platform and expand into ad-supported streaming and this partnership with Mzaalo does just that, highlighted Eros Now, CEO Ali Hussein.

    “We have an opportunity to monetize more the 224 million Eros Now registered users who are fans of our content offering but are also price-conscious. Mzaalo joins our already-substantial ecosystem of Eros Now distribution partners, including Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Tata Sky, Apple, Amazon and Roku. The Mzaalo agreement is purposefully structured to provide ErosSTX with an appropriate mix of fixed and guaranteed cash payments and variable revenue participation as Mzaalo scales,” he elaborated.

    ErosSTX is licensing majority of the existing Eros Now content library to Xfinite on an exclusive basis for global AVOD monetization. However, this agreement does not preclude Eros Now from launching its planned English-language service, Eros Now Prime, or from licensing content to other SVOD services.

    The AVOD platform is also expected to play a key role in Eros Now’s future content strategy and facilitate innovative windowing options. The current plans are to offer premium original titles and movies in the first window to Eros Now paying subscribers.

    Under the amended and restated agreement with Mzaalo, ErosSTX is entitled to a minimum guaranteed cash payment of $42 million over the remaining four-year license term, ending December 2024. ErosSTX has already received $18 million in minimum guaranteed payments under the original contract that started in 2018. 

    Additionally, ErosSTX will receive a 50 per cent share of any Mzaalo revenue generated above the minimum guarantee. Lastly, ErosSTX will receive 400 million XET Digital Tokens in exchange for access to Eros Now’s database of registered users,which totalled 224.0 million as of 31 March, 2021.

    Mzaalo, Xfinite’s first entertainment application, provides consumers with free access to premium content including films, original series, short-form content from Eros Now, and other media platforms, as well as a range of interactive features.