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Tag: Karan Bedi

  • Rise and Fall rises to the top on Amazon MX Player

    Rise and Fall rises to the top on Amazon MX Player

    MUMBAI: Talk about a reality check! Rise and Fall, Amazon MX Player’s latest digital blockbuster, has done everything but fall. The show has stormed into the record books as the most-watched series ever on the platform, amassing over half a billion views and holding its ground in India’s top OTT reality charts for six straight weeks.

    Produced by Banijay Asia, Rise and Fall threw 15 familiar faces including Pawan Singh, Dhanashree Verma, Kubbra Sait, and Kiku Sharda into a 42-day showdown of power, ambition, and strategy. Hosted by Ashneer Grover, the series saw audiences cast more than 11 million votes before crowning Arjun Bijlani as the ultimate winner.

    But the show’s real victory played out online, sparking over 10 billion social media views and a flood of memes, reactions, and fan edits. Hindi cinema and cricket stars from John Abraham to Ishan Kishan jumped on the bandwagon, amplifying the frenzy and turning the series into a cultural talking point.

    In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Rise and Fall aired daily on both Amazon MX Player and Sony Entertainment Television, bridging the gap between traditional TV and digital fandom. The result? Record-breaking engagement and a prime showcase for brands like Lux Cozi, Haier, and McDowell’s, which integrated into the narrative through clever placements and sponsorships.

    “The success and cultural impact of Rise and Fall have been phenomenal,” said Amazon MX Player director and head Karan Bedi. “It’s proof that entertainment and brand storytelling can converge powerfully to capture the nation’s imagination.”

    Banijay Asia founder and group CEO Deepak Dhar added, “This show redefined the scale and storytelling potential of Indian reality television. We wanted to blend ambition, strategy, and emotion in a format that feels fresh and globally resonant, and audiences have embraced it wholeheartedly.”

    Licensed through All3Media International and originally created by Studio Lambert in the UK, Rise and Fall has cemented itself as more than just another reality show, it’s a pop-culture phenomenon and a symbol of India’s evolving entertainment landscape.

  • Streaming to the top: Karan Bedi named OTT Leader of the Year

    Streaming to the top: Karan Bedi named OTT Leader of the Year

    MUMBAI: When it comes to India’s streaming wars, Karan Bedi is clearly playing in the big league. The head of Amazon MX Player has been crowned ‘Leader of the Year OTT’ at the 12th IAA Leadership Awards, held on 7 August 2025 at Taj Lands End, Mumbai. Instituted in 2013 by the International Advertising Association India Chapter, the awards celebrate excellence in business, marketing, and corporate leadership. This year’s jury, chaired by Colgate-Palmolive India MD & CEO Prabha Narasimhan, recognised Bedi’s role in steering Amazon MX Player to the forefront of India’s digital entertainment.

    Under his watch, the free streaming service has delivered a buffet of genres from cult thrillers like Aashram to emotionally charged dramas such as Mitti – Ek Nayi Pehchaan, high-octane action with Hunter S2 – Tootega Nahi Todega, and reality hits like Realme Hip Hop India Season 2. As per Ormax Media, 8 of India’s Top 50 digital shows in H1 2025 were from MX Player’s stable.

    The platform also boasts MX Vdesi India’s largest localised international content library, featuring dubbed global shows, anime, and films. It’s a strategy that has kept the service on advertisers’ radars while winning over audiences nationwide.

    “This recognition is for our entire team,” said Bedi. “Our mission is to deliver high-quality, free entertainment rooted in local stories, while enabling advertisers to reach audiences across India. Seeing our content resonate with millions is the most rewarding part of the journey.”

    With audience loyalty, advertiser trust, and an expanding content portfolio, Bedi’s leadership shows that in OTT, it’s not just about playing the game, it’s about changing it.
     

  • Realme Hip Hop India Season 2 becomes India’s #1 reality show of 2025

    Realme Hip Hop India Season 2 becomes India’s #1 reality show of 2025

    MUMBAI: Amazon MX Player’s Realme Hip Hop India Season 2 has cemented its place as the country’s biggest unscripted success story of the year. As per Ormax Media’s latest ranking of the Top 50 OTT Originals for H1 2025, the show emerged as India’s most-watched reality series, and the only one to trend for 11 consecutive weeks on Ormax’s weekly list of top OTT web shows.

    Season 2 brought India’s underground hip-hop dance movement into the mainstream with over 25 million unique viewers tuning in to witness raw talent, breakout performances, and deeply personal journeys. The series was anchored by judges Remo D’Souza and Malaika Arora, and amplified with appearances by leading personalities including Rajkummar Rao, Abhishek Bachchan, Raftaar, Sara Ali Khan, Munawar Faruqui, Aditya Roy Kapur, and Rohit Shetty, making it one of the most high-profile reality shows of the year. The finale crowned Shubhankar Gawde as India’s second hip-hop dance champion, capping off a season that redefined youth entertainment.

    Speaking on the show’s success, Karan Bedi, Head, Amazon MX Player, said: ‘Hip Hop India Season 2 stood at the intersection of culture, content, and commerce. It brought a powerful subculture into the mainstream and gave brands a credible, high-engagement platform to connect with young India. The response has been phenomenal both in terms of viewership and brand resonance.’

    The show raised the bar for branded content integrations and co-marketing at scale. Alongside title sponsor Realme, brands like Sprite, Tuborg, Pokémon, Spotify, and SpiceJet joined the movement in highly engaging ways. From innovative in-show integrations, immersive media ads, on-site and social media led gamification, to in-flight co-branding, Pokémon-themed dance acts, Spotify playlist integrations, the show created a high-impact ecosystem where brand narratives blended seamlessly with cultural moments.

    Echoing the sentiment, Amazon MX Player director and head of content, Amogh Dusad added, ‘With Realme Hip Hop India Season 2, we set out to showcase hip-hop not just as a dance form, but as a cultural voice. This season’s response proves that authenticity, when paired with relevance, wins big. We’re proud to see the franchise has become both a fan obsession and a brand magnet.’

  • Amazon MX Player touts content, commerce, and context in India’s free streaming revolution

    Amazon MX Player touts content, commerce, and context in India’s free streaming revolution

    MUMBAI: Amazon MX Player director & head Karan Bedi took centre stage at Goafest 2025 to make a bold case for India’s free streaming economy-and how advertisers must rethink reach in a post-TV world. His keynote, ‘Free Streaming Revolution: Premium Content, Unique Audience Signals & Measurable Outcomes’, laid out a data-backed blueprint for brand success in the age of immersive digital video.

    “Video streaming is the number one activity on smartphones in India”, Bedi said, pointing out it now outranks social media and messaging-even in tier two and tier three cities. Unlike the scattergun attention of UGC platforms, he argued, streaming provides a deeply engaged environment: “When customers are immersed in content, they’re immersed in ads too”.

    Digital video advertising in India, he predicted, will surpass television advertising within the next year. “We’re at the cusp”, Bedi noted, adding that advertisers need to pivot their budgets accordingly.

    At the heart of Amazon MX Player’s pitch were three pillars—differentiated reach, differentiated content, and contextual ad solutions. With 1.4 billion downloads globally and 250 million monthly active users in India, MX Player offers what Bedi called “very large and very relevant reach”. Over 50 per cent of its users fall within the Sec A and Sec B segments, and nearly 17 per cent of its audience is exclusive to the platform—unduplicated by either UGC platforms or rival streamers.

    Importantly, MX Player content remains stable even during large cricketing events—a loyalty metric most platforms can’t match. Bedi credited this to “immersive and relevant storytelling”, backed by data and refined through feedback. The content slate spans drama, romance, dubbed international shows, reality series, and experimental formats like ‘micro-dramas’—bite-sized one to two-minute episodes. More than 100 new shows are planned for 2025, including Rise and Fall, Hunter, and Made in India.

    Bedi made a compelling argument for MX Player’s ability to go beyond impressions and deliver brand impact. Using trillions of Amazon shopping signals, the platform enables hyper-targeted ad segmentation—right down to behavioural personas like “health-conscious young parents”. Such targeting, he claimed, leads to 33 per cent higher ad completion and up to 20 per cent stronger brand metrics.

    Ad formats range from integrated product showcases and immersive branding to story-embedded placements within shows. “We can help you move from awareness to action”, Bedi said, highlighting Amazon’s full-funnel capabilities—advertisers can run awareness campaigns on MX Player and follow up with conversion targeting on Amazon’s shopping app, or vice versa.

    He closed with a rallying cry to marketers: “It’s still day one at Amazon”. With India’s digital video frontier heating up, Bedi’s message was clear—brands that stream smart will sell smarter.

  • Amazon MX Player unveils over 100 new shows at StreamNext event

    Amazon MX Player unveils over 100 new shows at StreamNext event

    MUMBAI: It was meant to amaze and Amazon MX Player’s first edition of StreamNext event did so – more than expected. It showcased  the advertising video on demand platform’s ambitious plans for 2025, featuring over 100 new show announcements and interactive ad innovations. Attendees included global marketing leaders such as Martin Sorrell and Benedict Evans, alongside entertainment figures like Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty, Jackie Shroff, and Malaika Arora.

    Amazon MX Player head Karan Bedi highlighted the platform’s extensive reach with 1.4 billion app downloads and over 250 million unique monthly users across mobile and connected TVs. “Amazon MX Player is driving the shift from linear TV to digital streaming, offering unmatched free content across genres,” said Bedi. “The key thing about this growth is that it is not just restricted to a single demographic but is happening across the board — across ages, genders, and income groups. The main driver of this shift is that audiences are moving from TV to digital as India’s premier mass consumption medium. But more than just reach, streaming also provides a higher quality of engagement. In many countries, especially India, a higher proportion of users engage with ads while streaming when compared to TV.

    “Going beyond engagement, to actual ROI in terms of recall or consideration, streaming wins over every other medium. While it scores well on immediate impact, the difference is even more pronounced from a long-term impact perspective, where the gap widens. This is because video streaming is an active consumption medium, and TV is passive,” added Bedi. 

    Amazon MX Player content head Amogh Dusad unveiled 40 new Hindi originals and returning favourites like Aashram, Hunter, Hip Hop India, and Playground. New series include Bhay – The Gaurav Tiwari Story, starring Karan Tacker and Kalki Koechlin; The Titan Story, chronicling the rise of the Indian brand Titan; and First Copy, a crime drama set in 1990s Mumbai.

    MX Player ads

    Reality show Rise and Fall, featuring Ashneer Grover and produced by Banijay Asia, follows contestants divided into “Rulers” and “Workers” competing in an iconic skyscraper setting. The platform also announced Petty Cash, a thriller about a botched bank robbery in Purulia, starring Tanya Maniktala and Sahil Mehta.

    Bedi emphasised the platform’s role in transforming advertising by leveraging Amazon’s data insights. New ad formats, including in-stream shoppable ads, were introduced, boasting viewer interaction rates six to seven times higher than industry standards.

    “Our audiences are highly engaged viewers and we have a strong understanding of their shopping patterns, an advantage that only Amazon MX Player can provide. Even brands that don’t sell products or services on Amazon can connect to customers through this premium world of content and by leveraging our first-party shopping signals, to enhance their campaign effectiveness”, said Amazon MX Player director Aruna Daryanani.

    Amazon Ads India head Girish Prabhu described Amazon MX Player  as a “full-funnel advertising solution” allowing brands to directly measure campaign outcomes and reach highly engaged audiences.

    It was followed by an evening get together of the entertainment industry at a scale not witnessed for a long time now, probably since the Covid lockdowns. Most industry veterans appreciated the no-expenses-spared approach by the Amazon team with Saleem-Suleiman performing some of their favourite hits, and getting both the advertising and marketing professionals and  entertainment  executives and stars on the dance floor swaying to their beats.

    A host of stars including producers like Sameer Nair, Deepak Dhar, Lalit sharma, JD, Sudhir Sharma, Lalit Sharma, Sameer Gogate, All3Media’s Sabrina Douquet, Rishi Negi, Neil Bhatt, Mishaal Wanvari, Khalid Khan, Prerna Wanvari, Jennifer Winget, Rajiv and Raghu Laxman, Saurabh Tiwari, Namit Sharma, Ratna Sinha, Manish Singhal, Atul Agrawal Rithwilk Dhanjani, Tejkiran Bajaj, Zakir Khan, Arjun Bajalani, Simple Kaul, Juhi,  Manav Gohil, Varun Badola, Rajeshwari Sachdeva, Natalie de Lucio, amazon’s Nikhil Madhok – spent the evening catching up with each other. 

  • Playground S4 on Amazon MX Player elevates reality gaming

    Playground S4 on Amazon MX Player elevates reality gaming

    Mumbai: Amazon MX Player, Amazon’s free video streaming service, has continued to deliver the highest quality gaming entertainment in India with the reality show Playground, currently streaming its fourth season. The show aims to unite contestants from diverse regions and backgrounds. It drew over 14 million viewers across India in the first three weeks of its launch, a 50 per cent increase over season three.

    As India’s first ever reality gaming show, Playground S4 continues its search for the next ‘New Age Star’, with a more dynamic and enhanced experience. Featuring top-notch gaming content, tougher challenges, and an innovative format, Season 4 has surpassed expectations, capturing the attention of major brands in the country. The show’s blend of gaming, drama, and entertainment has brought in major sponsors like Hero MotoCorp and Tecno mobile for the second time and MAAC for the fourth consecutive year. In a further big win, Zupee, one of India’s leading skill-based gaming apps, has come on board as the ‘co-powered’ sponsor, cementing the show’s reputation and success.

    Amazon MX Player director & head Karan Bedi, shared his excitement about the show’s success, “Playground S4 has set new benchmarks in the gaming entertainment space. The positive response from viewers and advertisers is a testament to our vision of providing premium, free entertainment to our audiences across India. The show’s high engagement comes from its mix of unique gaming challenges and reality television drama, making it a top choice for young adult viewers. We have even more exciting challenges and mentors lined up as we progress towards the finale!”

    Zupee COO Akanksha Dhamija says, “We’re excited to partner with Playground S4, as it perfectly aligns with our commitment to innovative, skill-based gaming. At Zupee, our focus is on creating meaningful engagement and delivering joyful experiences through games that are relevant to all gamers, which makes this collaboration an ideal fit.”

    Presented by Hero MotoCorp and co-powered by Tecno mobile and Zupee, Official Gaming Partner, Playground S4 streams exclusively on Amazon MX Player, with episodes airing daily at 12 pm, available through its apps on mobile, Amazon shopping app, Prime Video, Fire TV and Connected TVs.

     

  • Amazon merges MX Player with miniTV to expand ad supported streaming offering

    Amazon merges MX Player with miniTV to expand ad supported streaming offering

    MUMBAI:  Amazon on Monday announced that it had closed the acquisition of select assets of MX Player, including the MX Player app, to merge with its ad-supported video-on-demand (AVoD) service, Amazon miniTV. It was in June that several media outlets had reported that Amazon was close to acquiring the once Times group owned app.

    Post-acquisition, the app has been renamed as Amazon MX Player. It will continue to provide its library of shows for which it was known to more than 250 million users in India. Among these: Aashram, Dharavi Bank, Campus Diaries, Physicswallah, and Yeh Meri Family. The streamer had also built a fan following for its popular Korean, Mandarin, and Turkish shows dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Viewers will be able to  access the service through apps on mobile, Amazon.in, Prime Video, Fire TV, and connected TVs.

    “Today we are bringing together the vast reach of MX Player, with the advertising tech that leverages Amazon’s billions of customer signals,” said Amazon India head of advertising Girish Prabhu. “It’s about enabling all brands, not just the ones selling on Amazon, to reach and deliver relevant advertising to a very large and engaged base across India. It’s about directly measuring outcomes from the very top of the funnel to the very bottom.”

    “Amazon and MX Player obsess over customer experience and are both believers in the future of free entertainment,” added Amazon MX Player head Karan Bedi. “Being part of Amazon will let us continue to delight millions of viewers across the country. We will offer high-quality entertainment and streaming experiences faster than we could have done independently, while continuing to keep the service free. This merger will mean great things for our viewers, advertisers and content partners, and will let us bring MX Player to even more people in India.”

  • We are second only to YouTube: MX Media’s Karan Bedi

    We are second only to YouTube: MX Media’s Karan Bedi

    Mumbai: Times Internet backed MX Media is expecting to triple its revenue for its advertising video on demand (AVOD) business in the year 2022, according to its CEO Karan Bedi. “We have more than tripled our revenue last year and expect to triple again next year,” he said while speaking about its OTT business.

    In 2021,  MX Media’s OTT platform MX Player successfully scaled to more than one billion downloads and 280 million monthly active users globally. As its user base expands, the platform is effectively monetising its audience base by expanding its video offering. From a client perspective, MX Player is a part of all media plans and comes only second to YouTube in the consideration set for digital video advertising, remarked Bedi.

    Moreover, the company’s brand funded content business was spun off into a separate unit MX Studios. Bedi said, “The core focus of MX Studios is to provide brands another outlet to connect to their consumer. Branded content is something we’ve started to grow as a business and are bullish about it for the next few years. In terms of branded content, we’re second only to YouTube. Since, there’s only us and YouTube who have scale when it comes to AVOD in India, we’re very much a part of every client’s marketing plan.” 

    In February, MX Media sold its short video platform MX Takatak to Indian social media company Sharechat (Mohalla Tech) in a deal estimated at $700 million. Notably, MX Takatak was launched only in July 2020. Now, the company will focus on its long format video offerings including on-demand video and its game streaming offering MX Games.

    On the content front, the platform recently announced the launch of a reality series called ‘Lock Up’ in partnership with Balaji Telefilms. The show, which premiered on the platform on 27 February, is the streaming service’s first foray into unscripted content.

    “We are a data led organisation and were starting to see that our audience was ready for more. We have various partners who have done shows for MX Player and we have a lot of faith in Balaji (Telefilms) and Ekta (Kapoor) as someone who’s reinvented this business many times,” said Bedi.

    The OTT platform offers exclusive content in the form of MX Originals and has launched popular series such as “Campus Diaries,” “Bhaukaal 2” and “Raktanchal 2” this year. Despite being an AVOD platform, several MX Originals span across multiple seasons and garner more than 100 million views on the platform. It recently launched MX VDesi to house its international content acquired from Turkey, Latin America, Korea and Middle East and dubbed in Hindi.

    MX Player has not shied away from direct monetisation, with the launch of its MX Gold feature which allows subscribers to watch videos without any ads whatsoever. “MX Gold is not monetising access to content but rather it allows you to watch content ad free,” explained Bedi.

    “MX Player overall has multiple layers of monetisation. As we go forward, we think there is an opportunity to add on newer monetisation models as we continue to expand our user base. That can be NFTs or other blockchain based currencies. We have said from day one that we are a super entertainment aggregator. Our shows are an important vehicle for taking some of these opportunities and scaling them,” concluded Bedi.

  • MX Player, ALTBalaji rope in Kangana Ranaut for new reality show ‘Lock Upp’

    MX Player, ALTBalaji rope in Kangana Ranaut for new reality show ‘Lock Upp’

    Mumbai: MX Player and ALTBalaji have partnered to launch a reality show ‘Lock Upp: Badass Jail, Atyaachari Khel’ with Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut as the host of the show. The show premieres on 27 February.

    Produced by Endemol Shine, the show features 16 celebrities who are put together lock- up for months and stripped of their amenities. The announcement was made at a press conference on Thursday by Ekta R. Kapoor along with MX Media CEO Karan Bedi and actor Kangana Ranaut. Also present were ALTBalaji Group COO Zulfiqar Khan, MX Media COO Nikhil Gandhi, and MX Player SVP and head – acquisitions Mansi Shrivastav.

    The show will be live-streamed 24X7 on both ALTBalaji and MX Player. ALTBalaji will also introduce a fantasy metaverse game based on the reality show. “I am thrilled and excited to be foraying into OTT with such a unique and brilliant concept,” said Kangana Ranaut. “I want to thank Ekta for always being by my side, she has always been someone I admire and respect a lot. I am glad that she is there with me for my OTT debut as well.”

    “Lock Upp is being launched on a massive scale and has all the elements that make for an entertaining reality show,” said Ekta R. Kapoor. “The concept of the show is brilliant, and I am sure that it will captivate the viewers and set a new standard for reality shows.”

    “MX has always been a market disruptor – our user-first approach to create product and content experiences that appeal to our huge audiences’ segments has made us India’s largest entertainment platform today,” said MX Media CEO Karan Bedi. “Lock Upp is yet another step in disrupting the Indian entertainment ecosystem as it is designed as a digital-first non-fiction offering that will release on a scale that is unprecedented for India.”

    “ALTBalaji is proud to be the first in the world to launch a metaverse game that is based on a reality show,” said ALTBalaji Group COO Zulfiqar Khan. “Gaming enthusiasts around the world can explore this fantastic world that we are creating with elements of blockchain and NFTs.”

    “At the heart of MX Player’s success lies the ‘global Indian’ consumer and we have constantly been working towards creating content as per consumer preferences, especially given the large user base of over 300 million globally spanning across the US, UK, Middle East Southeast Asia and more that we cater to on our platform,” said MX Media COO Nikhil Gandhi.

    “MX Player’s content design focuses on building a bouquet of engaging and entertaining offerings for our diverse audience and the biggest pillar of our content creation philosophy is our partnership with content creators and aggregators,” said MX Player SVP and head – content acquisitions Mansi Shrivastav.

  • MX Player appoints Suresh Menon as content and creative head, MX Studios

    MX Player appoints Suresh Menon as content and creative head, MX Studios

    Mumbai: MX Player has appointed Suresh Menon as content and creative head of MX Studios.

    Menon is an actor-comedian who has worked in the Indian film industry and featured in more than 50 films in his career and over 100 TV shows. Previously, he was the co-founder and managing director of the digital media company One Network Entertainment. He is also well-known for his 12-year stint at 93.5 RED FM as a radio jockey.

    “I have been a part of the media and entertainment fraternity for close to two decades and I have had a vast experience in scripting, ideating and storytelling across formats like theatre, television, films, and web series. I am excited to bring these strengths to my new role as the content and creative head for MX Studios,” said Suresh Menon.

    Menon’s notable appearances include his roles in the films “Houseful,” “Dasvidaniya,” “Phir Hera Pheri,” “Dil Toh Pagal Hai,” “Partner,” and “Bheja Fry 2.” He has also appeared as a judge on the game show “Hello Kaun? Pehchaan Kaun” along with Chunky Pandey.

    “We are delighted to announce the launch of MX Studios that will curate and produce scripted narratives in an entertaining fashion & we are excited to have Suresh Menon on board,” stated MX Media chief operating officer Nikhil Gandhi. “Having demonstrated a history of working across different entertainment media as well as running his own content production business, we believe he is the perfect addition to the team at MX Studios.”