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Tag: Karan Bedi

  • MX Player adds gaming to its offerings

    MX Player adds gaming to its offerings

    MUMBAI: MX Player brings users a new flavor of entertainment by adding gaming to its existing offerings. The platform has announced its in-app gaming feature that hosts 9 hyper casual, easy to learn HTML 5 Games which viewers can enjoy even without data or internet access on android phones. The games currently available on the platform are Airlift, Arrow Master, Jump Jump, Flap Up, Candy Mash, Bubble Blast, Street Racer, Slide & Glide and Plus Minus

    Having launched earlier this year with the promise of providing ‘Everytainment’ – the platform is emerging as the one stop shop for all things entertainment with its best in class offline video playing capabilities, critically acclaimed Original Series, a large online streaming repository of over 200,000 hours of premium content, 20 Million songs powered by Gaana, and its latest addition: gaming.

    The app is further enhancing the platform experience by introducing a loyalty program that rewards its core users with ‘MX Coins’. Through this virtual currency, MX users will now get various benefits like Access to premium content;  Exclusive benefits and discounts on some of the leading brands like PayTM, Myntra, Oyo, Fasos, Box8, Grofers, Zivame, Cult.fit, ixigo, Zoomcar, 1mg, easemytrip and many more and  Participation in game tournaments with the opportunity to win real cash!

    MX Player CEO Karan Bedi said, “Our vision is to fulfil every entertainment need of our user base and adding gaming as a feature to our platform is yet another step in that direction. We are constantly striving to push the envelope – be it with our selection of originals, our curated library of diverse premium content, by integrating audio music and now gaming – we are remaining true to our vision of everytainment. With this move, we want to engage with the nearly 300 million online gamers in India, while also giving our existing users an engaging and fresh experience. By the end of the financial year we will have at least 30 games live on our platform”

    MX Player COO Vivek Jain said, “Our customers are overwhelmingly telling us that they want more entertainment use cases in the app. We are humbled by the rate at which video streaming and audio music is being adopted. We are very bullish about the gaming industry in India and expect it to exceed $5 Billion by 2022. We will continue to invest in not only building more India specific games but also in building new and innovative platform features on top of gaming like tournaments, 1-on-1 battles & various social features to make the experience more engaging.” 

  • TV & Video People of 2019: Part III

    TV & Video People of 2019: Part III

    In the final installment of TV people who mattered in 2019, we take a look at executives who left an impact on the industry. As mentioned earlier, this is a representative list and by no means comprehensive. And it is in random order, with no order of importance in the listing. Read on and give us your feedback on our selection.

    Megha Tata

    Discovery India was reeling from a failed foray into the factual general entertainment genre; it’s India boss Karan Bajaj had parted, when it turned to media vet Megha Tata to come and stabilise what looked like a rocking boat. Motivation was at a low with teams unsure of the direction the network would take. Professionals who had been brought in for the GEC foray had to be pared, the existing team for factual programming had to be given the confidence that all was well and would be going forward.

    Tata – who changed her name from Monica to Megha a few years ago following guidance from her spiritual guru – has since done admirably. She has reallocated roles for senior managers, put in place her senior A team and Discovery Communications India looks set to be on a good growth path once again.

    With an advertising sales and management background, Megha has forged and strengthened relationships with major advertisers. This at a time when the industry has been going through a severe slowdown. Along with her team, she has been working on launching new language channels, apart from unveiling its streaming app.  Programming investments which were on a slow track are being ramped up.

    Megha’s management and growth efforts will begin to yield fruit in the coming months. But for now, she has earned respect from her peers on the path she has taken.

    Partho Dasgupta & Sunil Lulla

    He finally did it. Partho, the former Times group professional, put in his papers at the ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), bidding adieu to an organisation he helped build from ground up.

    Said he at the time of his departure: “I have enjoyed my innings at BARC. Now it’s time to get some well-earned rest.”

    What he did not say is that he was constantly torn apart between the carping and cribbing of the various broadcasters, someone or the other of who suffered at the hands of the weekly Thursday ratings death knell.

    What happened at The Times group took place even at BARC. Sunil Lulla who replaced Dasgupta when he left The Times Network stepped into his shoes at BARC too. Sunil has his task cut of for him, he has to find solutions for diversifying the ratings firm into digital ratings, something which could not take off under Dasgupta as they could not get industry consenus.

    Kalli Purie 

    For long Arun Poorie was the face of the India Today group, but over the past couple of years, it is his daughter Kalli who has come to the forefront, driving it into new areas, apart from consolidating  existing properties. With her father as chairman, Kalli occupies the vice-chairperson’s position in a group which reaches a gargantuan 120 million plus visitors across all its properties every month.

    A clutch of 20 digital first multiplatform channels – News Tak, Sports Tak, Bharat Tak, UP Tak etc – and The Lallantiop are some of the properties which keep the millenials engaged on their handsets. News channel Aaj Tak continues to be the top news service in an ecosystem, even as its YouTube version has crossed more than 20 million subscribers.

    Then she runs the the print publications ranging from India Today to Reader’s Digest to Cosmopolitan to Harper’s Bazaar. Of course, there is the group’s globally well-known conclave which brings in business, political, art, scientific, leaders from all over the world, including India.

    Sources within the group say, this despite, Kalli, an Oxford graduate in politics, philosophy and economics, who began her career as a journalist, is just getting started. Forays into esports, gaming, are being studied.

    She was honoured with 'Outstanding Media & Entertainment Award' at the annual 21st Century Icon Awards in London two weeks before being awarded as a powerful woman in media in September 2019.

    Shibasish Sarkar

    For the Anil Ambani group which has been struggling and sunk to its lowest in terms of revenues, a company that has been a shining star is Reliance Entertainment. Leading it has been Shibasish Sarkar who was elevated as chief executive officer — content, digital and gaming at the beginning of 2019. Shibashish joined the company as group chief financial officer in 2007 and has held several positions such as chief financial officer (over eight years) and chief operating officer (three years) since then.

    He was instrumental behind changing the face of the company after setting up a joint venture business model with leading Bollywood filmmakers such as Rohit Shetty, Neeraj Pandey, Anurag Kashyap among others. The company has also been producing television shows through its division Big Synergy, animation shows for kids channels and digitial premium originals for channels as well as streamers such as Netflix.

    He has put in place professionals of the likes of former Discovery marketing head Rajiv Bakshi as CEO of the TV division, and Tejonidhi Bhandare for the animation unit to help him accelerate the growth of Reliance Entertainment. All eyes will be on the upcoming theatrical releases Love Aaj Kal and Kabir Khan’s 83 which is on India’s win in the 1983 cricket world cup.

    Karan Bedi

    If before last year, one were to ask industry professionals about Karan Bedi, the answer would be Karan, who! But it’s no longer so. The son of filmaker Bobby Bedi came into his own in 2019 with the successful rollout of the Times group’s MXPlayer. As CEO of the streamer, he leads a team of more than 300 professionals. MXPlayer has more than 175 million active users in India and it ended 2019 with more than 280 million monthly actives.

    With a recent fund raise of $110 million in his coffers, Karan is charging into launching digital video originals. The streamer already has 15 of them on the platform, 10 of them exclusive, with a plan to launch a score or more premium shows in the next four months in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri and Bengali in partnership with some of the big industry players. 

    The young professional who has more than a decade’s experience as an entrepreneur and professional is also steering the service into music, gaming and international markets.

    Aditya Pittie

    Aditya is the dark horse whom TV is finally beginning to take note of. The six foot seven inch executive – probably the tallest entrepreneur  in the industry – reorganised his group in 2019 under the umbrella of In10 Media. It currently consists of EPIC TV – which many had written off – its OTT version EpicOn, free to air channel ShowBox, documentary app DocuBay, production house Juggernaut, and digital news portal Latestly.

    With a family background in real estate, Aditya was an absolute stranger to media, cutting his entrepreneurial teeth as a national distributor of Patanjali products. It was then that billionaire Anand Mahindra called on him to partner and run the ailing EPIC TV. A quick learner, Aditya cobbled together a team of professionals with better experience than him and since then there has been no looking back.

    He believes that the group is a work in progress and has just started on its road to growth.

    Deepak Dhar

    Deepak Dhar is among the rising stars in India’s production landscape. Since convincing Marco Bassetti to have him as his equal equity partner for Banijay Asia two years ago, Dhar has produced more than 600 hours of content, 14 shows on air with another eight currently under production.

    Amongst the shows: Hostages and Roar Of The Lion for Hotstar Specials, Parchhayee for Zee5, The Kapil Sharma Show for Sony TV, ARRived for YouTube, Nach Baliye 9 for StarPlus and Masters Of Taste With Gary Mehigan for FoxLife.

    This aside, Dhar has forged strategic partnerships with actor Salman Khan’s Salman Khan TV to create linear broadcast content and digital formats, as well as cricketer MS Dhoni’s production banner for premium content for multi-platform distribution in India and Southeast Asia. A deal with GroupM’s Motion Content Group has also been signed.

    The much experienced former Star India and Endemol Shine India executive, has his eyes on expanding into south east Asian countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia. He believes he can use India as a production hub, creating content in different Indian and Asia languages for the region.  

  • MX Player’s strategy to lead the OTT game in 2020

    MX Player’s strategy to lead the OTT game in 2020

    MUMBAI: The bets on the Indian OTT market have seen an exponential rise over the last few years. However, only a handful of companies have been able to make a mark. One of them is Times internet’s daring bet MX Player. In the coming year, MX Player is looking at strengthening its vernacular focus as well as gaming.

    When the company shifted its focus this year, there was a doubt about its transition from utility to service. However, MX Player CEO Karan Bedi says that the platform has exceeded all the targets and the target for March 2020 has already been achieved in September 2019. Bedi says that original content has performed well. The platform is still learning about things like which content works, what the user likes, how they react to a product, how to improve, etc.

    The year 2020 will see another 35-30 new original shows with 15-16 in the first half of the year in different genres. Out of these, three to four are big regional shows.

    “There is a whole slate of exciting shows coming up. We obviously continue to work with our partners who bring exciting content in the regional and Hindi side. We have already originals in Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, and we will continue to do more in Bhojpuri, Kannada, Malayalam, and in Bengali. You will see originals across languages. In the coming year, probably 40-50 per cent of content will be regional. It’s exciting. And gaming is a big focus in 2020,” he says.

    MX Player hosts other platforms’ content as well including Arre, ShemarooMe, Pocket Aces, Ms. Malini, QYOU Media, EPIC channel, etc. It says that this strategy of partnership doesn’t hamper its own image building. Instead, it wants to be the destination that people come to for any content they like.

    “I think we are happy to be in a situation where there is content that we produce and content that our partners produce. There is no reason why I should deny my audience what they want to watch. And all the relationships we have are win-win. It grows the market. So I think that we are not in any way worried about that,” he comments.

    He also mentioned that they have had over 100 brands for MX Player from Airtel to Godrej, Amazon to Flipkart, even FMCG companies like Dabur. There are a total of 150 clients now. He added that many of them are repeat clients who continue to spend on the platform on a regular basis as they are seeing ROI.  According to him, there is a good split of brands coming on OTT platforms. While FMCG is huge in traditional media, the ratio is not equal on OTT as the audiences are totally different. Though e-commerce and BFSI brands are early adopters, FMCG is also catching up.

    “I think everybody is in investment mode. I have to say that it takes time to build large consumer businesses. Even if you look at the TV industry in India for the first 10-12 years in-fact I don’t think profits came. I don’t think we will take that long. I think OTT will take much less because overall the ecosystem has evolved now. The ad and payment ecosystems are much more evolved compared to when TV started in India. Certainly, there was a long period of investment before the business became sizeable. I don’t think profitability or break-even is that far away,” he concludes.

  • MX Player announces strategic in-app partnership with ShemarooMe

    MX Player announces strategic in-app partnership with ShemarooMe

    MUMBAI: Since their launch in February 2019, MX Player – India’s leading entertainment streaming platform has emerged as the go-to entertainment destination with their offering of free multi-genre MX originals, vast library of 1,00,000 + hrs of online streaming content and audio music collection.

    Expanding their catalogue and multiplying their genres, languages and formats, MX Player has announced a strategic in-app partnership with ShemarooMe. As a part of the collaboration, MX Player will stream high quality content from India’s leading content powerhouse, giving their 75 Mn Daily Active Users 24×7 access to Shemaroo’s vast library.  

    ShemarooMe is the over the top video streaming app of Shemaroo Entertainment Limited and is known for offering varied content spread across Bollywood, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Devotional, Comedy and Kids category that caters to the preferences of audiences of all age groups. ShemarooMe has made a mark in the OTT eco-system by offering a diverse range of content for its viewers across India and other global markets.

    On the association, MX Player CEO Karan Bedi said, "We are very excited to be partnering with Shemaroo and bringing their diverse library of content to our millions of users. Our promise to our users has always been “Everytainment” and this amalgamation of forces is a great further step in that direction."

    On the association, MX Player  Head- Content Acquisitions & Alliances Mansi Shrivastav said, “At MX Player, we are always focused on building a deep & robust content offering for our user base. Given the large library of ShemarooMe, this association would be a win-win partnership for both partners, which would give the final consumer access to a vast and diverse content offering. This partnership will enable us to scale up in terms of genres & languages, and also paves the way for a healthy and sustained growth trajectory in the industry as well.”

    Commenting on the association,  Shemaroo  CEO Hiren Gada said, “Shemaroo has always aimed at partnering with brands that promise greater outreach even beyond metros and with MX Player as a partner we aim to achieve the same by expanding our markets and reach. This partnership will help us engage with more audiences through our entertaining content which is sure to satiate the content cravings of any viewer.”

  • MX Player raises $110 million from Tencent and Times Internet

    MX Player raises $110 million from Tencent and Times Internet

    MUMBAI: MX Player, the world’s largest local video player and India’s biggest video OTT platform has received $110 million (Rs 775 Crores) in fresh funding from Tencent and Times Internet. The deal marks Tencent’s second investment into a Times Internet asset, after it invested in Gaana, the music streaming platform, in 2018.

    Times Internet acquired a majority stake in MX Player in 2018 from Zenjoy, a mobile-games company that remains an investor in the company. With over 175 million monthly active users in India and over 275 million monthly active users worldwide, MX Player is a leading video platform on smartphones globally. Since its formal OTT launch in February 2019, MX has leapfrogged competition to become the second-largest video streaming platform in India. MX Player’s ‘everytainment’ vision – with offline video playback, video streaming, music streaming, and more, positions it to be a leading player in the digital entertainment landscape. MX Player’s OTT service is now live in 5 countries. In 2018, Times Internet acquired a majority stake in MX Player from Chinese mobile games firm Zenjoy, which continues to be a shareholder.

    Speaking on the investment, MX Player CEO Karan Bedi said, “We’re happy to welcome our new partners, whose investment is a glowing endorsement of our stellar growth and huge future potential. Our vision is to be one of the world's largest entertainment platforms, serving our users across their online entertainment needs, starting with streaming video and beyond.”

    Times Internet Vice Chairman Satyan Gajwani said, “MX Player was our most ambitious investment last year, and it has the potential to change mobile entertainment in India and in the world. It plays an important part of Times Internet’s strategy of being the largest consumer platform in India, and we’re excited to have Tencent help us in this mission.”

    Tencent Investment Managing Partner Jeffrey Li said: "Within a relatively short period of time, MX Player has leveraged its vast user base and rich content library to be one of the leading video-streaming services in India.  As the smartphone user base continues to expand in India, we look forward to working with MX Player to further grow its platform by delivering original content and a differentiated user experience."

    India’s Video OTT market (currently pegged at Rs. 23,000 cr or $3.3bn) will grow at 29% annually, reaching nearly Rs. 62,000 Cr ($8.9 billion) by 2024, according to a recent KPMG report. 90% of this is led by AVOD. India has the second highest per capita online video consumption in the world, with over 325 million video consumers watching nearly 70 mins /day today, growing to an estimated 580 million viewers by 2024.

  • Content creators discuss binge-worthy content at Vidnet 2019

    Content creators discuss binge-worthy content at Vidnet 2019

    MUMBAI: Binge-watching has become synonymous to over the top (OTT) platforms and content. Indiantelevision.com’s summit Vidnet 2019 had an interesting panel discussion on creating binge-worthy content. The panel was moderated by Indiantelevision.com founder CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari while MX Player CEO Karan Bedi, House of Cheer founder & CEO Raj Nayak, Vikatan Group managing director B Srinivasan and Viniyard Films founder Ashvini Yardi were the panellists.

    Wanvari started off by asking the panellists about the shows they have binge-watched on Netflix. Yardi has binge-watched The Boys, Bedi watched The Spy, Nayak binge-watched Unbelievable and Srinivasan has watched Mirzapur.

    Yardi first gave her definition to binge-watching by saying, “If we go beyond the allotted time in our head for the show, that’s binge-watching where we are hooked to the story.” On the other hand, Nayak says that you can’t categorise particular content as being binge-worthy. He said, “If we are creating content that it is good, people will watch it.”

    Yardi argued, “Content can be made for binge-watching. Every online platform has guidelines according to the viewership data they have. For OTT – the first five minutes, in-between and the last seven minutes are very important. Those times are planned accordingly to hook the viewers. On television, we plan according to the breaks. Since OTT doesn’t have breaks, everything is planned from the storyline; it’s not just simple storytelling.”

    Yardi believes that if content creators follow OTT’s format and create cliffs at regular intervals to hook the audiences, they can succeed in creating binge-worthy content.  

    However, Nayak said, “OTT players have those set rules but otherwise also I feel these are the basics that content creators do because we want our viewers to come back on the show. So, we have to create those hooks due to which they stay on television or OTT.”

    Whereas, Srinivasan said, “The character and content are behind the success. Definitely there is a science to it and data involved on how to refine the whole process. But I would say content and characters are important.”

    MX Player has delivered 5 to 6 successful shows in the last six months. Sharing his experience, Bedi said, “Creating content on any platform requires a lot of efforts. On online, there is a huge difference while creating content for AVoD or SVoD platform. SVoD people have already paid and they are watching as they have invested in it. On AVoD, customers move in and out as they have not invested money for viewing there, so the level of hook that content creators need to create is very high.”

    Wanvari also inquired whether the content creators constantly think of hooks or they line-up the story and then get into the hooks. Yardi replied, “We create the story and build the characters first and then get into hooks.”

    She also informed, “Currently, in India, everyone is learning. Most of the platforms are using what they have from parent companies and try to localise the format. It’s not necessary what works on Netflix or Amazon in America will work here because our lifestyle and mindset is different. I feel it’s a trial and error period for OTT.”

    Srinivasan also said, “We are trying to understand what kind of stories work for the OTT platform. We want to create that content. We have enough knowledge of the ecosystem but the biggest constraint would be getting the writers to write in a format that is required for OTT.”

  • Content creators discuss the challenge of acquiring and maintaining OTT audiences at Vidnet 2019

    Content creators discuss the challenge of acquiring and maintaining OTT audiences at Vidnet 2019

    MUMBAI: The fourth edition of the Indiantelevision.com’s Vidnet had a successful run of the marquee “Creators Track”, on the first day of the two-day-long video and content conclave that wrapped up on Thursday in Mumbai. The track had some of the finest creators, writers, and directors from the OTT world speaking on many important topics like how to write good stories and how to make them travel beyond national boundaries.

    The day-long conference was opened by Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor Anil Wanvari and some of the speakers by an auspicious lamp lighting ceremony. 


     
    Following which, Wanvari in his opening remarks said, “India’s video ecosystem had never been so exciting in the last two decades. Similar excitement was seen during the satellite boom period in the early 90s. With OTT today, a similar phenomenon is happening where lot of Bollywood professionals are making content for OTT just as how the industry created content for satellite channels . I believe that the content boom has still not hit India and we are at the beginning of content boom on OTT platforms. With OTT coming into the picture, there will be more opportunities for content creators in our country.”

    The first panel discussion of the day was around “Unlocking a Story’s Potential” between Zee Studio Originals VP creative and head Ashima Avasthi, MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar, BBC Studios business head Sameer Gogate and Vista India CEO Rajiv Raghunathan. The session was moderated by Bodhitree Multimedia co-founder and director Mautik Tolia.

    Discussing the importance of localisation, synopses, subtitling, dubbing, and visuals in helping subscribers discover and enjoy stories they love, the panel emphasised on ways to aggregate content on OTT.

    Raghunathan said, “OTT is the most exciting thing that happened to us. The platforms are evolving every day. Some OTT players have identified certain niche segment which is working well for them while other players are still figuring out what will work for them.”

    Avasthi noted that there can’t be a better time for content makers than today. Sharing her strategy for the OTT platform she said, “The mantra is to look into the stories and develop something which has strong character. The stories or content does well is only because of the character. Audiences tend to forget story or plot of the show but they remember the characters which they like. So, we focus on stories which are very character-centric. Even on OTT, the advantage is that we are able to bring our created characters to the larger audience.”

    The panelists also spoke about the initiatives taken by them towards localised content. They discussed how, with OTT, catering to specific TG has become easy and focused. They also informed that acceptance of fiction format has also taken up in our country via OTT platforms.

    Next panel discussion, “Empowering the Creative Vision” had Friday Filmworks head-digital content and IP Devendra Deshpande, Yoodlee Films producer and Saregama India VP films and TV Siddharth Anand Kumar, and Ellipses Entertainment managing partner Tanuj Garg, in discussion with moderator Film Companion’s Sucharita Tyagi, discussing how streaming platforms are backing storytellers in translating their vision on the screen. They elaborated on the key role the platforms play in identifying and promoting content that resonates with the audience.

    Next up was another panel discussion on “The New Creators’ Breed” between TVF global head-business & content Rahul Sarangi, Swastik Productions and One Life Studios producer and managing director Rahul Kumar Tewary, BToS Productions partner and independent director Angshuman Ghosh, Monozygotic Solutions co-founder Rajiv Laxman, WPP national business head-motion content group India, and Rose Audio Visuals Pvt Ltd director Goldie Behl, moderated by WWM Content Studio VP Vidyut Patra. The panelists shared their thoughts on how the new-age creators are transforming the way Indian audiences consume content.

    They elaborated that OTT platforms are chasing content creators for two reasons; one is to acquire and retain users on their platforms in the best way through content, and second there are no such parameters to measure success on the platform and that is the reason why they invest so much money. They also understood that due to the geographical and demographic masses of the country the platforms are willing to go to much length for finding the new creators.

    The panelists agreed that this is the best time for the content creators, as now they can try whatever they want. Later it can be a bit difficult as very soon the platforms will figure out what’s working for them.

    This session was followed by an insightful panel discussion on “Making Indian Stories Travel”, in which the speakers talked about the processes—both creative and technical—which can take Indian content to foreign screens. Sitting on the panel were MUBI India content advisor and producer Guneet Monga, creator, director, and writer Richie Mehta, and Red Chillies Entertainment producer and chief revenue officer Gaurav Verma. The discussion was moderated by BookMyShow VP content and strategy Monisha Singh Katial.

    To make Indian content travel around the world, the panelists said that subtitles and dubbing of the content in different languages is important. Apart from this, they also noted that appealing stories and subjects play an important role in reaching to the wider audiences across the world. The panelists agreed that the only way to dazzle audiences on OTT platform is through content and script.

    The proceedings of the day were taken ahead by a fascinating panel discussion on the topic of “Redefining Storytelling with Technology” between Endemol Shine India CEO Abhishek Rege, SonyLIV SVP and head-original content and partnerships Amogh Dusad, and Monozygotic Solutions co-founder Raghu Ram. Moderating the panel was TVFPlay head Vinay Pillai.


     
    The moderator began the discussion by giving a background on how technologies are helping content to evolve. The panel gave an understanding that technology has helped in two ways, one is in the making of content and the other is in translating that content to the consumers. The panelists also informed that technology has not influenced the way of storytelling but it has definitely influenced the way content is consumed.

    The discussion was followed by a “Deep Dive with Pocket Aces” on how to build and run a successful media tech company between Pocket Aces founders Ashwin Suresh and Anirudh Pandita, and moderator Hungama Digital Media Entertainment VP Soumini Sridhara Paul. The founders of the company threw light on the inception of the company in 2014 and its journey. They shared their experience of early days’ challenges faced by startups.

    The day continued post-lunch with a panel discussion on the very interesting topic of “Creating Binge-worthy Content”. On the panel were MX Player CEO Karan Bedi, House of Cheer founder and CEO Raj Nayak, Vikatan Group managing director B Srinivasan, and Viniyard Films founder Ashvini Yardi. Moderating the panel was Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO, and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari.


     
    The panelists shared their individual perspectives on what makes content binge-worthy. The panelists said that it is important to hook the audiences for the first five minutes, and last seven minutes. They also informed that efforts to hook the audience on AVoD are more than SVoD as the former has more migrating audiences.

    Next item on the list was a panel discussion on “India’s New-age Writers” between writers Ameya Sarda, Suhani Kanwar, Sagar Haveli, and moderator Tulsea content & creatives Samabesh Das. The panelists being the first generation writers of this golden age of OTT platforms find themselves being bogged down by the huge responsibility that comes with being a content creator. The trio also believes that on OTT there is a challenge to create content in more interesting and better ways to hook the audience. Another challenge which they highlighted is to execute the demands coming every now and then.

    The day was concluded by “Conversation with Creators” section, in which teams from ‘Afsos’ and ‘Bard Of Blood’ talked to the moderators about the whole creative and technical process of creating the series.


     
    First in was Afsos co-creators Anirban Dasgupta and Dibya Chatterjee in conversation with OML managing partner Gunjan Arya, who shared their experience from being writers to show-runners.

    The day was concluded by Bard Of Blood author & creator Bilal Siddiqi and director Ribhu Dasgupta talking about creating this exquisite thriller with The Story Ink founder and chief storyteller Sidharth Jain. The duo shared their experience on making of show for the first time on the OTT platform. Bard of Blood is Red Chillies’ first show for Netflix while Emran Hashmi and Dasgupta debut on OTT platform as an actor and director respectively. 
     

  • MX Player announces four new regional originals

    MX Player announces four new regional originals

    MUMBAI: Staying true to its philosophy of ‘Everytainment’ and continuing its focus on the regional markets, MX Player has announced four new Originals across languages and genres. With the two Telugu and two Marathi MX Originals, the platform is bringing entertaining and relatable shows with some of the best talent in the industry.

    Foraying into the Telugu market for the first time ever, MX Player adds a new language to its multiple range of offerings with the launch of the two Telugu MX Original Series’ that went live on 13 September. ‘Beyond Breakups’ and ‘Kalaham Madhuram’ introduce you to unique love stories that hit a break and further welcome you to the world of breakups.

    Additionally, the platform continues its foray in the Marathi market after the success of Aani Kay Have and adds two new Marathi series’ to its portfolio with ‘Pandu’ and ‘Once A Year’ that went live on 20 September. Both these slice of life dramas are in the comedy space with Pandu being a fun take on the everyday life of the Mumbai Police while the other series is a rom com.

     “Regional markets are among the largest growth drivers for MX Player, and we’re focused on bringing a wider range of premium regional content on our platform. There’s also significant untapped potential for content creators to cater to the under-served audience in these markets, and with our new regional originals, we are doing our best to bring Indian audiences’ quality digital-first content in their native language,” MX Player CEO Karan Bedi said.

    About the Series’:

    ‘Beyond Breakup’ talks about how a couple, Varun (a Software Engineer) and Shanti (a baker) who are in their mid-twenties and are very much in love. However, their happy go lucky relationship takes a toll when Varun out of now where comes up with a weird concept called “The Breakup Agreement”.

    On the other hand, ‘Kalaham Madhuram’ which also means ‘a fight is sweet’ is an anthology of different breakup stories set against the backdrop of different scenarios. The five episodic series features new couples in each episode and dives into the various reasons and rationales behind breakups.

     ‘Pandu’ is directed by Anusha Nanda Kumar & Sarang Sathaye and stars Suhas Sirsat & Deepak Shirke. This funny, dramatic and witty series is based on the life of the policemen and women – the brave hearts who stand tall to keep the city safe and is sure to keep you in splits.

    Adding a twist of romance and love, the other series is titled ‘Once A Year’. Directed by Mandar Kurundar, this 6 episodic series stars Mrinmayee Goldbole & Nipun Dharmadhikari that follows the romantic journey of a couple over a course of six years. Starting from their days in college to beyond, this rom com captures the true essence of friendship, love and togetherness. Both of the Marathi series will go live on 20 September.

  • MX Player amps up its regional slate with 3 new language love stories

    MX Player amps up its regional slate with 3 new language love stories

    MUMBAI: Recognising the under-served audiences in Tier II/ Tier III cities and their need for differentiated content – MX Player amps up its regional slate with 3 exciting language web series’. These 3 MX Exclusive Series & Mirchi Play Originals bring viewers endearing love stories in Marathi, Tamil and Gujarati that feature some of the best talent in the industry.

    Relive your magical firsts in the 6 episodic Marathi web series – Aani Kay Hava that is directed by Varun Narvekar of Muramba fame and stars real life couple Priya Bapat and Umesh Kamat in the lead. It went live on 16 July and has been receiving a great response from audiences for the sweet narrative and the duo’s chemistry. 

    With Tamil web series ‘Kalyanam Conditions Apply 2.0’ – the much loved Mirchi Senthil and his wife Sreeja bring you the 6-episode version of what marriage actually entails because even holy matrimony, like all other important life decisions come with that little asterisk that says conditions apply. Watch their love, everyday banter and camaraderie unfold in relatable situations which every couple goes though. The series has been streaming on the platform since 22July.

    Gujarati rom-com Do Not Disturb follows the conversations that flow in the bedroom of a modern couple essayed by Manasi Parekh Gohil and Malhar Thakar that is directed by Sandeep Patel of Love Ni Bhavai acclaim and penned by writers Mitai Shukla & Nehal Bakshi. The series has been streaming for free 26July onwards on MX Player.

    Elaborating on this development, Karan Bedi – CEO, MX Player said, “One of our key propositions for the year is to have a sharply segmented demographic focus so that viewers can consume entertainment in a language of their choice. I believe viewers of regional content will only continue to grow and as content creators – we must increasingly cater to this TG.”

  • TRAI tariff order’s impact on OTT content consumption

    TRAI tariff order’s impact on OTT content consumption

    MUMBAI: Amid debates over the impact of TRAI’s new tariff order on the Indian pay-TV ecosystem, over-the-top (OTT) platforms have emerged as probable beneficiaries. Several reports have indicated that streaming services stand to gain from the change in cable TV pricing. As digital continues to steadily emerge as an alternate content consumption avenue, the new tariff regime could stimulate the adoption rate of OTT platforms in the country. While OTT players seem optimistic about the positive impact of the new regulatory framework, there are those who believe there’s no direct correlation between the two.

    FICCI-EY 2019 report predicts that OTT platforms are certain to benefit post the tariff order implementation due to an increased parity between television and OTT consumption – both in terms of content choice and costs. The report also mentions that trends could also be determined by the channel prices at which the market settles, which could take up to six to nine months.

    This is not the only testimony in favour of OTTs gaining, as a report from Crisil too made similar observations. It said that OTT platforms could emerge as the big gainers amidst all these changes because many viewers could shift due to the rising subscription bills. In addition to that, it also mentioned that low data tariffs will also encourage viewership on OTT platforms.

    Velocity MR, another prominent market research and analysis company, carried out a survey of 2010 respondents across Indian cities including Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Pune. The report states that more than 80 per cent of subscribers will either opt for lesser channels under new price regime or switch to OTT platforms.

    The CEO of India’s newest OTT platform MX Player, Karan Bedi, is of the view that the new pricing regime for broadcast channels is sure to add to the content consumption on OTT platforms especially for those audiences who no longer want to be restricted to a single TV screen. According to him, good content combined with the availability of better payment pipes and varied subscription models that come with OTT offerings, are the main drivers of entertainment today.

    "It may help because cable ARPU moves up post the tariff order and I really doubt if the consumer will stand more on TV in this kind of space where there’s so much variety on digital. So definitely you will see some kind of spend getting allocated from TV to digital,” remarked Elara Capital vice president Karan Taurani.

    The CEO of a top production house, which makes shows for both TV and OTT, said the new tariff order will definitely help OTT platforms to attract consumers. According to him, consumers that find it hard to access their preferred TV channels in the midst of this radical change are likely to shift to digital platforms.

    “Viewers are aligning their cable TV packs as channels may have blacked out, resulting in higher than usual numbers for streaming daily TV soaps on digital platforms. A significant traffic is driven by OTT due to the convenience it offers to the users. In spite of rapid growth in digital consumption, TV has its own audiences and will continue to coexist with OTT in the long run as it remains to have its dominance in India due to several factors,” ZEE5 India business head Manish Aggarwal said.

    PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) partner and leader, media and entertainment Frank D’Souza does not find a strong correlation between the tariff order implementation and OTT consumption uptake. However, D’Souza is of the opinion that a lot will depend on the price points broadcasters opt for. Moreover, the other thing which needs to be considered is the nature of content that OTT platforms are trying to build. He also mentioned that one is really not an option over the other as there is significant programming that is being released exclusively on OTT.

    “One is really a supplement for the other. So, we are not going to have a situation where someone is going to cord cut cable and get on to OTT. I don’t think there is a direct correlation between one and the other because the fact is that they operate in a different ecosystem. If the overall cable pricing gets expensive for a consumer he may try to kind of curtail it or he may choose only what he wants to see. That doesn't imply a natural migration to OTT,” he added.

    "TV and OTT services cater to a distinct set of audience, OTT services have an edge when it comes to meeting the ever growing consumer demand for fresh and engaging content, available at the end users finger tip, on-demand and on the move. The diversity of content and consumer choice is unmatched when compared to traditional broadcast media. OTT serves as personal viewing experience and is an additional layer for viewers to choose from wide array of content. At Eros Now we support consumer choice and work towards creating engaging and high quality content serving multi user needs,”  Eros Digital CEO Rishika Lulla Singh commented. 

    During the launch of Voot’s original short films label 'Shortcuts' in February, Viacom18 Digital Ventures marketing and partnerships head Akash Banerji had said that one would have to wait and watch how consumers eventually respond to the tariff order, and whether it finally ends up changing their deep habit of having access to 300 or 400 odd channels. While watching and having access to different channels is a habit developed over the years, Banerji felt it would be naive to start thinking and predicting that it would change instantly, with OTT platforms making rapid gains.

    “The only thing that we need to be clear of and that we are preparing for if this change happens, we should be ready to give an equally good experience to a lot of new consumer acquisition that will happen on OTT. As a network, our ambition, of course, will be to ensure that the watch time and the consumer size and the scale do not go down at a network level and only keeps growing up,” he had said.

    Whether new tariff order helps OTTs gain or not, the massive growth of the digital ecosystem in next few years is undebatable. The FICCI-EY report too estimates that digital subscription revenue is bound to grow at a CAGR of 55 per cent to touch Rs 5290 crore by 2021 up from Rs 1420 crore in 2018.

    The Indian broadcast sector is steadily coming to terms with the radical changes the TRAI tariff order has resulted in. With most key indicators beginning to stabilize, the impact of the new framework in terms of content consumption trends on OTT platforms and digital media needs to be closely monitored, with patterns and trends beginning to emerge.