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Tag: MX Player

  • MX Player’s integrated campaign #IsLoveComplicated reaches over 52 million Indians

    MX Player’s integrated campaign #IsLoveComplicated reaches over 52 million Indians

    MUMBAI – On the occasion of Valentine’s Day, while most brands sought to highlight love stories that end with happily ever after, leading entertainment streaming platform – MX Player decided to bring to light the ‘reality’ of love in a modern day relationship. The platform released its new MX Original Series ‘Pawan and Pooja’ that deals with the lives of 3 couples, ALL named Pawan and Pooja –  spanning across 3 generations.

    With an objective to bring alive the concept of the series and effectively break online clutter, MX Player conceptualized the campaign #IsLoveComplicated.

    The genesis of this idea is rooted in the theory that many couples do not openly discuss the conflicted reality of love and hence, the brand decided to create a microsite – http://isloveuncomplicated.in/ to conduct an anonymous digital ‘Pyaar ka Poll’ survey to understand the dynamics of functional relationships in India. The microsite held 8 hard-hitting questions revolving around the core themes of the series such as: whether or not couples were dissatisfied in bed, whether or not they kept secrets from their partner, and whether or not they’ve ever indulged in an exaggeration of their love on social media, to name a few.

    In addition to the microsite, MX Player also effectively used  Instagram, Facebook stories, and specialist content channels such as Femina, Filmfare, iDiva, MensXP, SpotboyE and more to gauge India’s view on love today. The survey witnessed a participation of over 15 Lakh Indians and MX Player was able to piece together a picture true to love and relationships, as seen by audiences today.

    Taking the campaign beyond just digital, the statistics gleaned from this poll were highlighted through outdoor, radio and print. With smart insights and seamless execution, a simple digital survey was transformed into an integrated campaign across platforms with statistics from the poll to support bold relationship claims.

    Furthermore, this campaign saw traction from many influencers like Neha Dhupia, Kusha Kapila, Prince Narula and Divyanka Tripathi, who discussed the show launch and even participated in some compatibility activities with their partners.

    Elaborating on the same, MX Player marketing and business partnerships head Abhishek Joshi said, “This real life social experiment flips the regular Valentine’s day approach on its head and the campaign tackled hard hitting questions about love, rather than the typically seen emotional drivers of romance and happiness.”

    Talking about the scale of the campaign, he added saying, “#IsLoveComplicated is a digital first campaign which was able to scale into a 360 degree integrated approach with powerful OOH communications.  What makes the campaign impactful is that we could use the power of digital to reach out to the masses & use the insights across multi-channel communications.”

    The results for a poll brought to the surface some very real issues that individuals experience in relationships today.

  • Good stories are language-agnostic: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    Good stories are language-agnostic: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    MUMBAI: Move over English, it's time for regional languages now. It's 2020 and streaming services are looking at regional being the trend for the coming era. Most OTT platforms have now tested the waters and have enough data to back up their claims as well.

    MX Player’s Queen recently hogged the attention of streamers and the content ecosystem. The Tamil-English web-series’ has been recognised across different languages as it has been dubbed in Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.

    MX Player has a “clear regional strategy” where regional is not regional anymore. “We see the uptake of good stories is being language-agnostic,” MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar told Indiantelevision.com during a short candid conversation.

    Talwar terms it as the biggest web-series till date in Tamil Nadu market and adds that the series has benefitted the platform very well. User numbers have gone up as well and Queen was watched across age groups.

    A big show is coming up on the platform in Marathi starring Swapnil Joshi, Satish Rajwade along with two other big shows in the pipeline. There are two shows in Bhojpuri which Talwar believes will get extraordinary viewership if dubbed in other languages. The platform is also looking at a show in Gujarati, one in Telugu, a Punjabi show and a Tamil-Kannada bilingual show.

    Being in the market for nearly one year, there's a whole host of data has come its way on originals, current partnerships with networks, as well as partnerships with other web series creator, like TVF, Pocket Aces and Dice. The platform has been analysing the data to understand which shows work, who is the new audience and what have they been watching. According, MX Player is fine-tuning the content strategy in 2020. 

    Having said that, the focus will still be on the Hindi heartland. These will be small-town stories that can connect with tier II and III audiences. The platform will also have a couple of shows for the top eight metros and a cluster of 29 towns. It also aims to maintain a healthy mix between universal shows and shows targeted at specific audience clusters.

    “We did a very successful non-fiction show Love Ok Please collaborating with Too Yumm. Going forward, we are looking at key integration for brands. You will be seeing another big non-fiction show coming up called Times and Music, which is going to have a very serious brand integration as well,” he adds.

    Notably, MX Player is going to be experimenting with interactivity of content. An upcoming show will involve audience interaction with the story itself. Plans are afoot to make it a norm across shows. 

  • The top shows on AVOD services

    The top shows on AVOD services

    MUMBAI: It’s been raining premium originals on streaming services such as ZEE5, Hotstar, Netflix, Hoichoi, Arre, ALTBalaji and MX Player. The genres have been varied, but what makes the shows stand out is the quality of storytelling, production values, and casting. The good ones have a cinematic quality about them. Some of them hide behind pay walls and some are on free services, dependent on advertising. But there’s no doubt they are generating buzz amongst subscribers and viewers – some more than the other.

    What’s also working well on a handful of broadcaster-linked streaming services is the catch-up shows which either debut on their OTTs or on television. Some of these get larger audiences and watch times than do the premium originals made for OTT.

    They also serve to bring viewers back almost daily to watch the release of new episodes or catch up with the ones they have missed. Most of the top notch premium originals are on SVOD services, which release data when they want to.

    Choosing the most popular ones without any metrics or data to rely on is therefore  a challenge. However, we at indiantelevision.com took a shot at drawing up a list of shows on advertising video on demand (AVoD) platforms that we think made an impression and were a favourite amongst the OTT-bingers.

    The list is not definitive, is in random order, and it is subjective without any malice intended towards those who do not feature in it. Read on to find out.

    Kumkum Bhagya :

    Kumkum Bhagya is a ZEE TV drama series about a star-crossed couple Abhi and Pragya, who are now separated. Ranbeer falls in love with their daughter Prachi, while their other daughter Rhea vies for his attention. The show with a very high BARC rating has been running for the past five years on television, but it attracts viewers on Zee TV’s ZEE5 service as well.

    Thinkistan:

    Made by Rajnish Lall of Jigsaw Pictures, it is the story of the Indian advertising world in an era when the industry was just beginning to stand out. Created and written by Paddy, set in an ad agency in the 1990s, it chronicles the journey of two advertising professionals in an entertaining manner. It also touches upon one of the most prevalent problems which was deep-rooted in the industry – inherent bias against languages other than English. India’s answer to Mad Men has already launched its second season too.

    Kundali Bhagya:

    Kundali Bhagya is a ZEE TV drama television series starring Shraddha Arya, Dheeraj Dhoopar and Manjit Joura. The story revolves around the two sisters of Pragya, from Kumkum Bhagya. Her sisters are Preeta and Shrishti who discover the existence of their mother Sarla and sister Pragya, after their father’s death. The sisters try to unite with their mother and sister.

    Big Boss:

    The saga of friendship, betrayal, love, bonding, feud, laugher, tears in a house full of celebrities – the formula to keep the audience glued to a show even in its thirteenth edition. Big Boss changed the meaning of reality shows in the country since its first season. The star-studded contestant list, and the association of Salman Khan with the show for more than a decade have favoured it to sustain the excitement, engagement among its fans. While the 100-day reality show is being aired on Colors, it gets millions of viewers on Viacom18’s digital arm VOOT as well.  

    Sembaruthi:

    Sembaruthi is a ZEE Tamil romantic drama TV series about circumstances that force Parvathy and Aditya, the son of an affluent woman, Akhilandeshwari, to get married secretly. But will the shrewd Akhilandeshwari, who has high hopes for her son, learn their secret? If you are not able to watch it on TV, you can definitely go to ZEE5 to find the answer.

    Queen:

    The MX Player original Queen has really ruled the web-entertainment space after it was launched in December. Shakti Seshadri, the central character of the web-series, bears strong resemblances to the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. In the course of portraying a majestic political leader, the narrative does not glorify the character. The realistic emotional tonality of the story makes viewers connect to it. Along with a strong storyline, Queen offers a brilliant screenplay to from its  writers.

    Fuh se Fantasy:

    Fuh se Fantasy , the VOOT original is about the delight in modern relationships that dare to explore their deepest, quirkiest and most exciting desires. The 10-episode series which started streaming on VOOT last year features popular faces such as Karan Wahi, Plabita Borthakur,Naveen Kasturia, Anshuman Malhotra , Gaurav Pandey and Anupriya Goenka. The millennial audience will certainly connect to the anthology as it takes a look at the tabooed and unsaid desires.

    Feet up with the Stars:

    You may like to peep into the lives of your favourite celebrity but all the quintessential interviews make you wane. VOOT has a brilliant alternative, Feet up with the Stars  – a chat show which has caught word of mouth for its intimate and personal conversation. The celebrities here talk more about themselves in a personal and cosy set up rather than taking a dig on others in the B-town. After its first season cut through the clutter of chat shows, the one of its kind chat show came back with the second season last year.

    Agga Bai Sasubai:

    Agga Bai Sasubai on ZEE Marathi tells the story of the loving bond Asawari shares with her daughter-in-law, Shubhra. The women stick together during good times and bad and help each other face the challenges life throws at them. A refreshing and unique take on saas-bahu relationships is also available anytime anywhere on ZEE5.

    Rani Rashmoni:

    Rani Rashmoni is a Bengali television period drama series starring Ditipriya Roy in the lead. The show on Zee Bangla revolves around the life and struggle of Rani Rashmoni, widow of Babu Rajachandra Das of Janbazar, Kolkata. She took charge of the zamindari and business, after her husband's death and proved herself as an effective leader. The show has created a buzz in the Bengali market and has become a part of daily routine in many Bengali households.  If you are keen to look back at the life of a fierce lady of the colonial era, it can be watched on ZEE5 as well.

    Kalyana Vaibhogam:

    Kalyana Vaibhogam is a ZEE Telugu drama television series that also lures viewers to ZEE5 platform too. The Suryadevara Family is cursed and the first wife of all their first sons are bound to be chomped by the jaws of death. While Nithya and Jai, the current heir of the family, fall in love, Nithya’s mother is aware of the curse and replaces her daughter with a lookalike, Manga, an innocent village girl. How things fall in place between Jai, Manga and Nithya forms the crux of the story.

    Hello Mini:

    Someone has been watching, following every move of a girl living alone in Mumbai. Does it sound terrifying? MX Player’s thriller drama series Hello Mini revolves around her life. The protagonist Rivanah Bannerjee who moved from Kolkata to Mumbai seems to have everything at the place in the beginning – a good job, loving boyfriend but as the story goes on her life also goes topsy-turvy. The mystery around the stalker, however, prevails throughout the series making it binge-worthy.

    Gattimela:

    Gattimela is a drama television series on ZEE Kannada starring Sudha Narasimharaju, Rakshith Gowda and others. The story revolves around Vedanth and Amulya, 2 people with contradicting personalities, who are constantly at loggerheads whenever they meet. Whether both of them will turn their sour relationship into a loving one forms the rest of the story. The local users love sampling the show on ZEE5 also. 

  • MX Player partners with OnePlus for OnePlus TV Q1 series

    MX Player partners with OnePlus for OnePlus TV Q1 series

    MUMBAI: Dominating the entertainment market as the leading video streaming app for 2019, MX Player has created a strong foothold in the streaming world since its launch. Going beyond the 6-inch screens and expanding its wide user base, the platform has announced a partnership with OnePlus, the global technology brand, for the OnePlus TV Q1 series.

    This collaboration will enable the viewer to watch MX Player’s premium web series’ like Queen, Hello Mini, Madhuri Talkies, TV shows like Bold and Beautiful and Hindi dubbed films like Max Steel, Dear Comrade, The Expendables 2 amongst other offerings from its large content library on the smart TV. The service is available on the OnePlus TV Q1 series from 5 February onwards.

    MX Player marketing and business partnerships head Abhishek Joshi said, “Our vision of everytainment encompasses not just mobile screens but any avenue that will help us provide entertainment for our users and their discerning needs. We are glad to be associating with One Plus TV which accelerates our growth and expands our reach through bigger screens and connected TVs that promise a huge future uptake. Their technology along with our specially curated shows will enable audiences to watch premium content for free, on a screen of their choice.”

    OnePlus India general manager Vikas Agarwal said “We are thrilled to have MX Player on board and expand our suite of entertainment offerings. Given our community-first approach, we are sure our community will enjoy spending hours watching TV shows/movies on MX Player”.

    The entertainment app offers viewers multi-genre and multilingual MX Originals and Exclusives along with an online library of premium content, the best in class offline video playing capabilities, audio music and now games – all on one common platform.

  • 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.” 

  • Regional to prevail as 2020 buzzword for OTT

    Regional to prevail as 2020 buzzword for OTT

    MUMBAI: All major streaming services in India are keeping regional markets at the heart of their expansion strategy. In the last two years, regional has persistently guided the contenders in the over-the-top (OTT) ecosystem and 2020 is not going to be an exception. Some of the major platforms have already tasted success in the regional markets while others are looking at those markets as the next growth frontier. South Indian languages are undoubtedly the ones getting higher priority but other markets like Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi are also emerging gradually.

    Since its grand entry in the crowded OTT space, ZEE5 has emphasised on three ‘Vs , one of those is vernacular. In 2019, ZEE5 had at least one original web series come out in six different languages each month on an average in regional languages including Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil. The parent company also mentioned in its third quarter result – Kaale Dhande in Marathi, God of Dharmapuri in Telugu and Karoline Kamakshi in Tamil received positive reviews.

    ZEE5 India programming head Aparna Acharekar also explained while talking about the regional strategy that it definitely differs across the markets. Factors like penetration of data or adoption of OTT services, that particular language consumer’s affinities for his language, openness to other languages, etc., influence the strategy widely.

    “I cannot have a one size fit approach for everyone. I am looking at the show that has to cut across say largely Hindi speaking audiences, then my themes will be different because they are exposed to a whole lot of that. Today other competition also, who has entered the OTT space, is largely first creating Hindi content. So whatever I create as a benchmark starts getting compared in Hindi to another benchmark created by another OTT. But we are leaders in other languages and no one has actually come closer, the smaller players have tried little, local players are there. But there is no national-level player who can say let me try to take on the regional market. So, each market has to be looked at differently,” she added.

    Moreover, ZEE5 provides an option to change the display language of the app. If a consumer is not comfortable navigating in English, he can change the display language to Hindi or other regional languages. The platform has seen an uptake in that alternative display adaptation. “In fact with every passing month, we see more uptake of this and we see the relative share of English as a display language is going down and regional language is actually going up,” Aparna said in an earlier interview.

    The young player on the block which already has created a buzz with its Hindi shows, MX Player also has “a very clear regional strategy”. MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar stated that a big show is coming up in Marathi including big names Swapnil Joshi, Satish Rajwade along with two other big shows in pipeline. The platform is focusing highly on south-Indian languages, as Talwar shared.

    “We have some shows in Punjabi, which are in the pipeline. And we have two interesting shows in Bhojpuri coming up. I am so sure that if these two shows are so interesting that if we dub them in other languages, we will get the extraordinary viewership in other regional languages as well. Regional is a big strategy for us moving forward,” Talwar added.

    As per a recent report unveiled by Hotstar, 63 per cent of total online entertainment consumption happens in the non-metro centres of India, and Lucknow, Pune and Patna rank above Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata in consumption of content. YouTube also reported over 95 of its users watched videos in a regional language.

    Other than home-grown players, international streaming services that are keen on Indian expansion are also looking at regional content. According to media reports, a robust content licensing both in Hindi and other regional languages is in Netflix’s pipeline. Amazon Prime Video has a robust catalogue of blockbuster movies across languages. Amazon Prime Video India content director and head Vijay Subramaniam said that the platform will ramp up its language catalogue in Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati and Punjabi while they want to take up Tamil, Telugu further a few notches. While it tasted the water with one Telugu show, he added that Tamil and Telugu shows are in development.

    Smaller players like The Viral Fever (TVF) are not ignoring the promising sector. “We are actually looking at regional shows in 2020. We are working on Marathi shows. We want to line up shows in Tamil and Telugu. In 2020, we will get into regional space and we will later expand into other languages,” TVF chief content officer Sameer Saxena commented.

  • What factors drive content commissioning decision of OTT platforms?

    What factors drive content commissioning decision of OTT platforms?

    MUMBAI: From the later part of 2017, streaming players have delivered many “blockbuster originals”. Social media chatters, peer groups, office rooms see numerous discussions on premium content available on ZEE5, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, Voot , MX Player and so on. But what are the key factors that help OTT platforms to wisely craft their content library?

    In the last two years, a plethora of content was churned out by over-the-top (OTT) players in the country. Despite high investment in production, and marketing, not every show could create a buzz like Sacred Games, Inside Edge, The Family Man, Mirzapur, Karenjit Kaur, Rangbaaz, Thinkistaan. With a curiosity to find the secret sauce of this success, Indiantelevision.com spoke to experts on what are the prime factors they focus on while content commissioning as well as licensing. However, it was evident from the discussions that one simple factor stays at the centre of it – user taste and preference.

    ZEE5 India programming head Aparna Acharekar says data is the first benchmark and the decision starts with that, and ends with that. She reaffirms that data is the new oil that runs the entire industry. According to her, whether it is acquisition or buying, filters will have to be the same. The process has changed massively compared to one or two years back. A lot of their earlier commissioning was based on the overall knowledge of what consumers in OTT like.

    “Depending upon who I have on the platform, who I want to be on my platform, which is that most valuable group that I want to cultivate, acquisition also happens, commissioning happens, green lighting of original projects happen. Everything is guided by that one. Finally who we do this for, the consumer, the demand that is fuelling the supply,” she adds.

    Amazon Prime Video India content director and head Vijay Subramaniam says the decision of content commissioning starts with the customer, understanding her tastes and preferences, looking at how its evolving and what meaning the platform makes of it. Accord to him another input is diversity as India has multiple communities, several micro cultures. Hence, he adds it's important to recognise the nuanced changes between all of these communities and be able to tell stories that matter to all. He also says that it's important to respect diversity of individuals as well.

    “What do Indians care about? We know they care about movies. And so then they care about the latest and the greatest movies. It's important to be able to provide that to our customers, you know, young adults care about comedies, making selection there. So I think all this comes from an innate understanding of customers preferences towards content, also looking at everything else that's available to them, and where are the open spaces where there is a need and that is unfulfilled,” he states.

    “User is going to be at centre of this. Product, marketing, tech, content revolves around him. Either it can get me a lot of new users which are not there on my platform today or to my existing audiences it will drive higher views,” VOOT AVoD business head Akash Banerji comments.

    After announcing Q3 result, ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka said that the network would continue to invest in original content for ZEE5 to create a rich content library that will make it a compelling offering for consumers. Recently, Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings said that the online video streaming company is investing Rs 3,000 crore in 2019 and 2020 to create more original content from India. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos also recently revealed his intention to double down the investment for the company's streaming service, Prime Video.  Moreover, Times Internet-owned OTT platform MX Player also announced recently a $110 million (INR 775 crore) funding round from Tencent and its parent entity. Hence, it is strongly clear that both homegrown and international players will be churning more premium quality content in the coming years.

    “Content commissioning takes a lot of time but you have to really look at who the show is being made for. We are overall a very consumer and customer-centric company,” MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar says.

    Talwar points out another important fact. “We also look at, are we overindexed or under for a certain genre? So we have to look at what is the balance required per genre,” he adds.

    Acharekar notes another clichéd but important factor. Content strategy is derived from business strategy. So what is the business need, how will the platform get more subscriptions? It’s not about getting accolades for content. But it’s about what is that content able to get for the platform as a business.

  • MX Player is the #1 Breakout Video Streaming App of 2019 in India, as per the State of Mobile 2020 report by App Annie

    MX Player is the #1 Breakout Video Streaming App of 2019 in India, as per the State of Mobile 2020 report by App Annie

    MX Player is the #1 Breakout Video Streaming App of 2019 in India, ahead of Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime and JioTV, according to the State of Mobile 2020 report by App Annie. The platform has dominated the market in terms of time spent on Android phones among Entertainment or Video Players & Editors, records the research firm.

    According to the report, globally, consumers spent 50% more sessions in Entertainment apps in 2019 as compared to 2017 with India seeing a staggering 80% increase in the amount of time consumers spent on Entertainment apps.

    MX Player’s focus on 360 degree entertainment has driven the platform to the pinnacle of India's over-the-top (OTT) video entertainment segment.

    On the success, Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Player, said, “We are very excited to have come this far in such a short time. This has been on the back of great content like Queen and Hello Mini as well as a great product.

    Our aim has always been to emerge as the preferred destination for all things entertainment;  along with offering premium video content, we were the only app to introduce music streaming as well. We’re now adding other avenues of entertainment to the platform – the beta launch of our gaming feature has received tremendous response and given how gaming has become mainstream in India in the last two years, it was a natural fit for our audience. Here on, our plans include expanding our footprint in international markets as well.”

    Additionally, the report says, competition in the video streaming space will bolster better user experiences as well as better and much more diverse content  to drive growth in downloads, usage and revenue.

    Currently, MX Player has 280 million MAUs globally and 175 million MAUs in India.

  • Feel the action and the thrill on #WeekendBingeonMX

    Feel the action and the thrill on #WeekendBingeonMX

    MUMBAI: 1,50,000 hrs of content, multiple formats and spread across 10 regional languages – MX Player boasts one of the biggest online streaming libraries of the country. With an answer to every entertainment need of the discerning viewer, the platform is all set to regale you with 2 intense web series – action drama Madhuri Talkies and psychological thriller Damaged 2. This #WeekendBingeonMX – feel the action and the thrill as Damaged 2 brings forth twisted secrets that shatter myths while Madhuri Talkies is a hard-hitting revenge drama that will make you believe in the power of an individual.

    MX Original Series ‘Madhuri Talkies’ is a neo-noir set in the heartlands of Benares, where crimes against women and political tyranny rule the roost. Starring TV actors Sagar Wahi and Aishwarya Sharma in the lead, the series traces the journey of a man’s thirst for avenging his true love who was brutally violated by a gang of political aides. Madhuri Talkies has its share of cliffhangers and is perfect for action buffs who seek a rush of adrenaline. The series is produced for Applause Entertainment by Elio Motion Pictures, co-produced by Arvind Babbal Productions and directed by Arvind Babbal that will go live on MX Player – starting 17th January, 2020.

    Damaged 2 is psychological thriller revolving around the lives of Gauri Batra (Hina Khan) and Akash Batra (Adhyayan Suman) who run a homestay together. While all may seem idyllic in their beautiful guest house, things begin to unravel when a little girl visiting the homestay goes missing. As the prime suspects, Gauri and Akash’s twisted life comes under the scanner and their secrets soon become public.

  • Higher investment in content & tech, innovative marketing strategy led OTT industry in 2019

    Higher investment in content & tech, innovative marketing strategy led OTT industry in 2019

    MUMBAI: The over-the-top (OTT) market in India turned more saturated in 2019. To make a dent in the cluttered space, the contenders have significantly upped their game with a greater amount of high-quality original content, incorporating new technologies and increasing marketing spend.

    As per EY and FIICI 2019 report – ‘A Billion Screens of Opportunity,’ the OTT sector in India grew by a whopping 59 per cent in FY2019, growing from Rs 13.5 billion in 2018 to Rs 17 billion in 2019. The sector is estimated to reach Rs 24 billion by 2021.

    How OTT platforms significantly upped investment in content and technology

    While ZEE5 has been bullish on producing original content since the beginning among the domestic OTT platforms, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) CEO Punit Goenka said that the financial year FY 2019-20 will be the year of peak investment for its video on demand (VoD) platform. Throughout the year, ZEE5 launched over 80 originals across languages in the calendar year 2019. In this over-competitive market, ZEE5 stands ahead of SonyLIV by 1.7x, approximately 5-6 times ahead of each the platforms – MX Player, Amazon Prime Video, VOOT and 14x of Hotstar.

    Along with launching a number of Bollywood-starring web-series, bringing back popular franchises in Hindi, the platform had at least one original web series come out in six different languages each month on an average in regional languages including Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil. As Indian audiences have always been an avid follower of movies, the platform strengthened the movie library as well. While the platform already boasts of over 20 original direct to digital films, it also made Bollywood hits like URI: The Surgical Strike, Dream Girl, Simmba, Sonchiriya, Kedarnath, PADMAN, Veere Di Wedding, Mulk, Parmanu, The Tashkent Files, The Accidental Prime Minister, Judgemental Hai Kya available for its users.

    After banking on catch-up and sports content for a long time, the leader in the Indian OTT pack, Star India’s Hotstar also decided to invest in premium original content. Reportedly, Hotstar jumped onto the bandwagon with a Rs 120 crore investment plan. The primary reason to launch originals is to convert users into paid subscribers in the face of increasing competition. Hitherto, adapting successful foreign shows by infusing local flavours had been an important aspect of Hotstar’s strategy but it is certain that the platform is not going to limit itself to adaptations.

    The traditional player Shemaroo also entered the OTT market in 2019 with its new platform ShemarooMe. The platform launched a host of new and exciting properties to keep the audiences entertained throughout the year including Shemaroo Bollywood Premiere, Shemaroo Comedy Studio, Shemaroo Bhakti Studio, Komal Nahta…aur ek Kahani, Mantlya Manat, etc.

    Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd COO Kranti Gada said that ShemarooMe’s Bollywood Premiere, the offering that showcases World Digital Premiere of critically acclaimed movies every Friday, was launched in September 2019 and has received positive response from not only the audiences but also the actors and the teams involved in the making of the films.

    “Shemaroo has seen a loyal base of audience as well as manifold growth with the increase of more varied content. Content is the only factor that lures viewers to any OTT platform or deters them,” Gada added.

    Times Internet’s MX Player, which entered the market in February 2019 after re-invention, also created a buzz with originals like Hello Mini, Immature, CheeseCake, Thinkistaa and Queen. International streaming giants are also looking at rich local content library to make their games stronger in India. Reportedly, Amazon Prime Video is looking to double its original content offering for India.

    At the same time, Netflix chairman and CEO Reed Hastings recently said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit that the company is looking to invest Rs 3,000 crore for original content in India this year and the next. He also added the top-performing Netflix shows from India include Sacred Games, Little Things, and Delhi Crime. He highlighted Mighty Little Bheem, since its release in 2019, has been watched by 27 million households around the world, including in Latin America, Australia and New Zealand. Since launching here four years ago, Netflix has licensed hundreds of Indian films and shows, and invested in over 40 originals.

    According to a MediaPartnersAsia report in July 2019, ZEE5 holds 44 per cent, Amazon Prime Video holds 17 per cent, Netflix holds 11 per cent, SonyLIV holds 10 per cent, VOOT and Hotstar hold 9 per cent each of the cumulative original content hours for OTT in India.

    To retain users and advertisers on the platforms, all the major platforms highly emphasised on better user experience. The way ZEE5 made its content strategy stronger, it made significant investment in technology too. The platform launched a one-of-its-kind industry-defining ad-suite, the ad:tech solutions for advertisers. The offering hosts tools likeAmpli5, Ad-vault, Infonomix, PLAY5, Wishbox.

    ShemarooMe entered into an in-app travel partnership with ixigo, app in app partnership with Dainik Bhaskar, and made the platform available on Roku. According to Gada, the availability of the channel on Roku devices further strengthened ShemarooMe’s presence in the US market by offering its vast library of Bollywood and regional language content to the Indian diaspora residing in the US while it did a global launch after seven months of its domestic launch.

    “2019 for the digital streaming industry was a revolution with multiple shows being launched, and many platforms experimenting with new technologies and new business models. 2019 also saw the rise of gamification for the non – fiction shows that were tried as a successful experiment with at least two other platforms. However, they have been for network-related apps with shows being broadcast simultaneously on television. The crux lies in independent apps adopting this to engage audiences with their Original content as a scalable model. It also saw the OTT platforms experimenting with influencer marketing, AI and VR filters, microbloggers, VR innovations, extensive usage of UGC apps etc,”  ALTBalaji senior VP and head marketing  Divya Dixit said.

    In a recent interview withIndiantelevision.com, MX Player CEO Karan Bedi said that the platform has invested a lot of money on video compression which means that the amount of video the platform can deliver in 1GB data is much more than others. Bedi added that buffering or latency is much lower on the platform which translates into lower cost for the user and the platform. He also added that the platform has also been investing a lot in recommendation systems.

    PwC, in its 2019 annual report – ‘Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2019-2023,’ estimated that the Indian OTT market will grow to Rs 11,976 crore by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 21.8 per cent. During that period, India is also slated to be the eight biggest OTT market overtaking South Korea.

    How streamers innovated the marketing strategy

    “All the OTTs in India are suffering from a similar issue which is to get the audience to pay wholeheartedly for content. On top of that, very few OTTs have been able to create attractive content. People have also followed the GEC mantra in OTT advertising. Basically, you know like take a show and cluster it across. The most remarkable thing is the absence of remarkability,” McCann Worldgroup vice chairman and managing director Partha Sinha said.

    ZEE5 India SVOD marketing head Reilly Rebello said OTT platforms made communication a lot more contextual while talking about marketing trends in 2019. He added that even radio and outdoor were very contextual to location and geography this year. Moreover, OTT platforms are going on new social media platforms like TikTok, ShareChat, Helo.

    “The third one was that we saw a lot of OTT players going in the outdoor space. We did a lot of outdoor advertising in the first half of the year and it became noticeably larger in the second half of the year. We saw a lot of video advertising happening which was quite a move away from static poster-driven advertising. We emphasised on video and it was not only TV but also social media, YouTube and other OTT platforms,” Rebello added.

    “With each show the challenge is to break the mould and do something new appealing to the audience, Maybe that’s why the skyline of cities is dominated by OTT platforms. Billboards are prima facie an ‘announcement medium’ providing prominence across prime locations in target markets. It helps the vast audience pool notice and register a particular campaign, thereby increasing recall. However, from a show perspective, there are always several factors involved, largely the celeb value, the genre of the show etc. Marketing the show has science in its core element, in a never-seen-before manner. It lies perfectly in sync with adopting new-age technology that appeals to our target audience. If it’s an innovation hoarding, then it doesn’t just grab eyeballs, but registers in the minds of the audience owing to its novel concept,” ALTBalaji’s Dixit added.

    Shemaroo’s Gada commented that with bite-sized video content and emergence of regional social media apps gaining popularity, the industry eventually saw influencers and celebrities joining the bandwagon thereby driving adverting dollars to these new-age platforms.

    Rebello noted that ZEE5 changed the whole advertising game to be more video-focused as people are watching a lot more video. He also added that the measure has given a huge upside in terms of subscription and brand association.

    “We tried making things a lot more contextual. For example in our outdoor hoardings for Rangbaaz every line which has been there was made contextual to the location of the city. We got a lot of good feedback taking this approach. The dialogues are getting more popular. We also started our TikTok presence,” he added on ZEE5’s marketing initiatives.

    Talking about marketing mix, Rebello said that TV and digital hold equal importance as TV still gives most reach. Followed by TV and digital, outdoor and radio gets importance as those two mediums help in branding. He also emphasised on the importance of social media for the overall marketing strategy.

    “We saw many interesting campaigns by McDonalds and Burger King taking on each other through advertisements. Interestingly,  we also saw another form of this back home in India  when Shemaroo seized the opportunity of an ongoing “Masala Nahi Toh Mazaa Nahi’ campaign of Society Tea and placed their OOH hoarding right below the Society Tea hoarding with a continued conversation to say, ‘Toh Masala Chai ke Saath Ek Masala Movie ho Jaye? A unique way to complement each brand’s strength to woo audiences and strike a relevant connection seems natural and organic,” Gada added.