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Tag: Nachiket Pantvaidya

  • ALTBalaji crosses 20 million paid subscribers mark

    ALTBalaji crosses 20 million paid subscribers mark

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms' digital arm ALTBalaji has gained more than 20 million paid subscribers by the end of the first quarter of 2019. The streaming player’s subscribers are likely to hit 25 million when its next quarterly results are announced.

    “We are in mass Hindi-speaking India,” Balaji Telefilms group COO Nachiket Pantvaidya said as quoted by Variety. “We want people in Surat, Ranchi, Raipur to watch us. We want people in rural India to watch us,” he added.

    Since its launch in 2017, the Ekta Kapoor-led platform has gained good traction in the over-crowded OTT market on the back of its local content and cheaper pricing. It recently entered a partnership with ZEE5 whose 76 million monthly active users will get access to ALTBalaji’s content. “If you have to address mass India, you have to be as near free as possible,” Pantvaidya said.

    According to Counterpoint Research, men account for 79 per cent of all Indian OTT users. The higher inclination of male audience towards OTT platforms is largely because of the lack of content available for them on general entertainment channels. OTT platforms like ALTBalaji are trying to fill that gap.

    ALTBalaji has popular shows like Gandii Baat, Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain attracting different audience segments. “We are finding our feet, collecting the data, surviving the initial tough years in a market which is filled with Goliaths who are probably outspending us by 20 to 1”, Pantvaidya said.

  • ALTBalaji partners with sheroes, engages deeper with women content consumers

    ALTBalaji partners with sheroes, engages deeper with women content consumers

    National: ALTBalaji, India’s leading homegrown OTT platform, has partnered with women-only social network SHEROES, to grow its engagement with women content consumers who form 55% of its viewership. The OTT platform has always portrayed strong empowered women with female protagonists breaking barriers and setting new benchmarks in shows like DEV DD, Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, Tests Case and Haq Se.

    Through this partnership with SHEROES, ALTBalaji aims to celebrate strong women-oriented narratives through conversations and campaigns that encourage the female audience to discover fresh, engaging content. SHEROES members will also have access to exclusive deals from the streaming platform, including discounts on ALTBalaji’s yearly subscription.

    Speaking about the partnership, Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO ALTBalaji and Group COO Balaji Telefilms said, “ALTBalaji’s legacy of entertaining the masses through strong women-centric shows is well-known and our collaboration with SHEROES further reinforces our relationship with our audiences.  We truly believe that this partnership is an innovative opportunity, which goes beyond simple customer acquisition and aims to develop a stronger emotional connect with our audiences.”

    In addition to the integration, ALTBalaji has launched a SHEROES profile through which the platform engages with the community’s members, creating visibility for offers, promotions, new launches and triggering conversations around its programming in relevant SHEROES communities. ALTBalaji will host exciting challenges and polls and explore meaningful engagement with a growing pan-India women audience via their SHEROES profile. Also, in the pipeline are features like champions and community chats with the cast of the originals and an ALTBalaji featured community on SHEROES platform. 

    Commenting on the partnership, Sairee Chahal, Founder, CEO – SHEROES said, "ALTBalaji has been the definitive content producer resonating with the diverse aspirations and interests of 15 million SHEROES members spread across geographies. Our members engage in multiple vernacular languages, around everything from entertainment, fashion and careers to finance and health. ALTBalaji’s programming has socially relevant themes that connect to the everyday lives of the SHEROES audience.”

    Around 60% of SHEROES users come from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and seek programming that is relatable and diverse in its mix. The SHEROES user is smartphone savvy and engages extensively around films, web content, music and other entertainment genres on the SHEROES app. ALTBalaji offers engaging content across originals and movies as well as social initiatives that appeal to the SHEROES audience.

  • Will leverage past successful shows and characters: ALTBalaji’s Nachiket Pantvaidya

    Will leverage past successful shows and characters: ALTBalaji’s Nachiket Pantvaidya

    MUMBAI: Ekta Kapoor-led Balaji Telefilm’s digital arm ALTBalaji wants to distinguish its service with Hindi originals targeting the mass audience with a vision to create binge viewing habit among users. Moreover, while the platform has already delivered several hit shows since launch, the OTT platform is going to leverage past hits by launching more in the future.

    “You will see that we are going to make our past hits to a greater degree going ahead. Therefore in the second half of the year you will see the second season of Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain, the third season of Karle Tu Bhi Mohabbat coming through and what essentially we are signaling is that now we have got out of the 24 shows a bunch of hits which we were going to leverage going ahead which means that we can scale up the number of episodes and we need to do lesser creative work on creating characters. So the same characters will now be in progressive storylines so that is really what we are doing in the second half of the year. We are looking at the hits that have happened in the first half,” ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya commented in an earnings call.

    As the platform has emphasised for a long time, it wants to create binge-watching habit among consumers by offering exclusive shows of different lengths. While many platforms are dabbling in several languages, ALTBalaji is initially focusing on Hindi content. However, going forward it will definitely not limit the possible offering to one language or one type of content.

    In terms of target audience, the company’s strategy has always been to look at both female and male, younger and older age group and premium and mass audience. Hence, content creation initiatives revolve around targeting all the profiles. Through data streams, the company gains the insights on what is working or not. As the management said in the earnings call, at any given time period it is producing 40 shows on the floor. Currently, they have production up till next year September-October going on the floors.

    While the OTT platform is seeing growth in revenue quarter over quarter, it is coming through both B2C, B2B2C routes. 70 per cent of the revenues are coming from partner and 30 per cent from direct subscribers. The release of shows in a more regular and systematic manner has worked as a turning point for the uptake. The company has also credited the overall environment of OTT growth as another reason. “People are buying more and more into telecom internet packages and that has also fuelled the acceleration in growth because we make original Indian content and we are able to reach urban mass target audiences and that has also in a way helped us accelerate our growth,” management commented.

    Standing with 2.3 million active subscribers, ALTBalaji’s current ARPU is Rs 140 per year or about Rs 12 per month. We exited last quarter at around 5 million subscriber base. “We are exiting this quarter at around 8.5-8.7 million subscriber base,” Pantvaidya commented. According to the App Annie data, which correlates the subscription that is made on the app store both at Apple as well as Google, it is consistently in the top 5. As its subscription rate and ARPU are probably in the lowest in those top 5 ranked players, the company estimates that they are in either number one or number two position in terms of consistently paid subscribers month after month. On the back of the ever-expanding internet user base in India and the growth in the library, the company expects further revenue growth in coming quarters.

  • Leading OTT platform, ALTBalaji partners with Xiaomi through Mi TV

    Leading OTT platform, ALTBalaji partners with Xiaomi through Mi TV

    Mumbai 3rd, October 2018: ALTBalaji, the digital platform of Balaji Telefilms Limited, has entered into a strategic partnership with global technology leader Xiaomi through its Mi TV, that was recently launched in Indonesia. As part of the association, ALTBalaji app will be available on Mi TV and can be accessed through Mi TV’s PatchWall. With this new partnership, ALTBalaji plans to strengthen its presence in Indonesia through Mi TV’s users and leverage the brand’s global expansion.

    Users of Mi TV in Indonesia can now have access to ALTBalaji’ s exclusives content that comprises 25 original shows and popular movies at a quarterly subscription of $ 4.99, half yearly subscription of $ 7.99 and an annual subscription of $ 12.99.

    Speaking on the association, Nachiket Pantvaidya CEO ALTBalaji and Group COO Balaji telefilms shared, “We have seen a phenomenal response from viewers spread across geographies especially Indonesia. We have received great love from Indonesians who have been enjoying Bollywood content including popular ALTBalaji shows. Consequently, we have dubbed original shows of ALTBalaji – 8 in Bahasa Indonesia, 8 in Malay Bahasa and 7 in Arabic with English subtitles and will add 2 dubbed shows every month to this line-up as the app grows. This content alliance with Mi TV is symbiotic and will allow both the companies to derive value from their inherent strength.”

    ALTBalaji has already acquired a leadership position as India’s largest platform for original and exclusive digital shows with more than 15 million viewers from over 90 countries on both mobile and web platforms. The digital platform currently offers 25 original shows in Indian languages across various genres such as romance, mystery, drama, and comedy. The platform also offers entertaining original shows for kids and short, hilarious regional stand-up comedy videos.

  • 70-80% of ALTBalaji traffic from telco tie-ups: Sunil Lulla

    70-80% of ALTBalaji traffic from telco tie-ups: Sunil Lulla

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms recently posted Q1 result where the TV business revenue remained flat while the digital venture ALTBalaji showed impressive result by acquiring 2.1 million new paid users excluding Reliance Jio platform users. For OTT platforms in India, telco deals have become important and ALTBalaji is not an exception. Balaji Telefilms Ltd group CEO Sunil Lulla said in an earnings call that about 70-80 per cent of traffic comes from telcos while the ARPU from the sector stands around Rs 15 per month. The company started telco deals last November with Vodafone following up with Jio and Airtel.

    “In terms of value it will be between 60 per cent and 70 per cent because the ARPU that we are getting through the non-telco, that is the direct downloads, is about Rs 25 a month and the ARPU we are getting from the telco business around Rs 15 a month,” Lulla commented. However, he denied revealing the churn rate on telcos.

    Along with good subscription growth, ALTBalaji’s revenue also picked pace reaching Rs 5.8 crore in Q1. The revenue without the impact of IND-AS 115 stood at Rs 7.1 crore. Currently, the platform has 21 original shows excluding kids content and comedy clips. Though the initial focus of the platform has been on creating Hindi dramas, the platform will add a Bhojpuri show to its regional content mix. To increase its appeal to Tamil audience, a market which has potential, it felt the need to create a reasonable library in the language. But until reaching the target of 30 shows, the team is not going to fully focus on Tamil library.

    “Right now Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam continue to be dubbed. Our real question is to get Tamil content onto our platform. We need to probably have a full fledged Tamil focus for which we will be able to create bandwidth only by October, November and December this year, which means the show will appear next financial year,” ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya commented. “Bengali viewing audience or Marathi viewing audience can understand Hindi so we need to create that library of 10 to 15 shows and then enter the South market originally. Meanwhile, we do continue to have a dubbed presence in these markets,” he added.

    In an astute move ,Ekta Kapoor led production house this year retained the IP of the show Dil Hi To Hain  reversing the industry norm. While the broadcasting right is with Sony, it can stream the show on ALTBalaji also. Regarding whether Sony pays less than competition, Lulla disagreed. He added further that each show has its own price rather than a standard half an hour rate card depending on the production quality and star cast. Explaining the detail, he reaffirmed there has been no loss of revenue because of this digital right.

    While the TV production revenue remained flat across the last two quarters, three new show launches across broadcasters has been cited as the prime reason. For the very first time, the production house launched three shows in one month gaining the highest share post the IPL launch phase. “We have to incur costs in the beginning phase. This will definitely get dephased,” Lulla said confidently. Along with acquiring consumers for the digital platform and create a stable movie business, the company wants to ensure that the television business continues to ace the pack. It also hopes revenue will go up in the next quarters.

    “Our focus obviously is on a good value pricing and which is why the television business is very important to us as much as the OTT business is strong on investment because we are in different cycles. The OTT business is in early stage growth and it will see galloping stage growth and maturity is really far away, so we would have got many, many years ahead of it,” Lulla said later.

  • ALTBalaji aims to double subscriber base by 2021

    ALTBalaji aims to double subscriber base by 2021

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms’ video on demand platform, ALTBalaji has planned to invest up to Rs 500 crore over the next three years with a focus on strengthening its content offerings, according to a report by Brandequity. 

    The network is aiming to more than double its subscriber base to over eight million, which excludes Jio customers, by 2021 from 2.8 million at present. 

    ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “We plan to invest Rs 150-170 crore every year, out of which 70 per cent would be invested in strengthening our content offerings. Over the next three years, we plan to invest Rs 450-500 crore.”   

    The network is aiming to launch 45 to 50 shows in the next two years. 

    Pantvaidya added, “About 95 per cent cent of the content on ALTBalaji is original. We are planning to launch 45 to 50 original shows in the next two years. We are investing in good quality content and we aim to reach subscriber base of over eight million by 2021.”

    ALTBalaji gets 60 per cent of traction from cities outside the top-four metros. The network claims to offer an inventory of 32 shows and over 250 hours of entertainment.

  • After acquiring 2.5mn subscribers, ALTBalaji to go international

    After acquiring 2.5mn subscribers, ALTBalaji to go international

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji, the OTT platform of Balaji Telefilms, has made all the right noises since its inception in April 16, 2017. With 2.5 million subscribers on the ALTBalaji platform, the company now wants to scale up its investments in the digital domain with two major plans – double the original shows in the next 10 months and enter into international markets.

    In an astute move, the company has collaborated with Sony Entertainment to procure IP rights of the show Dil Hi Toh Hai. As per industry norms, channels tend to get the IP rights when such deals are struck. On this occasion, however, Balaji Telefilms has managed to retain the rights of the show. The episodes will be available on ALTBalaji 24 hours after they are aired on Sony.

     “As far as we go, we feel we are investing a lot in our digital future as a company and that’s why it’s important for us to slowly also be invested in all the digital rights of the content that we create and therefore it is a first step in that direction,” ALTBalaji CEO and group COO Nachiket Pantvaidya told Indiantelevision.com.

    Pantvaidya claims no revenue was sacrificed to acquire these rights.

    “I am trying to say it is just not about retaining rights. You have a ready avenue to exploit that. We have done this strategically so it’s not just we retain the right and do nothing with it,” he added.

    Since its launch, ALTBalaji has been very aggressive with its original shows. From Bose: Dead or Alive to Kehneko Humsafar Hain and Ragini MMS, the brand has made an attempt to appeal to a wide segment of the Indian society. Not narrowing down its target audience has enabled the brand to build an audience in Tier II and Tier III cities.

    ALTBalaji’s success in India has given the company confidence to spread its wings overseas.

    “Our next target is to launch our service internationally by dubbing it in two languages Bahasa, Sinhala. We have also a Bangla dub plan which will target countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh. In addition, we will also try to get the higher ARPU nations like US and UK to consume our content,” said Pantvaidya of his company’s next moves.

    While some platforms are planning to stream more digital first movies, ALTBalaji is banking on episodic content. Future episodes and seasons keep the user constantly engaged with the platform, the Balaji team believes.  And if the numbers are anything to go by, they might as well stick to their current formula of programming.

    When it comes to subscriptions, the quarterly package contributes to 65% of the traffic. The company’s partnerships with Jio, Vodafone, Airtel, contributes 60-70% of its revenue. Moreover, 90% of its traction comes from mobile devices.

    With a plan to have a library of 42 original shows including 6-7 kids show by next March, the platform wants to stick to the SVOD model at least for the next ten months.

     While we often refer to OTT platforms as catch-up TV, ALTBalaji wants to increase its subscriber base by relying on original shows rather than being dependent on commissioned content.

  • Dialog ViU partners ALTBalaji for original Indian content

    Dialog ViU partners ALTBalaji for original Indian content

    MUMBAI: Dialog Axiata PLC from Sri Lanka has announced its partnership with ALTBalaji to provide users of its ViU service with original Indian video content for the first time in Sri Lanka, at subsidised rates. 

    Dialog Axiata PLC senior general manager Global and content services Mangala Hettiarachchi said, “The launch of the ViU app signified a new era of accessible content for Sri Lankan consumers, not only in terms of local content but regional and international as well. Dialog’s partnership with ALTBalaji strengthens our commitment to providing consumers with a host of diversified content including programming in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and more at affordable prices.”

    Available in 90 countries with a global paid subscriber base of over 2.5 million, ALTBalaji is rapidly growing towards four million subscribers. With a growing library of original shows and a robust distribution strategy, ALTBalaji aims to reach out to audience worldwide.

    Commenting on the association, ALTBalaji group COO and CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya said, “ALTBalaji is constantly working towards creating path-breaking content which caters to the Indian language urban mass audience. The response to our content so far has been overwhelming and we wish to make it available to audience inside all environments. Our association with Dialog will help us with a unique opportunity to reach out to a wide customer base and let them enjoy the content we are proud to present.” 

    This strategic partnership with Dialog through the ViU app will result in the introduction of original Indian content to over one million Sri Lankan users, diversifying its already varied portfolio of offerings. To access over 150 hours of original content in various Indian languages, ViU users simply need to log into the app, click on the ALTBalaji for Dialog icon to download the app and subscribe at a subsidised rate. ViU users are entitled to a one-month free subscription and are required to pay only Rs 160 per month thereafter.

  • It’s raining awards for ALTBalaji this 2018!

    It’s raining awards for ALTBalaji this 2018!

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji which is India’s largest OTT platform for original and exclusive shows across various genres is on a winning splurge these days with awards and recognition in the digital and OTT space. 2018 has started on a high note for the digital platform as it was awarded as one of MUMBAI’S HOT 50 BRANDS at Mumbai Brand Summit 2018. 

    The digital platform was awarded the BEST OTT PLATFORM OF THE YEAR by a leading trade publication. Along with this highly prestigious trade award, the OTT platform was also recognized for it super talented artists like Rajkummar Rao and Ssumier Pasricha. Rajkummar Rao bagged an award in the Best Actor Among any OTT Content category for BOSE: Dead/ALIVE and Ssumier Pasricha was awarded as the Star Entertainer of the Year for Pammi Aunty. 

    Along with these awards, THE MOST ENTERPRISING BRANDS & LEADERS OF ASIA 2018 also felicitated Mr. Nachiket Pantvaidya, Group COO and CEO, ALTBalaji as the Most Enterprising CEO of the Year – Digital Entertainment for his outstanding contribution to the medium and for phenomenal success that ALTBalaji has garnered. 

    Speaking about the recent achievements, ALTBalaji, CMO, Manav Sethi said, “We are elated to be recognized and honored at such various and prestigious award shows and what is more exciting is that we have achieved this within 11 months of our launch. ALTBalaji is the only OTT platform in India to launch about 16 original shows that are LIVE in over 90 countries, and that too with a team of 70 people. This is a testimony to the amazing work our team has done so far and validation to fact that we understand the kind of entertainment audience wants. From here we just want to climb up the ladder as we have some great content in pipeline for our viewers.” 

    With more than 15 million mobile and web users and available in over 90 countries ALTBalaji currently offers 16 original shows in Indian languages across various genres such as romance, mystery, drama, comedy and offers entertaining original shows for kids.

  • ALTBalaji, Reliance Jio in content partnership deal

    ALTBalaji, Reliance Jio in content partnership deal

    MUMBAI: With original content and a robust distribution strategy, ALTBalaji aims to reach out to a wide base of subscribers. In a bid to achieve these goals, the OTT platform has announced a strategic partnership with Reliance Industries Ltd (Reliance) to make available original content to customers of the online platforms of Reliance, such as Jio Cinema and Jio TV. This content would be enjoyed by all Reliance Jio (Jio) subscribers.

    ALTBalaji is available in more than 90 countries and caters to the need of Indian consumers and diaspora spread across the globe. Jio’s established user base of over 160 million will help to strengthen the distribution of ALTBalaji content.

    ALTBalaji group COO and CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya  said, “Our content caters to the Indian language mass audience and is targeted at 18-45 years demographic. The early response to our content has been good and now we wish to be available inside all environments where audiences exist and consume videos. We believe that our association with the Jio platforms will help us reach their consumers and let them enjoy the content we are proud to present. Our offerings have a very good fit with the Jio Digital Life eco-system.”

    Also Read:

    ALTBalaji is essentially everything that Balaji on TV is not: Sameer Nair

    ALTBalaji bets big on first-time producers with Haq Se

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India