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Tag: Netflix

  • Netflix signs Hasan Minhaj for weekly talk show

    Netflix signs Hasan Minhaj for weekly talk show

    MUMBAI: Hasan Minhaj is set to host his own weekly talk show on Netflix that will debut later this year. Netflix has committed to a 32 episode order, making Minhaj the first Indian-American host of a weekly comedy talk show.

    Series description: Minhaj’s comedy show will explore the modern cultural and political landscape with depth and sincerity. Each week, Minhaj will bring his unique comedic voice and storytelling skill to investigate the larger trends shaping our fragmented world.

    Hasan Minhaj said: “I’m thrilled to be joining the Netflix family as the country braces for another election season. And like you, I cannot wait to find out who Putin picks this time.”

    Bela Bajaria, Vice President of Content for Netflix said “I’ve been a big fan of Hasan’s for many years. He’s a phenomenal writer with a distinct point of view. He is a brilliant performer, who is hilarious both on stage and off, and more importantly he isn’t afraid to share his thoughtful voice and unique perspective. We are so excited to bring his new talk series to Netflix members around the world.”

    Bio: Last year, Minhaj earned rave reviews for his one-hour Netflix comedy special Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King, and for his performance hosting the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner. He joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where he was Jon’s last hire, in November 2014 as a correspondent and continued on in that role after Trevor Noah took over as host the following year. He will remain with The Daily Show through the end of July, before beginning work on this new project. In addition, Minhaj and his sketch comedy quartet, Goatface, will bring their wide-ranging brand of humor to Comedy Central for a one-hour special next year. This summer he will star in Lionsgate’s The Spy Who Dumped Me.

  • Only 3% of Indian households paid subs of SVoD services: Global study

    Only 3% of Indian households paid subs of SVoD services: Global study

    NEW DELHI: Ground data doesn’t match the hype around streaming video services in India. Only three per cent of Indian households are paid subscribers of such services, while the corresponding figure for the US is 59 per cent, according to a new global market study released recently that was done over 2017.

    The number of households worldwide, which pay for various streaming video services such as Netflix and Amazon, has now breached the 250 million mark, research from Boston-based Strategy Analytics’ TV and Media Strategies service indicates.

    The report, Home Video and OTT Video Forecast – Global, predicts that the number of homes paying for subscriptions to streaming video services will reach nearly 300 million by the end of 2018 and more than 450 million by 2022.

    Interestingly, in China the percentage of paying households of video streaming services is not very high if the population and size of the market are taken into account. The Chinese figure is 12 per cent, while Japan (29 per cent) is the only Asian country to find a mention in the top-10 list. Smaller countries such as Norway (46 per cent) and Sweden (45 per cent) have a higher percentage of paying households.

    Some of the other key findings from the research include the following:

    ∙         Average monthly household spending on streaming video services increased by 5 per cent in 2017 to $9.46.

    ∙         The total number of streaming video subscriptions reached 345 million by the end of 2017.

    ∙         Households paying for streaming video services used on average 1.39 services.

    ∙         The US has the highest penetration of streaming video services, with 59 per cent of households using at least one service at the end of 2017.

    Percentage of Households Paying for Streaming Video Services, Dec 2017

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    Source: Strategy Analytics’ Media Strategies Group, Feb 2018

    “Streaming video is rapidly becoming a normal part of people’s entertainment options,” TV & Media Strategies director Michael Goodman said in a statement put out on 28 February 2018.

    According to him, “Usage is already at around half of households in the most mature markets and is likely to reach those levels in many other countries in the near future. Clearly, market leaders like Netflix and Amazon will benefit from this trend, but there are also major opportunities for media companies, which currently focus on more traditional pay TV and content development business models.”

    In this research, according to an official statement, pay-TV-like services such as NowTV and DirecTV Now were not included. Major services analysed included Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, IVI.ru, Hulu, Viu and iFlix.

    Though the research did not specify it, but observers of Indian media and entertainment sector explained the low percentage of paid subscribers for streaming or OTT services could be because India has always been a price sensitive market for entertainment services. And, most homegrown OTT platforms’ services are only partially or not at all behind a paywall.

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  • Localised content the way forward for Netflix in India

    Localised content the way forward for Netflix in India

    MUMBAI: Global to local seems to be the key strategy of Netflix to spread its wings in India. ‘Netflix and Chill’ is the popular term across the OTT ecosystem but the number of Indian consumers chilling with Netflix’s high-quality content dwarfs in comparison to users in other markets. However, it is adapting to Indian tastes and modifying its pure international content line-up. Will this shift drive the growth for Netflix?

    Netflix launched in India in January 2016 and has since created a niche for itself for high-quality TV series and Hollywood movie content for the English-speaking audience in the country but it is far behind other OTT players in terms of subscribers. Currently, it is the fifth largest player in India, behind players such as Hotstar, Voot and Amazon, according to the Counterpoint Technology Market Research report.

    With the rollout of 4G internet services by the top telecom providers, especially Reliance Jio, streaming in India has taken a giant leap forward. In the year 2017, Netflix acquired more subscribers than local cable connections in the US (according to data from Statista and Leichtman Research Group). However, even after spending two years in India, things aren’t quite as rosy for the company as in the US. On average, the Indian consumer would spend around $32 dollar (close to Rs 2200) per year on entertainment, whereas in the US, people spend around $2260 (close to Rs 1.5 lakh) annually, according to global entertainment and media outlook 2017-2021 report by PWC.

    How does Netflix aim to take over the minds of India when cable connections give you 100-150 channels at just Rs 1100-200? Netflix subscriptions can vary from Rs 500-800 a month. An annual plan can range from Rs 6000-9600.

    Netflix CEO Reed Hastings believes that the amount that an Indian consumer pays for cable services, on a global level, is very low, which keeps the industry smaller than it should be. Speaking at an event, he had said that Netflix’s strategy is to build up local and global content. Though he admitted that Netflix’s rates were higher than cable TV, they were significantly lower than movie tickets and other entertainment experiences. Hastings is aligning the OTT player as competition to the bigger entertainment options and not the idiot box.

    So far, Netflix has focussed on pushing its global content such as House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Master of None, Stranger Things, Narcos and Daredevil to Indian subscribers. While it has made significant progress in adding regional content, it still has a lot of ground to make up.

    Now, Netflix sees a potential of adding a massive 100 million Indian customers. According to Hastings, Netflix has around 120 million subscribers in over 190 countries who consume over 140 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, and about 60 million are from the US. However, in the price sensitive market of India, Netflix banks on close to 1.5 million subscribers.

    How does Netflix aim to break the ice? The answer is local content. Hence, instead of price, Hasting suggested that Netflix wants to be sensitive to great local stories and content and be able to invest in them. So, the strategy will be to build up the local content that includes regional stories as well.

    But will producing local content be enough for Netflix to chill in India? Commenting on the same, PwC partner & leader, media & entertainment Frank D’Souza says, “Growing smartphone and internet penetration across the country has created a wide range of opportunities for OTT players. Focus on creating and producing regional content should be of utmost importance considering the fact that India is a multilingual country. A ‘one size fits all’ approach would not work for the country with over 22 official languages.”

    OTT platforms have realised the power that regional content has over the dissected Indian audiences. Amazon Prime was one of the first to take the plunge followed by Zee5, Hotstar, ALTBalaji, Voot, Viu etc.

    Netflix recently announced three Indian original productions Ghoul, Leila and Crocodile apart from four productions already under works which include Sacred Games, Selection Day, Again, and Bard of Blood. On Valentine’s Day, Netflix released its first India original Love Per Square Foot by Ronnie Screwvala.

    Where the platform is likely to get cold feet is in growing in tier II and III cities and the rural audiences. Commenting on the same, D’Souza says, “These are price sensitive segments of the Indian market. Considering the fact that OTT requires one to incur additional costs like that of internet subscription, it is important for players such as Netflix to have value added services or bundled services to penetrate these markets. Tying up with internet service providers and telecom operators in rural markets would give them an early mover advantage.”

    Netflix has one more interesting feature to bet on—sharing the subscription package among people. Many networks limit the number of people who can watch programming at the same time. Netflix allows two to four simultaneous streams per subscription, depending on the plan, and charges more for the higher number of streams. So, the premium plan can be shared among four people or in a family of four.

    By focussing on producing more local content from India, Netflix is betting on product over pricing when it comes to adding the next 100 million users. As a part of its future strategies, it should create movies and TV shows that Indians will be ready to die for while also keeping in mind the various languages.

    Also Read :

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV    

    Indians among top commute streamers for Netflix

    Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

  • Bollywood actors hit their stride in web series

    Bollywood actors hit their stride in web series

    MUMBAI: Film actors have found a new cosy space to snuggle into–over-the-top (OTT) platforms. OTT shows till now encouraged unknown faces to be stars but the real Bollywood stars are now taking over.

    Digital platforms experimented with Bollywood actors in 2017 and the trend is set to continue this year, too. Platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Voot, ALTBalaji and Viu featured popular actors in their web series like Rana Daggubati in Social, Rajkummar Rao in Bose Dead/Alive, Vivek Oberoi and Richa Chadha in Inside Edge, R Madhavan and Amit Sadh in Breathe, Swara Bhaskar in It’s Not That Simple, Lisa Haydon in The Trip and Nimrat Kaur in The Test Case.

    Voot EVP and head content Monika Shergill believes that digital is the way to go across the world. She says, “The opportunity to explore acting in roles that are coming up in digital are phenomenal, the kind of storytelling and performing opportunity that artists are getting are exceptional.”

    Amazon Prime India has seen the most popular faces in its shows. Says director content Vijay Subramaniam: “It always starts with the story. All our casting is driven by what does the story demands. It depends on the character requirement.”

    ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi agrees with Subramaniam saying, “We don’t sign actors because of their one-shot success or one-time failure. While scripting, we scout for talents to suit a character. We as a creative shop and storytellers, don’t go behind celebrities, we go behind actors.”

    The ease of restrictions is probably the most alluring part of the digital business. But does a web series work only on the name and fame of a popular actor? Shergill doesn’t agree and says, “Digital is not about faces, it is about high concept stories, disruptive and eye catchy short stories that bring curiosity and serious commitment in viewers to dedicate their 8-10 hours and watch it. An interesting face can bring people to the first episode but after it’s your content that hooks them.”

    However, Shergill feels that digital is extremely challenging in comparison to the cinema because you are just a tap and click away from disappointing viewers. Casting is a very thorough thought process and a big face may not deliver in the continuity of consumption. “We have to convince viewers a 30-60 second trailer that the actor justifies the character.”

    The web is a great kick-starter of careers, feels Subramanium. “To tell fantastic stories, highly compelling with a variety of things and great quality, the web is a great opportunity. The creative talent, both in front and behind the camera, they all recognise this opportunity too. They believe it is a great option to add to their versatility and add one more dimension to their acting, directing, writing or judging talent. Digital is the new way of consumption of entertainment and Bollywood recognises that and want to be a part of it,” he says.

    But does a bigger face need a higher amount of marketing spends? The answer is yes. “When you have a big cast, it works both ways. The name pulls some audience in but because of the name, we also feel to push it out more. So, it is a symbiotic process, the name gives you purchase and you push it more also,” reveals Shergill.

    The pay scale of movies is significantly higher than a web series but these actors have been paid significantly well. However, the payment also depends on the days of working and the schedule. An industry source reported that actors have been paid in the range of Rs 50 lakh to 1.5 crore for a series and far more in the case of A-list actors.

    According to Sethi, signing a known face instead of fresh is more convenient. “It increases the ability to reach to millions of people requiring significantly less effort in terms of marketing and communication, though it increases the cost of production. The difference of cost of production ranges from 25 per cent to 50 per cent after signing a known face,” he reveals.

    It may seem like the actors have no agenda in picking web series but Shergill opines that movie actors go to television either to promote their movies or to host a reality show. She said that web series is like a windfall for them. There are large gaps between their films and they keep twiddling their thumbs until the next film. But, shooting a digital series is a continuous schedule of 40-50 days at maximum and an actor is required to dedicate less than a month sometimes to complete his role. At times, the actors are signed up for multiple seasons of the same show.

    In the year 2018, some popular actors will be seen in great series like Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte in Sacred Games of Netflix, Swara Bhaskar in It’s Not That Simple S2, Vivek Oberoi in The Family, Irfan Khan in The Ministry at Amazon Prime Video. Khan has previously starred with AIB in several web videos. Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment partnered with Netflix to produce eight-episode political espionage series Bard of Blood.

    However, the international digital market is ahead of India. The international actors or the A category actors are not only helming digital series but are also becoming executive producers and producers like in the case of Issa Rae, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Kevin Spacey.

    Web series allow actors to stay in the minds of their audience during gaps between movie assignments while also compensating them well. It’s about time more actors got themselves knee deep into this budding content arena.

    Also Read :

    2017: The year OTTs went regional in India

    Regional OTT content more than just catch-up TV

    Amazon strikes the balance between bingeing and episodic with ‘Breathe’

  • Netflix announces 3 new India originals

    Netflix announces 3 new India originals

    MUMBAI: Netflix announced three new India original series, across genres and themes. The three new originals are Leila, Ghoul and Crocodile. 

    From drama to horror to mystery, these broad and diverse stories, upon completion, will debut exclusively to over 117 million Netflix members in 190 countries. These series join a larger slate of original productions out of India including Sacred Games, Selection Day, and Bard of Blood.

    Netflix vice president of international original series Erik Barmack said, “We are proud to continue to invest in original content in India. These three series, from the scary to the supernatural, represent the tremendous diversity that Indian storytelling holds for a global audience. We are thrilled to work with some of the world’s most talented writers and producers to bring these stories to life for India and the world.”

    Leila, from writer and executive producer Urmi Juvekar, based on a book by Prayaag Akbar, tells the story of Shalini, a free-thinking woman in search of the daughter she lost upon her arrest 16 years earlier. Set in the near future, this inventive, boundary-breaking story centres around longing, faith and loss.

    Ghoul, a horror series based on Arabic folklore, is set in a covert detention centre. Nida, a newly minted interrogator who turned in her own father as an anti-government activist, arrives at the centre to discover that some of the terrorists held there are not of this world. Written and directed by Patrick Graham, and starring Radhika Apte and Manav Kaul, this unique and gripping series, with a supernatural twist, traces Nida’s battle for survival.

    Crocodile, written by Binky Mendez, is a young adult murder mystery thriller series set in the seaside state of Goa. When her best friend goes missing, Mira sets out on her own investigation, uncovering secrets among her friends, romantic relationships and community.

    Also Read :

    Indians among top commute streamers for Netflix

    Indian content at Netflix to be creatively lead by Disney’s Simran Sethi

    Netflix plans to become leading producer & distributor of high-quality Indian content

  • Paytm ranked among Top 50 global companies

    Paytm ranked among Top 50 global companies

    MUMBAI: India’s largest mobile payments platform Paytm’s instrumental role towards pioneering the cashless economy has been honored in American business magazine Fast Company’s annual ranking of the world’s ‘50 Most Innovative Companies’ for 2018. The company is among the only two Indian companies that has joined the list of other leading global companies such as Netflix, Tencent and SpaceX.  

    Most Innovative Companies is one of Fast Company’s most significant and highly anticipated editorial efforts of the year. To produce the 2018 list, more than three dozen Fast Company editors, reporters, and contributors surveyed thousands of enterprises across the globe to identify the most notable innovations of the year and trace the impact of those initiatives on business and industry. 

    Paytm has played a key role in making payments easy for Indians. It has pioneered QR based mobile payments in the country and supports all payment methods including Credit/Debit Cards, Net Banking, Paytm BHIM UPI and the Paytm Wallet. It offers customers the widest range of offline and in-store payment use-cases among others. Today the company’s widely accepted QR is enabling merchant partners across India to accept unlimited payments directly into their bank accounts at 0% fee. It is also fast emerging as the largest platform for UPI payments in India.

  • Netflix and YG Entertainment to launch YG future strategy office Bigbang’s Seungri

    Netflix and YG Entertainment to launch YG future strategy office Bigbang’s Seungri

    MUMBAI: Netflix Inc., the world’s leading internet entertainment service, announced today that it is launching YG Future Strategy Office(FSO, working title), a new Netflix Original Series with YG Entertainment, home to some of Korea’s top talent. YG FSO will launch this year exclusively through Netflix.

    Featuring YG artists Seungri of K-pop group BIGBANG, writer/television personality Yoo Byung-jae of SNL Korea fame, Lee Jae-jin of Sechskies, the show will also have various guest appearances by other K-pop groups including BLACKPINK, iKON, and WINNER. The 8-episode series will be directed by Park Joon-soo, known for his unique humor on The God of Music series, and written by Kim Min-seok, who took part in SNL Korea.

    YG FSO stars Seungri as the head of YG’s newly formed department, The Future Strategy Office, where many of YG’s troublemakers have been sent. The sitcom series will follow Seungri and his team of misfits as they work to regain their place in the company.

    “We are ambitiously introducing the new show YG FSO and are looking forward to it being introduced in 190 countries around the world,” said YG Entertainment’s Park Joon-soo, director of YG FSO series. “We plan on introducing more quality entertainment content that many people can enjoy.”

    “We are excited to team up with YG Entertainment and Seungri of BIGBANG to introduce YG FSO,” said Erik Barmack, Vice President of International Original Series at Netflix. “We will continue to bring great Korean content for our viewers around the world to enjoy.”

  • Not relying on movies to garner Jeet’s viewership: Karan Bajaj

    Not relying on movies to garner Jeet’s viewership: Karan Bajaj

    MUMBAI: After entertaining the Indian audience for over 20 years with world-class documentaries on food, science, survival and more, Discovery Communications India (DCIN) is all set to entertain Indians with its general entertainment channel (GEC) Jeet. Slated to launch on 12 February 2018, Jeet’s differentiated content philosophy has enabled the channel to get various brands on board as advertisers and achieve its pre-launch inventory sales targets. The channel has sold out its entire Q1 inventory for advertisers.

    Brands such as Reckitt Benckiser, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Marico, Mondelez International, Johnson and Johnson, Yellow Diamond and Quickheal have come on board.

    DCIN, which will launch the channel with distribution to more than 100 million households in the country, has already signed Netflix as the exclusive global OTT platform. The shows on Jeet will be available on Netflix one month after the first airing.

    Jeet is aiming to break the clutter in the Hindi GEC arena riding on purpose-driven entertainment content. The channel will launch with five hours of programming band daily out of which three hours will be bespoke, ground-up original programming built on the thesis of underdog winning.  With an aim to be India’s first national GEC, Discovery Jeet will be available in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. The channel does not intend to add more regional languages anytime soon.

    Discovery Communications India senior VP and GM (South Asia) Karan Bajaj said that although the channel would initially have only two hours of original weekend programming, the network would look at increasing or decreasing the library depending on the audience reception.

    At a press briefing in DCIN’s offices in Mumbai yesterday, Bajaj mentioned that the channel did not plan on premiering movies as they didn’t feel the need to bank on films to get viewership. The team is optimistic about its strong line-up of shows.

    The network has been doing a test run for Jeet from 1 February on DTH platform Tata Sky. The channel is available for viewers on channel number 155.

    The uplinking of the channel is done from Singapore. All the content feed is sent there before the show is finally telecasted across India.

    Discovery Jeet will be made available for viewers in Standard and High Definition feed. During the launch, almost 120 million households will be able to see Discovery Jeet as a part of their Discovery Communication network pack on DTH platforms.

    Bajaj emphasised that there would be more content and less ads in Q1 in order to build a following for the content before deciding to increase the ad inventory.

    DCIN’s business model has changed from foreign content to now local mass targeted content. The network that aired international documentaries and shows on Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, TLC, etc will now focus majorly on Indian originated content for the masses.

    The channel has taken a very unique marketing approach in order to promote the shows. The marketing for all show on the channel will be very regional and will vary geographically. For instance, a show that is based in Punjab will be majorly advertised in the region as opposed to another show on the channel where the story is based on Tamilians.

    With Discovery Kids all set to air Little Singham starting March and Jeet in its last leg of launch, Bajaj is highly optimistic about both the channels. He believes that Discovery Kids and Discovery Jeet will become prime properties of the network that will drive maximum viewership and ratings for the network.

    Also Read :

    Discovery Jeet gears up for Feb 12 launch

    Discovery India ties-up with Reliance Animation to produce kids IP

    Discovery Jeet signs content deal with Netflix

    Discovery launching Hindi GEC in Q4, re-brands ID as Discovery Jeet

  • TRAI seeks to regulate online streaming platforms

    TRAI seeks to regulate online streaming platforms

    MUMBAI: Online streaming platforms may come under the purview of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). The regulator is likely to bring out a consultation paper to bring online video-streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hotstar under the regulatory ambit, according to a report in Livemint.

    Industry stakeholders wrote to the TRAI to come up with a pricing framework and is likely to add a section in its upcoming consultation paper on over-the-top (OTT) services. They state that some broadcasters air content for free on their streaming platforms for which they charge customers on cable and DTH.

    Indian broadcasters such as Star, Zee and Viacom18 all have their own OTT sites and apps wherein some content is monetised while some is not kept behind a paywall.

    Some broadcasters and OTT players are up in arms against such a regulation because nowhere in the world does it exist. They claim that people have to pay for data charges if not content. OTT cannot be clubbed with DTH and cable and it comes under rules regarding net neutrality.

    Also Read:

    Pleased with India progress, says Netflix’s Reed Hastings

    Star to air IPL on 10 channels, in 6 languages; live on Hotstar

    Star to air IPL on 10 channels, in 6 languages; live on Hotstar

  • Plan date night in with love per square foot, on Netflix this Valentine’s Day

    Plan date night in with love per square foot, on Netflix this Valentine’s Day

    Netflix completes the ultimate date-night package of flowers, candles and hearts on Valentine’s Day, bringing love to everyone’s screens with quirky romantic comedy Love Per Square Foot. Follow the twists and turns of Sanjay Chaturvedi (Vicky Kaushal) and Karina D’Souza (Angira Dhar) who, like millions of millennial Mumbaikars, are looking for space in the City of Dreams. Their perfect plan – a marriage of convenience – is sometimes thwarted and sometimes aided by an ensemble of characters played by Ratna Pathak, Supriya Pathak and Raghuvir Yadav. With Love Per Square Foot launching exclusively on Netflix worldwide on February 14, hang up the do-not-disturb sign and stay home with Netflix this Valentine’s Day.

    Love Per Square Foot is produced by Bollywood veteran Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP and is directed by Anand Tiwari. It is a co-production with Still and Still Moving Pictures. Love Per Square Foot will be available on Netflix worldwide on February 14, 2018.