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Tag: OTT platform

  • ALTBalaji ropes in 13 brands for new web series ‘Cartel’

    ALTBalaji ropes in 13 brands for new web series ‘Cartel’

    Mumbai: OTT platform ALTBalaji has brought on board as many as 13 youth-centric brands for its mega-starrer release “Cartel”. The association draws upon the synergies between the show’s and the brands’ young TG.

    The list of partners on the thriller entertainment series includes Reliance (digital media partner), Voyage (accessories partner), USTREAK (Esports platform), Ugaoo (nature partner), Flyrobe (wardrobe partner), Growfitter (fitness partner), Ferns N Petals (gifting partner), Ixigo (travel partner), Bollywoo (fashion merchandise partner), Josh (short format app executing #CartelChallenge), Dunzo (food delivery partner), Mission Green Mumbai (NGO partner), and Invisible Lounge (hospitality partner).

    “Cartel is a tentpole property for us with a stellar star cast and storyline. The team went all out to promote this show and reach the intended audience via successful partnerships,” said ALTBalaji, SVP – revenue and marketing, Divya Dixit. “All of these brands have been chosen carefully and are helping us gain maximum momentum. The brand associations purely depend on the show’s content and target audience and how both the brands can benefit from each other’s audience base.” 

  • 50+ brands advertise on SonyLIV for India’s tour of England

    50+ brands advertise on SonyLIV for India’s tour of England

    Mumbai: SonyLIV’s livestream for India tour of England attracted more than 50 advertisers including Acko General Insurance, Swiggy, Apple, CoinSwitch Kuber, Betway, Vimal Paan Masala, Abbott, TVS Tyres, Housing.com, Intel, FreshToHome, Rummy Culture, Amazon Prime Video, Accenture, and Digit Insurance, Castrol, Apollo 24*7, MRF, 188Bet, Fairplay, and NPCI among others.

    The three remaining Test matches will air on 25 August, 2 September, and 10 September.

    “As we progress from one international sporting event to another, we continue to witness an overwhelming response not only from viewers but also from advertisers,” said SonyLIV, senior vice president and head of ad revenue, Ranjana Mangla. “At SonyLIV, we remain committed to adding unique value to the respective brands and enable advertisers to get their desired reach. For India’s tour of England, we succeeded in retaining multiple brands, which reiterates our commitment to fulfil the demands of our growing partnerships. Extraaa Innings/Studio Show integrations are a great way to build stronger connect with relevant audience for the brands.”

    “SonyLIV has a noteworthy mix of entertainment and sports content that reaches our core audience on a grand scale. Therefore, Swiggy has partnered with SonyLIV extensively in recent years – the platform has consistently driven visibility and engagement for us. We are sure that the India vs England series association will bring in great RoI thanks to the significant audience interest around the series,” said Swiggy, director marketing, Umesh Krishna.

    “Our association with SonyLIV on Euro 2020 and now India vs England, has helped Acko build strong affinity in the OTT audience across our key markets of Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi,” said Acko, chief marketing officer, Ashish Mishra. “Our property called ‘ACKO Insurer Of The Day’ further helps drive brand connect. The association has helped drive brand awareness and a stronger recall amongst sports enthusiasts.”

  • Planetcast launches content production facility in Mumbai

    Planetcast launches content production facility in Mumbai

    Mumbai: Planetcast Media Services has announced the launch of a content production facility in Mumbai to offer best-in-class content services to the film industry, production houses, and all the media content-intensive industries.

    Planetcast aims to offer services across the media value chain through its Mumbai facility to India, Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Its Mumbai facility is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure to offer, post-production, and distribution services to the entire range of content owners, the company said in a statement on Monday.

    The facility has large studios to execute live & recorded shows also include the latest augmented reality facilities, video walls, and presenting sets along with editing suites to ensure timely delivery of content to the end-user. It provides various post-production-related services along with S&P edit to various broadcasters & OTT platforms. Planetcast links and powers the whole media supply chain, from procuring to creating video.

    Planetcast’s VP – business development, Suresh Varghese, said, “Planetcast has a rich experience of over two decades in handling content flow for reputed global and Indian broadcasters. We have poured our experience and legacy into this facility which makes this facility the most experienced center for content-related services in India. Our talented technical staff and experienced editors are capable of delivering broadcast-ready content in a matter of hours after the shoot. We welcome the content owners to experience the superior services of our Mumbai center.”

  • Laqshya Event Capital announces ‘Event Originals’ division

    Laqshya Event Capital announces ‘Event Originals’ division

    Mumbai: Laqshya Event Capital (LEC) has announced its expansion with the introduction of a new business vertical called ‘Event Originals’. This new vertical will see the creation of original fiction and non-fiction content connected to IPs owned by LEC.

    LEC’s newly appointed CEO Shyam Chhabria, previously the COO and head of branded content at the company, will be at the forefront of this diversification and expansion.

    This move has made the company the first mover in the space of event IPs to produce original content on a solid scale. It will be mainly created for OTT, digital, film, and other mainstream platforms, the company said in a statement of Thursday.

    A soon-to-be-launched IP will cater to the southern Indian music community producing non-fiction format series that covers music-rich landscapes of southern India. The series will feature famous celebrity mentors and rising singing talent across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada languages, it added.

    Speaking about the vision of expansion, Shyam Chhabria said, “This move is in line with our vision to build well-rounded, 360 degree IPs. We want to build innovative and high converting content that audiences can relate to and brands can associate with. We aim to deliver customised and personalized customer experiences that are united whether offline or online. With this expansion in content, our goal is to create offerings for a wide spectrum of audiences, which will help us solidify our existing communities and play a role in developing new communities.”

    Elaborating on the expansion, LEC founder & director Deepak Choudhary said, “We are celebrating eight years of being in the event industry, and what better way to mark this milestone than to introduce new verticals. In the past eight years, we have had major success with our on-ground events and when the pandemic hit, we were able to seamlessly transition to virtual events. Today, we are confident to step into the world of digital content and hope to conquer this space with our original and innovative, IP-led content creations. We’re also thrilled to have an ace brand strategist like Shyam leading Event Capital as CEO on this new path. He has led major innovations across events and content and is sure to add immense value to our new avatar.”

    LEC recently joined hands with Mango People Media and together they will co-create content slates across different genres for ‘Event Originals’. Along with the content vertical, LEC’s IPs will also introduce interactive digital extensions, gamified options, and other experiential digital formats for its popular IPs.

  • Zee5 premiers ‘State of Siege: Temple Attack’ in three languages

    Zee5 premiers ‘State of Siege: Temple Attack’ in three languages

    KOLKATA: Zee5 original film State of Siege: Temple Attack has premiered in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu simultaneously on 9 July. To create buzz around the film, the OTT platform has deployed an extensive 360-degree campaign consisting of print, TV, digital and on-ground promotions.

    From multiple print ads and an on-air promotional plan to a stimulating digital plan including a UGC activity where people sent in their gratitude in the form of a message to NSG commandos, ZEE5 left no stone unturned to promote the film, the platform said in a statement.
     
    Inspired by true events, State of Siege: Temple Attack pays tribute to our soldiers, salutes the brave Indian spirit, and continues the legacy of the Siege series. It stars Akshaye Khanna in the lead role, alongside Vivek Dahiya, Gautam Rode, Sameer Soni, Parvin Dabas, and Manjari Phadnis.

     “After receiving an overwhelming response from audiences across the country for State of Siege: 26/11, we are extremely thrilled to bring forth another story from the successful State of Siege franchise that will captivate the audience’s attention,” ZEE5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra said. “We take immense pride in telling stories of valour and unwavering grit, and this film, which is based on NSG commandos’ sacrifices, pays a befitting tribute to these real-life heroes who risk their lives to save ours.”

    State of Siege: Temple Attack is produced by Contiloe Pictures led by Abhimanyu Singh, and Ken Ghosh who previously helmed ZEE5’s web series Abhay 2 has directed the film. With a generous dose of thrill, action, drama, and suspense, this latest offering from ZEE5 promises the audience an edge-of-the-seat experience.

  • Divo and IOF release ‘Mojin: The Treasure Valley’ on multiple OTT platforms

    Mumbai: The Indian digital media and music company Divo has partnered with Indo Overseas Films (IOF) for the release of the 2018 Chinese blockbuster “Mojin: The Treasure Valley” across multiple OTT platforms in India. The film that averted its theatrical release due to the pandemic, is now available to viewers in four languages – English, Hindi. Tamil and Telugu – for a pay-per-view model across Book My Show, Gudsho, Google Play, Shemaroo, Hungama Play, Filme, Oct Square, and Apple TV.

    The action-fantasy thriller revolves around a legendary tomb explorer named Hu Bayi who is on a hunt to find the cure to an ancient curse in the Tomb of Emperor Xian. It features Hang Cai, Xuan Gu, and Heng Yu in the lead roles. Originally titled “Mojin: The Worm Valley”, it is the second installment in the ‘Mojin’ series following the 2015 release, “Mojin: The Lost Legend”.


    Speaking on the release, IOF’s CEO Firoz Elias said, “With the evolution of film distribution in India and movies only releasing online, it was imperative for us to partner with a digital distributor, who could provide a smooth process. This movie never got an opportunity to release in India due to the pandemic and considering the current situation, we decided to go ahead with an OTT release. We are glad to team up with Divo for this release, who helped us reach out to a large audience base via correct channels.”

    Speaking on the association, Divo founder and director Shahir Muneer said, “With audiences not able to go out and enjoy movies like earlier, it has become important for us to offer them new and fresh content across multiple touch-points. There is a very high demand for content in international languages and it’s our constant endeavor at Divo to provide maximum reach via regional languages.”

  • Zee5 rolls out in the US, announces Canada as another focus market

    KOLKATA: Zee5, owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) has forayed into the US market on Tuesday eyeing over five million South Asia diaspora audiences. The service has been priced at $6.99 per month, and at $84 per year. The streaming platform also announced a special discount for the student community, with the monthly pack priced at $4.99 instead of $6.99.

    Zee5 has clinched a few key partnerships as well. It has joined hands with the North American Association of Indian Students to strike a chord with the young audience. It will also be partnering with MassMutual in the US to reach the latter’s extensive South Asian customer database.

    The launch was announced by Zee5 Global chief business officer Archana Anand along with actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas as the latter attended the event as a special guest. Along with unveiling the platform’s upcoming content slate, the duo revealed the global brand campaign – ‘Welcome to South Asia: Stories from our world.”

    Zee Entertainment Digital Businesses & Platforms president Amit Goenka said: “We’ve had a long association of over two decades with this market, bringing our viewers here the best of Indian entertainment through our channels. With Zee5, we now look to offer both these audiences and the younger demographic access to a much wider choice of premium content with our Originals, digital premieres, and more, on any screen of their choice and with a completely personalized viewing experience.”

    In the coming months, Zee5 will release a number of movies, new shows, returning seasons of popular shows. RRR from filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, Sunil Grover starrer Sunflower, Rangbaaz 3, Oka Chinna Family, returning seasons of recently acquired TVF Originals Pitchers, Tripling. Moreover, the platform has lined up Pakistani shows like Churails, Ek Jhooti Love Story, and Dhoop ki Deewar.

    Zee5 Global’s Archana Anand said: “Bringing Zee5 into the U.S. is so much more than just providing the South Asian diaspora here with a mega entertainment platform through which they can access a vast library of stories. It is a powerful bridge between them, their culture, and their languages.”

    This content is available in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati, Punjabi, as well as Malay, Thai, Bahasa, Arabic, Urdu, and Bangla (Bangladeshi) with key titles dubbed and/or subtitled in English.

    Terming Canada as another focus market, Zee5 also emphasised that it is available for Canadian audiences and that it will also be launching its campaign in Canada, thereby kicking off its marketing in the country. Zee5 sees much potential in the country, given that it has a tremendous amount of content across languages like Hindi, Punjabi, Tamil, and Telugu, perfect for key diaspora audiences within the Canadian landscape.

  • Revolutionary OTT Platform – Biiggbang Amusement announces their power-packed management team

    Revolutionary OTT Platform – Biiggbang Amusement announces their power-packed management team

    Building a clutter-breaking OTT platform for people who are a true cinephile and value their time, Biiggbang Amusement is one-stop for all their entertainment needs. Building the largest content library and redefining the way people consume entertainment, as the platform moves closer to the date of launch, Biiggbang Amusement is here to announce their A-team.

    Rinku Biswas, Brand and Marketing Head

    With an exceptional career timeline spanning over 14 years in the media and entertainment industry, Rinku Biswas was at the forefront as the Launch Marketing Leader for the OTT platform, 

    Amazon Prime Video and has also been the Brand Head for &pictures. She also has a diverse experience in consulting working with number of up-and-coming start-up companies, across Food Tech, Broadcasts, International IPTV platforms, among other Technology firms. At Biiggbang Amusement, Rinku will headline the brand and marketing solutions.

    Sharda Ratnam, Brand Acquisitions, Partnerships & Sales Revenue Head

    An accomplished Marketing & Brand Management Professional with over 20 years of diverse experience in advertising, broadcast, retail & branded content/ Entertainment Marketing, Sharda has worked with prominent companies such as Contract Advertising, Leo Burnett, O&M, Nimbus Television & In-House Productions and UTV Interactive. In her previous profile, she managed her own independent agency for over 10 years in the brand entertainment domain with a portfolio of deals with Bollywood’s several leading studios. Sharda will take charge of brand partnerships and sales revenue solutions at Biiggbang Amusement.

    Shuvendu Basu, Chief Human Resource Officer

    Shuvendu comes with over 23 years of experience in people management driven by an innovative mindset. He has an experience working with the leading Indian MNC giants Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), Lafarge and Nuvoco Vistas Corporation. Having worked as member of Senior Leadership teams and being instrumental in developing big teams across in India and the Gulf region, Shuvendu brings an extraordinary sense of management and people culture. He will be taking care of human resource development and will establish management systems and processes towards sustainable organization growth at Biiggbang Amusement.

    Raaj Rahhi, International Acquisitions & Relations Head

    With over 2 decades of experience in the film, TV, media, and entertainment industry, Raaj is an innovative Producer, Director, and Distribution consultant. He has worked with Sony Pictures, Time Warner-Pictures House, HBO, Fox Searchlight, Universal, Magnolia Pictures, Multivision Plus, Jackie Chan Production House, Zee Television Network, World Cinema Partners USA, among others. Raaj will headline Biiggbang Amusement’s international content acquisitions and relationships. 

    “We saw a gap in the industry and came up with Biiggbang Amusement as the filler. I wanted to put together a very passionate team to bring Biiggbang Amusement to existence. With Shuvendu Basu as our Chief Human Resource Officer, Rinku Biswas as our Brand and Marketing Head, Shari Ratnam as our Brand Partnership & Sales Revenue Head, Raaj Rahhi as our International Acquisitions & Relations Head and I am certain that this venture is under great leadership. We as a team at core believe that quality content for time sensitive people is a mindful step that we’re taking.” said Sudip Mukerjee, CEO & co-Founder, Biiggbang Amusement.

  • TV will grow, but digital is where the money’s at: SPNI’s NP Singh

    TV will grow, but digital is where the money’s at: SPNI’s NP Singh

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India MD and CEO NP Singh has always believed in looking on the bright side. After the network lost the IPL media rights to arch rival Star Sports, Singh claimed they were better off and more profitable without the league. When the Covid2019 pandemic struck, he was optimistic that the nationwide lockdown would boost viewership. By now, it's evident that both his projections were bang on the money. While Star reported a loss of Rs 1,216 crore in FY2018-19, Sony stayed in the green. And in the last few months, the broadcaster's digital and cable businesses have clocked a significant surge in engagement.

    Now, as Sony Entertainment celebrates 25 years in India, Singh talked about the organisation's journey, his vision going forward, and the challenges that lie ahead at the ‘visionary talks’ series hosted by Governance Now MD Kailashnath Adhikari.

    Currently, the thing that sparks the most joy for Singh is the success of Scam 1992, SonyLiv’s tentpole show that has proved to be a gamechanger for the streaming platform.
    On the back of Scam 1992, the platform has seen an uptick in the number of paid subscribers, said Singh. And because it was SPN’s own production house Studio NXT which produced the series, this success tastes all the more sweeter to him.

    Singh highlighted that apart from working on premium originals, the platform is working towards bringing in live sports content. SonyLiv currently streams the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. It also recently finalised the India tour of Australia, beginning 27 November. In addition to this, the OTT platform has a slew of global content line-up.

    When asked about SonyLiv’s revenue model, whether it will be a subscription-based or hybrid model (AVOD vs SVOD), Singh explained that the network’s primary focus is to deliver a subscription-driven platform that also offers AVOD content. Said he: “After the relaunch (in May 2020) we have introduced a premium plan of Rs 999 for one year. It is completely SVOD and has all the content that we can offer to subscribers. We have also brought out two new annual subscription plans – Liv special and Liv special+ which are priced at Rs 199 and Rs 399 respectively. The plan offers access to all shows at the same time as TV, downloading of episodes, and live sports preview up to 10 minutes. It is completely AVOD. So, yes we are sharply focusing on both SVOD and AVOD models.”

    During the conversation, Singh shed light on how the media and entertainment sector is coping with the disruption caused by the pandemic. With the unlock phase the sector is beginning to see early signs of economic revival. As far as the network is concerned, he stated that SPNI’s ad-revenues have reverted to the pre-Covid2019 levels.

    Further, Singh was confident that the festive season will provide additional impetus to the M&E sector, with many traditional and new categories like ed-tech and online gaming freely wielding their advertising budgets.
     
    However, the pandemic was not without its setbacks for the broadcast industry. Several niche TV channels have shut down. Monetisation has also been an issue. While it’s good to be an optimist, it’s equally important to take cognisance of the current environment, said Singh. “Sony had shut down channels even before the pandemic started, because I believe in observing strong fiscal discipline. We at SPN take very measured risks and we always keep an eye on ROI. So, we have invested where we have seen strong strategic and economic value, and at the same time we have exited from properties and channels which appeared unviable in the long run.”

    When it comes to the overall market, Singh mentioned that the television industry will continue to grow but not at the same pace as it used to. Content consumption is up and viewers are evolving rapidly. The sign of the times is the paradigm shift from TV to digital – with creators and broadcasters also moving to where the audience is.

    Given this scenario, there is a possibility that the content budget for TV will shrink or be diverted to creating content for streaming platforms. Singh, however, contended that ever since the network positioned itself as a content company three years ago, it aims to create high quality content across segments. “I believe that consumer needs will define the content strategy for each segment. It will help us to find the budget for that segment. I don’t think our budget for TV content will dwindle but we will be seeing huge investments in OTT.”

    Singh, who has frequently aired his concerns regarding the NTO, emphasised that a stable and consistent regulatory regime is necessary for the media and entertainment industry to recover. Further disruptive changes in regulations would be inimical to the sector as it tries to find its feet in the new normal. But even as the NTO case is up in the air, Singh is doing what he’s good at – hoping for the best while preparing for the worst.

  • LGBTQ-focused streaming service EORTV launches website on OTT platform

    LGBTQ-focused streaming service EORTV launches website on OTT platform

    MUMBAI: OTT media service platform EORTV has launched its website www.eortv.com with a differentiated philosophy to focus on the LGBTQ audiences and other communities. The mission of this new OTT platform is to be inclusive and create acceptance for all communities in society by eliminating any kinds of biases based on gender stereotypes and sexual orientation. 

    The logo of EORTV contains the letter “E” which determines the significance of “EQUALITY”. The letter ‘E’ is in GREEN colour to highlight gender equality.  Headquartered in Mumbai, leading the team of EORTV are industry stalwarts with a vision to change the mindsets and prevent discrimination and prejudice against the “hormonally challenged communities” in society with an aim to promote peace, fraternity, equality and brotherhood. 

    EOR TV has appointed Deepak Pandey and Kaushik Izardar as executive directors. Izardar will oversee the overall corporate responsibilities of the company and Pandey will be responsible for the overall creative dimension of the company.

    Renowned industry veteran Deepak Pandey started his career as a cinematographer in the Indian television industry. In his extensive career of 20 years, he has earned many awards for shows like Prithviraj Chauhan, SaraswatiChandra, Mahadev, Ashoka, Veer Shivaji, Bepanaah, Jhasi ki Rani, Shobha Somnath Ki, Humsafars, Qubool Hai,Tanhaiyaan and many more. He has also been the cinematographer for films like Pink Mirror, Yours Emotionally and Baat Ban Gayi. Being an exceptional cinematographer, he has always wanted to tell stories and his first directorial debut was ‘I love US’ which was released on Footlooze Youtube channel. The series gained 150 million views.

    Other series that he directed include a biopic on Indian defence officers, ‘Shaurya’ which aired on Sony LIV, The Bull of Dalal Street, Halala, Paanchali, Singardaan, #Metoo, Dance Bar, Tadap and many more for Ullu channel. He was awarded the best director for the series, Halala. He plays a vital role in establishing the series and is known to experiment in his craft while exploring new technologies in the market. 

    “I’m excited about EORTV as it means more diversity and a uniquely curated selection of global entertainment for our audiences. We strive to bring viewers progressive, inspiring and ground breaking content in the fields of technology, digital media and queer advocacy to start with,” says Pandey.

    Izardar  has worked with media conglomerates including Viacom18 Media, ZEEL, INX Media, Fulford India Limited (subsidiary of Merck; Co, USA). Izardar has a PhD and has completed the thesis under Dr Piyush Sinha (IIM- Ahmedabad). He has a MBA in marketing and has completed his senior strategic management from IIM Kolkata. Studied graduation from Visva Bharati University (Siksha Bhavana- Santiniketan), founded by the renowned poet and nobel prize winner  Rabindranath Tagore.

    “We are excited to announce the launch of EORTV’s website and EORTV app will soon follow to keep expanding our opportunity to touch a broader audience with new offerings. This summer and especially in this period of quarantine, we are planning a distinctly curated selection of entertainment that represents all gender identities, sexual orientations, religions, cultures, ages, languages and walks of life,” said Kaushik Izardar.

    EORTV will provide hundreds of hours of premium, exclusive and original content from leading producers and publishers in domestic and international entertainment that includes award-winning blockbuster films, TV shows, web series, music videos, short videos, cutting-edge series and originals in Hindi and English. 

    EORTV’s viewers can watch content through their smart TV, mobile and other streaming device integrations. The app supports almost 200 TV channels and airs programmes which users can watch at their convenience. Being a global platform, EORTV doesn’t run short of user access in any part of the world. It can be used wherever you are located.

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