ITV

Tag: OTT

  • ZEEL to globally strengthen its ‘largest Indian entertainment’ brand identity, says Amit Goenka

    Internet is significantly changing the way we consume entertainment — AR and VR are becoming commonplace. Over 60% of the world’s population is ‘digitally connected’ today. Content companies and advertisers are swiftly adapting to the new reality and redefining their strategies to stay on the top of the game. ZEEL’s international presence makes it one of the largest Indian entertainment brands and it wants to make the brand stronger, going forward. ZEEL CEO – international business Amit Goenka discusses the group’s plans and strategies in the company’s annual report:    

    How do you think the digital market will evolve and at what stage is India in that evolution process?

    Internet is dramatically changing the world as we know it. Over half the world now uses Internet, and technologies like AR and VR are fast becoming commonplace. Internet has already become an integral part of everyday life for most of the world’s population. Over 60% of the world’s population now owns a mobile phone and is ‘digitally connected’ and we will see a proliferation of this trend going forward. With increasing online content consumption, media businesses, content companies and advertisers are also rapidly adapting to the new reality and redefining their strategies accordingly to stay ahead and stay relevant.

    Given that Internet penetration in India is still under 40%, there is a significant growth potential

    for digital content consumption. We see the growth momentum across digital increasingly

    coming from smaller towns and rural areas, as urban areas get saturated. Businesses, across

    the board, will have to look at innovative ways to reach and capture the rural market given its

    propensity to consume content in vernacular languages and lack of comfort with English.

    What is ZEEL’s strategy for digital business?

    As an entertainment content company, it remains extremely important for us to be present where

    our consumers are, and so having a digital presence remains integral to our strategy for

    future growth.

    We launched the first Over-The-Top (OTT) platform in India in 2012 – dittoTV, our aggregator

    SVOD offering for live TV. We re-launched it last year at a strategic and disruptive price of ` 20 per month. We also partnered with leading telecom operators for both distribution and payment, which has been a successful move for us. OZEE, our free-to-consumer AVOD platform, has been showing excellent traction and is a leader in engagement metrics. With the launch of our global OTT platform Z5, we will consolidate our SVOD and AVOD offerings. It will be the single destination for all our content.

    How do you see competition from local players like Hotstar, Voot and international players like Amazon Prime and Netflix?

    The industry is still at a nascent stage. Though the digital consumption has grown significantly

    over the last couple of years, most of the players are still experimenting with different monetisation models. At this point, the entry of new players, especially the international ones, to my mind, is expanding the market size and popularising the category. Players have raised significant funds and are investing in content creation. These are also exciting times for users who are being wooed across the board with a plethora of choices and are getting to experiment with different genres of content. We do see this trend settling down in the future and expect a

    degree of consolidation in the industry. This will also lead to players finding their own content

    niche in which they would want to operate. We have our own strategy in place and are geared to create a distinct positioning for ourselves despite the cluttered market.

    What would make your digital product stand out from the others?

    Content is the key to attract a sustainable viewer base across any platform. Our experience and understanding of content and consumer certainly gives us a natural edge. The content viewing pattern on digital platforms is different from television and we are tweaking our content strategy accordingly to suit these needs. In addition, a rich viewing experience aided by a highly intuitive UI (user interface) across multiple languages is one of our key focus areas. Also, given our spread of channels across languages and geographies, a strong recommendation engine would help users to seamlessly navigate content suiting their needs.

    Do you think digital will take away share of advertising from television?

    I think both would complement each other. In a market like India where television penetration

    will continue to grow for years, it will remain the primary medium of entertainment for majority of the population. Digital allows content consumption on the move and is adding to the overall video consumption. Even in evolved markets like the US, television advertising is still growing despite the increasing share of digital. While we see growth in both the mediums, digital will grow at a higher rate over the next few years in India.

    Could you give a brief overview of ZEEL’s international business?

    There are two parts of our international business – the first part caters to the Indian and South Asian diaspora and the second part, caters to the foreign audience in their native languages. As far as the diaspora is concerned, I think we have reached most of the countries with sizeable Indian population. The endeavour here is to offer more channels and expand our distribution reach.

    We started targeting foreign audience having affinity for Indian content in 2008, and have significantly expanded our presence in the last eighteen months. I think this journey has just begun. Currently, we are offering content made for Indian market, dubbed, subtitled or repurposed as per the requirements of a country. We have 13 channels in this category and as we learn more about the needs of the audience, we will gradually make content for some of those markets.

    How would you describe your international journey so far?

    ZEEL forayed into the international business in 1994 with the launch of Zee TV in the Middle East & Pakistan. Following that, we commenced operations in Europe (UK) in 1995, Africa in 1996, US in 1998 and lastly APAC in 2004. Having reached Indian diaspora in all significant markets, we started targeting markets with a liking for Indian content. This journey commenced with the launch of Zee Aflam in MENA region. Our international presence makes us one of the largest Indian entertainment brands and we want to make this brand stronger, going forward.

    What are the factors you consider while launching a channel for non-Indian audience?

    The proposition to launch a new channel begins with identifying markets where a content gap

    exists and we can leverage the strength of our library to offer differentiated content. This involves extensive research to understand the market dynamics including learning about consumer preferences, competition and market size amongst others. This is a lengthy process and only a few of the markets meet our criteria for launch. We are happy that most of our launches targeted at the non-Indian audiences have been received well. Our channels in the Middle East – Zee Aflam and Zee Alwan – have been performing well for a long time. One of our recent launches, Zee World, consistently ranks amongst the top three channels in the South African market.

  • Opera TV tieup: ALTBalaji to be on smart TVs, Blu-rays & STBs

    MUMBAI: OTT business in India seems to be a game of good yet reasonable content in the most accessible form.

    ALTBalaji, a digital platform for exclusive and original shows from India, has announced its content availability on Opera TV. This means that all Smart TVs, Blu-ray disc players and set-top boxes powered by Opera TV, will provide instant access to over 250 hours of original content from ALTBalaji. Simultaneously, ALTBalaji subscribers will now be able to access the service using the Opera TV store.

    ALTBalaji was launched globally on 16 April 2017 with six original show. The app claims to have already clocked more than three million downloads with subscribers from over 75 countries. Opera TV is a leader in enabling OTT through its embedded and cloud software portfolio that is integrated by manufacturers and operators. In the past five years, over 150 million connected TV devices have been enabled by Opera TV, awarding it a global market share of 33 per cent in Smart TVs.

    ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair said, “With this partnership, our content will be accessible for viewers on Smart TVs as well as other platforms like Blu-ray Disc players and set-top boxes. As per statistics, 29 per cent of TVs are Smart TVs, and 93 per cent of Smart TV owners connect their TV to the Internet. The wider offering and the intensive use of video on-demand content, fuel this development. Our aim is to provide a seamless and enjoyable user experience through our integration with Opera TV and making available our shows on the connected screens.”

    “We, at Opera TV, are excited to partner with ALTBalaji as we share similar objectives of offering a variety of content to end users through state-of-the-art user experiences on the big screen. Digital shows offered by ALTBalaji are rich and resonates well with our existing selection of informative, entertaining and educational content. Today, a majority of our smart TV audience use OTT apps for watching movies and original shows and this partnership ensures that they’ll continue to avail of the best of entertainment through a hassle-free experience,” said Opera TV CEO Aneesh Rajaram.

  • Viacom18 distribution among IBC finalists as Voot sees 77% visitor-to-video hike

    MUMBAI: IBC has announced the shortlist for the IBC2017 Innovation Awards. Demonstrating a breadth of innovation in the electronic media, entertainment and technology industry, the international judging panel reviewed an array of compelling entries, settling on 11 finalists from around the world, all offering very different solutions.

    The shortlist covers everything from a major football final to e-sports; from virtual studios to channel marketing; from mobile OTT on a massive scale to seamless content delivery on high speed trains. Taking to the stage during IBC Awards Ceremony on Sunday 17 September will be representatives from Toronto to Singapore, the UK to India, and Spain to the USA.

    For 2017, IBC’s 50th anniversary year, categories in the Innovation Awards were updated to reflect and respond to the shifting industry landscape. Three awards will be presented for the most innovative projects in Content Creation, Content Distribution and Content Everywhere. What has not changed is the emphasis on collaborative work to tackle a real challenge, and the trophies are taken home not by the technology partners but by the broadcasters, media enterprises and service providers who commissioned the project.

    “I was astounded by the quantity, and most important the quality, of entries this year,” said Michael Lumley, chair of the judging panel. “It took a lot of intense discussion to get down to 11 finalists – it was a very tough task and there were many excellent projects which did not make the shortlist, often by a very fine margin.”

    “The international spread of 2017 finalists reflects the global reach of IBC, and the global significance of these most highly-coveted awards,” Lumley added. “I look forward to congratulating all the finalists and hearing the winners announced on Sunday night at IBC.”

    Content Creation – three finalists

    ITV in the UK has been shortlisted for its Project Phoenix. The broadcaster needed to develop a system which managed the production of promos and trailers from commissioning to transmission. The result creates more than 1,000 marketing assets every month, with almost all versioning carried out automatically. Technology partners alongside ITV were 100 Shapes, Cantemo, Codemill, NMR, Pixel Power and Vidispine.

    Leading broadcaster Mediacorp made the shortlist for implementing a service-oriented architecture to break down silos across its global campuses and create a seamless production and delivery environment. Its new centre includes a 3,000 square metre newsroom producing online, television and radio news in four languages, together with six studios and a large theatre, more than 100 edit suites and OTT and broadcast delivery. Systems integrator Qvest Media brought in an enormous number of technology partners, including Actus, Adobe, ATCI, Autoscript, Avid, Axon, Baton, Blackmagic Design, Cisco, Dalet, DHD audio, EVS, Fairlight, Grass Valley, Harmonic, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Ihse, Lawo, Lund Halsey, Netia, Octopus, Oracle, Raritan, RCS, SAM, Scheduall, Shotoku, Sony, ST Electronics, Telestream, TriplePlay, TSL and Vizrt.

    Groupe Média TFO has transformed itself from a small, French language broadcaster in Ontario, Canada, into a major online presence producing much-loved children’s programming. Its Laboratoire d’univers virtuels, or LUV, took a fresh approach to virtual sets, using the power and cost-effectiveness of the Unreal games engine from Epic Games. Today TFO produces as many as 40 short videos, in real time, each day, from a single studio. As well as Epic, technology partners were CEV, stYpe and Zero Density.

    Content Distribution – four finalists

    Arena Television is a UK-based outside broadcast provider, and led the industry in Europe with its first all-IP truck. It is regularly used to originate BT Sport’s 4k Ultra HD coverage of the English Premier League. Technology partners for this pioneering truck (and a second which is now also in service) were Cisco, Grass Valley, Lawo and Videlio Video Solutions.

    Dutch media company DMC has migrated from broadcast playout centre to comprehensive media logistics service. As part of this it has migrated to a fully virtualised private broadcast cloud that provides DMC’s clients with the asset management, publishing and distribution services they need, linking international content owners with 700 million European viewers. The new platform was developed with Cisco, Equinix, Pebble Beach Systems, Red Hat, Super Micro and VMware.

    Sinclair Broadcast Group operates 233 television stations in 108 US markets. As part of its programme to provide a common platform for on air and online services, it has developed a revolutionary approach to terrestrial transmission. The usual American model is “high tower, high power”: a single mast and transmitter. The new approach – developed by TeamCast and ONE Media for Sinclair – takes a cellular approach, using mini-transmitters just where they are needed in a large single frequency network.

    Viacom 18 is a joint venture in India between media giant Viacom and local service provider Network 18, running a multi-channel OTT network called Voot. Faced with the prospect of delivering content to the 300 million smartphones in India, across networks which are often crowded and at high data costs, it took a fresh approach, developing a progressive web service that delivered high performance without taking valuable memory space. Within just a few days Voot saw a 77% increase in conversion from visitor to video viewer and a 39% increase in session time per user. Google provided technology support.

    Content Everywhere – four finalists

    BT Sport was host broadcaster for the 2017 Champions League Final in Cardiff, Wales, and went all in to engage with as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible. Separate trucks covered the game in HD and in 4k Ultra HD with Dolby Atmos sound – using the Arena truck nominated for the content distribution award. A unique 12 camera VR operation provided a rich 360˚ feed, including in-vision graphics, live replays and a separate commentary. The content was available online to all platforms as well as broadcast. Technology partners included Dolby, Ericsson, Moov, SAM, Sony, Telegenic and Timeline.

    ESL, the Electronic Sports League, is an eSports company that organises gaming competitions worldwide. For the finals of the 2017 Intel Extreme Masters tournament, held in Poland, it needed to find a delivery partner that could deliver live feeds to 13 broadcasters in multiple regions, with additional OTT and digital cinema delivery to some territories. ESL partnered with Deluxe to enable the delivery of live ESL broadcast feeds over the public internet. The eSports tournament reached more than 46 million viewers.

    For a decade Google Earth has given us the ability to explore the world using just the internet. Now we can immerse ourselves in its wonders using Google Earth VR. The new app uses touch, sight and sound to engage the viewer and to receive control feedback. New techniques render imagery smoothly, maintaining the immersion without confusion or motion sickness. Technology partners were Ant Food, Even/Odd, Joshua Moshier and Richard Devine.

    The final project on this year’s shortlist is a real content everywhere application – ensuring consistent media delivery on trains travelling in excess of 300km an hour. Renfe, Spain’s national railway operator, worked with Telefonica to ensure its 19 million high speed rail passengers can access premium content and live sports on trains and at stations as if they were at home. The project was led by Telefonica, with technology partners including Accedo, Cires21, Cisco, Hispasat, Iecisa, Indra, Nagra, Signiant and Teldat.

    The winners of these three awards will be announced during the IBC2017 Awards Ceremony, on 17 September. Special guest host for the evening is scientist and broadcaster Dr Helen Czerski. As well as the Innovation Awards, the ceremony will see the announcement of the Judges’ Prize, also in the gift of the same panel of international editors and consultants who have judged the Innovation Awards. Other awards to be presented during the ceremony include the IBC International Honour for Excellence, IBC’s highest award.

  • OTT driving Taiwan multichannel video: CASBAA study

    MUMBAI: A new study by regional pay-TV industry group CASBAA shows that overall access to multi-channel video services of all kinds in Taiwan is being bolstered by a mobile video market now accounting for 92 per cent of all individuals.

    According to the CASBAA study (to be discussed on 22 June during the “Taiwan in View 2017” conference in Taipei), with 15 locally established OTT platforms (as opposed to cross-border pirate services delivered from illegal off-shore servers) the largest group of OTT followers in Taiwan are young women aged 18-34, some 42 per cent of the total. Together with 18-34 year-old males, almost 70 per cent of OTT subscribers are “binge” viewers.

    The fast-rising level of mobile broadband penetration is benefitting cable TV and IPTV operators as they develop their own multiscreen services. No longer limited to traditional TV viewing, Taiwan’s mobile broadband subscribers are downloading apps and logging-in to pay-TV programming of all kinds.

    With access to fully digitized networks (95 per cent of Taiwan’s 5.2m cable TV subs) Taiwan’s pay-TV platforms now offer value added services such as VoD, interactive music and games, along with newly sophisticated EPGs, PVRs and the promise of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality services.

    In line with the Netflix model, local pay-TV platforms are also bundling their own content with that of non-domestic program providers, developing exclusive content and packaging that appeals to younger consumers. Meanwhile, according to CASBAA, complex government constraints on cable TV investment under Taiwan’s ownership rules continue to hold back the industry. (These preclude any minimal state ownership (no matter how indirect) in pay-TV – but not telcos. The result is that “convergent” investment is difficult.)

    “The complicated rules on investment, along with a hugely damaging level of content piracy, are not only holding back the growth of the local pay-TV market but also the overall economic development of Taiwan as a whole,” said CASBAA chief policy officer John Medeiros.

    “Living with massive revenue leakage from piracy while blocking sufficient investment in the digital economy, Taiwan is falling behind its natural potential as a regional communications hub,” said CASBAA CEO Christopher Slaughter.

  • Tata Elxsi provides CoE for Airtel Internet TV

    MUMBAI: Connected Home Center of Excellence (CoE) of Tata Elxsi, a global design and technology services company which works with leading MSOs, content providers and studios to develop innovative services and applications that create subscriber stickiness, has leveraged deep domain expertise for video, IoT and smart home services. It has also leveraged the experience of open source middleware such as RDK and Android TV, and solution accelerators to support rapid development and deployment of next-generation Connected Home services.

    The Connected Home CoE has successfully worked with leading service providers across the world, enabling the launch of new value-added services in the home context, including OTT, IoT-based security, surveillance and healthcare.

    With increasing demand from consumers for a seamless and connected viewing experience across traditional TV and OTT, operators are considering Android TV as the middleware platform for next-generation set-top boxes and home gateways.

    The latest project executed by the team is Airtel’s Internet TV. Tata Elxsi is proud to be associated with Airtel, as a technology partner for system integration for the Internet TV.

    Tata Elxsi, backed by 25 years of engineering experience and specialisation in video and OTT service delivery, developed and integrated key software components to ensure that the Android TV application suite provides a seamless user experience whether the viewer accesses online or offline content. This includes the OTA (Over the Air) upgrade module, a smart UI, customized Android TV launcher and software optimizations to future-proof the service.

    Airtel Digital TV CEO Sunil Taldar said, “Tata Elxsi has been a valuable partner in our latest innovation – Internet TV. Their engineering and integration expertise in the OTT segment has helped us in building a world-class product.”

    Tata Elxsi VP and head – broadcast business unit K P Sreekumar said, “We congratulate Airtel on the successful launch of the Internet TV. We are proud to be associated with Airtel for India’s first hybrid DTH-TV deployment using Android TV middleware. We believe that the solution has set a new benchmark for next-generation TV service delivery.”

  • TV in India may grow 10.3%, overall AdEx by 11.5% in ’17: IPG Magna

    MUMBAI: India is recovering from the aftereffects of demonetisation, and the currency deficit faced during this period has helped the country leap frog towards a lesser cash economy.

    The country is set to move towards a uniform tax regime with Goods & Services Tax (GST), effective July 2017, while this fuels growth it is likely to create a fleeting disruption in the short term when the industry realigns and adapts to the new tax structure. GDP in real terms is estimated to grow +7.2% in 2017 compared to +6.8% in 2016 according to International Monetary Fund (IMF). Within the next decade India will gallop to become one of the largest consumer markets in the world according. Rising affluence, ease of doing business, urbanization and enabling infrastructure will contribute to this status.

    Advertising revenue which is accounts for 0.38% of GDP (gross domestic product) is likely to grow CAGR of +12.6% to touch INR 992 bn by 2021. Within Advertising, offline is estimated to grow at a CAGR of +9.7%, while digital will grow at +25.5% CAGR in the next five years. Mobile is projected to overtake desktop by 2020. Television will still be the largest media in 2021 with a market share of 39%.

    In 2017, Adex is estimated to grow +11.5% to touch INR 611bn, predicts Magna, the intelligence, investment and innovation strategies agency of IPG Mediabrands. Ad spends will be driven by sectors like social, fin-tech, and payment banks, telecom service, content distribution platforms etc., in addition to FMCG, Auto and Ecommerce.

    Television, the foundation of advertising spends, continues to dominate the industry with its market share of 41% and will grow+10.3%.  With BARC release of rural audience data, new revenue stream in the form of FTA channels have gained significance. Quality localized content and HD experience will help regional TV to keep their audiences hooked. Sporting leagues outside of Cricket is finding way to generate mass involvement and Television will play a larger role. Star Sports Tamil demonstrating tangible results will increase fandom for local/state level formats.

    Print in India has been successful in guarding its revenues well with revenue expected to grow by +5.7% and India is one of the large markets where circulation is still growing thanks to rising literacy. The second biggest category with 36% share despite growing is losing its share to Digital year-on-year. Traditional sectors like auto, telecom and education will contribute to ad spend growth.  After a gap of 3 years, the category will invigorate with the release of new IRS and help publishers realize merit based value. Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) measuring digital consumption will lend authority and help in monetization. We expect the ad spends to grow beyond the estimated +5.7% in 2017 thanks to government’s focused campaign to popularize their marquee initiatives.

    Digital will grow +28%, and, within digital, mobile is driving spends with a growth rate of +65.7%. The launch of 4G triggered low price data products there by increase in usage. With improved speed Video, native and customized content has tremendous potential to grow.  BARC putting out a road map on digital panel takes India one step closer to a robust measurement not only for digital but also to showcase capabilities in incremental metrics. With expanding content library, OTT viewing is no more restricted to national languages. Aggressive push by Amazon and Netflix to address the original content gap will attract larger base of audience. With mobile increasingly being the choice of access, traffic will be higher than desktop resulting in advertising propelled by mobile which is estimated to expand at CAGR of 48%. E-commerce, Telecom, Auto, BFSI, Durables are large contributors to the revenue.

    Radio reach with around 150 new frequencies sold during phase III is set to deepen further and will help generate incremental revenue. We estimate radio to grow +13% and continue to grow at CAGR of 13.8% in the next 5 years. Currently the measurement is limited to 4 cities, widening this will help radio increase its share from the current 4%

    OOH will grow +12% in 2017. Technology integration will increase effectiveness and helps DOOH to drive ad spends. Urbanization in the form of new Metro lines and smart cities, modernization of Indian Railways and their new advertising policy etc., will provide opportunities for a planned development of quality assets and also push the industry to innovate and move beyond billboards. Regional cinema is pushing boundaries to outdo Bollywood cinema which augurs well for the industry.

    Table 1 – Media owner revenue by category in INR Cr Net

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    Table 2 – Traditional Vs Digital Adex growth rate

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    Table 3 – Mobile gaining shares over desktop

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  • Effective story-telling in India is yet to evolve, says Viacom18 SVP Anu Sikka

    MUMBAI: The animation services market in 2016 mostly continued to be dominated by outsourced projects from television and film sectors, which accounted for around 85 per cent of the total animation services turnover in India. However, there are a few exceptions such as Nick, which has been the leader in the genre for years according to audience measurement data.

    `Motu Patlu’ films on Nick, which is part of the Viacom18 family, have been ruling the roost mostly in the top-five list. `Motu Patlu 36 Ghantey Race Against Time’, `HFF-Motu Patlu In Double Trouble’ and ‘Motu Patlu Kung Fu Kings’ have all been leading in the kids’ genre. The broadcaster along with Viacom18’s movies division also introduced the first 3D theatrical of Motu Patlu i.e. Motu Patlu King of Kings, that was a success.

    “We have always conceptualised our own content allowing us to develop our own IPs. The quality, uniqueness and strength of our concepts and stories have ensured that our content remains relevant and sticky, establishing a strong connect with our young viewers, Viacom18 head, programming & content – kids entertainment cluster Anu Sikka told indiantelevision.com.

    While dwelling on programming strategy for Nick, she added: “With our strategy, we have managed to drive the trend and take on the leadership mantle in the highly under-indexed kids category.”

    Adventure and mystery show `Gattu Battu’, which is the fourth made in India character from Nickelodeon, has been running successfully after an encouraging opening on 1 May, 2017. `Pakdam Pakdai’, `Motu Patlu’, `Shiva’ and `Gattu Battu’ are shows that cater to the discerning entertainment needs of the young viewers.

    “We aim at creating differentiated kids content for the age-group between 2 and 14 years, investing significantly in television movies such as `Motu Patlu’ and `Pakdam Pakdai’,” Sikka informed.

    Apart from boasting of one of the most popular shows in the kids’ category, `Motu Patlu’, which is produced for Viacom18 by its partner Cosmos-Maya, the company also holds a record of having a large homegrown, made in India content bank within a short duration. `Motu Patlu’ followed by Pakdam Pakdai and then `Shiva’, which launched during Diwali last year, has created a new success yardstick for animation content in the Indian market, Viacom18 claimed.

    The Indian animation and VFX industry grew at 16.4 per cent in 2016 to reach a size of INR 60 billion, driven primarily by a 31 per cent growth in VFX, with animation remaining steady at a growth rate of nine percent, as per the KPMG-FICCI Report 2017.

    Dwelling on the investments Viacom18 generally makes for producing an animation show for kids, Sikka said that it could range between Rs 5 million and Rs 20 million, depending on various factors such as the intricacy and complexity of the animation, graphics and the script. “We have focused on creation of IPs allowing us to extend our characters to beyond television into other categories such as consumer products and movies etc., allowing us to create an entire ecosystem and facilitate monetisation,” Sikka said.

    The uptake of domestic / Indian content may be a key growth driver for the animation industry, and the expected uptake of digital consumption through OTT platforms will add to the increasing demand for localized content. The animation IPR production segment, in 2016, grew at a faster rate owing to increasing demand for localised animation content and characters developed for the Indian market across OTT and TV.

    According to Sikka, the ratio of local to foreign content was between 50 and 60 per cent in favour of Indian content.

    “We are the pioneers in owning the intellectual property rights (IPRs) by producing our own shows with the intent of building an ecosystem and in the process, started a trend,” Sikka said. Once Viacom18 has the IPRs in place, it commissions different production houses to execute the projects, preferring to buy out entire rights than get into joint productions.

    The Indian animation and VFX industry is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 17.2 per cent over 2017–21 to reach a size of Rs 131.7 billion, driven by a steady 9.5 per cent growth in animation and a 25 per cent growth in the VFX segment. Although animation in India has come a long way as compared to the situation 10 years ago, Sikka was of the opinion that the audience would lap up stories if those were well told, and that’s why Viacom18 prefers curating its own concepts and owning the IPRs too. “Occasionally, we hear out concepts and stories when some production houses approach us, but there are very few that strike a chord,” she added.

  • Yash Raj partner YuppFlix offers Sultan, Fan & Befikre TVoD & SVoD

    MUMBAI: World’s largest OTT player for south-Indian content, YuppTV, has announced its partnership with one of the leading Indian production houses, Yash Raj Films (YRF).

    As part of the association, YuppTV will now host popular Hindi movies produced by Yash Raj Films on its movie-on-demand service, YuppFlix. These titles include the latest and popular offerings by Yash Raj Films, such as Sultan, Fan, Befikre, Dhoom:3, among others, that will be available in TVOD model within India and in SVoD/TVoD models outside India.

    Uday Reddy, Founder & CEO of YuppTV, said, “We are glad to offer our users a stimulating assortment of latest movies made under their banner. At YuppTV, we are driven with the vision to extend the most captivating entertainment solutions to our expat community of users and view this association as another step in the same direction. I am affirmative that our global audiences will enjoy the latest offering at YuppTV and we will continue to bring more awaited movies on YuppFlix.”

    Commenting on the association, Anand Gurnani, Vice President – Digital, Yash Raj Films, said, “We are glad to expand the digital reach of YRF’s bouquet of movies across global markets. We are affirmative that users across different countries will be happy to watch and enjoy their favourite YRF titles online on YuppFlix.”

    YuppTV users across the globe can now enjoy the latest collection of movies through its movie-on-demand service, YuppFlix. In addition to the fascinating bouquet of movies from Yash Raj Films, YuppTV is further committed to updating its movie catalogue on a weekly basis. With such an envious collection of popular movies, global users can easily access these movies on all YuppTV platforms, including the website and Android and iOS apps and via internet-enabled devices.

  • ZeeMelt: OTTs add to momentum of FB & Youtube video consumption

    MUMBAI: “Digital video is not the regular video which is differentiated by the screen size but everyone is aware about digital videos. If someone is working on a TVC, then bring your brand within first five seconds to get your brand liftup,” said Google creative head Haani Mirza.

    “To lift the brand, marketers will have to focus on ABCD, which is Attract, Brand, Connect and Direct the viewers,” he added.

    Talking about digital advertisments, Kantar Insights CEO – media & digital Gonzalo Fuentes said, “86 per cent people have observed the frequency of advt has increased as compared to past three years, and 32 per cent of Gen Z in South East Asia and India have installed ad blockers.”

    “Digital Advertising industry can change the trend by focusing on the data which is fully consumer-centric and building engagement through creativity and consistency — creativity which is not targeting the audience gives a negative impact,” he added.

    Speaking about videos on social media and OTT platforms, Kantar IMRB MD media, digital & retail Hemant Mehta said, “Over the last few years, video is dominating the social media, and mobile screens attract more engagement than any other media. All the OTT platforms add to the momentum which was inbuilt in the social consumption. India has more than 20 million avid-video consumers spending 45 minutes a day and 22 hours a month.”

    Culture Machine CEO & co- founder Samir Pitalwalla added to Mehta’s view, “90 per cent of the consumers are watching videos on Youtube and Facebook in which three out of 10 consumers access OTT platforms. Music & entertainment are most dominant categories, and the fastest growing are: education and news.”

    Also Read:

    YouTube’s Top 50: T-Series tops & SET India bags 5th slot 

    Adspend: Twitter fastest growing, FB & Google control 20% 

    YouTube challenges Facebook & Twitter with mobile live

  • Cricket, movies, TV shows and Amazon, according to Netflix’s Reed Hastings

    MUMBAI: Hotstar, Amazon, and Sony Pictures Networks India can heave a sigh of relief. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has stated that the global streaming powerhouse is going to continue to focus on entertainment; cricket is not on the table at all. What this means that it will be refraining from participating in the IPL cricket rights tender which will be coming up for bidding soon.

    Speaking with CNBC on Squawk Alley on 31 May from the Code Conference in California, Hastings was pretty emphatic that both, sports and news, are a no-go area for Netflix. He said: “You know, no plans on news and sports. Those are tough businesses and we’ve got a lot of room to grow in movies and TV shows. Expanding into standup comedy. Unscripted. So, we are going to really focus on that on a global basis.”

    He went on to add that Netflix could do movies about sports as the company was focused on video content that has repeat viewing. Said he: “It’s things that you don’t only want to consume once. Whereas the Warriors and the Cavaliers (two NBA teams) are going up again and people will be intense on that and then it won’t – you know, afterwards, there is no after viewing. Whereas our shows, there really is.”

    Hastings agreed that India was definitely a complicated market for a US company “But, for an Indian company, they feel fine about it,” he said. “We still have a lot to learn. Now, we’ve done awfully well in Latin America and in Europe and, of course, in North America. So, we’ve learned some things. But, we have a lot of room to grow in Asia and a lot to figure out still.”

    He is not disturbed by the explosion of OTT players rushing to grab a few cents from the consumer’s wallet. “Around the world, there’s all kinds of new options coming up that give people opportunity. It is like saying there are too many mobile phone apps. You know, there’s 100,000 but you probably only pay attention to 30. But, different people have a different set of them. So, i think it is great,” he said.

    Hastings disclosed that Netflix is more about being consumed on the mobile phone in Asia – as compared to the US where consumers are spending more time on it on traditional widescreen TVs. “About two-thirds of the viewing is on large screen televisions, either from your Xbox or Playstation or directly with the smart TV. When you get used to watching on a mobile phone, you watch all kinds of content and sports on a phone. You adapt to that,” he explained.

    “We are just doing great content and it is available on any screen. You paid $1,000 for a new television, you are going to use it. You look for the shows and the images. With that and with HDR, which has a color intensity. It makes the TV just pop. 4k transforms the in-home experience. That’s one of the big drivers and with mobile on the low end.”

    Hastings said that cord-cutting is not really being driven by the rise of streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. “Very few people have cut the cord. We are about 50 million in the US, and we have seen maybe two million or three million of 50 (million) cut the cord,” he elucidated.

    “Don’t think of it as a big overlap that we are driving cord cutting that is probably mostly from pricing. In general, if you look at cord cutting, it is like two to three per cent per year, like broadcast ratings over the last 30 years. It will take a very long, slow, secular decline no big calamity and then they will adjust the economics.”

    According to him, the rapid expansion of Amazon is what is alarming. He said: “Well, they are so scary. I mean, everything Amazon does is just so amazing. I mean, how are they doing so many different business areas so well? It’s like they are trying to repeal the basic laws of business of limited capability. So, we are continuing to watch them and be impressed with them. And they are helping to grow the industry because they are investing in the content.”

    However, he was clear that Netflix is not going to go head to head with the giant. He explained: “If we try to out-amazon Amazon, then that’s a losing battle. So, what we have to do is be the specialty play. We are trying to be Starbucks and they are trying to be Walmart. So, we have to have brand-intense love and focus. And, what they do is incredible at their breadth. So no, we wouldn’t focus on those things. We would focus on how do we be, really, the embodiment of entertainment, and joy, and movies and TV shows.”

    He maintained that Netflix’s content budgets are only going to grow. Its content purse for 2017 has around $6 billion in it, but that is not going to be enough going forward.

    “As we grow the membership base, we want to grow the content budget. There are so many great shows on Netflix but there are so many great shows we don’t yet have. We are going to continue as we grow the membership base to try to get more shows and more movies. (All this has) Been great for talent and writers for everyone. There is so much competition now between all the new players plus the existing players, like HBO, are beginning to grow. It is this new age of television. Nobody is sure where it is going, except for the quality of movies and TV shows is continuing to decline.”