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Tag: SonyLiv

  • ACT Fibernet partners with SonyLIV to strengthen its OTT offerings

    ACT Fibernet partners with SonyLIV to strengthen its OTT offerings

    MUMBAI: ACT Fibernet (Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd.) India’s largest fiber-focused wired broadband ISP (Internet Service Provider), today announced its partnership with SonyLIV to expand its OTT offerings and provide premium content to all customers. With a vision to become the most admired in-home entertainment service provider and to offer unmatchable streaming experience, ACT Fibernet is bringing an array of entertainment content that will meet the complete entertainment needs of their customers.

    As part of this collaboration, ACT Fibernet customers across all 16 cities can now directly subscribe to SonyLIV and enjoy rich content across movies, sports, shows, music, web originals, English shows and much more. Additionally, this offer is valid on all broadband plans and can be availed at an additional cost of Rs.99 per month.

    Speaking on the partnership, Mr. Ravi Karthik, Head of Marketing, ACT Fibernet commented, “SonyLIV is one of the most widely watched OTT platform with a host of original content and we are happy to bring their offerings through our service to all our customers across the country. There is a soaring demand for OTT content, in the last one year we have received overwhelming response for the various other OTT services that we provide to our users. We are positive that we will see a remarkable traction for SonyLIV as well and our customers will have a wholesome entertainment experience.”

    Speaking on the partnership, Uday Sodhi, Business Head, Digital said,” ACT Fibernet is one of most of the preferred broadband service provider in India, and we are delighted to offer SonyLIV content to its 1.28 million customers in the country. Backed by high internet broadband speed viewers will enjoy a seamless streaming experience.”

  • Football viewership up 7% in 2018 from 5% in 2016

    Football viewership up 7% in 2018 from 5% in 2016

    MUMBAI: After Star India took the initiative to boost a variety of sports in India, other broadcasters also picked up their shovels to dig deep. It has made a sincere effort in the turnaround of Indian football with participation (to build culture), incentivisation (to build careers), and commercialisation model (to drive in viewership) which are the three building blocks to development.

    Delivering a keynote address at the Star Sports India Football Forum 2018, an initiative by SportzPower, Star Sports head marketing Rajiv Mathrani said, “The best way to predict the future is to dream it. India is not too far from playing FIFA World Cup with the increase in the number of teams, the ranking in which we are and the young talent which is coming along.”

    All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary Kushal Das said that AIFF will very soon launch a school-level project along with the game’s world governing body FIFA.

    According to BARC data, FIFA WC final garnered 16 million impressions in India and stood at fourth place. China (56 million impressions), Germany (21 million impressions) and France (19 million impressions) were ahead of India.  

    BARC India head- partnerships Elbert D’Silva said, “If we look at football, in 2016 the sport garnered 2 billion impressions and now till October 2018, it has garnered 3 billion impressions.”

    Football viewership has gone up from five per cent in 2016 to seven per cent in 2018.

    As of now, there are 836 million viewers who watch television across India. Out of these 836 million viewers who have access to television, 791 million or 95 per cent have consumed some sporting content across multiple TV channels. If we look at football numbers, 498 million people have sampled some content related to football in the country.

    According to D’Silva, the movement of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid to Juventus has affected the viewership. El Clasico’s impressions dropped down from 4 million to 2 million, but on the other hand, Serie A viewership doubled.

    The sports revenue in India has increased from $0.9 billion in 2016 to $1.1 billion in 2017, whereas North America has seen a spike in the revenue from $15.7 billion in 2016 to $16.2 billion in 2017.

    SPN India EVP and head digital business Uday Sodhi thinks that this year’s FIFA WC has really made football mainstream in India. “The only difference for OTT is that this is a newer medium, the forms of monetisation and the way you monetise will take more time to get established,” Sodhi added.

    ESP Properties business head Vinit Karnik said, “With multiple services coming in one set top box, the day is not too far when the gap between traditional TV and OTT will change.”

    SonyLiv has a large sports footprint, football is growing 150 per cent y-o-y, basketball is growing 3-5X. Sodhi believes that India will have a freemium business going forward to a large extent. There will be a significant amount of advertising play and subscription will then be able to create a niche for itself for premium content.

  • SonyLIV and Mojo Productions announce their new web series ‘The Big Bong Connection’

    SonyLIV and Mojo Productions announce their new web series ‘The Big Bong Connection’

    MUMBAI: Life's like a treasure hunt. Sometimes you get a lot more than you bargained for!

    After getting sacked from his job in Bangalore for wearing Boxers and cooking up fusion foods in office, Rohit Roy is back in Kolkata, in the hope of opening his Bengali fusion food restaurant ‘Bae Of Bengal’ in the city of joy. A bad break up is a wakeup call for most people and Sneha (fullname?) has run away from her parents in Delhi to her Popsy Masi hoping to open her interior design store in Kolkota.  Both meet and fall in love and by the twist of fate, things happen that are little hard to digest. A whirlwind romance served with classic Bengali tadka, is all you need to spice up things this December as you sit to watch, The Big Bong Connection.

    This web series explores the Kolkata of today – a cosmopolitan concoction of dreams, passion,  cultural nuances and confusions. This concoction is what makes the Bengali culture and traditions hilarious yet fascinating to study as one that is always developing, growing and adapting in every way to the changing trends of this modern world.

    The Big Bong Connection starts streaming on 27th of November on SonyLIV.

    The episodic show is written by Chandroday Pal and Saptarshi Majumdar and produced by Joy B Ganguly.

    The primary cast include Ridhima Ghosh, Shamaun Ahmed, Mithu Chakrabarty, Punya Darshan Gupta, Rii Sen, Debopriyo MukherjeeMaya Rachel McManus & Soumyadeep Bubbla Bhattacharya.

    Music is by Shibasish Banerjee with songs sung by Nikhita Gandhi and Surjo Bhattacharjee.

  • India tour of Australia live streaming now on SonyLIV

    India tour of Australia live streaming now on SonyLIV

    MUMBAI: SonyLIV, India’s most preferred destination for sports is the official mobile and internet broadcaster for the much awaited India – Australia series that kicks off today. In one of the most high-profile bilateral series in International Cricket, Team Virat Kohli and Australia will go head on for three T20Is, four Tests and three ODIs across Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney over the next two months. The match feeds will be available in English and Hindi. SonyLIV has also launched a second screen initiative wherein users can engage with the game.

    SonyLIV has roped in 15 advertisers for this high-octane series. Brands like Swiggy, Quikr, Pepsi Co, Nestle, Myntra, Netflix, Total Lubricants, Nestle, Marico, Xaomi, Fossil, Garnier, Tourism Australia, Kotak Bank, Pharmeasy and Indeed have come on board as sponsors for the series. Increasing viewership for cricket on the platform has led SonyLIV lock productive deals with some of the most prominent brands in India.

    Starting today, SonyLIV will be the go to destination for all sports lovers anticipating an intense clash between the two teams. Subscribers will get access to the live feed of all the matches without any delay while non-subscribers will get to watch the blue squad play with a delay of 5 minutes. Viewers can also avail a 30% cashback by subscribing through our partner Paytm.

  • Vidnet2018: OTT industry says innovation the need of the hour

    Vidnet2018: OTT industry says innovation the need of the hour

    MUMBAI: In the last couple of years, over-the-top platforms have emerged as mainstream entertainment source going beyond “mail-metro-millennial” phenomenon for a sizeable population in India despite television still holding its dominance.

    The beauty of the Indian market is its diversity enabling opportunities for various business models and content in several regional languages along with Hindi and English. However, with the growth of the industry, new challenges in different areas including technology and regulations are cropping up. To delve deeper into the issues, experts across the entire ecosystem came together at Vidnet 2018 hosted by Indiantelevision.com powered by Verizon which had ZEE5 as title partner. The long day summit became a perfect stage to discuss relevant issues concerning the industry as well as to gain new insights.

    At the beginning of the event, a very interesting session with Hulu Japan CCO Kazufumi Nagasawa moderated by Indiantelevision.com founder and CEO Anil Wanvari set the tone for the day. The spokesperson shared the state of Japanese OTT market which is super crowded as well. But in contrast to the Indian market, most players are focused on SVoD service in Japan. However, Hulu Japan stands with 1.8 million paying subscribers with more than 50,000 hours of content. The session was followed by Verizon Digital Media Services EMEA and India managing director Taylor Riese who also said they are listing the challenges in the market with infrastructure in India.

    The attraction of the day was definitely the power packed session with speakers from the most popular OTT services and digital video platforms in India. ZEE5 India CEO Tarun Katial, Amazon Prime Video India business director and head Gaurav Gandhi, YouTube India entertainment head Satya Raghavan, Voot head marketing and partnerships Akash Banerji, Hotstar consumer and revenue lead Prabh Simran Singh shared their key learnings.

    Gandhi debunking the myth that Indians don’t want to pay for digital content saying that if customers see value in product they won’t mind paying and Katial mentioned an important fact that content cost in OTT is not going to be same as TV. While the session was named as “lessons from battlefront”, all the experts more or less agreed that the Indian market gives best opportunities for partnerships and collaborations.

     

    In another impacting session, Green Gold Animation founder and MD Rajiv Chilaka, Pocket Aces founder Ashwin Suresh, Contiloe founder Abhimanyu Singh from, SVF Entertinment president Ravi Sharma and Goldi Behel discussed the power of local storytelling. While five of them have been a part of the experience in creating versatile content targeting a particular audience, they highlighted how the time is perfect for content creators to be in the space owing to the new digital mediums. Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair, another veteran in the production business, mentioned another important fact that content is not a commodity that someone can win with a price war, rather it has to be won with a good story.

    Other than content, topics like the need for unified video measurement for better data was discussed in presence of IPG Mediabrands India CEO Shashi Sinha, MX Player CEO Karan Bedi, BARC India COO Romil Ramgarhia and Eros Now COO Ali Hussein.  Sinha said industry stakeholders need to arrive at a consensus for unified measurement to be a reality in India. Interestingly BARC India COO commented their technology is fully equipped to measure digital video.

    Content is king but it cannot conquer customers alone if distribution is not well enough. Nowadays people watch OTT content via various devices including basics like smart TVs, smartphones. Telcos also bundle OTT apps with their services to acquire more consumers as well as make it easy for those platforms to spread out. Questions related to making better innovations in distributions were discussed by ALT Balaji COO Sunil Nair and Viu head monetisation and distribution Sameer Gogate.

    Even the confab delved deep into the creator’s brains, tech strategies as various production houses, cloud servicing companies were also present in the conference to discuss their play. Ongoing issues like how to regulate OTT platforms were also discussed by two eminent lawyers, Abhishek Malhotra and Nidhish Mehrotra. Other industry stalwarts including Eros Now COO Ridhima Lulla, Hotstar EVP and chief marketing officer Sidharth Shakdher, Facebook entertainment partnerships head Saket Jha Saurabh, Arre co-founder and CEO Ajay Chacko, ZEE5 business head Manish Aggarwal, Vertice Entertainment founder and CEO Varun Mathur also shared key insights through different sessions.

    Though the ecosystem is evolving, it will take more time to say what’s going to work or what not.

  • SonyLIV partners Lionsgate to strengthen SVOD offering

    SonyLIV partners Lionsgate to strengthen SVOD offering

    MUMBAI: Everyone's going gaga over regional but there is also a section that's watching English content. To ensure this target stays connected, Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI)’s digital arm started increasing focus on international premium content around six months back. As the experiment worked out well for the platform, it has taken one more step by inking a strategic partnership with Hollywood giant Lionsgate. Moreover, subscription play is going to be a key focus area going forward. The step has been taken in the direction to build a strong SVOD catalogue by working along with the American entertainment giant.

    “The idea of the deal is to strengthen our subscription product even more. What we currently have on our app today is centred around our TV shows, some of our originals and sports and mostly a large set of movies. We are seeing subscription as a growing category. High quality international shows are gradually being available in India, the awareness around the shows have increased significantly and the ability and desire to binge watch in India have also gone up,” SPNI digital business head Uday Sodhi said explaining the rationale of the move.

    Although SonyLIV is going to leverage this deal in large-scale, Lionsgate is also benefitting from it as well. “This is a very important milestone for us. We are very happy with the partnership as Sony has a tremendous legacy in India. Fortunately, the partnership came at a time when they were looking to strengthen their English offering. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership. This a very strategic partnership focused on expanding the customer base, creating consumption and creating a fan base and not a syndication thing only,” Lionsgate India managing director Rohit Jain said.

    It is working closely with Lionsgate, the latter being one of the largest producers for TV series and movies across the world. An embedded Lionsgate Play destination will be bundled within SonyLIV’s current slate of programming and it will be available as part of its premium product offering.

    Sodhi also added that English content genre has seen exponential growth in OTT thanks to a few factors. One is the increasing trend of smart TV usage and another is the easy availability of international shows. In addition to that, the hype in social media during a show launch also helps to create awareness.

    However, the initial focus will be on TV series or web series over movies. “At this point of time, what Lionsgate and SonyLIV have thought through is that the TV series space or web-series space is an exciting space to go after. We are more tuned to watch series and are familiar with the entire TV ecosystem. Therefore, we are comfortable there,” Sodhi said.

    There will be 500 hours of original content as a result of the partnership on the OTT platform. While the significant majority of the content will be exclusive, some of the content will also be repetitive which is already present on other platforms. IMDB 8.3-rated Power debuts in India on SonyLIV. Critically acclaimed series Sweetbitter and Vida also make way to the platform. Science fictions and thrillers like Con Man and Insomnia will be the part of the catalogue also.

    Sports and English content have been the way to attract SVOD consumers still now which has resulted in almost no growth beyond metro cities. However, Sodhi is optimistic that once regional and Hindi premium content is added, consumers from tier II and III cities will also look forward to premium packages.

    While two powerhouses in their respective fields are focusing on a new side of their business, time will say how the deal will help them in long run.

  • SonyLIV and Lionsgate India Partner to Launch LIONSGATE PLAY Premium Offering

    SonyLIV and Lionsgate India Partner to Launch LIONSGATE PLAY Premium Offering

    MUMBAI: SonyLIV, India’s premier OTT platform and VOD service, locked in a multi- year strategic content deal with American entertainment giant, LIONSGATE. At a press conference in Mumbai, Uday Sodhi, Business Head – Digital, Sony Pictures Networks India and Rohit Jain, Managing Director, Lionsgate India, inked the association and spoke about how this alliance will bring the best mix of International content to Indian digital audiences.

    The embedded LIONSGATE PLAY destination on SonyLIV will roll out with over 500 hours of Lionsgate premium original series, including hits like Power, Vida, Sweetbitter, The White Queen, The White Princess and the eagerly-anticipated The Spanish Princess along with popular Lionsgate library titles such as Crash, Manhattan, Wildfire, Are We There Yet? and Chasing Life. 

    For the first time ever in India, the digital viewer will get to see award winning titles and gripping dramas that have captivated audiences’ world over. IMDB 8.3 rated Power that debuts in India on SonyLIV highlights the dual life of drug dealer, James St. Patrick, striving to manage his business as a nightclub owner and has gained critical acclaim since its release and stayed on the top charts in America.  Featuring Jessie T. Usher and RonReaco Lee as leads, Survivor’s Remorse is a daring sports comedy.

    Critically acclaimed series, Sweetbitter, and Vida dwelling over life altering experiences of their protagonists also make way to SonyLIV. Also included are science fictions and thrillers like Con Man and Insomnia that comprise the repertoire spanning across genres.

    Lionsgate Play will be bundled within SonyLIV’s current slate of programming, significantly enhancing its premium English-language offering to viewers. The new assortment of shows will be available for viewing under SonyLIV Premium for INR 99 for a month, 299 for 6 months and INR 499 for a year.

  • MX Player ropes in Abhishek Joshi as CMO and head of business partnerships

    MX Player ropes in Abhishek Joshi as CMO and head of business partnerships

    MUMBAI: Times Internet’s MX player has roped in Abhishek Joshi as CMO and head of business partnerships. The media executive with over 17 years of experience had a long stint with Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) and left the leading company last month.

    Earlier to this new position, he worked as head of marketing, subscription, content and licensing of digital business at SPNI. Back in 2015, Joshi joined SPNI as VP & head – marketing & analytics, digital business. He had been a core member of digital business leadership team and also looked after global monetisation and syndication of SPN’s content across digital platforms in addition to heading marketing for SonyLIV. 

    The media executive has had experience n business development, marketing and content partnerships, strategy business planning and execution expertise spanning television networks, internet video, content distribution, Ad Agencies and brand licensing & marketing.

    Prior to SPNI, Joshi was the CEO of Zenga Media. He was also associated with Reliance Big Pictures, SAB TV, ABP Group.

    With an ambition to step into the growing OTT space, Times Internet acquired a majority stake in Seoul-based MX Player. Though the exact time has not been revealed till now but for certain the last quarter of this year will have this new player in the market.

  • SonyLIV partners Planetcast to power live streaming service

    SonyLIV partners Planetcast to power live streaming service

    MUMBAI: Planetcast Media Services, a global player in digital broadcast technologies announced today that it has deployed its latest feed management and publishing platform to power live streaming of sports feed from its PMSL Facility at Mumbai.

    As a part of the partnership, Planetcast is using its hi-tech and intelligent feed management platform to receive / downlink around 30 feeds, which are then converted to the house formats (mainly audio shuffling & up-down-cross conversion) before being published in DRM enabled HLS format. A host of other VAS is also provided which include channel branding, SCTE insertion, Playout services with live studio including commentary insertion as well as Time delay & Upload for VoD consumption.

    Planetcast’s live streaming services have been successfully deployed on SonyLIV since FIFA 2018, one of the world’s largest sporting events.

    Commenting on the development Planetcast Media executive director MN Vyas said “Planetcast’s live streaming platform is instrumental for global sporting events like FIFA, Asian Games as there has been a paradigm shift in the viewing pattern of such events, this shift in viewing pattern has opened up new revenue streams for the broadcasters. Planetcast’s live streaming technology is aimed at helping the broadcasters to increase revenue by monetising their digital viewership”.

    Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India business head- digital Uday Sodhi said, “There has been a paradigm shift in the viewing pattern of sporting events in India. For SonyLIV it is of paramount importance to deliver a premium video streaming experience to our audience and Planetcast has played a pivotal role in achieving that goal. Planetcast has not only provided the latest technology but also brought in their decades of expertise in the TV broadcast sector to keep us ahead in such a highly competitive space.”

    Planetcast’s streaming service is the professional-grade service for streaming media to audiences of any size on any device, reaching global audiences with high-quality, custom-branded videos— with no additional infrastructure. Our solutions are designed to support streaming needs for multi format (android, Windows, iOS etc.) and multi device (Tablets, PC or smartphones etc.) uni/multi-cast streams with multiple capabilities of formats and video players.

  • SPNI ropes in Pravin Shivarkar as AVP marketing for digital business

    SPNI ropes in Pravin Shivarkar as AVP marketing for digital business

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) has roped in Pravin Shivarkar as associate vice president marketing for its digital business. The media professional with 13 years of experience took charge of his new role earlier this week.

    Shivarkar will report directly to SPN digital business head Uday Sodhi. Prior to his current position, he was working with Tata CLiQ as the senior manager for digital marketing. He has worked with renowned brands including Times Internet Limited, MakeMyTrip.com, Yatra Online Pvt Ltd.

    The newly appointed executive of SPNI has formal education in cyber laws, IPR, information security, e-commerce from National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

    Last month, Abhishek Joshi resigned from the position of head of marketing, subscription, content and licensing of digital business at SPNI. Back in 2015, Joshi joined SPN as VP & head – marketing & analytics, digital business. He has been a core member of digital business leadership team and also looked after global monetisation and syndication of SPN’s content across digital platforms in addition to heading marketing for SonyLIV.