ITV

Tag: Streaming Platform

  • Voot bags streaming rights for Maratha Cricket League T20

    Mumbai: Viacom18 backed video-streaming platform, Voot is set to collaborate with India’s first cricket reality show, Maratha Cricket League T20 as its exclusive streaming partner. 

    The talent hunt reality show will consist of a total of 34 cricket matches scheduled to begin on 15 August, with the grand finale on 5 September. As a unique feature, the cricket league will also have a ‘public voting’ system.

    Maratha Cricket League T20, Squarecut Sports Pvt Ltd, CEO Vincent John said, “Maratha Cricket League – MCLT20 is India’s first Cricket Reality Show designed to discover less fortunate cricketers of India and to give them a platform to tell their stories and display their cricketing talent to the world. The league represents the iconic heritage and glorious history of the Great Maratha Empire and embodies its warrior spirit. Over ten thousand such cricketers were given an opportunity to display their talent out of which the best 200 will feature in season one of MCL-T20. Through the platform of Voot, they will be able to tell their stories. We look forward to the long-term successful association with Voot.”

    Former India International cricketer and Squarecut Sports Pvt. Ltd. VP and VC, Rudra Pratap Singh said, “What attracted me most about the MCL-T20 is its unique concept to give a platform to so many less fortunate cricketers to showcase their talent and live their dream through the MCL-T20. Getting Voot as our broadcasting partner magnifies this opportunity a thousand-fold for these undiscovered talented cricketers to tell their stories to the world both on and off the field.”

    Viacom18 Digital Ventures, head – AVOD (Voot), Chanpreet Arora said, “Voot is a platform that seeks to provide diverse content experiences and a differentiated and first-of-its-kind sports talent hunt reality show that seeks to encourage cricketing talent in the country is a great way for us to connect with our users. The partnership with the Maratha Cricket league as streaming partners presents MCL with the opportunity to tap into the large user base of Voot while it allows Voot to drive meaningful engagement with sporting enthusiasts in the country through the unique format. This is the first of more such content innovations to come from our end at Voot.”

  • OnePlus partners with DocuBay

    OnePlus partners with DocuBay

    NEW DELHI: IN10 Media Network’s global premium membership streaming service DocuBay today announced a significant partnership with OnePlus. Under this collaboration with DocuBay, OnePlus TV users can now enjoy direct access to a diverse range of documentaries by the global streaming service, across various narratives.

    A destination exclusively designed for documentary films, DocuBay has over 300 titles handpicked from 100+ countries and releases a new title on the platform every day. The premium content library includes titles across a variety of genres or ‘Bays’ such as TravelBay, ScienceBay, PoliticsBay, SportsBay, CrimeBay, TechBay, and recently launched MusicBay. Select titles like Stonehenge, Sea of Galilee, The Rider and the Wolf are available in HD and 4K, lending for an immersive viewing experience on OnePlus’s recently launched OnePlus TV U Series and Y Series.

    DocuBay VP strategy D Girish said, “At DocuBay, we are committed to bolster our reach and enable new audiences to discover our catalogue of premium documentary films. We are delighted to partner with OnePlus to strengthen our community of documentary lovers and ensure an enhanced viewing experience to the users through the OnePlus TVs’ incredible features.”

    OnePlus India GM Vikas Agarwal shared, “At OnePlus, our community is at the core of everything we do. This focus has also played a fundamental role in determining our brand partnerships over the years. We are excited to partner with DocuBay and bring a truly unique content experience to our community of users. This partnership will further provide OnePlus TV users access to premium, global content, with unparalleled viewing experience on the OnePlus TVs.”

  • Hotstar unveils India’s longest billboard, showcasing range of content offering

    Hotstar unveils India’s longest billboard, showcasing range of content offering

    MUMBAI: Streaming platform Hotstar has unveiled a unique out-of-home initiative through a massive billboard spanning 10,000 sq. ft in Uttar Pradesh, to highlight the variety and scale of content available on its platform. With entertainment options moving indoors, the brand provides viewers the convenience of sitting back and exploring its extensive range of high-quality free content through these uncertain times.

    View the longest billboard here – https://vimeo.com/398152303

    Touted as the longest ever in India, the billboard is part of Hotstar’s exciting new 360-degree marketing campaign, “Hotstar ka vaada, free entertainment sabse zyada”, aimed at reaching out to millions of viewers in Hindi-speaking markets in Tier II and Tier III cities, who currently have little access to high-quality content for free.

    The Social Street collaborated with Hotstar on this campaign from idea to execution, to source out and construct the longest billboard the country has ever seen from ground up. Standing tall and long on the arterial road joining Shastri Setu (Shastri Bridge) to Jaunpur Tiraha in Mirzapur, the mammoth structure was completed within a period of 6-7 days. The billboard constructed 1000 feet in length and 10 feet in height with an additional 2 feet of height of cut-outs, used a solid framework of bamboos and iron frames to sustain extreme weather conditions.

    The billboard showcased Hotstar’s vast library of high-quality free content including several movies like Chhichhore, Mission Mangal; TV shows from Star Plus like Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain, Nazar, Kasauti Zindagi Kay and Star Bharat like Savdhaan India along with News.

    Mandeep Malhotra, Founding Partner & CEO, The Social Street, says, “Working Hotstar is always brilliant and fun. The brand inspires us to unlock new ideas and create campaigns that push boundaries. With the longest billboard campaign too, we wanted to create something that would send out the brand’s message in a way that wows people. We were able to leverage media in a way that managed to create brand-new boundaries. Some of our past campaign work with Hotstar, like IPL Largest Player Hunt and Game of Thrones, too are a testament of the innovation, creativity and impact that is at the heart of brand.”

    With more than a 60% share of entertainment consumption in 2019, Tier II and III cities have been fueling the growth of online video consumption in India. However, a large section of the audience in these cities still does not have access to high-quality entertainment and is limited to watching reruns of outdated content. While some have lost access to paid channels following the TRAI tariff order, others are hampered by infrastructure issues such as frequent power cuts. This issue of access is further exacerbated by a single shared TV screen in large households.

    The new campaign by Hotstar aims at bridging this accessibility gap for its viewers, through fresh and innovative ways to spread the word about its vast library of high-quality free content.

  • Netflix and its binge spending: $17.3 bn on content in 2020

    Netflix and its binge spending: $17.3 bn on content in 2020

    MUMBAI: Netflix is stubborn with its content spending despite being criticised often for being “irrational”. The streaming firm is sticking to its 'grow now – pay later' strategy. According to a recent estimate, the streamer will invest around $17.3 billion on content in 2020.

    In 2019, the streamer spent little up from $15 billion on content. The report by BMO Capital Markets predicts the company is on track to spend $26 billion by 2028. An increase of almost $2 billion indicates that users will not get a chance to lower their screen time from the streaming engine as most of the money is expected to go on originals.

    While the popularity of the streaming platform rose with years, the competition has also turned tougher with the entry of other deep-pocket players in the ecosystem. Apple TV+ and Disney+ launch have thrown major challenges on the unofficial streaming king. Moreover, Warner Media’s HBO Max is also going to enter the market in mid 2020.

    "Netflix remains the clear leader in the global streaming video, and we believe there is still room to grow as incremental investment points enter the story: continued international growth (particularly India and Japan), improving per subscriber leverage on content spending, and the beginning of long-promised FCF improvements," BMO Capital Markets entertainment analyst Daniel Salmon comments in the research note.

    Considerably, among the other competitors, no one is spending extraordinarily big on content like Netflix. Disney said it would spend $1 billion on original programming for Disney Plus and will have nearly $1 billion in operating expenses in FY 20 while WarnerMedia will invest up to $2 billion in HBO Max in 2020. Comcast/NBCUniversal has planned about $2 bn for its streaming service Peacock in the first two years.

    "We continue to believe the 'streaming wars' narrative is false and there will be multiple winners in global streaming and thus continue to recommend buying Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN) and Discovery (DIS) together," the note also adds.

    Netflix is upping its India game significantly as the streaming giant is ready to spend Rs 3000 crore (around $418 mn)  on Indian content for this year and the next. Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings spoke about the investment during a recent India visit while illustrating the country’s importance in their business.

    "We launched in 2016 and we have continued to invest. So we have a lot of content from the United States, the UK and Spain. We are developing our Indian content here,” Hastings said. "This year and next year, we will spend about Rs 3,000 crore developing content and you will start to see a lot of stuff hit the screens," he added.  

    The streaming giant is set to report its fourth quarter earnings on 21 January. Netflix reported revenue of $5.24 billion, up 31 per cent year-over-year in the last quarter.