ITV

Tag: Streaming service

  • ZEE5 MAU touches 76.4 mn in Q1 of FY 20

    ZEE5 MAU touches 76.4 mn in Q1 of FY 20

    MUMBAI: Media conglomerate Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd’s (ZEEL) digital arm ZEE5 continues its growth in user base reaching 76.4 million monthly active users (MAU). ZEEL in its first quarter financial result of FY 20 revealed the MAU of the streaming platform as of June 2019 while it had 61.5 million MAUs in the quarter ended March 2019.

    The streaming service had a global daily active user base of 6.6 million in June. It has also witnessed a hike in user engagement as users spent an average of 33 minutes per day on the platform in contrast to 31 minutes per day in the last quarter.

    During the quarter, ZEE5 launched 18 Original shows and movies including seven in regional languages. The company said that many of the shows helped ZEE5 to grow its paid subscriber base. The streaming service also entered into new partnerships with Hathway and ACT Fibernet in the quarter to offer bundled package to consumers. Moreover, ZEE5 also tied up with players in the online ecosystem like Myntra, Qwikcilver, Netmeds and Gaana.com.

    “ZEE5 continues its strong run and is working towards achieving its aim of becoming India's # 1 digital entertainment platform. In the international markets, it has seen an encouraging response in the initial phase. I am confident that with its strong content line-up and partnerships with leading players in the digital eco-system, value proposition of the platform and engagement with the consumers will continue to improve," ZEEL MD and CEO Punit Goenka commented in the earnings release.

    Along with the expansion in the domestic market, ZEEL is looking at an international expansion of its digital business as well. Following the launch in priority APAC markets, ZEE5 commenced marketing activities in the neighbouring countries to leverage its language and content affinity. To tap into the existing demand for Indian content in several markets, it also soft-launched dubbed content in five international languages. Moreover, the roll-out in APAC will be followed by MENA, Europe, Canada and Caribbean markets.

  • YouTube Music enables users to flip between song and music video

    YouTube Music enables users to flip between song and music video

    MUMBAI: YouTube Music has introduced a feature for its user that enables them to flip between listening to a song and watching that song’s music video without any interruption. If a video is available, the top of the app’s screen will now have two buttons that say ‘song’ and ‘video’.

    Tapping on the video button will switch over to the song’s official music video without any hiccups or pauses. Then, clicking on song button will revert to just the audio and the song’s cover art. It’s all time-matched, so switching in the middle of a song will jump to the corresponding point in the video. If the user wants to stick to just audio, then they can go into settings and turn off the music video option by toggling ‘don’t play music videos’.

    YouTube matched over five million music videos to songs for this feature.

    Google launched YouTube Music in India on 12 March, introducing a free ad-supported and a premium ad-free version with a subscription fee. Soon after its launch, it surpassed its opponent Spotify by registering more downloads within a week of the launch. YouTube registered three million downloads in the first week of its launch.

  • Amazon Prime Video, ZEE5 in talks for partnership

    Amazon Prime Video, ZEE5 in talks for partnership

    MUMBAI: Two strong players in the Indian over-the-top (OTT) ecosystem i.e, Amazon Prime Video and ZEE5 are in talks for a partnership. According to a report in the Economic times, the platforms are currently negotiating for a platform deal.

    The report also added quoting an unnamed source that it may take a month for both the parties to reach an agreement. Moreover, the structure of the deal and different models are being explored currently.  

    Whether ZEE5 content should be made available as an in-app or app-in-app format that is also being discussed. ZEE5 which is now more reliant on AVOD revenue is looking to expand its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) business with the deal.

    While in the United States Amazon has an optional add-on service called Prime Video Channels, Amazon might launch Prime Video Channels in India too. If the deal works out, ZEE5 could be the first service on the platform.

    “Acquiring and retaining a customer and running an app is a completely different ball game altogether. Many people are now discovering that it is good to focus on content and partner with other players for distribution. Also, it is not sustainable to have 30-40 OTT services in a market. Economically too, these kind of partnerships are better for the consumer,” a top executive form a leading streaming service said as quoted by ET.

  • Netflix pulls out of Cannes Film Festival

    Netflix pulls out of Cannes Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Putting an end to speculation, Netflix has confirmed that it would pull out of the Cannes Film Festival entirely. The streaming giant won’t bring any film to the esteemed film festival following a rule change. In an interview with Variety,  the company’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, spoke about the decision.

    Last year, Netflix came to the festival with two movies Bong Joon-ho’s Okja and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories. French theatre owners did not take it very well and protested the inclusion of these movies as the law in the country requires movies to not appear in home platforms for 36 months after their theatrical release. The rule is contradictory to Netflix’s day-on-date release.

    In addition to that, a new rule from this year imposes a ban on any film in the competition without theatrical distribution in France from playing. Though Netflix could screen films out of competition, Sarandos says that doesn’t make sense for the company.

    “There’s a risk in us going in this way and having our films and filmmakers treated disrespectfully at the festival. They’ve set the tone. I don’t think it would be good for us to be there,” he said. He also said that the new rule was implicitly about Netflix.

    “We loved the festival. We love the experience for our filmmakers and for film lovers. It’s just that the festival has chosen to celebrate distribution rather than the art of cinema,” he added later.

    Though Sarandos himself won’t attend the festivals, some employees from the company will be there to acquire films among the bunch that would be there without distribution.

    Also Read :

    Netflix to boycott Cannes Film Festival 2018?

    Localised content the way forward for Netflix in India