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Tag: Studio Mojo

  • Koode, a new Malayalam platform enters OTT landscape

    Koode, a new Malayalam platform enters OTT landscape

    KOLKATA: Riding on the regional wave of over-the-top (OTT) platforms, a new independent service has entered the Malayali market. Studio Mojo has launched the Malayalam OTT Koode in September, which is now available across android, IOS devices as well as on android TVs. At present, the streaming service is operating on free model to reach more users.

    For the record, Studio Mojo was amongst the first to launch an OTT platform in the country with iStream. While the service did not pick up well back then, the company decided to get back into original programming for OTT platforms with video consumption going through the roof over the past few years.

    “This time around we thought of focusing on Malayalam to begin with, since none of the large OTT platforms were seriously looking at Malayalam. Except for movies, original programming was not just happening. And we all know Malayalam creates possibly the finest content amongst all Indian languages, if our movies are anything to go by,” Studio Mojo founder and CEO Radhakrishnan Ramachandran said.

    The company is trying to build a new content ecosystem by bringing together a bunch of fresh talent who are looking for an alternate independent platform. Ramachandran said that they are putting together a content creator network in Malayalam. The platform will support these creators in creating compelling content by providing infrastructure support to them along with mentors to fine tune their creative capabilities. He noted that their first studio is soon coming up in Kochi. While most platforms are primarily focusing on movies, Ramachandran added that they would like to bet on a wider range.

    He described Studio Mojo as a tech-first media company. He went on to explain that data and analytics will give deep insights into consumers consumption patterns which will greatly help in the content strategy. Although iStream could not make a significant mark in the OTT landscape, Ramachandran recounted lessons from the past which could be applied to Koode as well.

     “Betting on the right content is critical. With most of the OTT players struggling with their business model, one needs to spend wisely on content. It needs to be a win-win situation for the content producers and the platform,” he said.

    As Koode is running on free model, it will look at branded content as an important source of revenue. The marketing team will focus on bringing brands and creators together. Moreover, it will also be launching a pay per view model very soon for some select exclusive programming.

  • Why the OTT market needs a new content ecosystem

    Why the OTT market needs a new content ecosystem

    While it’s a given that video consumption is going through the roof, many of the OTT platforms are still tweaking their content strategy in order to get their act right. The primary target audience now being in the 18-30 age group, concepts that use to work for general entertainment TV channels have become passé.

    A system which is over dependent on the ‘so called’ commercially successful directors who might have churned out crass blockbusters or scriptwriters who have penned some of the most regressive television serials, might give you some marketing brownie points, but they may not survive in the long run. It’s time to build a content ecosystem that will support new talents and produce compelling content. The race is on to experiment with formats and scripts that will grab the millennial’s attention. 

    This is one of the reasons why I would like to position my company ‘Studio Mojo’, not just as another production house, but as a content network whose primary objective is to discover and work with new talents—and they are in abundance.

    You can take a leaf out of the Malayalam movie industry, which undoubtedly produces some of the best movies in the country. Many of the critically acclaimed movies made in the past few years can be credited to a few debutant directors and scriptwriters. The movies in question—Ee Ma Yau, Angamaly Diaries, Maheshinte Prathikaram, and Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum created by directors like Lijo Pellissery and Dileesh Pothan. On a similar tangent, take the case of Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who made his directorial debut with the critically acclaimed Telugu blockbuster Arjun Reddy.  And in Tamil, we have debutant director Prem Kumar’s 96, which was a runaway hit.

    While Sacred Games stole a lot of limelight last year, Little Things penned by a young and talented team created waves on YouTube and made a huge fan following.

    It is quite evident that when it comes to creating great programmes, script is the king. Our effort is to consistently discover new regional digital stars. Every single day, Studio Mojo's creative team works with upcoming talent, screening scores of new scripts, meeting aspiring scriptwriters and directors to produce the next big thing in the regional space.

    We started off with Rinosh George who became an overnight digital sensation with his I'm a Mallu song (which later became the ‘Mallu Anthem’). Today he is a budding actor, whose debut Malayalam movie recently hit the screens. For our first web series Utsaha Ithihasam we teamed up with a young director Krishand and the series went on to receive a lot of acclaim at the Seoul WebFest. Our next project will be directed by Praveen Nair (who was Goutham Menon's chief assistant) for the Zee5 channel and is claimed to be one of the biggest web series coming out in Malayalam. 

    But the digital space is not just centred around new talent. Since going back to television feels like a retrograde step for many directors and scriptwriters, digital is something they are excited about—they can talk to a younger audience and select subjects which may not have had too many takers in the mainstream cinema. While we continue with our efforts to spot new talent, we are equally excited about working with established names. We have already kick-started a project in Malayalam, where we are bringing together 10 established directors to work out a ‘Love Anthology’ series. Many of them are also keen to play a mentor role to the first time directors of a few of our other projects.

    We are also onboarding technicians and production executives from the regional movie industries who have been struggling to find regular work. They could become a critical cog in the ecosystem we are trying to build. 

    So, yes, the future looks exciting. We hope to play a not so insignificant role in creating a new order, where a bunch of new talents will rub shoulders with the established ones. We owe it to our audience to unearth the Lijos’ and Sandeep Reddys’ of the digital world.

    (The author is CEO and founder, Studio Mojo. The views expressed here are his own and Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them)  

  • Studio Mojo ropes in Mithun Koroth as Business Development Director for original programming and content licensing

    Studio Mojo ropes in Mithun Koroth as Business Development Director for original programming and content licensing

    MUMBAI: Studio Mojo, the Bangalore based regional video network has roped in Mithun Koroth as their Business Development Director to be based in Mumbai.

    Mithun will work with OTT platforms for creating original programming in various regional languages. He will also be responsible for licensing regional language content to Telcos, IPTV players and OTT players both in India and in markets such as Middle East and North Africa region and Southeast Asia where there is huge appetite for regional content. 

    Mithun joins Studio Mojo from Sony Music where he was leading the video business vertical. He has 15 years of experience in the Television and Online media space. Having started in Programming and TAR at MTV he moved on to MTV Desi. He was instrumental in the Viacom 18’s foray into the digital space. He played a pivotal role in the association of STAR India’s deal with the premier video social networking site along other digital partners. He has also helmed the role at creating campaigns and thought provoking content plans for various priority shows for STAR, like Satyamev Jayate. Mithun. He was also responsible for drafting the operations and the creative frame work for Star’s OTT platform– Hotstar. Following which he moved to Sony Music to lead the Video Business vertical which is responsible for the digital success of Music Video content across all regions. This association gave him a front side seat into the Music and Licensing, Right and Clearances business.

    Studio Mojo was set up last year by the former CEO of iStream.com, Radhakrishnan Ramachandran to tap into the fast growing regional video entertainment market.

  • Former iStream CEO launches regional video network, Studio Mojo

    Former iStream CEO launches regional video network, Studio Mojo

    MUMBAI: The former CEO of iStream.com, Radhakrishnan Ramachandran has set up Studio Mojo, to tap into the fast-growing regional video entertainment market.

    The online video market is growing at a frenzied pace in India with over 25 OTT platforms with global majors like Netflix and Amazon leading the pack. And many of them are planning an aggressive foray into regional language programming.

    Over the next 4 years, more than a third of the Internet users in India are expected to be from regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and Marathi. Until four years back most of the videos consumed digitally in India were in Hinglish. But that is the not the case anymore. The top four languages on platforms today are Tamil and Telugu along with Hindi and English.

    iStream was India’s leading OTT platform in 2011, after raising 5 M USD from marquee VC investor SAIF. Though iStream had to shut down operations in 2013, Ramachandran is making a come back in the OTT space setting up Studio Mojo.

    “ A lot of people have asked me over the past 12 months whether there are plans to relaunch iStream. The product game is over for me. Now it is time to play the content game. Hence Studio Mojo. The goal is to build one of the largest video networks for regional language programming,” says Ramachandran.

    Studio Mojo will persue a multi-prong approach to cater to both long and short format content. The company is working with OTT platforms to create original programming in South Indian languages currently. Plans are to get into other regional languages like Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri by end of the year. Studio Mojo will also create short format content for platforms such as YouTube,Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Apart from that, it will also be licensing regional language content to Telcos, IPTV players and OTT players in markets such as Middle East and North Africa region and Southeast Asia where there is huge appetite for regional content. 

    “ We call ourselves a network because the objective is not just to create content but also identify talent with whom we will produce content. The idea is not to just work with the top names in the industry. We need to build the whole content ecosystem – spotting talent and giving them opportunities is equally important. If you look at some of the most creative movie industries like Malayalam the best content is being created by young scriptwriters and directors with lot of new faces,” adds Ramachandran. 

    To aid this network, Studio Mojo will set up studios in key markets like Chennai, Hyderabad and Cochin.

    This is Ramachandran’s third video venture after iStream and Pepper Media which is amongst the leading MCN’s (multi-channel network) for YouTube in the country with over 10 million subscribers.